CHAPTER 47: CHAPTER 47 "SHOCKING REVELATION"

Ray started the scooter and headed back to the village. However, he was oblivious to the fact that some people were already tailing him since he left the police headquarters.

It was an SUV which maintained its distance and followed Ray silently until he exited the town.

Once he was on the highway, Ray noticed the black car tailing him for a very long time. ’Am I imagining things, or are they after me?’ he thought and increased his speed.

As he did, the car also increased its speed, now coming very close to him.

Seeing this, Ray goes for the maximum but the scooter wasn’t enough against the car.

"Boom!"

The car hit the scooter from behind.

Ray was sent flying off the highway, towards the grassland, breaking one hand while his head began bleeding.

After the hit, three people exited the car.

They had scoffed looks on their faces, then the one driving the car spoke, "So you choose this place to be buried, huh?"

With a menacing chuckle, he kicked Ray on his face. Blood spurted out of Ray’s mouth as he yelled in pain.

"AAHAAA"

The three men laughed, their cruel jokes echoing in the quiet grassland where hardly any vehicle passes by.

"Look at this city boy, thought he could play hero," one sneered, kicking Ray’s ribs.

Another followed, a sickening crunch with the hit. Ray wriggled in pain; his sight began to blur with blood dripping from his forehead.

Each punch and kick came with their mean laughter, a proof of how helpless he felt.

"You should not have stepped here," the driver growled, giving a last, hard stomp to Ray’s already bleeding hand.

They stood over him for a bit longer, looking at what they did with happy grins.

Then one of them went back and began fiddling with something from the back of the car.

Ray, on the other hand, was on the verge of losing consciousness. The man returned with a 5-liter can of petrol and a matchbox.

Their goal was clear: to kill Ray and burn him, erasing his very existence.

[Condition has met]

[Forcefully activating the pocket dimension]

The man with the petrol can was ready to unload it on Ray’s half-conscious body when something unexpected happened.

A bright light shone which blinded the three men, and when things became normal, Ray was nowhere to be found.

"Where did he go?" one of them yelled.

Another also looked confused, as did the driver, who gave a bewildered look to the two others. "How can this be possible?" he asked.

Another one looked back toward the car, then to the other side, "How can I know this?"

The third one suddenly thought of something. "We need to report this, he can’t have vanished, unless..." He didn’t complete his thought, but the two understood his words and rushed back to report.

[You have entered the pocket dimensional space]

Ray did hear the mechanical voice in his head but he wasn’t in a condition to notice it. He already had lost a lot of blood.

Luckily the pocket dimension has the same features as a mini-game, enabling auto heal, as soon as Ray entered the pocket dimensional space.

...

After a few hours, Ray’s eyes fluttered open.

The searing pain he’d felt earlier was gone, replaced by a strange lightness.

For a moment, he thought he was dead, convinced this serene place was heaven. But then his eyes landed on a collection of cars, placed in a place which resembles like big parking space.

"This is!" he exclaimed, a jolt of realization shooting through him. He remembered storing these very vehicles in his pocket dimension.

Suddenly, reality crashed down on him. "Am I inside my pocket dimension? How?" he wondered aloud.

Another realization hit him almost immediately. "No, wait! I wasn’t even inside the game then; how can I be here?"

He recalled returning back from the town, the jarring impact of the pursuing car, the brutal beating from the men, and then only a faint memory of a notification sound.

As this last memory solidified, another notification chimed in. He looked at it, finding a strange message on his screen from an unknown sender named Red Hand.

Ray stared at the glowing message on his screen, a name he didn’t recognize: Red Hand.

"Ray? Message me once you see this," the first two messages read.

A frown creased Ray’s forehead. Who could this be? He typed back, "Who?"

Red Hand’s reply was instantaneous, as if they’d been waiting. "If you are messaging me while being out of the game, it means you have finally entered the pocket dimension."

Ray’s eyes widened. This person knew about the pocket dimension?

"Listen carefully, Ray," another message popped up. "Your world is in danger, and only you can save them."

Ray felt a jolt of alarm. An apocalypse? What was this strange person talking about? His mind raced, trying to connect the dots, but nothing made sense.

"Your world will soon face an apocalypse, just like Apex Survival," Red Hand continued, dropping a name that sent a chill down Ray’s spine.

Apex Survival was the infamous, hyper-realistic survival game he’d spent countless hours in—a game known for its brutal, post-apocalyptic setting.

"I’m not getting your point," Ray typed back, his fingers trembling slightly. "My world, you mean Earth? And who are you? How do you even know this?"

"You must have faced a life-and-death situation which auto-restarted the system to save your life in such an extreme time," Red Hand’s messages continued to flood Ray’s screen.

Ray’s mind reeled, piecing together the events. It seemed Red Hand knew exactly what happened.

"I know you are in your Pocket Dimension and there are people who are now looking for you. Not only this, but those close to you also might be in danger," Red Hand sent.

"What!" Ray exclaimed, a cold dread washing over him. Close to him means his friends? As he had no family in this world.

The thought sent a jolt of fear through him stronger than any physical pain he’d endured, suddenly he thought about Rohan and his family.

Red Hand continued, unfazed. "You’ll soon know my identity, but right now you don’t have much time. Look for a black box in your pocket dimension. Use that thing and begin your preparation for the apocalypse. I’ll wait for the moment you’ll log into the game."

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