Chapter 2 The first rule of survival
CHAPTER 2: THE FIRST RULE OF SURVIVAL
Ren ran until his lungs burned.
Not the normal kind of burn, this was deeper. Like his body was trying to reject the idea of continuing.
Behind him, the sound of pursuit wasn’t loud.
It didn’t need to be.
Every instinct in him already knew it was there.
He turned sharply into a narrow alley, nearly slipping on wet concrete. The narrow walls threatened to trap him with no way out.
He reached the end,
Dead end.
A broken fence. A collapsed wall. No exit.
Ren stopped.
For the first time since this began, he had no calculation left.
Just space.
And something approaching.
Slow footsteps echoed behind him.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
His heart beating rapidly
He turned back and saw the Shadows of the creature he was yet to find out
The shadows came closer but slower this time
Ren waited anxiously, for what fate would hold for him
The creature stood at the alley's entrance, it bore no true human shape, and it's head titled slowly, like it was studying him.
Then the System spoke again.
[ENTITY CLASS: HOLLOWED HUNTER]
[THREAT LEVEL: LOW UNKNOWN]
Ren frowned.
“Unknown?”
That word felt worse than high.
The creature stepped forward.
The air around it distorted slightly, like reality didn’t want to fully accept its presence.
Ren backed up until his shoulders hit the wall
The Hunter lunged.
Ren moved without thinking.
He ducked.
The creature’s arm slammed into the wall behind him, cracking it like dry wood.
Ren stumbled sideways, heart pounding.
“Okay....okay think!”
There was no time to think.
The Hunter turned too fast.
Too precise.
Like it already knew his next movement.
Ren barely dodged again, rolling across the ground. His hand scraped concrete. Pain flared, he felt hike giving up he was barely alive.
The creature paused.
Its head tilted again.
Then,
[PLAYER ANALYSIS INITIATED]
Ren froze mid-breath.
“…What?”
His vision flickered.
For a split second, the world overlaid with lines.
Weak points.
Movement prediction.
Structural cracks in the alley walls.
And one glowing point on the creature’s body.
Chest.
Left side.
He didn’t understand how he knew it.
But he knew.
The Hunter moved again.
Faster this time.
Ren reacted on instinct.
He grabbed a loose metal pipe from the ground, he didn’t even remember seeing it before, and swung desperately
The pipe hit the glowing point.
A sharp sound cracked through the alley.
The creature staggered.
For the first time, it hesitated.
Ren didn’t stop.
He swung again.
And again.
The third hit landed.
The Hunter’s body flickered.
Like bad signal.
Then it collapsed. it didn't die, nor bleed it just dissolved.
Breaking apart into dark fragments that evaporated into the air.
Silence returned.
Ren stood frozen.
The pipe slipped from his hand.
His chest rose and fell violently.
“…I killed it.”
No celebration came.
Only confusion.
Because something about that wasn’t normal.
Nothing about it felt human.
Then,
The System responded.
[TARGET ELIMINATED]
[FIRST COMBAT SUCCESSFUL]
[REWARD PROCESSING…]
Ren frowned. “Reward?”
A pulse hit his body.
Something in-between.
His vision flashed again.
A new interface appeared.
[NEW ABILITY AWAKENED]
[FRACTURE SIGHT (LV.1)]
Ren staggered slightly.
“What is this…?”
The world changed.
Not physically.
But how he saw it.
Cracks appeared everywhere.
In walls.
In air.
In space itself.
Thin, glowing fractures running through reality like broken glass.
Even the dead space where the creature vanished still shimmered with instability.
Ren pressed a hand to his head.
“This isn’t real…”
But even as he said it,
He didn’t believe it anymore.
A second message appeared.
[WARNING: OTHER HUNTERS REMAIN ACTIVE]
[SURVIVAL RATE UPDATED: 47 → 46]
Ren looked up sharply.
“…Forty-six?”
Meaning one person had already died elsewhere.
In real time.
He wasn’t alone in this.
And he wasn’t the only one being hunted.
A distant scream echoed somewhere in the broken city.
Then another.
Then silence again.
The System didn’t explain anything.
It never did.
Only rules.
No mercy.
Just survival.
Ren tightened his fists.
“If this is a game…”
His eyes drifted to the cracks in reality still flickering in front of him.
“…then it can be broken.”
A faint distortion appeared above him.
Like something noticed what he had done.
The sky shimmered.
And for a fraction of a second.
Something massive blinked behind it.
Watching.
[SANITY: 97% → 95%]
Ren didn’t see the message.
But he felt it.
Like the world had just looked back at him.
Somewhere far above the broken city, a voice.
“An irregular response has appeared.”
And the Game… paused for half a second.
Before continuing.
