A Game World! Rise of the Quadruple Server Lord

As time continued to tick away, so did the many rooms that had been explored. 

The sounds of doors creaking open and shutting closed echoed within the dark hallways of the Mansion. 

The hallways themselves were dark and humid, with light candles hung up on the walls, providing ambience upon a small portion of the path. 

It wasn't much deterrent for them though, as they were more focused on completing their tasks rather than the amount of light provided for them. 

A shutting sound echoed as footsteps projected through the hallway. Two figures walked out of a room, a candle of light in hand and their expressions wary. 

There was a palpable tension between them, a testament to the predicament they had fallen into. 

"How difficult could it be to locate one girl?" Dollina muttered, her tone laced with hesitation as she turned the candle around and avoided a stool. 

"I was wondering the same thing, My lady. It's difficult to understand how she was able to accomplish such a feat….killing one's sister?." 

Kenhi scoffed, a lingering tone in his voice as he shook his head. 

Dollina suddenly came to a halt, turning her face towards his. 

"Don't call me My lady. This isn't Gametopia where our status matters." 

Kenhi smiled. "But I insist. You're someone much more remarkable than you think." He replied, his sweet tooth intricately woven with his statement. 

Dollina found this disgusting and unfortunately, nostalgic. She could recall all the watched-up gentlemen and business partners who approached her with ulterior motives while playing with their words. 

She could tell them apart with a single glance and Kenhi wasn't doing much to hide it. 

"Suite yourself." She said with a sigh as she turned around. 

"How about Zachary though?" 

A moment of silence had passed and Kenhi broke it with his question. 

"What about Zachary?" 

They had gotten to another door, Dollina taking a pause in front of it. 

She stared at it, pointing the candlelight at different locations as if trying to recall it. 

'This was in the blueprint too'. 

She thought as she opened it. 

"He could be the killer." 

Dollina remained aloof as she walked into the room, her attention drifting away. 

"I doubt Zachary is skilled enough to pull that and if he was…." 

She stopped for a moment, her thoughts reeling in before she continued. 

"Then he would be dead in about…..five minutes." 

She continued with her search, Kenhi lingering behind her, his smile widening further as he watched her silently. 

Meanwhile, the group of four remained in the room with the chimney and the fireplace seemed to continuously burn on end. 

Zon had a quiet moment with himself, staring at the fire as it crackled in a crimson and ambient display of warmth. Goliath though, seemed more focused on the time as it ticked down on the wall clock. 

A heavy sigh broke through the silence, Bryan sitting up from the floor. 

"I'm telling you! We're not the ones who killed her! I was there. I saw it all happen with my eyes." 

Paxton smirked as he watched Bryan try for the millionth time to convince them of their innocence. He had played this game before, perhaps one of the less popular VR Google games that had run out of production.

He looked away as the memories came flooding in, a frown creasing his face. 

'What a pain. All those games…and here we are….relieving those games'. 

He thought when Zon suddenly coughed out. 

"How long until the killer dies?" He asked. 

"About five minutes." 

"That long?" He mussed with excitement. 

"What if they really aren't the killer?" Goliath asked. 

"Obviously, it means we would have won and the game would be over." 

Goliath raised a brow in confusion. "How so?" 

"If Naomi really is the killer, then all we have to do is wait and we pass the test, but if the time limit counts down and the test remains ongoing…..we would have narrowed down our suspects." 

"Hah…." Goliath raised a brow, his intrigue pulling towards the man. 

"Did you say you were a game tester?" 

"Yes….tests like these are simply a game. A game that can be won if you follow the rules…and so far, we've done just that." 

Zon remained silent for a moment, a small smile forming on his face. 

"We'll catch the killer in no time." 

*****

In another part of the mansion were two men standing in front of a door. 

Jonn and Ferralo, their candles shone brightly against the wooden structure. 

"This is the room above the visiting room?" Jonn asked as he scratched the back of his head. 

"Yes, you would remember if you had memorized the blueprint." 

Jonn's gaze flicked towards Ferralo as he opened the door, his expression turning dark. 

"Why would I reveal such information?" 

"Hah…..this man. We were both blue tasks, so why fight between ourselves? This would be easy if we all chose to be honest." 

"But honesty gets you nowhere in the real world. You're a game analyzer, are you not? You should know by now how shitty those companies are to their employees. Why bother with something like honesty when we can be smart." 

They walked into the room, the floor creaking to the force of their feet on the floorboard. 

"The Server must be testing how good we think. It can't have Players who chose to be dumb, so this must be for that…" 

Ferralo scoffed. "Killing people is not a way to test people…the Server is just looking for scapegoats. Helping humanity my ass–if you ask me, I believe the Server brought the Glitches and their monsters to earth."

"To what? Enslave humanity? Oh, stop it with your nonsense." 

Jonn clicked his tongue in annoyance as he walked further into the room when he noticed a peculiar sparkle within the darkness. 

'Is that….is that what I think it is?' 

He wondered as he walked towards the sparkling light. 

"Jonn? Where are you going?" 

His focus had been absorbed by the object that Ferralo's question seemed insignificant to him. 

What he saw seemed more spectacular, a sight he had not seen in many years since the Calamity of the Glitches. 

"Is this gold?" 

Gold had become so rare, that it was nearly a myth to many others. Of course, most of the population had not even seen one in their entire lives. And apparently, it seemed like Jonn was one of those. 

So the sparkling radiant light that seemed to shimmer his intrigue was more than enough reason to forget about his predicament at that moment. 

With heavy, purposeful steps, he walked up to the edge of the bed where the brilliance shone and grabbed it, immersing himself in the sight. 

A creaking sound projected in the air, causing a stir of worry as Jonn attempted to take a step back.

"I think–CRACK! 

THUD! 

The wooden floorboard gave in, and the middle-aged man dropped to the next floor below with a loud thud. 

Ferralo stood at the other end of the bed, his gaze flickering within the ambient light. 

"What?" 

He whispered in shock. 

Soon, the sounds of worried voices projected within the mansion as heavy footsteps rushed into the room. 

"What was that?" Kenhi asked, his tone laced with worry and surprise while Dollina looked around in confusion. 

Ferralo pointed at the spot where Jonn once stood, a nervous chuckle escaping his lips. 

"He fell…..he fell down to the next floor" 

"He fell? What do you mean…." 

It was then they noticed the hole in the floor and an image of a man lying on the bottom.

His body was mangled, with a knife stabbed through from his back outwards to his chest. 

It seemed comical, nearly planned, no, it was very much planned. 

Dollina raised a brow in confusion while Kenhi sighed as he walked out of the room, calling the attention of the others on the ground floor. 

She seemed stuck in time, her thoughts reeling in as she tried to assimilate the chains of events that had occurred up till now….but it left her in an even more confused state. 

With a shake of her head, she turned around and glanced at Ferralo. 

"Let's have a meeting. This is a bizarre situation." 

She didn't wait for a response and bolted out immediately.

Two people had died, and one was missing, and yet, they had nothing but speculations on who the killer was. 

It was absurd to her, incomprehensible. How could someone kill others so effortlessly and easily? She needed answers, and she was going to get it one way or the other. 

With a slight frown on her beautiful porcelain skin, she said. 

"I'll find you, you damn murderer."