Chapter 5

“Good morning. The second round of the experiment begins now. As I mentioned yesterday, everyone participating receives five hundred thousand dollars, and those who complete it get one million. By your beds, there is a red button. Pressing it indicates you are giving up the experiment, and we will arrange for you to be taken off the island. Friendly reminder: this round requires both people in the room to complete it together. Therefore, if one person gives up, it means the other volunteer in the room also forfeits. So, I will give you one minute to negotiate. The timer starts now.” There was a speaker on the ceiling, and the organizer’s voice came from above.

The bald guy stared at me intensely, the veins on his neck twitching violently. I felt his hostility towards me, so I backed up to the table and grabbed a fruit knife.

“Ahhhhhhhhhh!”

A miserable scream echoed from the room next door. It was a woman’s voice, followed by several more wails, sounding like an animal crying for help as it was being slaughtered.

The Prisoner’s Dilemma. On the surface, they gave us the freedom to quit, but there were two people in a room. As long as one person wanted to continue, he would attack the person who wanted to press the button.

Similarly, if a person wanted to press the button, they’d be afraid the other would attack them. To avoid getting hurt, they might decide to strike first.

This brief one minute turned all the experimental subjects inside their rooms against each other.

But that was just the setup. A minute later, the mocking voice echoed from above again.

“It seems no one wants to quit. Then let me explain the requirements for this experiment. This round will end in one hour, at which point the door will automatically open. The first person to step out of the room will be considered to have completed the experiment.”

Fuck, what kind of bullshit rule is this?

Every muscle in my body tensed up, guarding against a sudden attack from the bald guy.

After a brief calm, the sounds of fighting and screaming filled the entire corridor. People were begging for mercy, cackling weirdly, banging on doors for help, and a nauseating stench of blood wafted through the air.

How do you guarantee you are the first to walk out of the room?

The simplest answer is to put your opponent on the ground so they can’t stand back up. So, the whole point of this was to watch us slaughter each other.

“Brother, I only need five hundred thousand. I just want to save my daughter. I won’t fight you for it. How about this, I’ll give you the spot right by the door so you can step out first, how about it?”

I gripped the knife, trying to negotiate with the bald guy.

He nodded, gesturing for me to move aside.

Keeping my back to the wall, I slowly sidestepped toward the inside of the room. The bald guy walked over to the door. He picked up a knife too and flashed a hideous smile at me.

“A thought just occurred to me.”

“What?” My T-shirt was soaked in cold sweat.

“What if, when the door opens, you stab me in the back? I’m not that stupid.” He held his knife diagonally and charged straight at me.

Motherfucker. In a life-and-death situation like this, you really can’t negotiate trust. I dodged backward, and the bald guy’s knife plunged into the cabinet. Seeing an opening, I aimed for his stomach, but I wasn’t a gangster. The moment the blade pierced his skin, I panicked, and he grabbed my wrist.

“I am the wolf, and you are the sheep. Sheep are born to be eaten by wolves,” the bald guy laughed maniacally, driving his knife into my shoulder.

The agonizing pain almost made me pass out. Gritting my teeth, I kicked him right in the crotch.

The bald guy groaned, hunching over and stumbling back a step. But less than two seconds later, he gripped his knife and lunged at me again.

The next second, my vision turned completely blood-red.