Chapter 4: 3 || Wonderland

Words: 5414

(Unedited)

He was currently standing in front of one of the many elevators. Though he was a bit nervous, he felt more curious. Lily had set a rather rose-colored perspective of these rooms, so he wondered about how it would actually play out. Even though he did the trial room, he does not feel very confident about his understanding of the rooms. He guessed that the trial rooms were going to be vastly different from the real rooms, putting aside how easily he had completed the former. There was most likely not going to be a repeat of that situation, so he will have to solve his own issues from here on out. That shouldn’t be too much of an issue considering he does have some prior experience with going to escape rooms in real life along with video games online, but IER isn’t guaranteed to follow the same rules as Earth did.

“Are you going to get in, newbie?” A man behind him asked, pushing past him to the elevator. Li Yan wasn’t sure exactly why he insisted on going towards this one, but he still followed behind the man.

The man pressed the button for easy, and rather than the elevator moving, the man disappeared in thin air. Rather than elevators, these were more fit to be called teleportation chambers with the disguise of an elevator.

Li Yan looked at the only button available to him which was the easy difficulty and pressed it. His consciousness suddenly blacked out, and a weightless feeling took over his body. Hopefully, these rooms were as great as Lily made them out to be.

~~~

“Another person?” Someone asked.

“I thought this was an easy room.” A man sighed.

“My livestream thinks it’s interesting!” A girl with pink hair smiled.

Li Yan opened his eyes at last to find a group of 10 other people in front of him. There were 6 men and 4 women in front of him gathered around a gate to an amusement park with matching red circles on their necks, marking them all as players. Adding himself, there were a total of 11 people. Half of the people stood calmly while the other half were shuffled relatively close together, obviously a bit nervous. As he looked around, he noticed that the man from the elevator earlier was also there.

“What do we do?” A boy whispered to another.

“I don’t know? It shouldn’t be too bad since the trial room was relatively easy right?”

“Ah, but this place is a lot scarier! Our necks look so weird.” Another girl added, joining in on the panic inducing session.

“This is the first easy room I’ve seen with this many players.” A tall man commented, frowning a bit as he looked at the group of newbies huddled together. “So many newbies too.” He seemed to be more experienced than the others here as he stood before everyone emitting a natural leader aura.

“Who are you calling a newbie?” A rather arrogant looking boy asked the man. “Newbies only refer to those who just finished the trial room and none of the others, I mean no harm.” The man smiled back, unaffected by the boy's outburst.

“The trial rooms are vastly different from real ones.” The man from the elevator who was quiet before sneered at the boy. “You may be safe in the trial room, but you can die at the tip of a hat here.”

“Aren’t I already dead?” The boy smirked. “I’m one of the chosen ones after all.” Everyone else slightly turned and looked at the boy when he said this then turned away.

“Delusional.” The elevator man smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes at all. The boy was about to argue more, but a system hologram popped up in front of everyone.

[System:

Alice and Bunny are the rumored famous nightly attraction of the Wonderland Amusement Park. People wonder why security guards are even needed at this point since no one dares enter the park at night due to these ghostly twins. All prior guards have died in tragic accidents, but the pay is good right? At least your family will be reimbursed even if you do die. People with nothing to lose will take this job or maybe people with desperate hearts. Whether or not you’re in for the money or thrill, Alice and Bunny will make sure you have a great time.

Players will act as security guards watching over the Wonderland Amusement Park for 3 nights. Put together the key to the gate before the 3 nights are over.]

“3 nights? Is that our time limit?” The girl with pink hair asked. “It’s quite short compared to the other rooms I’ve done.”

Before anyone could add any further remarks, a man with a beer belly and a security uniform walked over. He had some keys dangling on his waist, so everyone noticed him immediately.

“Are you guys the new night guards? Great.” Without waiting for a reply he unlocked the gate. “You all signed the warrant, so if anything happens then you must keep quiet.” He rudely smacked open the gate and motioned them in. “Quick! No wasting any time here.”

Most of the players were confused, and the ones who were not walked in quickly. The confused bunch at the gate got pushed in by the old security guard who then closed and locked the gate. The option of trying to get past the room by not entering was destroyed to the newbies. They watched as their only exit was blocked off by a thick red gate. The guard seemed to feel a little bit better after closing the gate and sighed, his attitude changing rapidly. “As the new night guards all you must do is check around and make sure no one is lurking around in the dark, okay? Try to check every place and don’t die.” The guard then proceeded to wave his hand at them casually and walk off, as if he told them to go buy milk at the store.

“That sudden?” The tall man who mentioned the player count frowned even further. The whole group now stood within the gates of the amusement park. The entrance was your typical amusement park except now all the lights were off giving the park a rather eerie feel.

“It’s called Wonderland, right?” The girl with pink hair read aloud the sign in the front. “Like Alice in Wonderland?”

“You’re probably correct.” The tall man nodded.

“Anyone could make that connection.” The arrogant boy smiled. “All we need to do is find the key right? It should be easy.”

“It said put the key together. The key most likely isn’t in one piece.” The frowning man revealed. “That means we also need to work together.”

The tall man stood next to another male who was much more cold looking. They seemed to know each other because while they were observing the other players they constantly glanced back at each other.

“Well, my name is Ji-Yoo. I’m a One. He is Soren and he is a Three.” The man who was frowning before said.

“My name is Li Bao, and I'm One!” The girl with pink hair exclaimed. Li Yan suddenly looked over at the girl and scrutinized her closely. His cousin had the same name, but he couldn’t be too sure since he had not seen her for years. Last time he checked, she had no dyed hair and was quite young. If that is really her, doesn’t that mean she is also dead?

Everyone slowly introduced themselves until it was only the elevator haired man and Li Yan left. The four girls were named Li Bao, Hailey, Yona, and Francis. The rest of the men were Ji-Yoo, Soren, Adonis, Nikolas, and Markus. Li Yan knew he wouldn’t remember those names, but he still tried to.

“What’s your name?” Li Bao asked Li Yan. “I’m Li Yan, a One.”

“Woah! YanYan?” Li Yan nodded, affirming his cousin’s identity. Although he was glad to meet someone he knew it was not necessarily a good thing.

“You guys know each other?” The person named Hailey asked. “He’s my cousin, we haven’t seen each other in years though.” Li Bao nodded. Hailey seemed to want to stick closely to Li Bao and inched even closer to her, holding her arm.

“I didn’t recognize you with the pink hair.” Li Bao gave a laugh. “Is it bad?” Li Yan shook his head no.

“Maybe we could officially team up later?” Li Bao asked. After hearing this Hailey glared at Li Yan a bit as if warning him.

“No sorry, I don’t plan on teaming for now.” Li Yan refused. Li Bao looked a bit regretful, but didn’t push further.

“What about you?” Li Bao asked the elevator man. He gave her a glance and then turned away walking off in the distance. “No need for names.” He waved and left.

“Quite rude of him.” Li Bao puffed out a breath of air. “Don’t mind him, he’s probably a veteran.” Ji-Yoo explained to the rest of the people standing there.

“I think most of you are quite new here, correct?” Everyone nodded. “Most players tend to keep their names or other information hidden. The group number assigned to us is usually how we group up most of the time, but in the Easy rooms you won’t see that as much since most newbies don’t have a grasp of what their numbers mean.” Ji-Yoo explained.

“You mean the One, Two, and Three?” The girl named Yona asked. “Yes, I’m sure your guide has already explained it.” Ji-Yoo nodded approvingly.

“Well, minus the guy who walked off. Why don’t we team up and split? There’s quite a lot of us here and it’s not really a good idea to walk altogether.” Ji-Yoo suggested. Everyone nodded and Ji-Yoo grouped everyone with at least one veteran.

“I can lead a team. I don’t need you to do it.” The arrogant boy from earlier, now known as Adonis, snarled at Ji-Yoo, who didn’t seem to care. “Do what you want, but don’t expect everyone to follow you.” Ji-Yoo shrugged and walked away.

In the end, Ji-Yoo, Soren, Yona, and Li-Yan made up group one. Adonis, Nikolas, and Francis made up group two. And group three consisted of Li Bao, Hailey, and Markus.

“We can meet up here later.” Ji-Yoo nodded off to the other groups as they walked away. Though they didn’t know an exact time, everyone would meet up in that spot eventually since time was limited. “We will go to the security office and gift shop to look around.” Ji-Yoo nodded to Li Yan and the others in the group before leading the way.

Everyone here seemed rather calm-ish, possibly because they haven’t experienced more than the trial room, but something about this room felt very off to Ji-Yoo. First, there was the obvious which was the amount of players, and second, was the difference in players. Players were either a complete newbie straight from the trial room or they were a veteran, there seemed to be no in-betweens which was very unusual for an easy room. He didn’t want to freak the others out with this information, so he withheld it, but he still couldn’t help but ask Soren next to him about it in a low whisper as the two newbies, Yona and Li Yan, trailed behind them.

“Isn’t this room a bit weird?” Ji-Yoo whispered. Soren looked at him briefly. Though Ji-Yoo was a fool, he liked to show off in front of newbies as a responsible leader. “A bit.” Soren agreed, looking at his foolish but dependable leader.

Li Yan and Yona trailed behind the two a few feet away, watching them whisper. “Is this really okay? I’m kind of scared.” Yona whispered to Li Yan whom she saw as a confidant.

“I’m scared too.” Li Yan nodded at her.

“You really don’t look like it…” Yona moved her gaze away from the monotonous face, suddenly feeling that maybe she was the odd one out in the group.

It’s not that Li Yan wasn’t a bit scared, but he really just didn’t know how to express it other than excessive sweat from his hands. He’s had little interaction with others all his life, so he also had no idea on how to comfort someone. He figured that maybe it would be best if he just kept quiet.

Their group walked into the giftshop first and looked around for a bit, only seeing some vibrant toys on the shelves and candy stacked on top of each other. The shop wasn’t too large, but it was enough to make any kid satisfied at least. The main colors of the amusement park consisted of light purple paired with a soft pink and yellow, making the surroundings particularly lively and childish. Luckily, along with the moonlight, wide windows, and bright colors the room wasn’t too hard to see in after their vision had adjusted to the dark more. From looking around the giftshop, the mascot of the park seemed to be a pair of twin bears, one with an X on its left cheek and the other with a heart shape on its right cheek. The bears were on the walls, on the shelves, and even the ceiling. A sticker with bubble letters saying “ALICE & BUNNY” was stuck on the wall above a sticker of the two bears.

“Must like bears, huh?” Ji-Yoo picked up a bear and played around with it a bit, smushing the bear towards Soren’s face to which Soren rightfully pushed him off. Seeing their interaction, Yona felt a little less scared. So far the IER hasn’t shown her anything scary, the first trial room was a simple escape room that would be seen at any escape room place in real life, but there was still a lingering fear of being in an unfamiliar environment that hadn’t passed.

“Didn’t it mention Alice and Bunny before? Are they the bears?” Soren wondered while grabbing a bear, but for a different reason than Ji-Yoo.

“What exactly are we looking for?” Yona asked. Ji-Yoo put the bear he was messing with back on the shelf and looked towards her. “The main task is to look for the parts of the key to escape through the gate. The gate is red, and the exit to the rooms will always be red. If it isn’t, it’s a trap. So be careful.”

“If that’s the main task, what else do we need to do?” Li Yan asked. “It’s not said in the prompts, but it is mostly required if you wish to clear the room easily, but you need to understand the story behind the room. Each room has a story behind it and some type of being who controls it. If I’m not wrong, the beings that control this room should be the so-called Alice and Bunny.” Ji-Yoo explained. Li Yan nodded as Yona seemed a bit worried.

“Are these rooms all scary?” She asked, though she feared that she already knew the answer. “Not all of the rooms are necessarily scary, but most of the time they are quite warped.” Ji-Yoo gave a sympathetic smile. “The trial rooms really aren’t very helpful in getting used to the real rooms in terms of mental preparation, but it doesn’t filter out some of the initial yelling and confusion of newbies.”

“Hey, Ji-Yoo. I need a light, it's too dark to see any details here.” Soren said from behind them. Ji-Yoo nodded and put a hand to his chin. “Let’s go to the security office.” Ji-Yoo motioned for the others and they all went to go to the neighboring security office.

“We should also grab a map, so if you see one grab it.” Ji-Yoo nodded towards Yona and Li Yan while Soren and him went to look for a light. The moonlight in this room didn’t illuminate as much as the giftshop did since the windows were a lot smaller and the room color much darker, but it was still manageable if they kept the door open.

“Here you guys go,” Ji-Yoo gave Yona and Li Yan both a flashlight before taking one for Soren and himself. “Soren, this is why we need to get some light props.” Soren nodded in agreement.

You are reading story I’m Stuck in an Infinite Escape Room at novel35.com

“Props?” Yona asked. “Your guide didn’t mention this?” Ji-Yoo asked. “Props or items or whatever you want to call them are objects that you can get from clearing rooms. They are quite rare, but some veterans that have been here longer than me have a bunch, but they are pretty scarce to us down at the bottom of the barrel. It’s not very evenly distributed, so about 1 out of 10 people would get a prop from a room if 10 people were in the same room.”

Yona nodded and Li Yan also noted this information down. “If your livestream is feeling nice they might also answer any questions you might have. But sometimes you may not want your livestream to know what you have since they could tell other players if they actively read chat. Of course they can also lie, so be careful all the time.”

“Livestream? I almost forgot.” Yona frowned and then glanced to the side of her where she was probably reading her livestream chat. “It’s easy to forget.” Ji-Yoo waved. “I also forget about mine, it isn’t very important unless you want to make your main income from there. Other than that you can ignore it.”

Li Yan also brought up his chat which had around the same amount of people as the trial room. They were mostly just discussing the room and how unique it was, but other than that it wasn’t anything important and Li Yan didn’t care enough to mess with it. He rather just ignored the livestream function since it didn’t interest him much.

“There are less people than when I was in the trial room.” Yona seemed to unintentionally say out loud. “The trial rooms are like those newly released sections, but after that it’s a bit harder to get traction unless you impress the viewers from another player's livestream. Think of it as stealing their viewers or whatever.” Ji-Yoo explained. Unlike Soren, he seemed to enjoy talking and guiding the newbies.

“AHHHHHHHHH!” A strong screech was suddenly heard and all four of them stopped moving. They all gave each other a glance before heading towards the sound which wasn’t too far from them. The sound ended up leading them towards a bathroom area and they soon found Adonis’s group.

“What happened?” Ji-Yoo asked running up to a girl standing outside of the bathroom stalls.

“Ah, sorry.” The girl trembled. “I was going in to look around but saw something in the mirror.” As she said this Adonis and the other boy came out of the bathroom.

“I didn’t see anything in there, Francis.” The boy next to Adonis said.

“It was probably just some animal.” Adonis sneered. “You didn’t have to yell for nothing.”

“S-Sorry.” The girl whispered, looking down at her feet. Ji-Yoo frowned at how condescending Adonis acted but didn’t do anything more.

“It’s good that you’re fine.” Ji-Yoo nodded as he motioned for his group to leave. Li Yan was about to follow when he suddenly saw that the girl named Francis had a brochure hanging from her hand.

“Do you have another one I could use?” Li Yan asked Francis. The girl looked a bit scared still, but she kindly pointed him to a stand a little bit away from the bathrooms. Ji-Yoo heard Li Yan and stopped to wait for him with the others as he went to grab the map.

“Nice! Not bad for a newbie. You’ve got good observation skills.” Ji-Yoo gave a big flashy smile and patted Li Yan’s hair. Li Yan frowned a bit at the unfamiliar touch and gave Ji-Yoo the map.

“I think we should go to the Ferris wheel.” Li Yan said. “Ah, why is that?” Ji-Yoo asked.

“Ferris wheels are usually the main ride that people think of, so it’s very likely that something related to the key would be there.” Li Yan explained his reasoning, to which Ji-Yoo applauded.

“Smart! I think you’d be a great addition to my team.” Ji-Yoo offered. Soren seemed a bit against the idea and elbowed Ji-Yoo in the side. “Hey, stop being so trusting.”

The four of them headed towards the Ferris wheel which had teapot shaped capsules colored accordingly to match with the rest of the park. The ride currently wasn’t on, but it still gave off quite a grand feel even without the lights.

“Should we get on?” Yona asked, looking at the closed doors of one of the teapots.

“Soren you stay down here and control the power, we can go up?” Ji-Yoo offered and Soren gave a nod.

“Can I also stay down here?” Yona asked. “I’m kind of scared of this place honestly.” Ji-Yoo gave a wave and Yona ran off to stand by Soren.

Although the lights were off, the park was not completely cut off of power and they easily fired up the Ferris wheel. The bright lights made the ride even more eye-catching and the doors opened for Ji-Yoo and Li Yan. Both of them got on the same cart and the ride began.

As they rose higher in the sky, they saw the whole park slowly come into view. Although the park wasn’t the biggest one ever, it wasn’t that small. The mascot bears could be seen everywhere from the ground to the walls of other buildings, and even the other groups could be seen.

“Ah! I see your cousin!” Ji-Yoo smiled pointing towards Li Bao and two others walking into a building that said “Where’s the Rabbit Hole?”

“I wonder what that building is?” Ji-Yoo continued to play around like this pointing at everyone and everything. He seemed to be in a playful mood, not affected at all by the situation.

“How many rooms have you done, Ji-Yoo?” Li Yan asked. He was a bit curious about the man who he thought was quite professional-like suddenly becoming a child on a Ferris wheel. “Four?” He said in a question-like manner.

After a bit of silence, he turned towards the side once again. “Look! It’s that nasty boy and his poor group.” Li Yan looked and saw Adonis and the other two entering what looked like a hedge maze. They were no longer close enough to read the signs clearly, but it was undoubtedly a maze that they entered.

They finally reached the very top of the Ferris wheel and had a perfect view of the whole park. Ji-Yoo let out a whistle as he kicked his legs and looked around more. “I would’ve loved to go here as a kid.”

Ji-Yoo glanced at the quiet Li Yan and saw that he had no reaction. Seemingly unbothered, he continued to talk.

“Alice and Money was it?” Ji-Yoo asked. “I wonder if it’s really them.”

“It’s Bunny not Money.” Li Yan finally responded to Ji-Yoo, and they both began to move down towards the start of the ride.

“There’s a compartment in this ride.” While Ji-Yoo was chatting earlier, Li Yan was looking around the capsule and finally found a compartment area under the bottom of the seat he was on. At first he thought it was gum he touched, but the area was cold and thin, like a handle. He thought it was something for the ride but when he opened it all he felt was emptiness.

After showing Ji-Yoo this, the ride finally stopped and the doors opened.

“Did you guys find anything?” Soren asked as they stepped out. “YanYan found a hidden compartment, but there was nothing in it.” Ji-Yoo patted his head again and Li Yan became immune to his actions quickly.

“We should check all the capsules then.” Soren nodded and his thoughts corresponded with Li Yan’s own. Soren controlled the ride to stop at every capsule at the bottom area while Ji-Yoo checked the area where Li Yan found the compartment. Finally something hard fell out of one of the compartments, and Yona moved over to take a look.

Yona let out a gasp and fell to the ground on her butt as she slowly started to crawl backwards. “T-That…” She started gasping more frantically as she got up and ran towards where Soren was while Li Yan walked towards Ji-Yoo who was frowning. Different from his earlier carelessness, he looked more serious and brooding.

“It’s an arm.” Ji-Yoo said as he inspected the body part. Li Yan looked at it and felt a bit sick as he looked at the larva crawling in the top part of the arm where there was a big bloody wound where the arm was separated from the body. The arm looked like that of a child around twelve years old with blood splattered around the point of dismemberment. The hand had dirt under the short nails, and it was obvious that this arm went through a struggle before it died as the nails were jagged.

Ji-Yoo grabbed the arm and inspected it, turning the arm around and around. “Should we take it with us?” Ji-Yoo laughed. “It will give us an extra hand.” He held up the hand and waved it around.

“Is it really okay to joke around right now?” Li Yan asked, but he felt a little amused at the same time. Yona also calmed down slightly. Ji-Yoo saw that his method to ease the newbies worked and grabbed the arm and walked out of the capsule. While he did that, the capsule door suddenly slammed shut. The three of them looked towards Soren, but he was nowhere near the control panel.

“I-It closed on its own?” Yona whispered, still shaking a bit. Almost as if it was a signal, carnival music started playing in a low manner, almost as if it was whispering in their ears. The ride started to move and the lights started flickering giving off a chill to those watching. The music started to get louder until the ride stopped at a teapot with a bright purple diamond pattern around it. The door to the capsule slowly opened, but nothing was there. The three of them looked to Soren who was not near the control panel, in the hopes that it was just him playing a joke. Unfortunately, Soren stood solemnly by the three of them, watching the door on guard.

“Is there nothing there?” Ji-Yoo asked, waving the dismembered arm with him as he made gestures with his hands, something he did frequently before but became more unsightly because of the bloody arm in his hands. “Maybe Alice and Bunny finally want to say hello?”

Yona looked relieved as she saw there was no danger and relaxed. She seemed to try to keep her distance away from the flailing arm in Ji-Yoo’s grasp. “Can you stop swinging that thing around? Why do we have to bring it with us?”

“The more dangerous it is, the closer we get to the truth, the sooner we leave.” Ji-Yoo raised an eyebrow. “Best that you learn that soon enough or else you’ll die.” Ji-Yoo pointed the severed arm towards her, making Yona jump away behind Li Yan who was still staring at the capsule door.

“I think we should run now.” Li Yan mentioned pointing towards the Ferris wheel where a small animatronic bear with a X on the left cheek was currently getting off of a capsule. “It doesn’t look friendly.” He moved his eyes down to the bear's hand which held a small pocket knife.

“Yo, Soren’s way ahead of us.” Ji-Yoo pointed to Soren who was already miles away and sprinting. Yona let out a scream and started running, almost catching up to Soren who had a head start. Li Yan and Ji-Yoo also started running, the arm in Ji-Yoo’s hand giving off an almost comedic effect as they ran. Li Yan almost couldn’t run because of the sight and had to look the opposite way of Ji-Yoo.

Li Yan glanced back and saw the bear sprinting at them full speed, sweat dripped down Li Yan’s head as he ran. He was at the back due to his poor physique of staying at home, Ji-Yoo was already a few paces ahead of him while the bear was not too far from his back. Li Yan felt a horrifying chill going down his back of the fear of imminent death. The bear seemed to be getting faster, yet Li Yan’s stamina was slowly draining, he felt the sharp cold knife try to swipe his back, but luckily it once hit his shirt for the most part, leaving only a small scratch on his back. A bit of blood fell from the small cut, and it gave a sharp burn like a papercut would. Li Yan gasped as he ran, and a rush of adrenaline of almost getting stabbed helped boost him to where the other three were already in hiding waiting for him to run in.

“Hurry!” Ji-Yoo urged. “You need to work out more!” He yelled the obvious as Li Yan threw himself into the room and the other three quickly shut the door and locked it. The blade which could have hit Li Yan’s spine hit the door, and only the sharp tip of the pocket knife could be seen through the door. Although they felt safe, the knife started to make more protruding tiny holes like a hole puncher and the four of them felt their anxiety rise.

Li Yan was dripping with sweat and gasping as he laid on the group where he fell. He grabbed the edge of a shelf and pushed down trying to stand himself up.

“We can’t stay here for long!” Yona whisper-yelled and started to hurriedly look for an exit, but the room they were in was for storage so there was no other exit than the door. It was completely dark inside, so they used their flashlights to look for a solution while Li Yan caught his breath.

“Bye-bye.” A robotic voice spoke and suddenly the bear stopped poking holes. The noise stopped, but all of them still held their breath in anticipation before sighing in relief after a few minutes passed. To be safe, Ji-Yoo cracked the door open and looked around before giving them a thumbs up.

“Let’s go to the meeting spot.” Ji-Yoo nodded towards the others. “Keep a watch out for anything dangerous. This is a world where ghosts and monsters exist afterall.”

After the scare, Yona looked a bit more adapted and was looking off somewhere to her side. “You guys try being in this situation. You’d be nervous too.” She was frowning somewhere off to the side, presumably talking to her livestream viewers.

“Don’t bother responding to people like that. Some of them just like to watch people in fear.” Ji-Yoo waved.

“It still makes me mad. They’re so insensitive.”

Ji-Yoo gave a hopeless shrug while Soren frowned. “IER sounds like a gift, but it’s hell.” Soren, who only talked to Ji-Yoo before, mentioned. His ideology was the complete opposite of what Lily said earlier. “They watch us like we are animals in a zoo.” He gave a click of his tongue in disdain. “Just don’t look at it.”

Ji-Yoo looked sympathetic at Soren. “Soren.” He said in a warning tone, and Soren stopped talking. He looked at Yona and Li Yan again.

“Shall we get going now?” Ji-Yoo smiled, successfully changing the subject and attention of Li Yan and Yona.

They all walked towards where they said they would meet and saw Adonis’ group huddled in a circle and arguing.

“I shouldn’t have gone with you!” The boy who Li Yan couldn’t remember the name of yelled. “You don’t know shit.” He sneered, holding Francis back.

“I told you, I know more than those veterans! My brother runs a really strong team and he can help you guys.” Adonis gritted his teeth.

“Well, it’s too late.” He sobbed, finally seeming to break down after building up his anger. “She’s dead.”

“Dead?” Yona asked as she walked up, catching the attention of the two people.

“Francis is dead.” The sobbing boy said, pointing to Adonis. “It’s all his fault.”