Infinite flow, but I submit myself

The ghosts that had tormented everyone all night finally started to disappear around 5 AM. Xiu Wei Yi licked the wound at the corner of his mouth, his dazed eyes fixed on the other corpse in the room—covered in bloodstains, torn apart, and killed by the ghosts. Suddenly, he showed a twisted expression, half-laughing, half-crying.

“Heh… Hehahaha, in the end, I survived!”

He dropped the half-broken table leg, his clothes stained with numerous small wounds, now almost soaked in blood. Although he had seized the oil lamp, he had lit it too early. During the night, the lamp had gone out several times, and he had barely escaped being devoured by the ghosts.

But no matter how miserable he looked, he had survived!

He rested for a moment before he heard some noise outside. He struggled to use his remaining functional arm to push open the door.

One by one, people began to emerge from their rooms, their expressions blank, their eyes filled with the excitement of having narrowly escaped death. There were only about a third of them left compared to the beginning. Most of them had bloodstains on their clothes—some of it their own, some from others. Xiu Wei Yi scanned the crowd and felt slightly relieved. There were quite a few people who looked as disheveled as he did, if not worse.

The people in black robes had been waiting here for a while. A few minutes later, the last of the survivors emerged from the rooms, while those who couldn’t make it would probably never walk out.

Then, from the last room, a tall figure pushed the door open and walked out, ignoring everyone present, including the one with the ghost mask, 009. He walked in one direction alone.

It was Deville.

009 narrowed his eyes at the special slave, stepped aside, and made no move to stop him.

Only one person emerged from each room, and Deville, the last to come out, wasn’t a surprise. He turned to the others and said, “It seems we’re almost all here…”

Outside the screen, in the real world, Wang Yuan Zhi and the rest of the staff, who hadn’t slept all night, silently awaited the countdown, as if waiting for a judgment.

At 5 AM, the live stream resumed on time.

“Good morning, everyone! I’m here!”

“Oh? This is the person who survived last night? Tsk tsk, doesn’t seem too exciting.”

“This batch is average. There’s nothing that makes me want to place a bet.”

“Sigh, another boring group.”

“Hiss… wait a minute, that live stream hasn’t turned off!”

At that moment, the door to the last room opened again.

009, who had been facing away from it, noticed something strange from the eyes of the others around him.

What…?

“Ah, sorry I’m late.”

The youth’s clear voice sounded from behind, and 009 paused for a moment before turning to look.

It should have been daylight by now, but the blood-red crescent moon in the sky from the high tower had not changed. Naturally, there was no way to distinguish day from night. All the lighting came from the luminous stones embedded in the walls. The stones emitted different intensities of light according to the time of day.

At that moment, the glow of the luminous stones wasn’t strong. 009 squinted when he looked at Tang Mo Bai.

Wang Yuan Zhi’s gloomy expression finally turned into a slight smile. All the staff in the room, along with the instructors, let out a collective sigh of relief and clapped in unison, even though they knew the applause wouldn’t reach Tang Mo Bai.

The viewers who had thought he wouldn’t survive and had moved to other streams widened their eyes.

“Hiss, he’s still alive?!”

“Wait? How is that possible? Isn’t it supposed to be that only one person survives per room?”

“Upstairs, that’s not a hard rule. It wasn’t written in the rules.”

“But we’ve had so many revival rounds and we’ve never seen anyone come out unscathed!”

“…I can’t remember, but I don’t think there has been…”

That’s right, Tang Mo Bai and Deville not only survived, but compared to the others, who were injured and disfigured, they looked completely intact, as if they hadn’t even been attacked by the ghosts.

Most importantly, Tang Mo Bai looked in excellent condition. Compared to the others, who had been on edge all night and were tense from the fear, he appeared as though he had gotten a full night’s rest and could run another few thousand meters. It was easy to imagine how shocked and wary everyone who survived must have been.

“Mo Bai? Are you alright?”

“Xiu Wei Yi.” Tang Mo Bai looked at him, whose face was full of surprise, and sighed in relief. Ignoring everyone else, he walked over to Xiu Wei Yi’s side. “I’m glad you made it too.”

Xiu Wei Yi froze for a moment, instinctively hiding his blood-soaked hands behind him. “Y-Yeah.”

Tang Mo Bai glanced at his uneasy expression, didn’t ask anything, and turned toward the silent 009, smiling. “Sorry, 009, I’m late.”

“Now that you’re here, just leave.” 009 had already recovered from his initial surprise and returned to his cold demeanor. His words brought the others back to their senses. They glanced at Tang Mo Bai with complicated and unreadable gazes as they followed 009’s lead.

Tang Mo Bai and Xiu Wei Yi stayed behind. Xiu Wei Yi quietly asked, “How did you do it?”

This was the question the viewers were curious about as well. But Tang Mo Bai only smiled and didn’t plan to answer. Xiu Wei Yi didn’t press further, lowering his head, lost in thought.

With no official answer, the viewers started speculating.

“Did you not fight?”

“Hiss, did you not use the oil lamp at all? Did you just endure the ghost attacks without it?”

“Well… it’s not impossible. The ghosts are strong, but they aren’t completely invincible.”

[Wait, I’m kind of interested in this new guy. Do you guys know who he is? Is he some big shot in disguise?]

[No way! I’ve been following this new guy since he came in. He didn’t even pass the last trial dungeon! There’s no way he could’ve gotten that strong overnight!]

[The more outrageous it seems, the more it probably means he’s backed by some powerful force! Could it be that he’s a ruthless demon who’s fallen for some drama plot like “The Big Bad Demon Falls in Love with Me”?]

[Oh well, who cares? Being backed by external forces is still a form of power. There are demons who follow the lustful route too. I’m betting on this new guy!]

[I’m betting on him too! Tang Mo Bai, right? I’m rooting for you!]

The number of viewers in the live stream was rapidly increasing. Most were drawn in by the heated discussion in the chat, and as new viewers came in and heard about the possible big shot backing Tang Mo Bai, they became even more curious and stayed in the stream.

The word “betting” had come up again.

It had appeared when they first arrived here too. Betting? Does this have something to do with gambling? Thinking about it, the gladiator battles seemed similar to underground illegal fights, so maybe there was some sort of betting on the outcomes?

Tang Mo Bai couldn’t help but speculate this in his mind. Outside the screen, the expert team had already been analyzing the footage frame by frame last night, and the gambling theory was one of their hypotheses. However, there was still too little information to confirm anything, and many of the guesses were simply speculation.

But perhaps today, the truth would be revealed.

009 ignored the subtle movements from the slave group behind him, and like yesterday, led them to a different location.

The scene that unfolded in front of them was a hall about three or four stories high, with a simple design and several metallic tables neatly arranged. Many people, similar to them, with collars and iron chains around their necks, were lined up to get food. At the far end, there were bowls of soup-like substances, separated by transparent glass—was it food? It had to be food, right?

No wonder Tang Mo Bai wasn’t sure; from a distance, the soup looked strange, and there was no usual food aroma in the air. It looked like something out of a Western fantasy game—resembling a slime monster, emitting a stinking odor similar to rotten garbage.

Yet, the people here didn’t seem to notice it, mechanically shoving the food into their mouths. This made him start to question himself. Was it possible that this was some form of traditional medicine they ate here, not regular food?

As the new arrivals observed the older residents in the food hall, the older ones were watching the newcomers with a look of discomfort, as if they were eyeing a piece of meat to be slaughtered.

This reminded Tang Mo Bai of the aggressive behavior the elders had shown when he first arrived, a behavior he still didn’t understand.

“This is your dining hall. Meal times are from 7:00 AM to 8:00 AM, 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM, and 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM. Meals are not provided outside of those times. Remember, all purchases here require soul coins, and remember to queue properly,” 009’s voice broke Tang Mo Bai’s hopeful thoughts and told them that this would be their only food source from now on. “Of course, if you want other things, the second floor has a simple exchange mall, but it also requires soul coins.”

The number of people on the second floor was much smaller than the first, and Tang Mo Bai immediately knew that the prices there would be much higher.

“How do we get soul coins?” Someone impatiently asked.

“Don’t rush. I’ll explain shortly.” 009 gave the questioner a deep look before continuing to lead them to another area.

This tower-like building had all the necessary facilities, including toilets, showers, and better accommodation areas.

To be honest, many of the facilities here were much better than Tang Mo Bai had initially expected. He had thought that being a slave would mean more primitive conditions, with no freedom except for eating and fighting, but the place turned out to be unexpectedly humane. It almost felt like a prison, with the slave owners acting as their guards.

However, there was one thing: all the facilities required soul coins to use. Without them, it was impossible to live well here. Even the worst food, the kind he had seen in the cafeteria, required one soul coin. A shower cost three, and better accommodations cost between one and five coins per night.

009 also showed them the simple mall exchange point, which, as expected, was a low-tier version of the demon’s marketplace. It looked more like a small convenience store, with no weapons or magic items, just basic supplies—and everything was ridiculously expensive.

“Five coins for a loaf of bread? Why don’t you just steal it?!” Xiu Wei Yi exclaimed after looking at the exchange list.

Tang Mo Bai quickly checked the list as well, and sure enough, the everyday items were priced much higher than in the demon’s regular marketplace.

According to the rules, the exchange rate between soul coins and points was 1:1, but Tang Mo Bai had checked the demon’s marketplace before, and cold weapons in there were almost worthless—just a few points for a bundled set of them.

In comparison, the 5-point loaf of bread here was outrageous!

“Heh, you’ve never been inside the Lost Paradise, huh?” someone sneered.

Xiu Wei Yi, confused, asked, “I haven’t been, so what?”

Like Tang Mo Bai, he had survived but hadn’t passed the new trial, and his points had been reset. Neither of them had gone to the Lost Paradise, since they had returned to reality instead, unaware of what lay ahead. Tang Mo Bai hadn’t gone because he wasn’t sure whether the authorities would find out about the country’s existence.

The person didn’t bother explaining and continued to browse the list. At the very bottom, something caught his attention: “Oil lamp… 5 soul coins?!”

Hearing this, everyone quickly flipped to the bottom of the list, where the item they had used the previous night was listed.

“That’s right.” Seeing the pale faces of the group, 009 said slowly, “There’s no time limit in the revival trials. As long as you have soul coins, you can survive here. Everything you need, including survival itself, costs soul coins.”

“Here’s a special offer, just this once. After this, there will be no such opportunity again.”

No need for further explanation—everyone understood. Last night was not only meant to help them adapt to the environment of mutual slaughter but also to provide them with a motive.

A reason to fight desperately in the arena.

Only the oil lamps could ward off the shadowy demons, and the oil lamps, along with all other supplies, needed soul coins to be exchanged for. Currently, everyone had zero soul coins.

In other words, if they didn’t earn at least five soul coins quickly, they would die tonight.

“Alright, now that you all understand the situation, follow me,” 009 said. “I’ll show you the only and final stage you will ever have.”

“The Devil Arena.”