Li Wei stared at the mage in horror. His brain was still processing what happened; it was too unbelievable. The Pyro bomb's destructive power was completely negated by the mark on the mage's face. The mark was glowing vividly, eager to devourer more flames.

Everything within a 5-meter radius of the mage was completely burned out. Li Wei was lying on the floor just outside that circle. He tried to get up and run away but his legs were still bound by the [Mana Bind].

The mage was coldly laughing as he took a step towards Li Wei. His mage robe was completely burnt and looked like a beggar's clothes but under these rags, Li Wei could see other marks similar to the one that was glowing on the mage's face.

"Tell me! How do you feel now?" said the mage as he approached Li Wei. His lunatic face looking like a serial killer about to strike.

"If I was not ordered to bring you back alive! I would take my time to torture you for trying such an underhanded move! You are lucky the Messenger ordered to bring you back in the best shape possible!" declared the mage. A strange light appeared in his eyes as he continued to walk forward.

Li Wei panicked, the [Mana Bind] was showing no sign of weakening, he could not get away. His hand quickly moved and grabbed the throwing needles on his waist.

However, before he could throw them, the mage suddenly appeared right in front of Li Wei and smashed his staff on Li Wei's face.

"Bang!"

"-13"

Li Wei closed his eyes just in time as he fell on the ground again. He inadvertently let go of the throwing needle; the situation was back to square one.

It was a clear demonstration of the mage's power. His magic skills were powerful, but he could also deal 13 damage just with his physical strength. He closed the gap of 4m in an instant but that was not due to his speed, it was all thanks to one of his skills, [Blink], that allowed him to teleport within a 5m radius.

"Hehe. You really thought you took me by surprise with that firebomb?" sarcastically said the mage. His large hand suddenly moved and grabbed Li Wei's neck.

[Mana Rope]

Another skill which used mana as ropes. Compared to [Mana Bind], [Mana Rope] was not limited to just binding, it could be used for various purposes like lowering or pulling something. But in this case, the mage used his skill like [Mana Bind] and attached Li Wei's hands.

"Ah! What are you doing?" shouted Li Wei in panic but as he opened his mouth, the mage suddenly took out a potion and poured it into Li Wei's mouth.

"Gllrr"

Li Wei tried to spit out the potion, but the mage forced him to drink some. A large portion of the potion was spilled on the ground, but Li Wei still ended up swallowing part of it.

[System prompt: You have consumed a sleep potion. Taking effect in 5]

[4]

"F*ck!" shouted Li Wei, trying to free himself. But despite his will, he could not do anything. He could not even move with both his legs and hands bound.

[2]

[1]

The mage was coldly looking at Li Wei with a sadistic expression. He smiled as he saw Li Wei's state; he could see some dizziness appearing in his eyes.

[0]

At that moment, the mage let go of Li Wei's neck, but the latter did not feel it. He simply suddenly felt comfortable and lost consciousness. His body slowly fell on the dirty ground as the mage viciously grinned.

The mage stared at the motionless body on the ground before kicking it. "F*cking bastard! You made it way harder than it needed to be!"

...

An unknown amount of time later, Li Wei slowly regained consciousness. The first thing that stroke him was that he could not move his limbs. His hands and legs were still bound but this time, the feeling was different; his binds were cold and hard, different from the spells used by the mage. He found himself lying on a table. He tried to move but failed; all he heard was metal chains clanking.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

The sound was quite loud and echoed through the room. At the same time, Li Wei heard grunts and other chains clanking.

"Is someone here?" asked Li Wei.

"Cling Cling!" more sounds of chains were heard but at the same time:

"Yes!", "Where are we?", "Hubby? Are you there?"

Several voices resounded across the room. Li Wei immediately guessed their identities; they were most probably all the other players of the escort! He did not recognize the first two, but the last voice should belong to the priest who was calling her husband.

"I am here!", "Heho!"

Li Wei was confused, "Where are we? What happened? I only remember being forced to drink a sleep potion."

Suddenly, in the middle of the noisy conversations, a system prompt occurred:

[System prompt: You have been captured by members of an evil cult and are about to be interrogated and tortured. For censorship purposes and due to the game's nature, we are allowing you to skip this phase. You have the choice to live through the normal development of the game or immediately respawn at Algate City's graveyard. Please bear in mind that choosing the second option will result in usual death penalties.]

[System prompt: To do so, simply wish to respawn at Algate City and you will be immediately teleported to the graveyard. You are free to choose the first option but Valor will not be held responsible for any psychological traumas that might occur. You may use this option at any time while at the Evil Cult's hideout. Please use it wisely]

The system prompt basically informed the players that they could painlessly suicide and respawn at the city safely. They had all been captured by the evil cult followers and would be experimented on. Evil cults were an essential component of the game and this sort of attacks was necessary for the development of the plot and biasing the opinion of the players against them.

After all, the evil cult represented the "Bad guys" of the game and the aim of the game was to defeat them. Making vicious actions like this one was the best way to create an enmity with the players. However, the game developers were aware that they could not put too many violent scenes, especially in the early stages of the game and so, they gave the players the option to skip them. No one would be willing to face torture.

After the system prompt, all Li Wei heard was silence. It seemed like everyone was also getting the same system prompt and was listening attentively.

"Did you all get the system prompt?" asked a voice.

"I did!", "Yes! We can leave this place!" Instantly, the cacophony restarted.

A few seconds later, a loud voice was heard, "Enough! Let’s quickly use that option and leave!"

"Hubby! I will wait for you at the graveyard!" the priest's voice was quickly heard which was followed by a faint light emitted from a side of the room.

"Ah Fei Er!" A man's voice was heard and quickly, Li Wei saw another light being emitted.

But then, a few seconds went by without anyone using the option to suicide! Even Li Wei did not activate that option.

"What is happening? Why are you guys waiting?" asked a man's voice.

"Pfff, You think we are stupid? I'll rather wait to see how things go. I'll only use that if the situation becomes really bad," answered a woman's voice. Hearing the voice, Li Wei easily pinpointed who it was; it was without a doubt the female rogue.

Li Wei was also thinking the same thing! He could use the suicide option at any time. There was no need to rush. What if something happened and the tides turned in their favor?

Nobody spoke for a moment. They all came up with the same conclusion and wanted to wait to see.

A few moments later, loud sounds of a rusty lock being opened were heard. A door creaked loudly as it was opened, and a bright light shone onto Li Wei.

"Mmm. It looks like you are all awake!" said a female voice.

Everybody tensed but, in their position, they could not see the speaker. Li Wei could not get up, he could move his head but from his point of view, he could not even see the door.

"Two of your friends passed away? They are very lucky." The female voice said with a tinge of surprise.

"Anyway, since you are all alive and well, I guess we can start doing a few experiments!" said another male's voice. Li Wei immediately recognized that one; he had no way to confirm it, but he guessed it was the mage that captured him.

"Lady Messenger! Please allow me to start!" sounded the man's voice again.

Li Wei anxiously waited but did not hear any response. Instead, he heard loud footsteps and a loud screeching sound as if something metallic was being pulled on the floor.

Li Wei did not know what was happening. He desperately tried to look over but could not see a thing. Finally, a few moments later, he heard a loud shout followed by the light indicating someone used the suicide option.

"Oh? How peculiar?" said the man's voice with a tinge of surprise.

"Go to the next!" coldly ordered the female voice and at the same time, Li Wei heard an unknown incantation being chanted. A few seconds later, the same thing happened, someone shouted, and a bright light flashed across the room.

"Mmm, let me do it. Gogius. You go back!" ordered the female voice.

Li Wei did not understand what was happening. All he knew was that the players must have felt or seen something quite terrifying or painful for them to suddenly use the suicide option like that. He once again heard the screeching sound but this time, it was moving away from him.

"What is happening!?" shouted a voice.

"Let us go! I am using the suicide thing!"

Li Wei recognized these voices as those of the two tanned men. Immediately after, he saw two bright lights flash across the room in brief succession.

In his mind, Li Wei was already counting, the couple left early and now four players used the suicide option. That meant that only four people were still left including him; he was not aware that Galaxy and Maestra both successfully got away.

"Oh? A girl?" said the female voice with surprise.

"Pfff, old rag! You think you are scaring me!?" roughly declared the female rogue.

"A courageous one? Just the type I like! I can let you go if you agree to spend a night with me!" seductively said the female voice.

"In your dreams old rag! I'd rather die than do that!"

The female voice laughed, "In that case, let me test something!"

But as she said that, Li Wei saw a bright light flash across the room which meant that the rogue also used the suicide option.

"What a pity... She had quite good proportions and would have made a nice toy!?" said the female voice.

A few steps were heard, and the female voice once again spoke: "Looks like you are the last one?"

"The last one?" thought Li Wei. "Wasn't there supposed to be two more? Did they use the suicide option at the same time such that I did not notice it?"

Li Wei turned his head only to find a middle-aged woman looking at him. A weird smile could be seen on her face which was full of strange tattoos similar to the marks he had seen on the mage.

"Old hag? I don't see her old at all?" thought Li Wei.

At that moment, the mage's voice came from behind, "Lady Messenger! Let me try this one! He was the one I brought back, I would like to play with him a little bit!"

"Tsssk. He is the last one left. I'll do it myself!" answered the Messenger before turning back her attention on Li Wei.

The latter saw a strange light in the woman's eyes. She calmly approached Li Wei and finally, he saw a weird instrument in the woman's hand that looked like a saw.

The woman stopped next to Li Wei and started to examine him closely in silence.

Li Wei tensed up, "D*mn. What is she going to do?" He quickly prepared himself to use the suicide option just in case.

The woman was carefully looking at Li Wei with a strange smile when suddenly, her expression changed to a surprised one followed by an expression of focus and seriousness.