We waited for the others outside the game arena. A few minutes later, another door opened and Harshath along with the couple stepped out. Then the final door opened — Siddhu, Inspector Shariff and Badrul emerged. Inspector Shariff was heavily bleeding, and Aswath looked just as bad. We expected something like this, so we had already prepared the medication. We treated their wounds quickly and covered the bleeding before deciding to return to the base camp.
Surprisingly, every team came out with a compass. When we looked closely, each compass had the name of its game arena engraved on the back. Curious, we went to Steven — the guy who had explored most of this strange game world and even created a map of it. We asked for his help.
Steve spread out the map. It was an exact replica of the world we were trapped in. We placed every compass on the matching locations written behind them. The formation created a triangle. Suddenly, the needles began to spin before stopping — all pointing to the same spot.
We asked Steve about that location. He told us it was a building with no signs or boards. Immediately, all of us assumed the same thing: the hidden arena.
We marked the spot on the map. Since we now had three lifelines, we needed to wait two days before entering a new game. This time would help us prepare — and more importantly, give Aswath and Inspector Shariff time to heal.
A few hours later, more players returned to base camp. Sixteen people didn’t survive their games.
The people here had a habit. Whenever someone died, they would carve the person’s name onto a large stone beside a mango tree. After carving, everyone stayed silent for a few minutes, honoring the ones they lost. Today, we joined them. The silence was heavy — filled with pain that words couldn’t explain.
That night, I couldn’t sleep. I picked up a book to read for a while. Jenny was already awake, staring quietly at a picture. We talked for a bit — it was her sister. She had been sick when Jenny got trapped here, and the worry was eating her up. I comforted her as best as I could.
A few hours passed, and finally our eyes grew tired. Before I drifted off to sleep, one thought kept circling in my mind:
What kind of game is waiting for us in the hidden arena?
ns216.73.216.33da2
and then Add to home screen.