CHAPTER 4: LEVEL:1 Found the way.

"

Other aged men and middle-aged woman nodded their heads, but the innocent, silent girl remained silent, her hands gripping her skirt tightly, and her mind was out, her posture caved inward.

Noticing her absent-mindedness, "Hey, Little one… Your name is Yumako, right?" the skinny woman asked, her voice softer.

"No… Yumiko. Mrs. Clara," She replied nervously, watching her sadly. I can't trust anyone, but I have no choice... Mrs. Clara seemed good... she thought as her hands were shaking and gripping her skirt in fear of being around people.

Clara scanned Yumiko from top to bottom like judging. "Are you sticking with this plan?" she asked, doubting her disbelief.

"Yeah…."Yumiko nodded in agreement, facing down as she held the nearby Woman's hands tightly.

Glancing at the hologram timer before stepping outside the circle, the timer displayed 46:56. 

"Okay… "Let go," Clara ordered as ten members tightly held hands. "One, two, three..." shouted as she stepped one by one outside the circle. 

"We are safe…." One man murmured, a whisper of relief washed in his face. Within a fraction of a second, he dropped, sinking into the sand without any trace as if it were quicksand.

Simultaneously, another person on the opposite side of the group also dipped into the sand, vanishing without any scream.

Everyone outside the circle froze as they stepped back into the circle, after no one made a single move, and their eyes widened, fixed on the horror incident, and utterly lost, their minds struggling to process the sheer absurdity of their situation. 

"Hell no!" they screamed, their voice echoed throughout the whole place.

"God... Help me!" they shouted, folding their hands and kneeling down begging for mercy.

"I can't do this anymore," the girl hissed, her gaze remained fixed, unable to tear away from the sight, as she grabbed her chest and fell.

Yumiko stood without any expression on her face, her hands were bleeding where the last man had scratched her hands before he fell. Her eyes widened in horror, and still processing the past incident. Her breath hitched when she realized the nearby people were dead. Everything remains silent as she loses her mind, and her leg loses grip on standing. Before she could slightly slit into sand, a man with glasses grabbed her and pulled her firmly back into the circle.

"Hey…. Are you okay?" he asked in concern, shaking Yumiko's shoulder gently. "Water...." he thought as he then splashed some water from his bottle onto her face.

After a spark, the water on her face revealed her horrifying reality. She gasped, clutching his hand tightly, her eyes wide in chilling horror as she glanced around the players, her body trembling in panic. "I don't want to continue this game anymore!!!" she repeated the sentence, her voice raw with fear and appalling.

"It's okay.... It's okay. We also didn't expect this," the glass-wearing man assured, his voice calm and confident, holding her hand to give some comfort.

At the same time, a sharp, grating sound echoed, getting everyone's attention as the land shifted, causing their footing to tremble violently as one section ground against another. Their feet could feel the tremor, a deep thrumming pain that vibrated up their whole body.

"What the hell is happening here?" Dean shouted, his eyes wide as he watched the ground churn in disbelief.

"It's unbelievable...." a glass-wearing man murmured, watching the dust mixed air and land shifting in front of their eyes was unreal to him.

Danny's eyes widened in shock and disbelief as he spun, noticing the land shifting on every side.

"It's rotating like a roulette," a girl wondered, as her hand automatically held Dean's hand tightly.

Dean was watching his hand, playfully looking at her face, and he winked his one eye at her in a flirtatious way.

A girl pulled her hand in annoyance and look away towards the timer, "Asshole." She whispered.

Now, their gaze shifted to Timer. "44:50"

"Is it... a game?" A real tremor ran through her limbs as she realized the truth about the game.

"We're all going to die!!!!!!!" a black woman screamed, her voice made everyone panic and break their tiny faith, and tears welled up in her eyes.

"But I have responsibility.... I need to watch my disabled parents," another man cried, thinking of his parents. "Mom.... dad...." he screamed, letting out a choked cry, thinking of his parents.

"Just stop it, guys.... We are trapped… Even if it's a game, everything has a pattern and a way. We have to figure out soon to get out of here…."Danny inquired and motivated them with examples of real incidents, watching others.

"But, how?" the old man raised a question.

Danny's gaze shifted to his half-drunk water bottle. An idea struck his mind, and he executed as per his inner feelings. Weight can determine everything in this game. If it's pulling from inside, even a water bottle can be pulled in, which means I can identify the wrong one he thought of.

Without delay, a single second, he ran over a nearby empty water bottle, collected righted it and opened the cap, and refilled it with heated sand. After filling two bottles, He glanced at the others, then took a deep breath, stepping into the square where Yumiko was already standing.

"What the hell is he trying to do?" Dane whispered, his hand lifted to rub his temples. His gaze was fixed on Danny's action in unbearable pain.

"He's playing with sand…." Clara fretted, her tone was exasperated.

"He must be crazy...." Dean disparaged his action to the other girls. "I think someone has to start the game...." he ordered, no patience in his voice.

Danny disregarded Dean's bad mouth: he confidently threw the sand-filled bottle into the square next to him.

It landed perfectly without pulling into the sand. 

"It's worked…" the braided girl murmured, watching everyone happily and hugging the nearby girl excitedly.

"Maybe his luck...." Dean again teased him out of envy.

Then, Danny took that bottle and threw it next to him. It's also remained due to his luck. He jumped in relief and excitement, "I think we can reach one by one following this trick…" He said, while standing there, watching the next square.

Everyone encouraged Danny happily, clapping each other, their faces filled with hope of winning this game. "You are great, my dear boy," the old lady with the red hat murmured, her voice thick with emotional support.

"Thank you, Ma'am…. "Danny bowed to show respect for her age, a happy, proud smile on his face. He turned and threw his bottle towards the front, but this time the bottle was instantly pulled into the sand, disappearing.

.

"Oh!!!!!" everyone shouted in shock with disappointment sigh.

 "Shit! I thought this was correct. " Danny whispered to himself, hiding his disappointed face, he turned towards the crowd, raising his hand, "I need another bottle…" He shouted, raising his hands and waving them a signal.

The man with glasses, his gaze shifted to Timer, "With only 37 minutes remaining, " he murmured, A disdainful smirk replaced on his lips. "We can't reach the endpoint if we go this speed," he shouted confidently, looking directly at Danny.

Danny stood, hearing the comment, turned, his gaze fixed on the man with glasses. "What?" he asked, in brow furrowed deep confusion. "What do you mean?"

"What?" The players raised the same question in the confusion.

"Do you have a better idea?" Dean scoffingly, grabbing his shirt off to make an unnecessary scene in front of the group.

"I do…" he declared, removing Dean's hand from his shirt. "You need a lesson, how to behave with an elder," he warned him, tapping his shoulder cool manner. Then he took a pen from his pocket and closed its cap precisely.

Everyone looked at Specs' man's every move and action and expected his plan.

"I am Xavier Canny, I am a Mathematician's professor, I have 10 years of experience…" Xavier introduced himself simply, his voice calm and measured.

Before he could continue, Dean interrupted, despising his explanation. "We are not here for an interview…. Just tell your fucking idea!" he roared, his hands running over his hair, frustration boiling over.

"He's just an annoying jerk," Xavier realized that Dean was unworthy to argue at this time, and he smiled back at him. His gaze shifted to the crowd as he cleared his throat before he spoke and folded his sleeves. "Total distance of this round is 2 km, which means we are in the center of the circle, so the radius of the circle is 1 We have to travel 1 km. Every direction equal"

Others exchange glances with each other as they nod in agreement and concentrate on his explanation carefully.

 Xavier kept speaking calmly, "Listen..." as he placed his foot on the box, carefully measuring each step of the square vertically and noting. Then, returning to the center of the circle, he explained, "It looks like each square is about 0.75 meters on a side. So, for a 1-kilometer distance, which is 1000 meters, we'd have roughly 1333 squares."

"What 1333?" Danny was surprised as his gaze shifted to the vast desert.