The Winners Take It All | Chishiya [English]

The imposter and the famous needles in the haystack

The next location wasn't far from my apartment. I could see the light as soon as I stepped out of the building.

Now it was that time again, I had to play for my life once more.

I nervously pushed a strand of blonde hair that had slipped out of my braid from my face. You could tell I was a little more prepared this time. My hair was tied back and therefore no longer in my face all the time and I now had somewhat more flexible clothing in which I could move a little better. It was black, which meant I was easier to miss in the dark. At the last game, the first bunny's light-colored clothing had been their death trap. She had been found too quickly because she had practically drawn the light with her white jacket. This realization came to me when I was deciding on my clothing. That's why the black pants and the black sweater.

I walked towards the new playground. The faster I went, the faster I got it over with. The location was familiar to me, I could almost say that I knew it by heart.

It was the city library, where I had already spent a lot of time researching for my studies .

It was a multi-story building, four floors in total were filled with books. That could be cheerful...

I stopped just outside the entrance, took another breath, and then stepped inside. This time too I heard the beeping, but now I stopped. Fenji had said that if you left the area you would get a laser through your head. I was curious - why was that?

I cautiously approached the door again and tilted my head. Then, for a brief moment, I saw it: a laser barrier. The playground area was demarcated in this way. Whoever thought through these games had really thought of everything.

I swallowed, turned back around and made my way to registration. There was another woman there besides me. She was wearing a bikini top, dreadlocks and was chewing on a piece of plastic. I noticed the strange bracelet on her wrist, but didn't think anything of it. She looked up as I reached for a phone and turned on facial recognition. As I did, I saw her frowning out of the corner of my eye, but I decided to ignore the gesture. Instead, I counted the cell phones. Two were taken, four were still on the table.

There was an exact number of participants, strange.

I leaned against the wall and kept my head down. But my calm was quickly interrupted when I heard two voices. And that one voice sounded damn familiar! My heart beat faster immediately. Why this person?! I could have known that I would be so unlucky. It was the voice from the morning, the one that had spoken of the squashed fly!

"Hey Hey Hey ! Hayashi! What are you doing here, I thought you didn't want to play?" he said and my eyes widened. How did this guy know my name?! "Hellooooo! Have you lost your self-confidence or why can't you open your mouth, Ayumi-chan?", why did he call me by her name? He had grabbed a cell phone and put it in his pocket. His companion was standing to the side behind him.

No... That couldn't be right, she couldn't be here! That was impossible!

Suddenly a hand cupped my chin and pushed my head up, forcing me to look up. I swallowed as I looked at his face. He was attractive, no question, but I sensed immediately that he was dangerous. His hair was jet black and he had tied it back in a braid, and his facial piercings rounded off his image.

Three minutes until the game starts!

He seemed to be watching me more closely. "What is it, Ayumi-chan, are you going to answer me now?" he asked again and I managed to free my chin from his grip.

"My name is not Ayumi," I replied quietly before slowly walking away from them. He stayed back but seemed to continue to watch me. I then heard him talking to his companion. The word "imposter" was mentioned, but I couldn't understand anything else because they were whispering. I noticed two more people enter the building and register, then it started.

Registration completed. The game now begins.

Game name: The needle in the haystack

Difficulty level: 5 od Diamonds

Rules:

All players will meet at the book rental desk after the game has started.

A serum is provided for each person, which everyone should inject themselves within five minutes.

Each player then has a code.

This code must be solved to find the puzzles.

The puzzles must then be solved to find the antidote.

If the antidote is not found before time runs out, it is game over.

Time limit: 45 minutes.

Game starts in

3

2

1

0

Time remaining: 44 minutes, 55 seconds.

A serum? That does not sound good!

I saw the others already starting to move, so I followed them. In fact, there was a desk at the rental station with six syringes placed on it. I swallowed, but followed suit as the others took one. Then I pulled back and took a closer look at the stuff. It was colorless, which didn't make it much better.

I rolled up my arm and injected the drug into my arm, making sure to tie off the vein. It would reduce the blood flow and therefore cause this stuff to not spread as quickly. And then I waited for the code. But nothing happened. Shouldn't we have one now? I picked up the empty syringe and examined it again.

It had a serial number: 2 E 3 ASE TLP 56.

Maybe that was the code... I thought. Where had I seen this type of combination before? It looked familiar to me. I got up and went back to the rental desk. There was no one there anymore. I reached over the counter and found what I was looking for. The card index where all loans are recorded in writing. I pulled out a card. There was a number on it: 3 A 4 PS DP .

Then it clicked.

These were the places where these books were found! The 2 in my code was the floor, the E was the aisle, the 3 was the shelf, ASE was the author, TLP was the title of the book, and 56 was the page! I made my way to the stairs, climbed them and began searching. It made it easier that I knew the library, even though I tended to be on the first and third floors.

I entered the E-aisle, looked for shelf 3 and then for the author and book. It was a little difficult because I didn't know most of the titles. But finally I came across a book that could fit: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince. I carefully pulled it out and opened to page 56. In fact, there was a note hidden there. This had the code on it that was also on my syringe. And there was something else: two puzzles.

There are 30 minutes left!

Unfortunately for me, I heard footsteps. I quickly disappeared from the hallway and retreated to a reading corner that was shielded from prying eyes.

Then we wanted to see what the puzzles were all about...