Chapter 2: Trial begins

When the world suddenly went dark, he felt an irresistible force pulling him in an unknown direction. With that sudden pull, he lost all sense of direction. It felt like being on a roller coaster while drugged, dragged across the darkness for what felt like an eternity.

​Suddenly, the sensation of being dragged stopped. As he was still recovering from the ordeal, he heard people shouting from a distance. Once he gathered his senses, he discovered that he was in the body of a young boy around nine to ten years old.

​He was standing inside a large cage made of iron bars. There were bloodstains on the floor and on the surrounding bars. Observing his surroundings more closely, he realized he wasn’t alone. Including himself, there were five people in total inside the cage.

​What shocked him, however, was not the fact that he was in a young boy’s body, nor the bloodstains, the crowd of people wearing different masks, or the dire situation he was in. What shocked him was that he was standing on his two feet without being unstable.

​This discovery was a pleasant one, even though he knew he was in a very dangerous situation to be staring at his own feet. But since he could do nothing to change his current circumstances, he simply waited to see what would happen next.

​Just as he was pondering his situation, an interface suddenly popped up in front of him:

​Dear Participant,

Your task is to survive for seven days. Upon surviving, you will have completed the task.

​Below those words was a string of numbers:

06:23:59:58

​Looking at it, he could tell it was a countdown until the task was finished.

​From the moment he had observed his surroundings, he knew that if he wasn’t careful, even surviving ten minutes would be debatable. The place looked like an underground gladiator arena. What puzzled him was that none of the participants held any weapons. Judging by their physical appearances—including his own—they had frail bodies and did not look like proper gladiators. He couldn’t grasp the point of putting them in this arena.

​Since he knew he wasn’t in a position to ask questions, he stayed quiet. After a short while, the MC announcing to the crowd stopped talking and said:

​"Okay, ladies and gentlemen! Now that we have placed our bets, let us see who among our participants will be the lucky mouse to survive the clutches of our favorite fat cat!"

​Listening to the MC address the audience, Smith realized that although he didn’t know the language, he somehow understood what was being said. Hearing them being referred to as "mice," he suddenly chuckled. It wasn’t that he had accepted his new identity; back in his previous world, poor people like him were often called "rats" by the wealthy, so the terminology was nothing new.

​After the MC finished speaking, the gates on the other side of the arena opened. Robust men were seen dragging a steel cage containing a large tiger.

​Seeing the tiger, Smith finally understood the "lucky mouse and fat cat" terminology. The "mice" were meant to be prey. It seemed the last man standing would be the winner and survive, while the other four would be eaten by the cat. But there was no fat on this cat—it was muscular and massive, much like a Siberian tiger. When it was released, its ferocious eyes burned almost blood-red.

​Observing the beast, Smith deduced that the arena hosts had starved the tiger for at least three days so that it would be ravenously hungry upon release.

​However, Smith did not panic. Animals, especially feline predators, possess a sixth sense that can detect fear, and they like to play with their prey. As the tiger burst from its cage, it directly pounced on the nearest unlucky person. Smith watched with his own eyes as the tiger tore into the man and began eating him.

​After consuming more than half of its kill, the tiger’s hunger decreased significantly. Being full, it decided to hunt at its own leisure. When its gaze landed on Smith standing nearby, Smith’s heart almost skipped a beat, but he didn’t break eye contact with the beast.

​Seeing that the boy in front of it didn’t react to its presence—not flinching or even shivering as it drew closer—the tiger lost interest. It decided to chase after the remaining three people instead.

​Once the tiger turned away, Smith let out a quiet sigh of relief, though a cold sweat broke out across his back. He had taken a massive gamble, unsure if this tiger possessed the instincts of a wild beast. Natural predators target weak, fleeing targets to avoid struggling with an opponent that doesn’t show fear. That was why the tiger chose to hunt the three running people—they were easier prey than Smith, who hadn’t shown an ounce of terror.

​Without any suspense, the other three people were slaughtered. After the tiger finished them off, men carrying shields and spears entered the arena, forced the tiger back into its cage, and dragged it away.

​Smith was left standing alone in the arena among the four corpses. Deep down, he felt sick. Though he had lived in the slums for many years, seeing dead people torn apart in such a grotesque manner was a first for him.

​The MC announced Smith as the winner. Another man wearing armor entered the cage, placed shackles on Smith’s hands to prevent any attempt at escape, and escorted him out of the arena.

​Walking through the corridors, Smith noticed the complete absence of natural sunlight, confirming his theory that the arena was underground. Given that the audience wore masks, he assumed this kind of business was illegal.

​Smith was transferred into a large, empty cell. It contained only a stack of straw on the ground—presumably for sleeping—and a bucket in the corner that emitted a pungent stench, serving as a toilet. The guard used a key to remove Smith’s shackles before shoving him inside and locking the door.

​Sitting down, Smith felt his head spin from the heavy, foul air. The stench of his old slum was bad, but compared to this cell, the slum felt like a place you could enjoy a pleasant picnic.

​Comforting himself with that thought, he leaned against the wall in a corner to plan his survival. If future challenges were like the tiger arena, he believed he could survive the seven days. Based on his limited knowledge of such places, fighters were usually given at least two days of respite to recover before being thrown back into the ring. By his calculation, it would only take about two matches to complete his task and potentially awaken, though he knew things were rarely that simple.

​While the tiger scenario had been life-threatening, anyone with a bit of calm and composure could have survived it. The other three had panicked, making themselves obvious targets. Even if the tiger had attacked him directly, Smith could have rolled away and devised a countermeasure.

​As he was contemplating his plans, shouts echoed from the corridor. The same guards who had escorted him earlier returned carrying several unknown sacks. They opened the cell door, dumped the heavy sacks onto the floor, and left.

​Driven by curiosity, Smith crawled over to the nearest sack and opened it. What he saw inside left him completely shocked: inside the sack was a young child, appearing to be right around his age.