The Place Where Everything Begins

Upon hearing Michell's question, Jeremy replied,

"I've decided to fight alongside you guys."

Prior to this, Mitchell didn't put much hope in the aspect that Jeremy would help them fight with the monsters.

Thus, his eyes widened a bit, and then he spoke excitedly, "Really? That's good, very good. Your presence alone will boost our chance of survival to another level."

Mitchell indeed felt surprised at the sudden good news.

"But..." Jeremy's voice suddenly interrupted Mitchell's jubilation.

Upon hearing that word, Mitchell settled his various emotions down a bit as he suddenly realized that the man in front of him had a proposal for them.

"Do you know that I've already been qualified to be teleported into the second stage anytime I want?" Jeremy laid out his card.

"..."

After Mitchell had heard Jeremy's question that seemed more like an affirmative sentence, he asked for the reason behind Jeremy's generosity, "I see... then... Why do you choose to help us then? You can just teleport out of here anytime you want, right?"

"You guess." Replied Jeremy with a light smile while looking directly at Mitchell's shaky eyes.

"..."

After some seconds passed, Mitchell finally finished his thoughts. Then he spoke up,

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"Hmm... As you had said before that you would clear those two remaining doors. Maybe, those two doors are the reason? Wait... Maybe you also remain here for another reason; is it for the SP and skills in the shop? Which one?"

"You are quite sharp. Now we are talking." Jeremy replied, feeling impressed.

While within Jeremy's mind was another thing entirely, 'This guy has a good brain; he accurately pinpoints two of the four purposes behind my staying here.'

*Sigh*

Suddenly, the sound of Mitchell's sigh rang out, and then he said with a defeated expression,

"You hold all the cards, so state your price and conditions."

When Jeremy saw Mitchell's defeated expression, he couldn't help but tease a bit, "Talking with someone like you is indeed convenient, as people like you realize their current situation quite well."

That simply meant Mitchell knew his own place pretty well...

"..."

Right now, Mitchell felt quite depressed, as he was afraid that Jeremy's demands might be something outrageous.

After all, everyone within their group was as poor as they could be, for they had already used up every ounce of their SP to buy various things from the shop, such as woods, foods, weapons, medicines, and so on.

That's why after hearing Jeremy's teasing words in a situation like this, Mitchell could only keep his silence, waiting patiently for Jeremy's demands.

At the same time, Mitchell also couldn't reprimand Jeremy in any way because he didn't have any right to do so.

If Jeremy wanted to help, he would help, but if he didn't, so be it.

Regarding that matter, Mitchell knew it well.

As for Jeremy's demands, of course, Mitchell would try his best to meet those demands and requests, for Jeremy could boost up their survival chances to another level.

At this time, when Jeremy saw the glasses man in front of him constantly oozing out serious air, Jeremy decided to speak up to lighten the mood,

"Why so serious? Just relax. There is only one condition, though."

"One condition, you say... What is it?" Replied Mitchell with a newfound hope after hearing Jeremy's words.

'He still lacks experience in negotiation. Well, let's just finish this fast, as I am quite exhausted and will have to take a short rest before the fight.'

When Jeremy finished those fleeting thoughts, he spoke up again,

"Simple, it's about the lineup strategy."

"Lineup strategy? Please elaborate." Mitchell inquired with a thoughtful frown.

Then, with a satisfied grin plastered on his face, Jeremy calmly explained the 'strategy' to Mitchell,

"Well, listen, it is like this..."

...

Three hours or so later...

Only 44 people remained within the clearing, with two people lying unconsciously at a corner while having six people of young and old ages huddling and staying near them.

Meanwhile, another 36 people held weapons in their hands tightly, waiting for the monsters to emerge from the left and right passageways.

Currently, those 36 people were divided into one big and small group.

The big group consisted of 25 people situating at the right passageway entrance, with many barricades and traps being placed in front of them.

The small group consisted of only 11 people situating at the left passageway entrance, with an even lesser amount of barricades than the right passageway.

Of course, this was Jeremy's proposal to Mitchell some hours ago.

Mitchell and other people knew it all too well that Jeremy alone was akin to ten of them together.

Heck, Jeremy might be even stronger than that, as that made most of them quite curious about Jeremy's prowess.

How could a human become that strong?

Did Mister Jeremy buy some OP skills from the shop?

Concurrently, there were too many mysteries revolving around the man named Jeremy.

Unsurprisingly, after Mitchell had weighed the pros and cons of the lineup strategy, he decided to agree with Jeremy's sole condition.

That's why Mitchell suddenly called for a meeting about two hours ago, asking everyone to vote whether to use Jeremy's strategy or not.

Fortunately, after some persuasions and play of words here and there, Mitchell managed to convince the majority of people to vote and voice in agreement with Jeremy's proposal.

At that time, three or four troublemakers were also trying to cause some hiccups, but as soon as those people raised their discontent a bit, Mitchell and his close aides shot those people's unpleasant opinions down with ease.

As a result, after the countdown timer ended, the people's lineup was as such...

The people in front of the left passageway consisted of Jeremy, Bob, Joshua, Lucas, William, Thomas, Skylar, Bad Mouther, Greedy Pig, Claire, and Aylin.

The people in front of the right passageway consisted of Mitchell, Eddie, Luke, Derek, Kyle, Grayson, Anna, Bella, etc.

After experiencing the life-and-death fight together earlier, everyone grew close to one another.

As of right now, everyone had already finished introducing oneself to other people; they knew most of the people's names here.

Still, more than half people there had titles above their heads, but as those titles were just some harsh and trash words most of the time, everyone decided to ignore the titles and call one another by their names instead.

Alright, let's come back to the current plan...

As agreed, the plan was simple. The majority of combatants would face the monsters from the right passageway, whereas the minority, having Jeremy as a spearhead, would be fighting against the monsters from the left passageway.

Regarding the other ten people standing alongside Jeremy at the left passageway, according to the plan, those people were akin to props used to decorate the scene, not letting it be too empty.

In other words, they were here only to ensure that no monster would be let through the frontline to stab other people at another passageway and the resting area in the back.

Right now, most people felt very nervous as it was, after all, a fight to the death against scary monsters.

"Mister Jeremy, is it really going to be okay this way?" Asked Bob worriedly, who was standing beside Jeremy.

"Well, I don't know."