The teleportation deadline arrived, and Li Ang opened his eyes to find himself standing in a dense, lush forest. A thick canopy spread above his head, and a small path beneath his feet led to a stream.
Standing with Li Ang in the forest were the following players.
The first was a middle-aged Caucasian man with thinning, disheveled blond hair hanging over his forehead. His face was haggard, and he had deep, dark circles under his eyes. He wore a suit and trousers but carried no weapons—except for the lit cigarette resting on his ear.
His overall appearance gave the impression of a man deep in a midlife crisis: the kind who had overslept, skipped breakfast, and was now desperately rushing for the subway to avoid being late for work.
This gentleman was John Joyce, the Prometheus Company employee who had previously been in the same deathmatch mission as Li Ang.
He had been captured by the Special Affairs Bureau for his suspicious movements. Although he had sent a distress call to the Prometheus Company before being thrown into jail, and the higher-ups at the company had indeed explained the situation to the Special Affairs Bureau, requesting his release, the Special Affairs Bureau completely ignored them. After all, John Joyce had also participated in this deathmatch mission and might have played a significant role.
Thus, for the past several days, John had been under interrogation by the Special Affairs Bureau, confessing every piece of information he knew. He even revealed a childhood incident where he kept chicks as pets in his bed at his family's farm, only to find them crushed to death by him when he rolled over in his sleep.
Just half an hour ago, he received notification of the scenario mission. He pressed the alarm in his solitary cell, and after brief consideration, the Special Affairs Bureau finally returned his equipment to him, allowing John to undertake this mission.
The second was a Caucasian woman with a well-proportioned figure and curly, soft blonde hair that fell to her waist. She wore a form-fitting leather bodysuit and high heels, each hand holding a large-caliber handgun, with a tactical belt around her waist.
Her overall look was somewhat reminiscent of Anne Hathaway's Catwoman in "Batman: The Dark Knight Rises."
Regardless of combat effectiveness, this type of tight leather outfit was quite attractive, especially to many in the United States, where such an outfit seemed to possess an additional allure.
Besides, she wore a masquerade-style black feather Mask, covering a portion of her face. Yet, the visible part was enough to attest to her beauty.
The third was a slim Latino young man with dark skin and a buzz cut. He wore sunglasses, a colorful hoodie with beach shorts, and a Bluetooth headset around his neck.
The fourth was an older Black man, somewhat heavyset, with a salt-and-pepper beard and round glasses. He had kind eyes and wore a loose, red plaid flannel shirt. He carried a large-caliber shotgun and wore fluffy brown slippers.
All five players, including Li Ang, stood still, silently sizing each other up. No one spoke.
Clearly, including Li Ang, none of the players planned to reveal more information, such as their player nicknames, ranks, or titles.
In the killing field game, a player's identity attributes were naturally crucial. However, national, ethnic, cultural, and skin-color barriers still existed; they hadn't disappeared with the advent of the killing field game. On the contrary, the differences between players from different regions would become even more pronounced over time. The Lone Wolf Players from East Asia and those players from South America, who were effectively domesticated by multinational conglomerates and local armed forces, were almost like two different species.
The sentiment 'those not of our kin are bound to have different minds' prevailed. After all, these were all foreign players, with no East Asian faces among them. It would be good enough if they could barely cooperate to complete the mission together. Expecting genuine honesty from one another was simply impossible.
The others probably shared this thought, and the atmosphere grew quiet again for a moment.
Until the System notification broke the silence.
Mission Description Updated
Mission Name: Abnormal Fairy Tales
Mission Objective: Take the intact Magic Mirror out of the Snow Queen's palace
Reward 1: An Excellent quality random Skill Scroll*1 for S Rank Completion Evaluation, a Rare quality random Skill Scroll*1 for A Rank Completion Evaluation, and a Common quality random Skill Scroll*1 for B Rank Completion Evaluation
Reward 2: 400 Experience Points
Reward 3: 900 Game Coins
Time Limit: None
Failure Penalty: None
The latest System prompt left all five players somewhat taken aback.
Julia furrowed her brows and asked softly, "Did everyone receive a mission requirement to 'possess books from Grimms' Fairy Tales and Andersen's Fairy Tales' before being transported?"
John Joyce grunted an affirmation, and both Smoker and Bob nodded.
"Let's first assume that this scenario's world is related to the fairy tale books," Julia spoke softly. "The mission objective this time is to take the intact Magic Mirror out of the Snow Queen's palace. According to the literal meaning, the Snow Queen here isn't the defenseless princess from the Grimms' Fairy Tales story 'Snow White,' but rather refers to the queen from Andersen's Fairy Tales' 'The Snow Queen,' who wields overwhelming ice power and can cool down a volcano..."