006 People Reading Skill!

Inside the building was worse than the yard. The walls were stained with something Raven chose not to identify. And the smell—that faint, sweet-rotten smell that clung to the back of her throat—was stronger here. Real. Constant.

The Matron led them turned onto a dark corridor. James was front, and he pulled himself to a halt at the sight in the corridor, so did everyone after him, at the creepy view in front of them--

With rooms on each side of the building blocking the little sunlight this world had, the corridor was ever so dim with the few light bulbs over their heads barely glowing.

But it was the children that scared them.

The children from the yard had gathered here already, standing stiff in the dark corridor, one beside each door. Six blank faces turned slowly toward the players.

The matron didn't seem to notice a thing. She walked on with that fake warm smile and assigned each player to a room—each with a child standing beside it.

"You three here. You three there. And you—" After assigning the players, the matron held Raven by both her shoulders from behind, forcing her to look ahead at the dark end of the corridor where a single door stood with no child beside it, "You get the nursery, closest to Mama Matron’s room, so she could attend to you at night as soon as you cried, little one!"

Raven smiled innocently at the matron’s greedily glowing eyes, “Thanks, Mama Matron!”

“I’m sure you are all tired. Go ahead, get some good rest in your rooms.” The matron smiles at them, “Play nice with your roommates. A naughty child is not welcome here. Tomorrow, you can start helping out in the yard.”

The game was too real. The time passed normally. The cold bit her skin, the floor creaked under her feet, the smell never left. This wasn't a game module. This was a place. A piece of reality cut out and stitched into whatever this was.

James was right -- he indicated that the games might be part of the real world. James wasn’t sure, but Raven was--

The moment the game loaded, Raven recognized the orphanage -- though with its style adapted to victoria London with a few small touches here and there, it was very much the orphanage Raven grew up in.

Raven thought it was because the game extracted her own memory to render the game’s background, but it was obviously not the case after James and others appeared -- it wouldn’t be fair if the system chose the memory from one player when it was a multiplayer game.

So, the system chose this orphanage for some other reason, and Raven just happened to know the place.

“Go on,” The matron urges when no players moved, “Go ahead, you poor little things. It’s bed time now.”

Four out of seven players were new to the game, a game sealed by fog that cut people. And five minutes into the game, the game world boss assigned each of them a room with a roommate that looked more dead than alive.

Nobody wanted to move.

At this moment, even Rose, a cold, cranky mean girl, looked like a better companion than the new “roommates”.

“Alright, let’s get inside first. Gather any and every piece of information you can,” James said, naturally taking the role of leader.

“I hope I don’t need to tell you how dangerous this game is,” James glanced in Raven and Aaron’s direction, “Rose and I are veterans. We'll help you as much as we can, but you need to pull your own weight, too. Cooperation is our best shot at survival.”

Raven walked Aaron to his room first -- only because Aaron wouldn’t let her go.

Aaron’s roommate was a thin boy, around five years old. His head looked too big for that tiny neck and slim limbs. It looked empty under that dirty unfitting shirt, but Raven didn’t think it was wise to check.

He looked up at Aaron with those huge dark eyes. His face was blank and numb, but somehow Aaron read hunger in those pupils, and a shiver ran down his spine.

Instantly, Aaron grabbed Raven with pitiful eyes, “I-I’m a banker in real life! Please, you seem to know your way in the game. You are the cool girl type! Can I stay with you? I’ll make it worth your while once we get out of the game!”

Aaron was genuinely scared out of his wits.

Raven did have questions for Aaron, but she was more of a lone wolf. She never had any partners in games, not even with Darren.

“I’m new to this game, too,” Raven declined subtly with an apologetic smile, “I can’t carry you, so I won’t give you false hope.”

Her genuine act worked too well--

“It’s okay! I’ll be useful, I promise!” Aaron shook his head frantically, “You are the only good soul in this team, I know! I know how to read people!”

Raven dead pan. Did your reading not tell you you are grabbing on to the only sociopath in the team?