Chapter 1​​：Only One Survives

THUMP!

The sound jolted Lu Jiu awake.

The androgynous voice of the Interdimensional Shopping System spoke in her mind: "Host has been transported to the [World of Cataclysm] scenario. For the next 30 minutes, you are protected and undetectable to any higher intelligent lifeforms in this world.

"When protection ends, you will have standard participant privileges. Engage with the scenario to earn world-specific rewards. You MUST deliver the purchased item to the designated recipient before the time limit expires. Rewards are scaled based on client and recipient satisfaction. Failure to deliver on time, loss/damage of goods, or a negative client review will result in system termination."

"Sh*t," Lu Jiu hissed, rubbing her throbbing temples. This wasn't a dream. That bizarre interdimensional shopping system that had forcibly bound itself to her really had dumped her into another world.

Her cramped studio apartment was gone. She stood in a strange, cavernous, empty room.

Four strangers occupied the corners.

A chilling female voice echoed through the space: "The rules are simple. Torrential rain floods the world outside. This room is sealed. There is no food, no water. Only one of you will leave alive. If more than one remains after eight hours... all will be terminated. The sole survivor receives the supplies needed to escape."

Lu Jiu snapped to full alertness.

This was insane. If she couldn't escape this room within thirty minutes, she’d be trapped in a deathmatch. And she had nothing but the customer's order – no weapon, no defense.

Honestly, she hadn't believed anyone would use an "Interdimensional Shopping System" to order a simple box of instant noodles and bottled water. The system had provided a 1-cubic-meter personal storage space, bound to her mind and invisible to others. She should have stuffed her fruit knife in there! Was interdimensional delivery always this lethal? She’d taken this job for the measly 20-coin rush fee, never imagining it would be a death sentence.

Panic flared hotter than the visible tension in the room. She scanned her surroundings frantically.

The walls, ceiling, and floor were all the same clinical white, slick with dampness. Square LED panels recessed in the ceiling flickered intermittently, threatening to plunge the room into darkness. No windows. Only one door – white, tightly shut, a keyhole in its handle.

If the chilling voice was right, that door wasn’t opening anytime soon.

The four strangers in the corners – three men, one woman – looked just as bewildered, their gazes eventually locking onto the door handle.

Lu Jiu stood closest to it.

Maybe the rules only apply to the natives? she thought desperately. I’m just the delivery person. Open it and slip away. She twisted the handle.

It didn’t budge. Naive hope died.

To the others, the handle seemed to turn slightly by itself, emitting a faint scrape.

Three of them visibly paled. The talk of "only one survives" was bad enough. Now ghosts? Supernatural forces?

The lone woman remained unnervingly calm, her sharp eyes sweeping over the men. Two were muscular, one bordering on hulking. Only the man in the corner to her right looked slight, almost bookish. Who's the protagonist? Lu Jiu sensed the woman thinking. Who's cannon fodder? Or... am I the fodder in someone else's story?

Lu Jiu felt a sliver of the woman’s composure steady her own nerves. Maybe I just wait for the winner and slip out with them?

But she only had thirty minutes. When her protection vanished, she’d appear out of thin air. If the fight wasn’t over by then, she’d be an instant target. She couldn’t take any of them in a fight.

What do I do if they start killing each other?

Before the system, Lu Jiu was just a broke student. Her dorm’s curfew clashed with her multiple part-time jobs, forcing her to rent a tiny studio. Her life was a blur of work and study. No time, no money for self-defense classes. If she were some martial arts master, she wouldn’t be flipping burgers and ringing registers.

The woman in the corner? She looked... capable. Lu Jiu prayed they’d finish each other off quickly. A terrifying doubt gnawed at her: After protection ends, does the "only one survives" rule apply to me too? Do I have to kill them all to leave?

If they finished before her time was up, could she be the invisible fifth, slipping out unseen?

The woman spoke first, her voice steady. "You all heard that... announcement? Has this happened to any of you before?"

"I think it's a joke," said the bookish man near her. He stood up, adjusting his gold-rimmed glasses like a professor. "Do you remember arriving? I was asleep at home. That voice woke me, and here you are. It must be a dream." Killing was illegal. The voice urging murder felt deeply wrong, unscientific.

The woman seemed to consider this.

The hulking man in the opposite corner unfolded himself. He was immense, his head nearly scraping the ceiling. He took a step forward. The bookish man instinctively shrank back.

"This room..." the giant rumbled, his gaze lingering on the woman. "The construction... the seamless walls, the floor... it's advanced tech. I think we were taken. We're not where we were." His voice was surprisingly measured.

"So you believe the voice?" the bespectacled man asked. "We're kidnapped? Forced to fight to the death for someone's amusement? Or some twisted live stream?"

The other muscular man, diagonally opposite the woman, stood silently against the wall. He snorted, his eyes roaming over the woman with unsettling, greasy intent.

Lu Jiu saw the woman tense. She wore only a thin, almost sheer silk slip, barefoot, hair loose. The curves it revealed were undeniable.

The bookish man looked away. The sleazy man across from her didn't speak, but his leer intensified.

Of course, Lu Jiu thought, seeing the woman's sudden vulnerability. She wasn't plain. Delicate, almost fragile-looking, especially dressed like that. What normal man wouldn't notice?

"Don't worry, sweetheart," the sleazy man finally drawled, a nasty smirk twisting his tattooed