Part 3

Then, a screen appeared in front of Tom, displaying some basic information:

Tom Wan

Title: None

Power: 3

Speed: 2

Structure: 1

Perception: 2

Attraction: 2

Intelligence: 3

Mana: 6

Skills: Those who qualify can wake up

Passive Abilities: Qualifiers can wake up

Tom found it interesting, but, as usual, he didn't feel much about it.

Then, another screen appeared, this time showing a countdown from 10. He glanced around the room and saw people reacting with confusion, fear, and a mixture of emotions.

"Three seconds left… 2… 1."

Mission: Kill 1 person in 10 minutes

Reward: Being deemed worthy by the system and gaining enough energy to wake up

Punishment: Death

The entire class froze. Everyone was scared—except Tom, who felt nothing. The teacher shouted, "Calm down! It must be a prank or something!" The class hesitated but nodded, trying to convince themselves.

But deep down, they all knew. No current technology could project such a screen, and soon they realized something even more unnerving: the screens were visible only to them.

This realization sparked even more panic. Minutes passed: 8 minutes… 7 minutes… 5 minutes.

The fear in the room thickened. Everyone instinctively felt death closing in. No one wanted to die. Everyone wanted to live.

Finally, someone moved. As expected, it was John—the class bully. He was known to carry a knife. But when he reached into his pocket, it wasn't there. The system had evidently decided to make things more brutal.

Killing someone with a knife was already horrifying, but being forced to use one's bare hands—to punch, scratch, bite, or stomp someone to death—was far worse. Soon, everyone would understand just how gruesome it could get.

John lunged at one of the weaker students, nicknamed "Cow" because of his size. Cow wasn't expecting it. John tackled him to the ground, pinning his jaw against the cold floor with his knee.

John wasn't particularly bright, but he was smart enough to know that one of the easiest ways to kill someone was to strike the back of their neck.

Using his elbow, he began hitting Cow with all his strength. Cow screamed and struggled, begging for mercy, but John didn't stop. His blows landed harder and harder—three times, four times—until a sickening sound filled the room.

Cow's jaw had shattered. Blood poured from his mouth, mixing with fragments of his broken teeth.

John wasn't a psychopath or a monster. He was just someone desperate to survive. With one final strike, Cow stopped moving.

Mission Accomplished.

A new system message appeared, and John's body dissolved into shards of light. Everyone instinctively understood: he wasn't dead—he had survived.

Silence filled the room until another system message broke it:

"4 minutes left."

It was like a trigger. The classroom erupted into chaos as students attacked each other. Amid the violence, Tom sat still, watching. He had no intention of fighting. There was no point in living, he thought. He would just wait for the system to kill him.

But not everyone had given up so easily.

In a pack of starving wolves, who do you think gets chosen as food?