This time, the "Extinction Game" mission began without any visible form—no announcement, no leaked details.

According to Orban and Pigeon, players were sent straight to another world before any quest briefing.

In other words, no one could know the required party size or who their teammates would be.

Nor could they tell which world they would end up in.

Xiang Nan and Manman might not even land in the same world.

"The placement match is the easiest round," Xiang Nan had reminded her, repeating Orban's warning. "The greatest danger still comes from players from other worlds. If your own safety isn't under threat, do everything you can to rack up points—that is, dimensional coins."

In the city that housed Heavens Arena, Xiang Nan and Manman were sitting in a dessert shop.

Before jumping to another world, he treated the girl to her favorite sweets.

After all, even a first-round placement match puts heavy pressure on players.

This would be their first journey across the myriad worlds.

They had no idea what awaited them.

The biggest variable was the world itself.

If they couldn't return… This might be his and Manman's last time together.

"Don't worry," Manman said with a smile.

She actually felt little pressure—her second personality would protect her. A nap, and everything would be fine.

Just like before.

[System: Ding! Players, prepare for transfer. Countdown begins… 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.]

Hearing the voice in his mind, Xiang Nan lit a cigarette.

He had barely taken one drag when a waitress hurried over to stop him.

But just as she got the words "Sir, please—" out, the man and woman before her dissolved into white light and vanished.

The waitress jumped in fright.

…

One second Xiang Nan was in the dessert shop, smelling cake.

The next, white smoke puffed from his nostrils as the screech of metal and a blast of scorching heat hit him.

He raised his eyes and found himself at the mouth of an alley, surrounded by several unfamiliar faces.

The few of them exchanged glances and instantly understood.

Clearly, they were the players matched together this round.

Manman wasn't here…

Xiang Nan frowned. Many high-level players had already been wiped out by Orban and Pigeon, yet even with numbers so low he still hadn't been teamed with Manman.

Just his luck.

[System: Attention! Attention! Players have arrived in an enemy world and have been detected by enemy players… They are on their way.]

[System: Because "Hunter × Hunter" is not the same dimension, your native concealment state is nullified.]

[System: Within 48 hours, inflict as much destruction on the enemy world as possible.

System: Current world (unknown). Player count (???). World's highest-level player (unknown). Total combat power (unknown). World ranking (????).]

The moment they arrived, the system blared a flurry of alarms.

Xiang Nan skimmed the readout.

Almost every data field was a question mark—

—which meant they would have to explore the world blind.

"What does 'inflict destruction on this world' even mean?" someone muttered, bewildered.

"Why only four of us? Isn't five the minimum for this stage? With just four, our combat power is weakened, and without the concealment buff, the world's story characters can attack us too? That's dangerous." Another man sucked in a breath.

"Our world had some… cleaning recently—high-level players purging colleagues above Extinction 5. The lower headcount this time is probably related." The third person spoke up.

The three began discussing.

"Anyone have intel on this?" one asked.

While they spoke, Xiang Nan had already scrambled up the wall between two buildings, using his ability to reach the roof first.

He stood on a rooftop terrace.

Seeing him move, the other three followed like startled hares.

High above, wind whipped Xiang Nan's long coat.

He took a drag on his cigarette and looked out over the cityscape:

Prosperous…

Familiar steel-and-concrete towers, wide streets, rivers of traffic.

"This is an alternate Earth—identical to our previous life," he said calmly as the three approached.

Completely different from "Hunter × Hunter's" urban style; for a transmigrator, the conclusion was instant—

Because this was Earth.

"America," he added after scanning a few more signs and billboards.

And the storefronts and clothing of passersby confirmed it.

"Definitely America. I traveled there in my past life—feels familiar," one teammate agreed. "Huge city, though. Can't tell which one from our old world."

"There are many fictional worlds modeled on Earth," Xiang Nan said evenly. "First we identify which universe this is, then gauge local conditions and player activity. Grab a random local, ask a few questions—done. Right now our top priority is the hostile players; they're our biggest threat. As for 'destroying the world': it's literal. The larger the impact we make, the greater the reward. Eliminating story characters or derailing the plot yields more points."

"Points?" another teammate asked, surprised.

"So you do know about the Reincarnation Dimension," said the dreadlocked man, reaching out a hand. "I'm Beishi."

"Seventeen," Xiang Nan replied, shaking it.

"This is our first trip—placement match—so the system shouldn't be too cruel. Once we arrive, it assigns a local squad to hunt us. They're the danger; no special objectives otherwise. Still, causing chaos will draw story characters, and the commotion won't be small," Beishi explained to the other two.

"Time matters. Talk in team chat," Xiang Nan said, flicking away his cigarette. "First figure out which world this is."

He leaped from the roof, leading the way.

The other two realized Seventeen and Beishi clearly had inside info, so they hurried after.

…

Minutes later, Xiang Nan reached a city playground.

Skateboarders, groups playing basketball, a mother pushing a stroller—

He picked a young man lounging on a bench and sat down beside him.

"Hi, I'm a tourist from another country—mind if I ask a few questions?" Xiang Nan smiled.

"Sure."

They chatted.

"China? You came all the way from China? Also here to watch the KOF tournament?"

"KOF?" Xiang Nan echoed the familiar acronym, thinking.

"This is South Town—you don't know?" The youth looked puzzled, then pointed at a giant electronic billboard nearby. "Hey, look."

Xiang Nan followed his finger to a screen showing a flashy ad: a white-envelope invitation stamped with the letter "R," flipping amid flames, the words KING OF FIGHTERS blazing across it.

"I see… this world is—'The King of Fighters!'"

As Xiang Nan digested the intel, a message popped up on his system panel from Beishi:

King of Fighters?

~~~

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