Starving and exhausted, Wu Jianguo unconsciously licked his parched tongue, so dry it felt drained of every drop of moisture. Waves of searing pain crashed against his fragile mental defenses. Huddled in the dark corner, he teetered like a tightrope walker on a cliff edge—shattered to pieces at any moment.

Human will could briefly conquer the flesh, but only briefly. Bodies needed rest. Minds needed escape from panic. With no food or water, sleep became the only refuge.

Wu Jianguo fought to keep his eyes open at first. But soon, his head drooped.

*Just close my eyes for a moment…*

*As long as I don’t fall asleep, it’ll be fine…*

That sliver of false hope sealed his fate. His eyelids fluttered shut. He pictured his warm home, his plain-faced wife, his stubborn son—all precious only when slipping away…

*Don’t want to die. Must survive. At any cost!*

*No rescuers? Fine. I’ll outlast this game. Rules? Saw? They can all go to hell!*

Unnoticed, a faint breath escaped Wu Jianguo’s lips in the silent mine. His arms, locked tight around himself, slackened and fell. He’d warned himself not to sleep—this sleep might be eternal. But willpower crumbled before instinct. Wu Jianguo didn’t see the other two figures in the mine slowly lift their heads as he sank into slumber.

Their eyes burned with frenzied madness, pupils gleaming an unnatural green. Especially the so-called Superhero—accustomed to luxury—who now stared hungrily at the high-ranking official. After hours of gastric agony, he’d waited for this moment. One of them had finally broken.

*Scritch-scritch…*

The scrape of shoes on gravel was barely audible. Yet it cut through the dark like Death’s whisper. Wu Jianguo slept on, unaware his companions had begun their final, desperate gamble. For now, he drifted into a nightmare of his own…

………divider………

"Boss… when will they come rescue us?"

In another collapsed mine tunnel, a young face—streaked with grime like an African tribesman—twisted with raw terror. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he trembled. No one mocked him. Facing certain death, even hardened miners felt fear. This boy was their little brother, their shared comfort.

Watching from the haze of his dream, Wu Jianguo felt icy dread slither down his spine. This camaraderie terrified him.

"Someone *will* come!" The foreman—the boy’s "Boss"—forced calm into his voice. Morale mattered more than his own terror. Half his body was numb from falling rocks; he lay pinned, urging others to shore up the tunnel walls. "After an accident this big, Boss Wu will send help. We just need to hold on."

Wu Jianguo screamed soundlessly in his dream.

*These are the miners I abandoned.*

*For political credit. For company stability.*

*No one’s coming. I ordered it myself. Erase them. Pretend they never existed.*

*Their lives? I priced them in cash.*

*This is karma…*

Just as Mirror October had sealed Wu Jianguo’s fate in the game, he’d sealed these miners’ fates in reality. Every torment they endured, he would now endure.

Cruel justice spared no one—not the powerful, not the wealthy. Connections? Influence? The Jigsaw Sect cared nothing for such delusions. Only by standing beyond your petty world could we truly see you: frogs at the bottom of your wells.

*Nobility?* The Sect never claimed superiority. Many disciples joined the game willingly—ascetics testing truth through sacrifice. As Mirror October said: *"Only those ready to offer their own lives may extinguish another’s."*

"Live… no matter what…"

The dying foreman gripped his comrades’ hands with his last strength. He knew rescue was a lie. Yet he gave them hope. Human. Small. Great. His eyes closed, passing survival to the rest.

Like Wu Jianguo, the young miner drifted into grief-stricken sleep.

Hunger sharpened while he dreamed. He never saw his comrades’ eyes turn feral. Humans don’t starve to death… they *adapt*.

When he woke, it was too late. The foreman’s body lay torn apart. His gentle coworkers gnawed like beasts, each clutching a chunk of unrecognizable flesh, chewing with manic focus. Like animals on bones.

*Want to live?*

*Eat human flesh. Or die.*

No choices. Only survival. Just like Wu Jianguo’s reality outside this dream. The boy chose life. His teeth sank into his leader’s flesh. But life became death’s doorway. Tears of shame streamed down his face—he’d done what beasts would scorn.

*Regret.*

"Why… why won’t anyone save us? Why can’t I hear digging…?" His sobs echoed in the dark. "Boss… you promised Boss Wu would come…"