MEETING A FAMILIAR FRIEND

While I am looking at my screen happily, the girl on front of me doesn't look too pleased with what I just did. I haven't gotten her name just yet but something about her catches my attention as she turns around to check on the man I had just killed.

" He's really dead this time. What do we do?" She asks while I continue to look at the screen to my check my body status.

Name: Anthony Murphy

Age: 28 years old

Class: Combat solider

Level: 3/100

Stats:-

HP: 100/100

Precision: 80%

Agility: 41%

Strength: 71%

Cool down Reduction: 81%

Magic Power: -

Gold: 200

Coins: 10,000

Exp: 30/100

Inventory: 35M Rifle ×1, Revolver ×1, Axe ×1, M1842 Pistol ×1, Healing packs ×3.

[Rewards: 10,000 Coins, M249 Squad Automatic weapon ×1, Exp: +30, Agility: +1, Cool down Reduction: +1, Strength: +1]

" Everything went up by one? My precision is kind of low. It wasn't low before." I mutter under my breath as I continue checking out the screen.

[ Precision: -20]

" Why?" I ask loudly before closing my mouth again immediately.

[ Please ensure that your HP doesn't drop down before 50% as this might affect some of your stats and make them drop too. Once you hit before 20%, the system will automatically try to save you until you reach 50% once again. However, this might greatly affect your stats afterwards.]

Nodding my head, I read everything finally understanding. Next I head to see if I have another task but there is none.

" What's your name, solider? Mine is Annabelle Nixon." She says with her hand stretched out for a handshake.

" Anthony Murphy." I say but doesn't shake her hands.

" What rank?" Annabelle asks making me tense up immediately.

I had already recognized her. Although my name didn't seem to ring a bell to her at the moment, my rank might give me away the moment I say it. What if she recognizes me?

" Military ranks are not important here. We are just all normal people trying to survive. If I were you, I wouldn't dwell on it too much." I say looking at her with a cold expression.

" That means your military rank must be low. You killed him. How do you plan on taking responsibility?"

Her question makes me laugh even though I knew she wasn't joking. It was exactly what I expected of her. Watching the little frown on her face, I find her cute as she folds her arm. She was obviously planning on blaming everything that happened on me. Although I was new and didn't know much about the ongoing tournaments that happened, I was sure of one thing. I might be killed or enter trouble for this. Whatever the case might be, I wasn't going down alone.

" Killed him? What do you mean? The cameras didn't see me doing that. You are the one that was arguing with him." I say folding my arms too.

" What do you mean? The rooms don't have any cameras in them. Besides, isn't this your axe? All weapons are usually taken from us after the match. How come you still have your own weapons?"

I didn't know that.

" You ungrateful woman. How could you be thinking of setting me up when I saved you? Not to mention even after knowing your secret. Asphalt Team soldier." I say watching as her expression changes into shock.

Of course she wasn't expecting it. I also wouldn't have known about her special identity if I didn't see the tattoo on her back when the man had stopped her before. When she turned around to check on him, my suspicion was finally confirmed. She didn't know my identity however, I knew hers. She was one of the elite soliders serving specially under the six generals. That would explain why she was so good at fighting as a woman.

" How did you know? You saw my tattoo, didn't you?" Annabelle asks making me smile. She was also intelligent.

"So what? Do you want to kill me to silence me? Let me tell you. Someone already knew I was coming here. Although they might not know who killed me, do you think you can successfully dodge it if those men in weird alien suit come looking? We already have one murder down on our hands. I won't shake off responsibility. Neither should you." I say staring at her seriously.

Nodding her head, she finally agrees with me. Taking the dead man by his hands and legs, the both of us struggle to move his body out of the room. Glancing around us, we both head to the men's bathroom before dumping his body in one of the stalls.

" We don't have time. Let no one see us." Annabelle says to me making me nod my head.

Coming out of the bathroom, the both of us head to our seperate rooms in hope that no one saw us. It was the only thing we could hope for.

******

(Sirens)

The loud sound of the sirens wake me up first thing in th morning. Looking around, I spot other contestants waking up one by one beside me. Looking just as confused as I am, they wait as the door opens revealing those same men in black.

" All of you, gather at the cafeteria immediately!"

Doing as we are told, we all come out of the room. Realizing that the females are also forced to do so, I immediately can't help but feel something bad might happen.

"What exactly do you want? The tournaments don't usually start till 6. Is there something else happening?" One of the contestants ask as we watch them move something around.

" Which one of you killed this man?" The man in black alien suit asked as he stripped the plastic bag he had been covering the man up with away.

It was the same man that I had killed yesterday. Glancing at Annabelle, our eyes meet for a second before we look away. They must have discovered the body in the men's bathroom where we hid it. The fact that they were asking who did it only meant one thing. They didn't know.

"I remember it. He's dead? Who could have done something so crazy?" One of the female contestants ask.

" What is so surprising about it? We are all competing to win $1 billion. Anything can happen for it." Hank says before rolling his eyes away.

" About this, I have a question. While others might have agreed to this, I never did. I don't even remember how I got here. Or what this place is. I don't have any memory of signing anything. If you would be so kind as to show me the document I signed." I say looking at the man in black alien suit standing in front of me.

His entire body is covered as if he is trying to prevent some deadly infectious disease. Even his face. Although his face is covered, I can still see a little part of his face through the net covered head gear he had put on.

" Sure. Can someone please get the contract for Mr. Anthony Murphy?" He says while staring directly at me.

After a while, someone comes back with a piece of paper that has all my information on it. Reading through it, my eyes widen because I don't remember seeing any of the words on the paper. Even worse, I don't remember signing it.

" Are you sure this is my signature? I don't remember signing any of it. How come you have my signature here?" I ask in deblief as I continue to read through it.

" Your signature is already here and you are denying it. Doesn't matter. All of you here have signed your contract. You can only leave when you become the sole winner at the end of the tournament. Don't even think of escaping. And stop killing yourselves in the dark! Anyone caught doing this again, will be killed along with the person dead." The man says as he looks at me.

Watching them leave with the dead body finally calms my heart making me sigh. Once they leave, everyone returns back to their room while Annabelle comes to meet me by my side.

"I thought you said that we wouldn't get caught." Annabelle says as we walk down the hallway together.

"Why would you even be together with him in the first place? If he didn't try to kill you, I wouldn't have killed him." I say rolling my eyes.

" What's this? Are the both of you dating or what?" A man asks us as we get to our respective doors.

" Is that any of your business? Mind your own business. You might just die from being too curious." Annabelle says sassily before returning back to her room. Entering inside, she slams the door shut making everyone startled.

" I would advise you not to go for her. She's crazy." The man says as he looks at the closed door.

" Crazy? What made you say that? Is she really crazy?" I ask as I look at him.

" Of course. Among the women, she is one of the very best. In a tie with Heidi. Oh. I am Jackson." He says as he stretches his hand out.

" Anthony. Who is Heidi?" I ask as we enter inside our room.

"If Annabelle is crazy, Heidi is bat sh** pyscho. She doesn't care about anyone as long as she is able to enter the leadership board during each match." Jackson says.

" There is a leadership board for each match? How come I didn't know about that?"

" There is. The leadership board saves you from random death pick. That is to say, as long as you are on the leadership board, you won't be selected even though we don't hit the mark. But getting into the leadership board isn't as easy as it looks. You would have to kill a lot of people to gain points." Jackson said.

[ Task: Enter the leadership board for the next match

Task 2: Buy another weapon

Task 3: Leave the tournament arena in 1 hour]

Gasping at my new task, I smile immediately to Jackson in order not to gain suspicion. Heading to my bed, I close the curtain ensuring I am alone.

" Didn't you just hear what he said? How can I enter the leadership board? I don't want to kill anyone." I say as I look at the screen in front of me. However, nothing changes telling me I am alone.

Another set of siren goes off again making everyone sigh. It had just been minutes since we came back into our rooms and the tournament was about to hold again. While everyone dresses up, I move through my screen to once again to equip my weapons. Remembering I have to buy another weapon, I look in the Shop trying to see which one I can buy. Unfortunately, my coins are too low to get another one.

" How can I get gold?" I ask as I continue to scroll down looking for a gun of my choice.

[ If you are able to complete the tasks within 30 minutes of the tournament, You will qualify to get gold reward. However, if you fail, you will not gain it.]

Reading through the message on the screen, I nod my head understanding everything as I button my trousers. Failure was not a choice.

*******

" Get down!" The sound of one of the men in black alien suit makes everyone speed up as we come down from the van.

This time we had not arrived at the tournament arena flying. Were we in the cage where we were before? Walking with caution, I try not to fall down since our eyes are covered with blindfold once again. Our hands had also been binded.

The sound of a door opening makes my senses alert. I still have no idea where we were though. Once we are inside, they finally remove our blindfolds and untie our hands.

" Welcome to another tournament showdown. This place is very special because we are going to play a little game. The doors will be locked for 5 hours. All of you inside can only escape if you meet two of the requirements. One, you all must hit the number of 5. Two, you are able to enter the leadership board which will be cut down to 5. Good luck soliders!" Someone says through the speakers making my eyes widen as I look around.

We were locked in an empty house.