7
The entire group chat seemed to be paused.
Then it exploded.
“?????
6 km W x
* * * * *
Q Q Q
y q r r q r br q143
2 5 7 7 9 7 7 W Y Z Z
q x 4 z Y Y X w
“Heavy Rain Apocalypse?! What Heavy Rain Apocalypse?!”
“You son of a bitch, System! Are you messing with us?!”
“Where’s the high temperature? What about the high temperature we were promised?! This is going
“Chloe! It’s all you! You said high temperature!”
“Finn! Didn’t you say you analyzed it?!”
Desperate wails flooded the screen, almost making my phone explode.
In the center of this completely out–of–control chaotic storm, my message incongruously
**[Image.jpg]**
tin.
to
drown us!”
The storm outside the balcony was completely shut out. Inside, the room was dry and warm, lit by candlelight.
A tablet, a laptop, and an open novel lay neatly beside them.
www
My safe house looked comfortable and leisurely, a stark contrast to the submerged and destroyed ruins of the others.
The furious scrolling in the group chat abruptly stopped.
A few seconds later, an explosion of exclamation marks.
“IRIS!!!”
く
*
- 4.
2:50 PM C
<
“I get it, Iris changed the group name! Everyone’s an admin, she is too!”
“You knew it was heavy rain, but you changed it to high temperature, you wanted to kill us, didn’t you?! I’ll kill you!”
“You had no resources, you should have starved to death, do you have another ability?!”
“System, I want to report her for cheating!! I want to re–select my safe house and ability @Admin!!”
I calmly watched the frantic messages flickering on the screen.
“Don’t you guys read? Are you still this clueless? I chose ‘Reverse Photosynthesis, I can survive just fine on air humidity. Food and water aren’t really a problem for me.”
“You’re allowed to mute me, but I’m not allowed to change the name? You should have realized it was raining on the first day. You’re so fond of wishful thinking, you deserve to die.”
Just then, the long–awaited system prompt popped up again.
[Attention all Hosts: Phase One ‘Safe House Survival‘ has ended.]**
**[Phase Two mission: ‘Resource Scramble‘ will begin in ten minutes.]**
**[Hosts with intact safe houses have priority notice.]**
**[All muted…]**
The group chat fell completely silent.
My phone vibrated non–stop.
Everyone, including Chloe and Finn, started frantically private messaging me.
