2025-04-10 04:26:14The forum was in chaos. Arguments over whether Liam Watson's gameplay was truly impressive or flashy were tearing through the threads. But Shawn had anticipated this reaction from the moment Liam made his mark.
Liam's performance had been nothing short of dazzling. The number of points he racked up during just one level was outrageous—over 500 energy credits. For context, the all-time top scorer in Eclipse Harbor, Mason Shepherd, had barely crossed a thousand.
For a complete rookie like Liam, five hundred-plus was already legendary.
But with visibility comes envy. Other low-level players had to claw through every match in Eclipse Harbor, fearing for their lives just to scrape together a meagre one or two hundred credits—after deducting item costs. On the other hand, Liam was making it look easy: using just a few dozen credits' worth of items to dominate, then walking away with several hundred credits in profit.
His strategy was efficient, his play was spectacular, and what were his end results? Unbelievable. To Shawn, it was obvious: Liam was destined for a spot on the Nightmare Rising Stars leaderboard.
But one thing puzzled Shawn: why had Liam purchased those extra barrels of alcohol?
Shawn knew Liam wasn't the player to waste a single point. So what was the plan with the five idle barrels of alcohol and that odd purchase of underwater air bubbles? It didn't add up.
By game protocol, players were about to make landfall. The shoreline was lined with wax mermaid statues—not flammable and not affected by anything less than intense light, which alcohol flames definitely weren't. Mermaids feared strong light, not fire.
Shawn watched the solo game zone's screen where Liam was now playing, deep in thought.
This new solo zone was leagues better than the 80s-style VHS death-comedy corner they'd seen. Clean, organized, and expansive—it looked more like a futuristic arcade. Players were sorted into various promotional slots based on performance.
Liam had landed in the System-Recommended section.
That slot sat near the solo zone's central lobby entrance, drawing solid audience traffic. The entry criteria weren't too strict, so competition for it was fierce. Usually, it was occupied by veterans who'd built up fans and carried over momentum from previous games.
The System-Recommended slot was a launching pad—a solid promotional tier. Good visibility, decent foot traffic, and not impossible to reach. If players performed well, they could leap to even higher ranks. Naturally, it became a battlefield for mid-tier players looking to climb the ranks.
Newbies? They hardly ever made it in.
So when Liam, a total newcomer, claimed the spot, it stirred up major controversy and serious curiosity. He'd attracted the crowd with the forums still ablaze over his unconventional gameplay.
The area behind Shawn was getting more packed by the minute.
Each player's screen was housed in a zone that could expand infinitely to accommodate viewers. From the outside, it looked like a small viewing cube. But once inside? It could hold tens of thousands.
Beneath Liam's feed, voices murmured.
"Isn't this system-recommended slot usually reserved for killers? How'd a rookie get up here?"
"Damn, check the numbers. This newbie's data slaps. The system must be boosting him—makes sense now."
"Wait, if he got the slot… someone else must've been kicked out. Who'd he replace?"
"Lemme check... holy sh*t! He bumped out Mike!"
"Oh no. This newbie's f*cked."
"Forum says Mike just finished his game. Bet he already saw he got booted. Someone light a candle for this rookie."
A massive man lumbered into the zone. His right eye bore a deep, jagged scar. At over two meters tall, he looked like a walking slab of rage.
His jowls hung heavy over a clenched jaw. He had the snarl of a rabid pit bull and the presence of something predatory. Bare-chested, with thick straps of black leather and steel studs crossing his body, he carried a machete nearly as wide as two hands.
Viewers gave him a wide berth.
That was Mike. Word was, during his last game—a team match—he'd butchered his squad before the game ended. For ratings. For loot. Cold. Calculated.
He didn't just kill—he performed the kill, peeling back the skin and cracking bone like a practiced chef. Some of the more twisted viewers found this artful.
Mike stepped up beside Shawn, shooting him a sideways glare from his remaining eye. Shawn immediately tensed and stepped aside, giving up the prime viewing spot.
Mike dropped to the ground in a heavy thud, grunting darkly as he settled in and stared at the screen.
"Let's see what little punk stole my spotlight," he growled. "Next game, I'm going with him. We'll see what he's really made of."
The murmuring stopped. No one dared speak.
Liam may have earned his spot fair and square. But crossing Mike? That was a death sentence. Even if Liam survived this round, the next one would be war.
In the last game, Mike walked away with over 36,000 points—ripped from the hands of his fallen teammates. And that wasn't counting the rare items.
Shawn frowned and opened his Game Manager, running a scan on Mike's profile:
Player Name: Mike
Occupation Before Entry: Butcher
Reason for Entry: Imprisoned for brutally assaulting and murdering a high school girl who came to his butcher shop. Entered the game during the trial, triggered by the overwhelming will to survive.
Core Wish: To escape prison and exact revenge on everyone who testified against him. Already drafted a revenge plan to burn the girl's family alive after release.
Recommended Game Store Items for Wish Fulfillment:
• Sin-Erasing Cream – Erases identity and past crimes. One bottle lasts 10 years. 12,000 points.
• Invisible Arson Matches – One spark triggers a fatal "accidental" fire. Two sticks cost 21,000 points.
Mike's full criminal records are below. Shawn hesitated… then clicked in.
Mike had lured the girl into a side alley to give her fresh cuts. When she resisted his assault, he flew into a rage, severed her hand with a cleaver, and left her to bleed out.
To avoid detection, he later butchered the girl's body and sold her flesh as pork.
Her parents, still preparing dinner, assumed she'd just taken a walk to decompress from studying and went to buy the meat themselves.
When the truth came out, they were nearly driven mad.
And yet, Mike claimed it wasn't premeditated murder. He said he "just wanted to tease her a little" because she was pretty, and when she resisted, things "got out of hand." As for butchering her and selling the meat? That was, apparently, "out of regret."
The girl's parents pursued the case relentlessly, spending everything they had to get him sentenced. And when he finally faced the death penalty, his thirst for vengeance brought him here—into the game.
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Chapter 24: Trapped in the Waxworks of Doom
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Chapter 23: Unraveled Secrets on the High Seas
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Chapter 20: The Battle With the Mermaids
As the mermaids closed in on Liam's boat, the viewers grew frantic, shouting at the small TV in an attempt to rouse him:"Wake up! Get up and fight the monsters!""Can’t you wait until after you wake up to sleep? Do you really need that extra hour of sleep? Didn’t your mom teach you not to AFK during games?!""I’ve watched so many game videos, but I’ve never seen someone so ready to lose. You could win, but you're just throwing it away!"Amid the chaos of their shouts, Liam, on the small TV, seemed to stir, his eyes fluttering open as if awakened by the noise.He looked toward the boat, now cutting through the water with half a fish head poking out, the mermaids coming closer to his ship.Liam could see their legs below the water, now transformed into eel-like tails. They slithered through the water like serpents, moving swiftly toward his boat.On the boat near Andrew, bloodied and broken remnants of his body floated around, now a mere skeleton, still stained with blood and scattered
