Chapter 47. The system is a lie

Chapter 47: 47. The system is a lie Shin said his goodbyes to Ayaka and stepped out of Yuki’s room, Lilian silently trailing behind him. The moment he stepped outside, the scene before him hit him like a hammer to the gut. The once calm street of the safezone had transformed into a cage of violence and desperation. What was once a sanctuary now reeked of panic. Flickering gates lined the road—small glowing portals framed in gold, shimmering under the sunlight, with eerie purple sigils rotating lazily above them like cruel halos. These must be the gates to the second-tier safezone, Shin muttered to himself. But he hadn’t expected them to be the trigger for this level of chaos. Players swarmed the gates like desperate animals, but even those with enough coins to pass through couldn’t make it. The poor ones without enough coins clustered like vultures, waiting, watching, and ready to pounce at anyone who dared step forward. Screams echoed from every corner of the street. Shin turned just in time to see a man dragged back from close to the small gate by three others. One gagged him with cloth, another forced his arms behind his back and bound them tight. He kicked, screamed into the fabric, eyes wide with terror. And no one intervened. They threw him over a shoulder and rushed off toward the main gate leading out of the zone, probably to kill him and strip him of his coins. Shin shook his head, watching the scene unfold. Just the announcement that there wouldn’t be enough food... and people turned into this? Something ancient had awakened in them—something primal, and violent. Something that had always been there, buried beneath thin skin and smiles. Then it hit him. Hunger makes people fight... especially when there’s a shortcut to luxury through blood. This wasn’t wickedness. It was instinct exposing the raw animal beneath us. Beneath the thin, brittle mask of civilization was a beast made to survive. When the hunger gets deep enough, when the thirst screams loud enough, the body stops asking what’s right. It just acts. The healthy mind fights. It claws, steals, devours. It does whatever it must to live. And now there was a path to safety... but it came wrapped in danger, soaked in blood. Just as Shin was trying to process the madness, he heard glass shatter across the street. He turned to see a group—three men and two women—harassing NPCs inside a restaurant. "What do you mean there’s no food?!" one of them shouted, shoving a waitress hard. "Search the place, boys! Grab everything you can! Anything that looks edible, take it!" barked the one who seemed like the leader, and chaos erupted further. One of the women in the group grinned while gripping a small axe, eyeing the NPCs like prey. "What happens if I kill one of them, huh? The system said no killing players. Didn’t say shit about NPCs!" The onlookers stood frozen, curious. Watching and waiting to see what also really happens. The woman raised her axe and slammed it into the head of a helpless NPC. The blow cracked the skull with a sickening crunch. The NPC dissolved into a mist of glowing particles. She roared with manic laughter. "Ha! Nothing! Nothing happens! I can kill all of you and no one will stop me!" Her teammates grinned. "You heard her! Bring everything you’ve got or join your little friend!" NPCs dropped to the floor, covering their heads, sobbing as the gang tore through the restaurant. The spectators didn’t stay still for long. Encouraged by the chaos, they scattered into other stores, ransacking, killing, laughing. A tidal wave of lawlessness. Lilian clutched Shin’s hand, trembling. "D-Divine Master... w-what is happening...?" She felt it. The death of each NPC sent a spike of agony into her chest, as if her heart was stitched to theirs. Their suffering pooled inside her. The world she once believed to be blessed, peaceful, divine was unraveling before her eyes. Shin exhaled sharply, gripping her tighter, feeling how cold her hands had become. The system’s a lie, he thought. A cruel game. A puppetmaster with no conscience. It can’t be trusted. The safezone wasn’t safe anymore. Suddenly, sirens pierced the air. Police vehicles from the Bureau stormed in, NPC officers jumping out, armed and ready. They tried to restrain the rampaging players—but bound by their code not to harm humans, they were helpless. The streets became slaughterhouses. NPCs—waitresses, vendors, even the police—fell one by one. It was a massacre, not just of bodies, but of illusion. The promised peace, the illusion of order, was shattered. The players had believed in peace, in structure, in a promised life of luxury here on the safezone. And now that dream had turned to ash. Some even hesitated near the gates, wondering if Tier Two was worth it. Would it be just another slaughterhouse dressed in gold? Shin grit his teeth. "Damn it," he muttered, grabbing Lilian’s hand and running. At least Ayaka was with Yuki. She was safe. But he and Lilian? Not so much. He still needed to level up. He needed coins. And to get those... he had to kill. But kidnapping players, tying them up, and dragging them out of the safezone? That was too risky. Too much work. He’d likely be killed before pulling it off. There was only one choice now. Get out of this hellhole. The safezone had become more dangerous than what lay beyond. It was a cage of suspicion and betrayal. You never knew what the person next to you was planning. Friends could turn into hunters. You could be the next victim carried to your doom. Shin ran, heading out of this place. If anyone followed, he’d fight. Take their coins. Survive. It was a gamble. But so was everything now. He passed a dwarven vendor stand mid-attack—humans were beating dwarves, stealing weapons. A beautiful dwarven NPC woman was shoved out, landing hard. Shin didn’t hesitate. He grabbed her hand and pulled her up. He wasn’t saving her out of kindness. Without NPCs, he couldn’t level up. Not as the Filthbound. For him, sex was power. He raced toward the gate, dragging both Lilian and the dwarf, muttering under his breath: "As the Filthbound, I command these two NPCs to pass through the gate and walk out of the safezone!" The gate shimmered lightly as if it accepted the command, and they crossed. Behind them, hungry eyes followed. They saw prey. But Shin had been prey before. And lived. Good. Let them follow. He’d deal with them one by one—and take everything they had. TBC