Chapter 1 Gem Appreciation - Qualification Activation

[Welcome to Hunting Ground No. 86574. Congratulations on being among the first batch of lucky chosen players. Your game qualification has been activated. Game ID: 526. Loading in progress. Please prepare, players. Countdown begins: ten seconds, 9, 8, 7... 3, 2, 1.]

[Ding—]

In the final second of the countdown, Bai Xiao seemed to be startled awake by the mechanical female voice. Her gaze refocused on the light screen before her. At that moment, the text on the light screen began to fade, plunging everything before her into darkness.

Bai Xiao stood frozen in bewilderment within the darkness. What place was this? What was happening?

What was that about a hunting ground? A game? Being chosen?!

It was too bizarre. Was she dreaming? It must be from working too hard lately, pulling two weeks of consecutive overtime, working from dawn till dusk until her mind was no longer clear.

But that didn't seem right either. She had worked late again today and just wanted to hurry home, take a shower, and go straight to bed.

She vaguely remembered leaving the bathroom, turning off the main bedroom light out of habit, and skillfully navigating the dark to reach her bed. She had thought about turning on the bedside lamp first to charge her phone before sleeping. The moment she switched on the light, a metallic glint momentarily dazzled her eyes.

Could it be that card? It was a card that had appeared out of nowhere on her nightstand. It was about the size of a bank card, pitch black and completely matte. In the center of the card was a black butterfly with its wings spread. The butterfly looked incredibly lifelike, its entire body shimmering with fine, scattered golden light—mysterious and beautiful.

Curious, she picked up the card. The instant she lifted it, the butterfly on the card seemed to tremble its wings slightly. A flash of golden light, and when she opened her eyes again, she was faced with the scene she had just witnessed.

Fortunately, the darkness didn't last long. A few seconds later, the entire space lit up again. The intense light stung her eyes, making her instinctively raise a hand to shield them.

Squinting, Bai Xiao was trying hard to adjust to the sudden brightness after the darkness.

"Holy crap, where the hell is this?!"

"Ah! Who are you people! Where is this?"

"Who locked me up! Is anyone there! Let me out!"

"...!"

Only after her eyes had fully adjusted to the light did Bai Xiao see that the shouting was coming from across the way.

She lifted her gaze to survey her surroundings. It was a completely unfamiliar place—a space resembling a cave, yet it wasn't cramped. On the contrary, it was quite spacious, roughly the size of a basketball court.

The entire space was unusually bright. The light wasn't from lamps; it seemed to emanate naturally from the walls and ceiling, which was very peculiar.

In this large space, there were now eight people including herself. Each person was confined within a room surrounded by iron bars on all sides.

To be precise, this inexplicable place now somewhat resembled an ancient prison cell. There were four rooms against each of the two walls, with a narrow path running down the middle. One end of the path was a wall, while the other end stretched into an unknown, shadowy distance.

Bai Xiao pressed her lips tightly together. Her clenched hands were growing slightly numb from the excessive force, her rounded nails digging deeply into her palms. The pain told her this was no illusion!

"What is this place?" she murmured to herself instinctively, not crying out like the others.

She desperately tried to stay calm. Scanning the room she was in, she found it completely empty. She then quickly walked to the iron door and pushed against it with all her might. It wouldn't budge at all, not even making a sound.

"It won't open. I tried." The voice came from the right.

Bai Xiao followed the sound. The speaker was a woman with medium-length hair wearing form-fitting yoga attire—a face she had never seen in her life.

After speaking, the other woman didn't pay her any further attention, instead continuing to tap and knock around her own cell.

"What's happened to us? Why are we here? What on earth is going on?!" roared the man directly opposite Bai Xiao. He wore a slightly wrinkled suit uniform, dressed like a real estate agent.

"No idea. I was just delivering food, climbing the stairs, when I found a black card on the ground. I thought someone had dropped a bank card. The moment I picked it up, the place changed." The speaker was the delivery person in the room to the left of the Man in a Suit, still wearing his helmet.

"I don't know either. I had just finished preparing my lessons for the evening and wanted to go for a walk in the park. I also found a black card there."

"I ordered takeout. There was a black card in the bag. I thought it was another one of those little cards asking for a good review and went to pick it up to throw it away, and then I was here."

"..."

Listening to them recount the events before their arrival one by one, Bai Xiao also took the opportunity to clearly see everyone's positions.

Two rows of rooms, four cells per row. Using the direction extending outward from the central path as a reference, she was in the second cell of the right row. The first cell was the woman in yoga clothes who had just told her the door wouldn't open. The third cell held a boy in a black T-shirt with fashionable permed hair, looking like a university student. The fourth cell was a bit far; Bai Xiao couldn't make out the person's face clearly, but judging by their build, it was a burly man.

Opposite, the first cell held the delivery person. The second cell held the Man in a Suit. The third cell held a middle-aged woman in a blue dress. The person locked in the final cell wore the strangest outfit—a boy dressed in Hanfu.

None of them knew each other...

"Not to be rude, but shouldn't we stop wasting time talking here? Is this some new high-tech kidnapping method? Shouldn't we call the police first? I think I forgot my phone. Does anyone have theirs?" As the Hanfu-clad boy spoke, he patted himself down but found nothing.

His words snapped everyone out of their daze. They all began frantically searching their pockets for their phones.

"Hey, wait, where's my phone?"

"Mine's gone too."

"Mine as well, and my bag is missing too."

"Same here. My car keys, everything's gone."

"..."

"What about you? Did you bring your phone?" The Man in a Suit, seeing Bai Xiao standing there dazed and unmoving, couldn't help but frown and ask.

While the others were searching for their phones, Bai Xiao had instinctively checked her own pockets. She was wearing pajamas. When she picked up the card, she had casually left her phone on the bed, not having had time to grab it.

"She's in pajamas. It's obvious she doesn't have one." The woman in yoga clothes had an especially impatient temper. Before Bai Xiao could even respond, she rushed to answer.

Bai Xiao opened her mouth but said nothing, simply nodding.

Just as everyone was shocked to find their belongings had vanished into thin air, the same voice that had appeared earlier in the darkness suddenly echoed through the room. Simultaneously, that light screen reappeared about half a meter in front of each person.

[Dear players, welcome to this round of the game. The theme of this round is—Gem Appraisal.]

[Please confirm whether you will participate in the Gem Appraisal game.]

[Countdown: 1 minute. Choosing 'Yes' will join the game. Players who choose 'No' or fail to make a selection within the allotted time will be immediately eliminated.]

As soon as the broadcast ended, the already panicked and unsettled people instantly reacted like fish thrown into boiling water, erupting into chaos. Each person stared at the light screen before them with a mixture of shock and fear, as if looking at some kind of monster.

The reappearance of something completely detached from reality confirmed that this was definitely not a dream. It was simply happening, beyond all imagination!