《The Rulers Game》 Prologue: Voting Game Prologue It was a beautiful night, the sky is clear and the stars are bright. A young man with black hair about 17 year old is entering a tiny apartment. He is wearing a blue jacket and black jeans. He fishes his house keys from his pockets and opens the door from his apartment. Xiles Winterheart came back from his part-time job. He was tired and exhausted from work and jumped in his bed. Xiles is looking at his mobile, there is one new message from an unknown number. He opened the message and an encrypted site is displayed on his mobile. ¡°What is is this? Sort of spam?¡± Xiles opened it and a pop-up appeared.
Do you desire money and power or you just want challenge in your life? Choose yes to join The Rulers Game, choose no and the message will automatically get deleted .
¡°Yep, it¡¯s a scam.¡± Xiles chooses no and immediately closed his eyes to sleep. He needs to get up early tomorrow because of school. Moments later, his phone began to flicker. Xiles accidentally touched on yes instead of no. A message appeared again.
Congratulations, you joined The Rulers Game!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Xiles Pov I was dreaming about having a beautiful girlfriend. She was playing a beautiful piano tune. I don¡¯t remember her face clearly. It¡¯s blurry and vague. But I know she was beautiful. It was a nice feeling though. I opened my eyes, waking up from such nice dream. I immediately notices something is wrong. What?! Nothing in this room is resembling my room at all! ¡°Where am I?¡± I was lying down on a floor. I¡¯m in a sort of spacious main hall. A giant chandelier with a beautiful decoration is hanging on the ceiling. There are two paintings on each side of the walls. Paintings of the sea,forest,sky and the earth. A large screen is hanging on the opposite side of the chandelier. There is north,south,west,east hallway. Each hallway has one door on different sides of the wall, I try to open it but it¡¯s locked. What is this place? It¡¯s looks like I¡¯m inside a villa or a huge mansion. There are no stairs so only one big floor. Suddenly a weird sound is ringing in my ears, four blue lights appeared on the floor. I saw something unbelievable. Bodies of people are slowly emerged inside the blue lights and four people laid down on the floor unconsciousness. Is this teleportation? But this is impossible! This phenomenon only happens in sci-fi movies! This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.That means I¡¯m also teleported to here? I walk towards the four people and take a closer look. It was 3 guys and 1 girl. I didn¡¯t recognize any of them. The girl wakes up, her body is moving a little. She slowly open her eyes then realize she is in unknown room. The girl had long black hair and is seriously cute.I think she is the same age as me.She was wearing a white t-shirt and pink short pants that shows her slender snow white legs. There is no a trace of makeup in her face. ¡°.....Ah!.....¡± The girl shows a panicked reaction She looks around and her eyes is addressing me. Her eyes are big and bright, she moves her delicate mouth and asks in a trembling tone ¡°What is this place?¡± There is no way I can¡¯t answer her. Let¡¯s think about this situation through again. I was back from my part-time work and went directly to bed. I have school tomorrow that¡¯s why I needed sleep. The only thing that¡¯s abnormal is the spam message I received on my mobile. ¡°Do you also receive an encrypted link about something called The ruler¡¯s game?¡± I asked to the girl ¡°E-eh? How did you know?!¡± This isn¡¯t coincidence anymore, I probably accidently chose yes. I was tired and didn¡¯t notice it, how stupid of me.. This is the The ruler¡¯s game. ¡°We are inside the game now, because you have chosen yes.¡± The girl can¡¯t believe it, her knees are falling on the floor. ¡°I thought it was a joke!¡± ¡°You were sleeping with those clothes? Right?¡± I quickly asked the girl to confirm my suspicion The girl is still clearly confused and shocked about this situation and answered ¡°I was playing with my phone and then some weird message appeared. ¡°I chooses on yes and a message is popping out. I fell unconscious after reading the message. When I wake up again, I¡¯m in this room.¡± Clothing that you are wearing on the time of teleportation are transferred here. The three men are beginning to awake too. Five more blue lights are appearing on the floor and more people are teleported in here. Those five awakened a minute later. ¡°Where are we? What is this place? What the hell is going on?¡± They all asked Before I can explain what¡¯s going on, the large tv above us automatically switched on. A figure with a golden mask appeared on the tv screen. He says with a robotic voice
You are all awake now! Then I Welcome you all to The Ruler¡¯s Game
Chapter 0: Explanation and rules about the Voting Game+Introduction Chapter 0: Explanation and rules about the Voting Game+Introduction Xiles Pov The figure with the golden mask and robotic voice continues
That¡¯s right, you all choses YES and thus joined this game.
¡°A game?!¡± a boy about thirteen years old says in an excited voice. He was one of the last people who teleported here. A middle aged salaryman shouts ¡°This is joke right?! You are kidnapping us to play a stupid game! I don¡¯t have time for this.¡± This guy belongs to the first four who teleport here, he didn¡¯t know that. I¡¯m the only one who witnessed the scene. This girl too, I glanced at her. The golden mask guy is beginning to explainin what the hell The Ruler¡¯s Game is.
The Ruler''s game is a collection of different games together. From political type of games to survival type of games. You can gather points during those games. With those points with you can exchange real money or in-game items.
Hearing you can exchange points you acquired during the games with really money, everyone is staring at the tv screen with focused faces.
To earn points you need to complete objectives in the games. Objectives are divided into three categories: Main,Side and Special To clear the game you need only to complete one main objective. With other words there are different ways to clear the game.
All what he said sounds logical to me, until the next phrase.
Fail the main objective and you will DIE from a heart attack into the real world. You consciousness is transported inside this virtual world while you are asleep. One hour inside here is equal one minute inside the real world. You will feel hunger and thirst inside this world so if you don''t eat or drink for days you will die too.
¡°What?! You mean we can die from it if we fail the main objective?¡± A girl with blond hair shouted ¡°I can¡¯ believe this bullshit, until I witness with my own eyes. Virtual world? Dead? Heart Attack?¡± An man with African roots said in angry manner ¡°Don¡¯t fucking kidding me!¡± A man with russian accent is shouting I look at the reactions of the other ¡°participants¡±, some are in panic, others can¡¯t believe it. There is only one guy who doesn¡¯t show his emotions. Strange, he is surprisingly calm under this circumstances. ¡°I don¡¯t want to play this game anymore! I will to go back into the real world!¡± A man wearing glasses said.
You can''t leave the game until you finished one of the main objectives. Well, you can end yourself right here if you desire death.
A guy in glasses, try to open the doors of the hallways. ¡°It¡¯s locked!¡± he shouted I assume the doors will be unlocked after the game start. The guy with the golden mask disappeared from the tv, in it¡¯s place the rules and objectives are displayed.
Now let''s explain the main game for today. It''s called Voting Game. There are three ways to clear this game.
Main Objective 1: Survive for 4 hours +50 points
Main Objective 2: Majority votes on the host +100 points if you voted on him, if not you gain 0 points.
Main Objective 3: Guess who the host is amongst you and win a deathmatch against him/her +500 points
Side Objective : Votes on you are converted into points if you aren¡¯t the eliminated target. Each vote is 50 points worth
Special Objective : You gain 1000 points if hosts dies while choosing you as X-target
Rules: -Murder is disabled in this game, with other words players can''t use violence in the Voting Game or he/she will get penalized with death. -There is a host in this game, he already experiences this sort of games before. He is hidden amongst you 11. The host has a different condition to win this game. -Each hour, you are required to vote for one person to be "Eliminated from the game." This person will die if the majority vote is on him or her. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.-If two people have the same majority vote, then both died. You can''t draw votes in this game. -At the start of the game special made phones are distributed amongst you. You can see objectives and other things on the phone. -You will vote and guess the "host" with this phone. Votes are locked after you choose a person. You cannot change your votes. -If you guess is incorrect, you will died immediately and your phone will self-destruct. -Game will automatically end after four hours, the ones who are alive cleared the game. -Deathmatch games are randomized. The rules will appeared on the tv screen once the game have been decided. -The host will get randomly target assigned at the third voting round of the game.
Host Win Condition: Survive for 4 hours +500 points
Host Win Condition 2: Someone guessed you identity right, win the deathmatch against him/her +500 points
Host Win Condition 3: Win if your X-target died. +1000 points
To win you need either to kill the host or survive for four hours, huh? The hosts have experienced the games before. Could be the host,that guy who stared calmly at the tv screen from before? I glanced at him, his emotions are still unchanged. The others are all looking at each other wondering what to do. I need to explain them something first. ¡°It¡¯s probably true what that masked guy is saying. I saw all of you teleporting here. It means there is something supernatural going on. If you don¡¯t believe me ask this girl he saw it too. They looked at the girl to confirm it. ¡°I-it¡¯s true.¡± The girl said ¡°Wh-who said that you 2 aren¡¯t our kidnappers?¡± The glasses eyed eyed at us suspiciously. Ah fuck it, I¡¯m not explaining to this idiot. Let him be suspicious, I don¡¯t care. ¡°How about we each state our name and our profession first?¡± A middle aged man with a fat belly asked in a gentle tone. I will begin, he said. ¡°My name is Garasa Enki. I¡¯m a food expert.¡± A Japanese name, now that you mention it, there are several ethnicities here. No one is enthusiastic about introducing themselves, after all, I guess I will try first. ¡°Xiles Winterheart, I¡¯m a last year high school student from Canvas, an international school.¡± Seeing me introduce myself, the girl with long black hair began to introduce herself too. ¡°My name is Lucia Vermillion, a third year high school student.¡± A woman about 28-years old with brown hair, wearing a sexy black night lingerie introduce herself. ¡°I¡¯m Aria Vellita, manager. Hehe, please don¡¯t vote during the game.¡± she said in a seductive voice. I notice several people are staring her with a lecherous look. One of the people, the middle aged salaryman said ¡°I¡¯m Philippe Goosens, an insurance specialist. What are we going to do now?¡± ¡°Play the game or die.¡± The silver haired guy said ¡°How can you so calm during this time?¡± Philippe asked ¡°.....Zero.. My name.¡± After mentioning his name, this Zero guy walks away from the crowd. This guy is so chuuni, is he alright? He was quite handsome and I noticed the girl with blond hair is staring at her. There''s something I also noticed, he is wearing normal clothes just like me. I¡¯m too lazy to change my clothes. Five people are wearing normal clothes including me. It¡¯s like he knows there is game tonight and is preparing for it. Is this the host? I asked myself again. More people are introducing themselves after seeing us do it. The African guy is called James Woods. His profession is patisserie baking. Stephy Lake is the name of the blonde girl and she is a university student in Lost bridge. A large guy with a Russian accent introduce himself as ¡°Boris Petrov, he is a professional boxer.¡± The kid who is excited in the games is called Vince Lind and of course he is only a middle school student. This kid probably have adhd or something because he won¡¯t stop moving and biting his nails. Finally glasses guy introduces himself ¡°Park Kim-Yun, a member of Mensa, Law student at Harvard. We all know the names of the participants now. But I notice that everyone is eyeing suspiciously at each other. Even the gentle looking Garasa Enki is doing this. I guess this is normal because we will vote each other after an hour when this game starts. We actually will become murders unless we can get hosts. Chapter 1: Voting Game Start Chapter 1: Voting Game Start A message appears on the tv screen:
Voting Game officially starts in one minute.
We are all waiting with suspense for the game. Should I guess Zero as the host? He is the most suspicious person in my eyes. An round table is rising in the middle of the floor. Eleven phones are lying on the table. They look like i-phones. A voice announcing the start of the game. The time remaining is displayed on the tv screen and phone.
Voting Game officially starts now
Time Remaining: 04.00.00
I checked my phone and see what¡¯s displayed on the screen. First the 3 main objectives, side objective and special objective with explanation are on the screen. I checked the participants name and no one is lying about their names. Zero is this guy really name, so weird. I didn¡¯t touch the vote options yet, it¡¯s for later. Looking at my points and it¡¯s of course zero. [In-Game Items] and [Money] is disabled for some reason. Maybe it¡¯s because I don¡¯t have points yet? Or this game you can¡¯t buy [In-Game items] or exchange your points in [money] I check the vote options and see everyone''s name except for my own. So that means this phone is authenticating my fingerprints to prove I¡¯m the owner of this phone? ¡°Everyone, the doors are unlocked!¡± Garasa shouted. I go to every room and inspect it. There are totally 8 rooms in this place. The first room I visits is in the north hallway. The left door is already open and it¡¯s the kitchen. Various of food on plate are lying on rectangle table with a red cloth. The kitchen closets are filled with snacks,chips,cookies and junk food. I opened the fridge and it¡¯s filled with drinks. You literally can¡¯t die here from hungry or thirst. Maybe if our food expert is hungry, but I don¡¯t think he can eat this amount of food. I left the kitchen and entered into the right door of the hallway. It¡¯s a washroom, nothing special here. I went to the east hallway and encounter Lucia. She is leaning with his back on the wall while staring at her phone. ¡°Yo, anything special in those two rooms?¡± She stops with looking at her phone and turn her face to me. ¡°Two single sized bed sleeping room. There isn¡¯t anything particularly weird inside those two rooms, ¡± she replied ¡°You look worried, is it about the voting?¡± Lucia turn her face to the wall and said, ¡°O-of course, I¡¯m scared being the one voted. I¡¯m also scared to vote someone!¡± ¡°Someone is playing those games before.¡± I said ¡°That announcer said, he is someone amongst our 11.¡± Lucia said ¡°It can be a she, by the way.¡± ¡°You suspect me?!¡± Lucia angrily asked ¡°Well, there are two females besides you.¡± I calmly said to her ¡°Ah.. I¡¯m sorry for my outburst.¡± Lucia apologized to me ¡°I¡¯m going to check the two bedrooms.¡± I said to Lucia I walk pass by her and entered the left door. Uh, this looks like a little girl¡¯s bedroom, there are several plush toys. Ranging from a bear to an alligator. Bed sheets are pink and several cute things are in bed. I left this room and entered the right door, like I thought it¡¯s a boys room. There are miniature cars and other toys in the room. Gazing around the room, I found nothing special noteworthy. Before I left the room, someone is grabbing my shirt It¡¯s that seductress! What¡¯s her name again? She is still wearing her provoking clothing, I asked ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± ¡°Do you have a moment?¡± She asked in a seductive voice I glanced over shoulders and saw Lucia looking at me with her head shaking. ¡°What do you want said?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s vote for Zero.¡± she suddenly whispered in my ears I wasn¡¯t shocked by her suggestion at all. Zero is the most suspicious amongst us. This isn¡¯t a movie, anime or novel where an epic plot twist will happen. Voting for him is the most normal and logical option. But I answered too her ¡°I will think about.¡± She smiled and said ¡°There are already 5 voting for him, including me.¡± In such short time she already collects four votes? What a scary woman! I guess she collected her votes from those weak willed men in our group. They failed to withstand her seduction. She needs one more vote and it¡¯s enough to kill Zero. That¡¯s why she uses such seductive voice on me. Maybe she is the host?! ¡°Well?!¡± That woman is still looking at me, hoping I¡¯m voting for Zero. If Zero isn¡¯t the host than she is the most suspicious person after him. What should I do now? Accepting her request and voting for Zero means I¡¯m joining her little group. She basically got the majority on her palms. If Zero isn¡¯t the host and the next voting starts, she can probably use his seduced minions to vote for someone who is not in her group. The host will win if she or he will survive for four hours. If she is the host, that means she already won if I voted for Zero. Which four are in her group? I noticed Philippe, James Woods and Boris are staring at her with those perverted eyes. Probably those three plus one other man other than Zero are her minions. Glasses guy or Garasa? I didn¡¯t consider the kid as a possible candidate. ¡°Did they show their votes to you?¡± I asked seriously ¡°Of c-course! That''s why I¡¯m so confident having 5 votes.¡± They already locked their votes! Fucking idiots! If I refuse her, I will probably by her next target. My hand is a little sweaty now, the pressure is too much for me. I¡¯m the one who will decide the fate of Zero. A feeling of anxiety is creeping into my heart. Isn¡¯t this basically a mass-murder? We didn¡¯t dirty our hands, but this still feels wrong. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. It¡¯s hypocritical to think that way, you need to kill someone to win anyway. Why not kill the possible host to minimize the casualties? Wait! Something is wrong about her voice. I noticed she stuttered through the sentence when mentioning about the votes. Ah! That must be it, she is lying about the votes. That¡¯s why she is desperately clinging to me now. If she has really had 5 votes, she wouldn¡¯t waste her time on me. ¡°I won¡¯t vote for Zero.¡± I said clearly so even Lucia can hear it That woman looking at me with an angry face ¡°Hmph, so you are refusing me? You pay for that.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have 5 votes, stop lying to me.¡± Her face is slightly twitching confirming she is lying. ¡°Wait.¡± she said I just ignored her and walk to Lucia and said ¡°You should watch out for this woman.¡± Lucia nodded without asking questions. Aria was walking pass by and looks angrily at me and her figure disappeared into the main hall. Her plan just failed. No,I can¡¯t assume she hasn¡¯t any allies. I went back to the main hall looking at the tv-screen to see how much time is left for voting. That woman isn¡¯t here. What is she planning?
Time Remaining 03:27:42
About 27 minutes left till voting. I looked at the corner and saw Zero and the blond girl talking about something. Perhaps it¡¯s related to voting or the host? Anyway I explore the rest of the rooms. I proceed to the south hallway and saw the korean glasses guy deep in thought. ¡°Found anything in those rooms?¡± I asked to him because I¡¯m too lazy to examine the rooms ¡°See it for yourself.¡± He said with a condescending tone. I really want to punch this fucking bastard really hard.Act high and mighty because you got a high iq? It doesn¡¯t mean shit if you can¡¯t use brain to survive in a situation like this. I opened the door on my right, it¡¯s a storeroom. Toolboxes,wood pieces, some metal pieces and several paintings are stored here. I want to go the other room but glasses guy is in front of the door. ¡°Can I enter this room?¡± I asked ¡°No.¡± He simple said ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because I own this room.¡± he arrogantly said Calm down, think about your heart! This guy is not worth of it. He is really a manchild! Even that middle school kid is acting more adult than him. ¡°I know who the host is.¡± He said with a confident tone ¡°Oh, why don¡¯t you try to guess him than?¡± I asked with a mocking tone ¡°It¡¯s my trump card, I¡¯m only using when the majority vote is on me.¡± ¡°Can you at least tell me what for room it is behind you.¡± ¡°Hmph, the answer is no.¡± Is he doing this on purpose? Wait, is his strategy to piss everyone off to vote for him so he would guess the host and go to the deathmatch with him. Nah,what would he do that? Is not even beneficial for him. Think! what¡¯s the reason why he is provoking people? Votes¡­¡­¡­¡­.Points¡­¡­..Minority¡­¡­..Side objective¡­... So that¡¯s his plan, he wants to be voted to earn points. So long it¡¯s not the majority he keep earning points. Since I can¡¯t get any answers from him I just left and went to the west hallway. I don¡¯t think exploring those rooms will actually helping me to clear the game or anything. It¡¯s just for wasting my time , better than staring at my phone for 4 hours. I walk through the hallway and saw the left door is open. I peeked inside and saw Zero curiously reading some books. It¡¯s an old fashioned office from the 19th century. On the table, there lay a ming-dynasty chinese vase. Two paints of unknown man are hanging above the door and on the other side above the table. An antique grandfather clock is standing the left wall. There is also large sofa where Zero is sitting and a small round table with coffee cups in front of it. ¡°So, what are you reading?¡± I asked to Zero Zero ignored my question and continued flipped the pages. Then he said ¡°The art of war.¡± The art of war huh? ¡°Why are you calm at this moment? Everyone is thinking how do clear this game and you are just reading in this room.¡± ¡°Life is boring if you think about. Work,sleep and eat and beyond that they will do sport,game,watching movies,internet,read etc. You will eventually grew tired about it. Life is nothing short of an unfolding spark of hollow joy. ¡°Me and you are just the two people out of the billions people here on earth. No matter how hard we try we won¡¯t change history. Those who are important will forgotten in a million years.¡± Zero said in with a melancholy voice ¡°So, what¡¯s your point?¡± I asked ¡°The Rulers Game is something that put humans out of their comfort zone, I find this intriguing. I want see how all of you will react when you forced into a corner.¡± Now, this is a pretentious guy who is spouting bullshit. In novels and mangas he will probably the smart guy who knows everything and survive until the end. If he got killed in the first round, than I will laugh at him. Minutes ago, I condemned myself for possible murdering him, hypocritical isn¡¯t it? Zero closed the book put in on the round table and left the room without saying anything. I¡¯m leaving too. I walked back and entered the right door. It¡¯s a living room, there is another tv screen here but it¡¯s not on. There are two sofa¡¯s and one old wooden chair in this room. Two cabinets about 1.5m tall stood nearby the left wall. The floor is covered with a blue carpet. There is large mirror showing me wearing my normal clothes and blue jeans. Nothing special about this room either. There is one room I have yet to visit, that guy is he gone?