Part 3The Canary's Counterattack

Desire is the greatest anesthetic.

After two days of indulging in a lifestyle of sheer decadence, the girls completely dropped their guard. At last night's pool party, everyone drank heavily.

When I woke up, I was already in this church.

Only... I frowned.

Where did that electric shock come from?

Suddenly, the eerie crackle of static echoed through the room, followed by Julian's voice, bordering on psychotic glee:

"Only one of you is my true love. Kill the rest, and you can live."

The moment Julian finished speaking, a black subtitle floated across my vision:

[How do I tell the girls that the short-haired one in the red dress is his true love?]

The girls looked at each other, sizing one another up.

The next second, every single gaze locked onto the woman in red cowering in the corner.

She was deathly pale, hugging herself tightly and trembling as tears streamed down her face like broken pearls. Unfortunately, there would be no pity here.

Almost simultaneously, the crowd lunged at her.

It seemed everyone present had awakened the ability to see the subtitles.

I didn't move.

Because a distinctly different, red subtitle flashed rapidly by:

[Julian absolutely hates short hair.]

And it seemed I was the only one who could see this red subtitle.

Should I believe it?

While I hesitated, the black subtitles started scrolling again:

[The girl with the pigtails is clearly Julian's true love!]

The two girls in the room sporting pigtails instantly froze. They stared at each other awkwardly, and the others stopped in their tracks as well.

A red subtitle immediately followed:

[Julian despises women who act overly cute.]

I discreetly observed the room, noting that absolutely no one reacted to this red text.

At this point, I was certain: I was the only one who could see the red subtitles!

My heart pounded in my chest, a thin layer of cold sweat breaking out on my forehead.

Could this be... the right answer?

"Julian, what you're doing is illegal. Let everyone go, please?"

A woman in an elegant, flowing dress stepped forward.

I recognized her. It was Mia, a highly popular, rising star in the entertainment industry.

She was Julian's childhood friend, their lives intertwined for many years.

Tears welling in her eyes, Mia gripped her dress and pleaded:

"Julian, I know I'm the one you love. I'm willing to quit acting and marry you! Please, don't drag innocent people into this! Okay?"

Wait, did that mean... Mia was Julian's true love?

I exhaled slightly, feeling a wave of relief. Maybe this was all just a sick prank by Julian.

We canaries were probably just props in their twisted little roleplay.

But the next second, the massive church doors collapsed with a deafening crash.

Sunlight poured in, illuminating Mia's face. Weeping tears of joy, she lifted her skirt and ran toward the light:

"Julian, I knew you'd listen to me! I'll help you ask the others for forgiveness, I..."

Before she could finish, a red laser dot settled dead center on her forehead.

"No..."

I barely had time to utter a single syllable before a deafening BANG echoed through the church.

The bullet tore through her left eye. In an instant, blood and gore exploded outward.

Mia froze for a microsecond. Half of her skull was gone. Her body instantly lost all tension and crumpled limply to the floor.

Warm liquid splattered across my face. The searing heat of the flying shrapnel made me shudder violently, rooted to the spot.

A cold, mechanical voice echoed across the island:

[Mia eliminated. The game continues.]

After a long, suffocating silence, one of the pigtail girls was the first to snap back to reality. She smirked mockingly:

"Tch, 'true love'? Where did she get that confidence?"

Hearing that, I felt like I'd been plunged into an ice bath. I looked around the room, numb.

The other girls' eyes were filled with either terror or pure contempt.

That's when I realized there were far more people like the pigtail girl than I thought!

They simultaneously rejected the identity of the "true love" while ruthlessly guarding the title against anyone else.

Even Mia, who had stepped forward offering to save everyone, couldn't earn an ounce of their sympathy.

"I despise repeating the rules. It makes me feel like... you're all incredibly stupid. Look closely, this is what happens to stupid people."

"So..."

Julian's tone shifted, becoming aggressively enthusiastic:

"My darlings! Show me what you've got! Show me your passion! On my island, abandon everything and slaughter to your heart's content! There's no time limit, it's 1 against 29! Oh, wait... it's 1 against 28 now! Let's see which side gets wiped out first! Simple, right? Alright, darlings, the first supply drop has been deployed to the church plaza. A friendly tip: there's only one gun! First come, first served!"

Before his voice even faded, the crowd scrambled over Mia's corpse, frantically rushing outside.

Halfway to the door, a red subtitle drifted gently by:

[At nine o'clock, the green backpack contains the gun.]

I instantly changed direction, but just as I reached for it, a brunette with tight curls beat me to it.

She pulled the gun out, laughing maniacally, and swept a murderous glare over everyone in front of her.

Shit! I'm the closest to her!

I immediately executed a combat roll, tumbling behind her. Snagging a khaki supply bag on my way up, I bolted away from the crowd, diving into the dense woods nearby and sprinting into the depths.

Faster! I kept urging myself! Run faster!

Behind me, the agonizing sounds of crying, gunshots, and terrified screams pierced the air, endless and horrifying.

I gasped for breath, branches tearing at my arms and face, leaving a web of bloody scratches, but I couldn't afford to care about the pain! I didn't dare stop for a single second!

It wasn't until the sounds faded into the distance that I finally collapsed against a tree, utterly exhausted.

Terror robbed me of my voice. My stomach churned violently, and I couldn't stop dry heaving, the metallic taste of blood filling my mouth.

I wiped the sweat from my face. The sweat-drenched redness on my palm served as a constant, horrifying reminder—just minutes ago, I had witnessed a girl's head explode.

Bzz. Bzz.

A tingling sensation crawled up my arm. The sudden vibration from inside my jacket almost made me scream.

It was the supply bag.

I cautiously scanned my surroundings...

This was terrible. The woods looked dense from the outside, but once inside, the trees were spaced too far apart, leaving the area dangerously exposed.

Especially in broad daylight; there was nowhere to hide.

Calm down.

Renee, calm down. No one is coming here right now.

I desperately tried to compose myself. Praying silently, I opened the supply bag with trembling hands.

Unfortunately, God wasn't listening.

My weapon was a dull knife, barely the size of my palm.

The tip wasn't sharp, and the blade was already chipped. Forget killing someone; I probably couldn't even cut grass with it.

But thankfully!

God hadn't entirely abandoned me! Because the bag also contained a smartphone, a canteen of purified water, two packets of compressed biscuits, and... a coil of rope!

For someone hiding in the woods, rope was undeniably the most useful tool.

Without hesitation, I secured the supply bag, chose a thick, sturdy tree, and threw the rope over a high branch. Using the momentum, I hoisted myself up into the canopy.

Everything has pros and cons. I was hidden up here, but if I were discovered, I'd have no escape route.

If they had ranged weapons—even just a handful of sharp rocks—I'd be a sitting duck.

Because I had absolutely no way to fight back.

A dull knife wouldn't even let me commit suicide quickly and painlessly.

The thought made me laugh bitterly.

Bzz. Bzz. Two more vibrations.

I pulled out the phone Julian provided. It only had two functions: a map and a chat app. Opening the app, the pinned conversation was a massive group chat titled: "Julian and His Canaries."

Hah. He really does see us as nothing more than toys.

I practically ground my teeth to dust, suppressing my rage as I tapped on it.

The announcement board showed four more people were dead.

Followed by—The game continues!

Anxiety and terror surged back into my heart. I licked my dry, cracked lips and gripped the phone tightly.

In less than twenty minutes, five people had died!

This wasn't a reality show, and it wasn't a prank.

It was a genuine, brutal Battle Royale!

Looking at the grayed-out avatars in the group list, my feelings were incredibly complex.

Should I cry for them?

It didn't feel like we were close enough for that.

We had merely crossed paths, all knowingly enjoying the benefits provided by the same man.

Should I feel relieved?

Relieved that I wasn't the one who died.

I clicked on their profiles, enlarging their photos one by one. I realized that the two pigtail girls were among the casualties of that initial bloodbath!

It was probably the work of the curly-haired girl, considering she had the only gun.

The fact that she didn't shoot me—the closest person—immediately meant she probably used those bullets to test the validity of the black subtitles.

And that gun, exactly as the red subtitle predicted, was in the green backpack at nine o'clock.

All of this proved that only the red subtitles were accurate.

And I was the only person who could see them.

Having a "cheat code" right from the start should have made me optimistic, but feeling the sting of the countless scratches on my body and staring at my pathetic supply bag, I really couldn't muster any optimism.

I pulled out the canteen and stared at it for a long time. 300ml. That wasn't even enough to cover an adult's daily hydration needs.

Even if my only goal was to avoid dying of thirst, this wouldn't last me more than a few days.

After agonizing over it, I just pressed the spout against my cracked, peeling lips to moisten them, then reluctantly screwed the cap back on.

Bzz. Bzz.

A new announcement!

This time, it wasn't a death notice! It was a public clue about Julian's "true love"!

[She's like a fluffy little animal.]

Animal?

I remembered... Julian once described me as a cat—a black cat in the dead of night.

Dangerous, mysterious, and an expert at landing a fatal blow.

My eyes darkened at the thought. I immediately opened the phone's notepad and started organizing all the information I had so far.

[Julian hates short hair.]

[Julian dislikes women who act overly cute.]

[Julian once described her as a fluffy animal.]

Uh... how should I put this?

These were all incredibly broad, practically useless concepts.

[True Love?]

I slowly typed a question mark in the notepad.

Would the "true love" even know she was the "true love"?

Thinking back to three days ago, on the night I arrived, Julian had whispered in my ear:

"Baby, you're the only one I love."

I just brushed it off as him flirting.

But now... could that have been a clue he gave me?

I was overwhelmed with anxiety, the excessive stress making me nauseous.

Honestly, Julian and I were absolutely not some deeply passionate, star-crossed lovers. At best, it was a transactional relationship. He wanted me for my youth and beauty; I wanted him for his money and status.

Calling me his "true love" was a ridiculous stretch.

But then again, if she really was his true love, why would he make her a target in a death game? Rather than calling her his "true love," it was more like she was the unlucky bastard who drew the Joker card.

In that case, it wasn't entirely impossible that I was the... ugh... true love.

Okay, those two words actually made me sick to my stomach. I decided to refer to the target as "Joker" from now on.

Trying to decipher Julian's thoughts using normal human logic was completely delusional!

And searching for the Joker among the remaining twenty-four people was like finding a needle in a haystack.

Not just for me, but for everyone else, because none of us knew each other. I could count the people I vaguely recognized, like Mia, on one hand.

So, the real question was... did we actually need to know who the Joker was?

My answer was—no.

Julian's objective was to make us slaughter each other. He wanted us to show our "passion" and deliver a perfect performance for his entertainment.

The absolute best-case scenario of finding the Joker was that slightly fewer people would die.

It would also allow the survivors to form an alliance instead of fighting alone.

But the cruel reality was, we weren't just fighting the rules of the game. We were fighting... this incredibly harsh environment!

We were stranded in the wilderness with severe supply shortages.

Even meeting our most basic physiological needs was nearly impossible!

Furthermore, a brutal firefight had already broken out.

The fragile balance of trust had been completely shattered.

The arrow had left the bow; achieving a mutually beneficial outcome was practically impossible now.

Rather than risking everything to find the Joker, it was much safer to simply kill everyone.

That was the most secure strategy, and the one both the Joker and the regular players would ultimately choose. What better way to ensure your own survival than shooting anyone you see on sight?

Unfortunately, I raised my dull, rusted knife and sighed softly. That "safest route" was completely unavailable to me.

Right then, a third announcement popped up in the group chat:

[A clue about her identity is hidden at these coordinates.]

I clicked on the GPS pin for the clue. My heart instantly seized, terror shooting through me like an electric current. Massive drops of sweat fell onto the screen, blurring the text that clearly read:

[Distance from your current location: 800 meters.]