The girl from nowhere said, "Hello fighters, I am an AI program and my name is Julie. I have been programmed to be your personal guide throughout your journey, which most of you will lose. Of course, everything will be lost, including the most precious thing you have, which is your life. It is a great honor for me and for you to inaugurate with you the fifth generation of our fun game filled with the beautiful color of roses, 'Royal Combat.'"
I looked up at the sky, confused, while listening to this strange girl talk.
Then she added "You will fight in this game for your lives against 999 other participants, and the last one to survive is the winner. Each of you has been assigned your own Julie, which will hold your data such as your energy, heart rate, injured and affected limbs in your bodies, and instances of fainting and death. As for the female participants, they will receive a Memo, which is a recorded version of the female Julie program. You can review your data list and what it contains later, so there's no need for me to ramble on about that right now."
There was no specific source for the sound; it seemed to be coming from the sky. I am in a strange place that evokes an uncomfortable feeling after what I heard. Should I believe the girl or not? Where am I, anyway? How did I end up in this place?
Suddenly, the strange girl voice returned again, adding in a friendly tone, "And now let me explain the rules, fighters. Lend me your focus and enthusiasm!.."
"First, each player has the freedom to kill anyone they want in any way they choose; in return, they will earn half of what their victim possessed."
"Second, everyone is free to torture opponents or restrain them, but with a genuine intent to kill, causing physical or psychological harm, or both, to the opponent."
"Third, teams and groups can be formed with a maximum of 5 fighters in each team."
"Forth, each fighter must kill at least one person in order to unlock the ability to form teams with anyone else. And as a guarantee of your compliance, players, we promise that the bracelet on your wrist will explode if you stay with another person for ten minutes without trying to kill them."
"Fifth, every fighter can betray and kill their comrades. The game has been created to kill others, save yourself, and win, but let it be known to everyone that the more winners there are in one team, the more the total amount at the end of the game will be multiplied for each person in that team. In other words, if there is a team of 4 players and they are the survivors in the game, this means that the amount of money that each individual from that team will win will increase by four times."
"sixth, there will be 25 random air drops daily for food, ammunition, and some armor, and the number of air drops will decrease at a rate of one air drop per day."
"Seventh, fighters can activate the enemy detection feature five times a day. This feature reveals opponents from a distance of 300 meters on the map, but once activated, a notification will be sent to a random fighter about your location on the island. Good luck escaping or hiding after that."
"Eighth, any fighter can use the aerial drop timing feature once a day, which will provide you with the exact remaining time for the aerial drop."
"Ninth, each of you players must take care of the AI program assigned to you to ensure its loyalty. Emotional neglect may cause it to turn against you and leak your information and location to enemies or provide you with false information on purpose. It may even reach the point where it will detonate those bracelets on you if you push your luck, fighters. Hahahaha, we too are sensitive beings, humans."
"I have now informed you of all the rules. I wish you good luck and a miserable end for each of you. And as a final reminder, your true enemy is not the game, goodbye"
Suddenly, the screen of the bracelet that hugging my wrist glowed and a soft voice like a girl's echoed, saying, "Updating to personal Julie... Updating... Connecting to user Kirian... Please press the screen to start the program."
to be continued...