"Where is this place?"
"Who are you people?"
"What do you want?"
The familiar newbie questions rang in his ears. Caleb opened his eyes to find himself sitting on a bus driving through thick fog...
"Damn, there are newbies in this Instance too?" muttered a brawny man in a short-sleeved shirt, his arms bulging with well-defined muscles.
The three individuals, whose faces were filled with terror from suddenly finding themselves in an unfamiliar place, immediately turned their attention to him, asking: "Do you know what this place is?"
It proved that most humans struggle to control their emotions when panicked.
One of the three new players, a woman with long hair, demanded, "Did you kidnap us? Let us go right now! Otherwise, we'll call the police!"
Her tone was very unpleasant.
The brawny man frowned, his expression visibly darkening with displeasure. He seemed to want to say something, but decided it wasn't worth it. Instead, he simply closed his eyes and leaned back in his seat to rest.
"My phone, right! I'm calling the police!" The long-haired woman spoke as she reached into her pocket, trying to pull out her phone. But she searched for a long time and found nothing.
The nearest person, a spirited old man in his fifties or sixties, glanced at her sideways and said leisurely, "Stop looking. This isn't the world you're familiar with."
The woman paused, murmuring, "How is that possible…"
The expressions of the other two new players also showed disbelief.
One of them, a man who looked like a college student wearing glasses, seemed to remember something and murmured, "Right... I think I was hit and killed by a truck while crossing the road."
The other man, wearing a suit and exuding the aura of a corporate elite, frowned and asked, "So, is this the transport to the underworld?"
"Ahem~" The elderly man, who had been leaning back in his seat with a leisurely expression, cleared his throat. He sat up straight, looked at the man, and said with a strange expression, "Didn't you receive the prompt from the Infinite World?"
The corporate man was stunned and instinctively asked, "What?"
He had heard of the term Infinite World before, but: 'Isn't that something that only exists in web novels?'
The bespectacled college student was also dazed. Just then, the long-haired woman who had been emotionally unstable suddenly widened her eyes and let out a gasp of surprise.
The corporate man and the college student immediately turned to look.
They saw the woman tap a few times in the air, and then a spherical object, red on top and white on the bottom, fell down.
"A Poké Ball..." She looked at the item in her hand with a complex expression.
The next second, the Poké Ball opened automatically. With a flash of white light, a Marowak wearing a bone helmet and holding a bone club appeared in the bus aisle.
The Marowak looked affectionately at the woman in front of it and let out a soft cry toward her: "Marow~"
The old man watched this scene, shook his head with a light laugh, and knew that the three of them had now received the prompt from the Infinite World. He leisurely leaned back in his seat, waiting for the main quest to begin.
The bus fell silent for a moment.
Some players who were sitting closer exchanged glances and began talking quietly among themselves.
Caleb silently observed this scene. Excluding the driver, there were eleven other passengers on the bus besides himself.
'A twelve-player Werewolf game sounds quite interesting. I just wonder what the rules of this game would be.' Caleb suddenly began to feel anticipation.
The thick fog on both sides of the road rapidly receded. Before long, the bus stopped in front of a castle full of European-style architecture.
The NPC driver opened the door, turned back to the players, and said, "We're here, get off!"
Just then, the long-awaited main quest notification finally appeared, though fashionably late:
[Main Quest: Wingull Travel Agency's grand prize, a seven-day luxury castle tour. As lucky tourists who have won the grand prize, you will spend the most wonderful seven days of your lives in this luxurious castle full of mystery.]
[Player Caleb Chase, randomizing identity...]
[Congratulations! Your identity is Werewolf!]
[Quest Objective: Achieve final victory in this game of Werewolf!]
[All players, please enter the castle. During the quest duration, any player who leaves the castle grounds will automatically fail the main quest!]
With that, the driver NPC with an uncle's face closed the door and vanished into the thick fog...
"This place feels a bit eerie," the bespectacled college student shivered and said, "There aren't ghosts in the Pokémon world, right?"
"Who knows..."
Compared to the new players, the veteran players were long accustomed to this kind of situation. They had experienced even more bizarre environments.
A castle shrouded in thick fog in the middle of nowhere was nothing to them.
Seeing how unconcerned these people looked, the male college student smiled somewhat sheepishly.
As he walked inside with everyone, he introduced himself, "Hello everyone, I'm Dmitri, a sophomore from X University!"
The long-haired woman had now calmed down. Recalling what happened on the bus, she said to the muscular man, "I'm really sorry, I was too impulsive earlier. I apologize! By the way, my name is Chiara."
The muscular man looked at her and said cheerfully, "It's fine. It's your first time, so it's understandable."
As everyone spoke, the old man at the front pushed open the dust-sealed main door of the castle.
With a creaking sound, an aura of decay wafted out from inside.
"How long has it been since anyone lived here..." Chiara muttered, wrinkling her delicate brows with some distaste.
"We'll just clean it up," the old man said, hands behind his back, walking straight in.
The first floor of the castle housed a long black table with a rustic charm, flanked by six wooden benches on each side.
On the table were twelve cards of different colors, each marked with a number from 1 to 12.
At that moment, a faint blue virtual projection appeared above the long table. It looked at the players and said in a calm female voice:
<..Welcome, players, to this Instance. Please each choose a seat. I will now explain the rules of this Werewolf game to everyone..>
The three new players hesitated. The other nine veteran players walked straight to the long table and began choosing their preferred seats.
Caleb wasn't picky about these things. He didn't believe in lucky numbers either, so he simply chose a seat and sat down.
He reached out and flipped over the card in front of him. The number on it was 9. Which meant he was number 9.
A faint scent of perfume wafted from beside him. Caleb turned his head and saw a girl wearing a baseball cap and a mask sitting down next to him.
Seeing him look at her, the girl proactively took off her mask, curled her lips into a harmless smile, and asked, "You don't mind me sitting here, do you?"
She was very beautiful, stunningly so. Her deep pupils were like whirlpools, drawing people in.
Caleb faintly detected a trace of danger from her. He shook his head and withdrew his gaze...