“Nguyen, I’m over here.”

  I couldn’t see Thanh, but her voice came from the other side of the room, where a closed door stood.

  Suppressing the burning pain in my foot, I shouted,

  “Thanh, are you there? Are you okay?”

  Her voice echoed back,

  “Hurry, help me…”

  I forced myself up on my right leg and lunged forward. At that exact moment, a pillar of fire erupted from the floor, licking across my body. The sudden heat knocked me backward, and the pain in my left foot was indescribable. I looked around and suddenly noticed a crutch lying beside me.

  “Wait for me there! I’m coming!”

  I grabbed the crutch and stood up. Pillars of fire continued erupting from all four sides. My heart pounded violently. This was no longer just about my own survival—Minh Thanh was waiting for me on the other side. She hadn’t said it clearly, but the situation sounded urgent.

  I stayed still and observed. These bursts of fire had to follow some kind of pattern, some rhythm. Each wall had clusters of nine holes, three clusters per wall. There was exactly one second when all four sides stopped firing. Every time, the lower wall started first. The middle row on the right side fired simultaneously with the upper-left row. If this side fired from the center hole, the opposite side would fire from the upper hole…

  “Nguyen? I can’t hold on much longer…”

  Her voice broke my concentration.

  “I-I’m almost there. Just hold on a bit longer!”

  If it started from the center hole on the bottom wall, then the next would be the center-left hole on the right wall…

  “Nguyên?” Her voice trembled urgently.

  I had almost grasped the basic pattern, but I wasn’t certain that was the whole cycle. To be sure, I needed to observe a bit longer—but I didn’t have time.

  Leaning on my crutch, I stepped into the sea of fire. Moving on one leg was incredibly difficult, but if I knew the pattern and focused, I could inch forward bit by bit. After three minutes, I had passed two clusters with only a minor burn on my arm.

  But the real challenge began now.

  The previous burst had been what I predicted as the final one in the cycle. If I was right, the pattern would restart. If I was wrong, the next wave would follow a rule I hadn’t seen before.

  The first flame of the third cluster shot up from the floor. I quickly moved into what I believed was a safe position. Facing life and death, my heart thundered.

  The next column of fire erupted from a position that didn’t match the pattern.

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  I immediately dropped flat as the flame shot across just above my head, the smell of burnt hair rising sharply. The hissing roar of fire blasting through narrow vents sounded just ten centimeters from me. Startled, I rolled dramatically to the left.

  I reached for my crutch to stand up, but it was just out of reach. Another flame burst past my left side as I scrambled up. There was no pattern now—I had to rely on listening for the hiss of fire before it erupted. If I was one second too slow, I would die.

  In that moment, all my thoughts vanished, replaced by a wild surge of exhilaration. It wasn’t enough. I wanted more. More danger. More challenge. More risk.

  “Nguyen…”

  “SHUT UP, YOU’RE ANNOYING!”

  The words exploded in the space like thunder.

  Who said that?

  Was that me?

  No. It wasn’t me. I would never say that. I would never abandon a girl desperately calling for help.

  One second had passed while I was drowning in those chaotic thoughts.

  Two pillars of fire shot straight at me.

  I heard myself scream, mixed with Thanh’s voice:

  “Nguyên, what’s wrong? Answer me!”

  I no longer had the strength to respond. Smoke rose from my clothes, blurring my vision—or maybe the flames had blinded me. But I knew where the door was.

  I reached out, grabbed the handle, and pulled it open.

  Then I died.

  “He opened the door. So that counts as three rounds, right?”

  “But he died to the fire in round three. So only two rounds.”

  “If we’d left him alone, maybe he would’ve cleared it safely. I told you not to interfere.”

  Voices argued around me. Blurry shadows in a dimly lit room. My body felt light-no pain, no exhaustion. Only my mind was hazy.

  Was I dead?

  I opened my eyes and saw Minh Thanh sitting beside me.

  “Nguyen, can you hear me? Are you okay?”

  Why wouldn’t I be okay? I was just on a date with her. We even kissed.

  Kissed…

  I sprang upright like a coiled spring and grabbed her shoulders.

  “Are you okay? The laser guns, the fire pillars…”

  Thanh placed both hands on my face and held it firmly.

  “Calm down! You’re fine. I’m fine too!”

  I looked down at my body in panic.

  Huh?

  All my limbs were intact. Not a scratch. I was even still wearing my school uniform.

  So everything just now…

  “Was I dreaming?”

  Thanh looked straight into my eyes and spoke gently:

  “Calm down. It wasn’t a dream. But it wasn’t real either. That was Underground.”

  Seeing the determination in her eyes calmed me somewhat, even though I had no idea what she was talking about.

  “Alright. I’m calm now. Explain.”

  She let go of me and stood up. Only then did I truly take in my surroundings.

  We were in a dim room arranged in utter chaos. I was sitting on a brown sofa placed awkwardly in the middle. To my right was a massive screen covering the entire wall, displaying a strange rotating logo. In front of it was a row of five smaller monitors. A messy table piled with fast food sat in the left corner, on top of a heap of scattered documents. Other sofa pieces were strewn randomly around the room.

  The place looked exactly like a secret headquarters of high-tech criminals you’d see in movies.

  “Before I explain, I want to introduce you to a few people. They’re… well, my masters.”

  Only now did I notice there were others in the room. The first word that popped into my head when I saw them was: eccentric.

  Thanh stepped toward the oldest-looking man. He was rather small in stature, dressed in a plain brown robe that covered his legs.

  “This is Master Hai Nam. He’s a master tactician in Underground, one of the most famous ones.”

  The man looked at me calmly. I awkwardly nodded in greeting. He returned it with a slight nod and a faint smile.

  “And this is Master Latte. That’s not her real name, but just call her that. She may look like this, but she’s twenty years old.”

  Thanh gestured toward a girl, no, a young woman (I had to remind myself she was twenty) wearing a frilly Lolita outfit, clutching a stuffed rabbit. Lace from head to toe. She looked no older than fourteen or fifteen.

  She shot me a glare and muttered,

  “You’d better wipe that filthy look off your face right now. Otherwise, I’ll throw you back into the fire room again…"