Josh raised an eyebrow unexpectedly: "There’s such a twisted way to play?"

Rob nodded vigorously beside him: "You wouldn’t believe it. Back when our Golden Shit Stirrer first formed, we were making a mark in the auditions and ran into plenty of Death Warriors. Those guys fight like they have nothing to lose!"

Hearing this, Josh looked toward Yuze with some concern.

She knew he could handle it, but she was worried his spiritual power might go out of control.

Yuze caught her eyes, showing a knowing expression. He gave her a reassuring glance and took the last piece of beef from her bowl.

Josh: "...You’re sick."

Yuze: "Weren’t you asking for help because you couldn’t finish it?"

Josh laughed angrily: "Open your eyes and see if that looked like an asking-for-help expression from me?"

Yuze nodded: "Yes, it was."

Josh stabbed forward with her chopsticks, snatching back the beef from his bowl, only for Yuze to intercept it again.

Ma Qi watched the two with a weathered expression. He didn’t understand; when Josh first joined the team, she was so obedient. Her eyes sparkled during meetings, she sat straight, full of spirit and focus, which made everyone fond of her.

When did she turn into a little rascal like Yuze, always joking around during meetings?

He should have personally kept Josh by his side and taught her, not for the sake of convenience, leaving her in Yuze’s care...

A piece of beef flew over, hitting his tablet.

The meeting room went silent for a moment, then erupted into a roar.

"You two, if you want to fight, take it outside! Only come back after one of you is dead!"

*

Once rested, the five of them split up to draw their instances.

Josh was the last to draw and got "Escape from Madman Prison," a solo instance.

She looked worriedly at Yuze’s instance on the screen.

His instance seemed far more dangerous, with more participants, too. Hopefully, last night’s comfort could effectively prevent him from going berserk inside the instance.

Josh withdrew her gaze, drew her Identity Card, and entered the instance.

[Welcome to the instance "Escape from Madman Prison."]

[In a shabby prison, a group of madmen is held captive. They are extremely brutal with antisocial personalities. The prison allows for one hour of yard time each day. Rumor has it that someone dies during this time every day, but the guards can never find the cause of death among the prisoners.

These madmen, determined to kill, cannot be stopped by anyone, not even the guards.

They are trapped by the prison itself, not the guards...

Over time, newcomers to the prison often don’t survive more than three days before being killed.

There is no pattern to the deaths...]

[Please prepare to start the game, countdown one minute, 59, 58, 57...]

[Ding! Countdown over, the game officially begins, please take it seriously, and play civilly.]

[Your identity is a newly arrived death row inmate, among a total of 20 entrants.]

[Your task is to survive 20 days in the prison.]

Josh opened her eyes and was already in the prison.

It was a very small room with only a bed, and a toilet, and nothing else.

No windows, square walls all around, and only a bulb on the ceiling, with no switches in the room, so the guards must control the lights-out time.

There was also a seemingly heavy iron door.

Josh frowned slightly, hearing the sound of a commotion outside.

It sounded like a guard was cursing someone out.

"Little bastard, you really think you’re an emperor? Won’t eat? Then starve you for two days!"

"Got it."

"Ouch! Why are you hitting me? Do you know who I am? Strange, where is this place? Why am I here?"

As soon as the words finished, the sound of whipping came from outside again.

Her room door opened, and a few men were shoved inside.

The main door was closed again.

Josh frowned slightly, then noticed something odd about her body.

She... seemed to be a man?

The Identity Card only mentioned being a prisoner, not whether male or female.

This was clearly a men’s prison.

Her hair was very short, her chest flat, and she wasn’t short; she must be a man.

Josh’s eyes glanced over to the schedule on the back of the door.

The newcomers were gathered around it.

"What kind of broken game is this, getting locked up as soon as you get in! How are we supposed to complete the mission?"

"Hey, why aren’t any of you talking?" The brash voice sounded quite familiar.

Josh looked unobtrusively over, noticing the person’s behavior... it resembled someone she knew before.

Unexpectedly, the person immediately recognized her, rushing over: "You’re... oof!"

Josh quickly covered the person’s mouth.

She guessed who it was.

The person was still struggling frantically: "Mmm...￥%#@...%##￥@#" I’m Mina! Josh, don’t you recognize me?

Josh found it strange; could it be she now looked exactly like herself?

Otherwise, how did Mina recognize her at a glance?

The others looked at them strangely, their gazes becoming more wary.

Everyone here was in for a solo fight, having entered the instance individually.

Seeing these two acting like they knew each other, the others naturally assumed the two had teamed up on the spot.

During a solo challenge, teaming up gave a player an advantage, making them prime targets for everyone else.

Josh looked at these individuals coolly, eyes reflecting some caution.

Mina shrank behind Josh, clearly sensing the hostility from everyone.

Josh couldn’t help but palm her forehead. Alone was hard enough; now she had a pig of a teammate.

She and Mina had added each other as friends.

If both were in the same instance, the system’s friends chat function could be used.

If Mina recognized her, she could have simply sent a message.

With more people gathering around.

Josh had no choice but to send Mina a message through the system: [Don’t stay too close to me, or it’ll cause misunderstandings.]

Mina quickly responded: [!! It really is you! This is great; we’re in the same instance again.]

Josh: [Stay away from me.]

Mina: [!!! Why are you so heartless? We just met during New Year; don’t you remember? Did I scare you by being too enthusiastic?]

Josh: [This is a solo instance; sticking together draws fire. Didn’t you see the others’ eyes, ready to knife us both?]

Mina, upon hearing this, suddenly realized, then quickly replied: [Oh, that’s how it is! I’ll keep my distance then; I won’t let my bad luck rub off on you!]

Josh glanced at her, watching as she indeed moved some distance away, squinting slightly.

She didn’t think anyone who made it this far from the auditions could be too dumb.

Even if there were, most had already been screened out.

With Mina’s unlucky streak, surviving this long meant she definitely had some skills.

So, she wouldn’t consider Mina to be a naive girl.

Earlier, she had touched her face, and she must have changed her appearance, yet Mina recognized her in seconds, proving she was anything but simple.

She couldn’t rule out the possibility that Mina intended to draw aggro this way, to eliminate her from the instance.

After all, friends outside, but inside the instance... that’s not guaranteed.