Volume One, Chapter 14: Massacre

After witnessing their companion gain superpowers, the rest went mad with excitement. The stranger hadn’t deceived them; he truly possessed the ability to change their fate. Thus, the group began to carry out his requests, completing the tasks step by step.

At first, the assignments were trivial, mere trifles, but as the chain of tasks grew closer, the difficulty escalated. From causing disturbances to robbery, from robbery to murder… After each task was completed, the Ace of Spades would appear, granting them rewards—extraordinary powers.

Bit by bit, they fell deeper, beyond the point of return.

Today marked the final phase. Once they finished, they would gain permanent supernatural abilities, becoming what he called “Sequencers.”

Their objective this time: kill as many examinees as possible. The one who killed the most would become his subordinate and receive permanent powers. If they managed to kill everyone, they'd all be rewarded.

Though hundreds of armed guards surrounded the examination hall, the dozen or so of them, empowered, didn't even regard these men as obstacles. Now, everything was ready; all that remained was to wait for the hall to be sealed before making their move.

A bell rang—the hall was now fully closed. Excitement and bloodlust flashed in their eyes. Light glimmered in one man's hand; he touched the others, and they vanished instantly.

Elsewhere, Montage, upon entering the hall, felt as though something was watching him from the shadows. He searched everywhere but found nothing, finally giving up in resignation.

“Kid, someone cursed you,” Dang Kang’s voice echoed in Montage’s mind.

“A curse? Is it dangerous?” Montage started, alarmed.

“It’s the person who bumped into you at the door earlier. But this curse is low-level—it can only make ordinary people fall asleep. It’s useless against you,” Dang Kang replied, unconcerned.

Relieved, Montage’s anxiety eased.

“We’re strangers. Why would he curse me?” Montage was perplexed.

“Not just you. I looked around—everyone in this room is cursed. This isn’t simple,” Dang Kang said, dismissing the trick, but concerned for Montage’s safety.

“Everyone?” Montage was stunned.

If it were just him, it could be revenge, but now it was a mass incident. Unfortunately, his phone had been confiscated upon entering the hall. Otherwise, he would’ve called the Guardian Squad. Even now, no one would believe him if he tried to explain.

“Are you sure everyone here is cursed?” Montage asked, uneasy.

“This low-level trick? I couldn’t possibly be mistaken,” Dang Kang scoffed.

As they spoke, a candidate suddenly collapsed. Like dominoes, one after another, the examinees fell unconscious. The proctor, seeing this, moved to investigate, but his body froze suddenly.

A dagger protruded from his chest.

A shadow slowly materialized in the air.

Montage lay across his desk, feigning unconsciousness, uncertain how many enemies there were.

Someone screamed upon seeing the proctor slain. But before they could finish, they clutched their throat and collapsed, another assailant appearing behind them.

“Nine-Face!” Montage could wait no longer, calling out in his mind.

“Director,” Nine-Face responded.

“Can you defeat them?” Montage asked.

“Two-Eight.”

“What does that mean?”

“In two seconds, I could cut them into eight pieces.”

Montage was speechless. Even now, Nine-Face had the heart to crack jokes.

“Don’t kill them all, just knock them out,” Montage ordered, since Nine-Face could handle it and he wouldn’t let these people massacre the candidates.

“Yes!” A shadow shot from Montage’s own, and with a few muffled thuds, four people were stacked at the podium like puppets, Nine-Face piling them up with ease.

“Is it done?” Montage asked.

“For this room, yes,” Nine-Face answered respectfully.

“What do you mean? Are there others in different rooms?” Montage was alarmed.

“Thirteen in all—four here, ten elsewhere,” Nine-Face counted on his fingers.

Montage was dumbfounded for a moment, nearly thinking thirteen minus four equaled ten. But this wasn’t the time for math lessons.

“What are you waiting for? Save them!” Montage sprang up and rushed outside to retrieve his phone and call Yue Shan. Massacre of exam candidates—such a crime was egregious. The perpetrators were clearly not ordinary people, likely Sequencers. Regular security was useless; only the Guardians could handle this.

“Director, they’re too weak and scattered. I worry I can’t leave any alive,” Nine-Face called after him.

“Do as you see fit, just don’t harm ordinary people,” Montage replied without turning.

“Yes, Director.” Nine-Face’s nine faces twisted into a cruel smile. In a flash, his body split into nine, darting into different rooms.

Next moment, screams echoed throughout the examination hall.

“Monster! There’s a monster!”

“Ah—”

The wails mingled with the sound of alarms. The guards patrolling outside, upon hearing the alarm, turned pale and rushed toward the hall.

“Something’s wrong!” Inside a jeep outside the hall, Wang Meng, smoking, changed expression at the bell’s sound and instantly appeared inside.

Sun Yue Yue, still in the car, reacted quickly, grabbing her phone and dialing Yue Shan.

“Captain, something’s happened in the exam hall.”

...

“Sob… My child!”

“Everyone, calm down.”

...

Montage stood in the square, watching corpse after corpse shrouded in white sheets, his rage slowly numbing into apathy.

He had acted fast, yet so many had still died.

“Don’t bear all the blame yourself. If not for your timely intervention, more would’ve perished,” Dang Kang sensed Montage’s distress and consoled him.

“I know… but…” Montage felt his chest tighten, a desperate urge to vent.

“Captain, the Security Bureau has tallied the deaths—ninety-seven in total,” Sun Yue Yue’s hand trembled as she held the list.

Ninety-seven candidates dead meant ninety-seven families shattered.

“Have the killers been identified?” Yue Shan forced himself to calm, taking a deep drag.

“According to witnesses, those fragments on the ground are the killers.”

“What do you mean?” Yue Shan frowned, confused.

“During the massacre, a monster appeared and tore the killers to pieces, then vanished. Our investigation suggests there are four survivors, now in custody,” Sun Yue Yue handed over the collected testimonies.

As Yue Shan reached out to take them, the ground suddenly shook.

A mushroom cloud rose from the inner city.

Boom!

“The real show is about to begin,” on the rooftop of a tall building outside the hall, a black-clad figure wearing a playing card mask chuckled softly, then leaped from the roof.