Jewel Hunting

7AM.

It was 7AM, and Ulrich got out of his bed for some breakfast, attempting to open the door, as he been doing for the past week. He briefly considered how depressing it was to be stuck here for a solid week, but pushed these thoughts to the back of his head and scanned his hand to get outside.

All he heard was a beep.

That was a noise he hadn't heard since he first got here. When his fingerprints weren't scanned in yet. He wiped his fingers and tried again, still nothing.

"Woah now, Ulrich!" Leonie's voice announced to him over his watch. "We're announcing the challenge once everyone wakes up! Just take a seat back and relax! Especially you, you unfair advantage having person, you!"

"Wait, what?" Ulrich asked. Leonie shut off her connection and refused to come back on, even after excessive tapping of his watch.

Ulrich lay in his bed, trying to get some extra sleep, but all that was going through his head were questions. Unfair advantage. He had some kind of advantage over the rest of the competitors. He checked his watch, and he was on top of the popularity. Amber seemed to have lost a lot of her popularity with what she pulled lately. He got another 2 thousand coins, which he added to the five digits he didn't know what to do with. Is that why he got the unfair advantage? He scanned that day's polls. Him, Wendy, Vanessa, Eric, Yun-Yeong, Andrei, Silvia, Valentina, Amber, Micah, Odebode, Cyrus and Seeta. So that was the reason, right?

"Okay, everyone here, everyone up?" Leonie asked. "Great! Now, more than a few people are aware of the fact that none of you can leave your rooms. Rest assured, all of you can go get food in the wonderful city! It's the city tour, part two, baby! Is that a groan, Amber? Yeah, that makes sense. But anyway, today's challenge is a scavenger hunt! Somewhere in the city's formally robust pleasure district, our staff have left a very special item, free for you to use in the rest of the game!"

On Ulrich's watch, the item appeared.

A crimson gemstone.

No way. This couldn't be an essence, right? What would a divine being be doing with an essence in this place? This show wasn't that popular, right?

"Yep, one person had the reaction we suspected." Leonie laughed. "One person here recognises this item! Hell, they may know a few things about it! Be sure to ask them if you find them! Now, not only can the person who finds this use it for the rest of the game, but they also get to choose who dies next! Now then, let the challenge begin!"

The doors opened by themselves, and everyone stepped out.

"So, that gemstone thing, huh?" Silvia started, adjusting her hat. "Who knows about that?"

"Would it be you?" Cyrus asked, squinting at her.

"What gives you that idea?" Odebode asked.

"Yeah, is it because I started the conversation?" Silvia asked.

"She didn't look like she was hiding something, anyway." Seeta added calmly.

"Actually, everyone with a roommate!" Vanessa yelled. "How did they react when that object was shown on screen?"

"No oddities whatsoever!" Odebode announced, looking at Micah.

"Uh, likewise." Micah nodded.

"Didn't notice anything." Andrei added.

"Neither did I." Cyrus replied.

"Nah, didn't notice much." Yun-Yeong included. Wendy shook her head.

"Nothing." Valentina said calmly.

"Nothing here either!" Vanessa followed quickly.

"So the most suspicious would be Amber, Eric, and Ulrich. Again." Cyrus said with a sigh.

"Hey, why am I getting accused of shit?" Eric snapped. "What, I'm getting accused of stuff because Huang died? Besides, their roommates were deaths one and two. That gives them way more time to work with the hosts."

"How about we just team up?" Amber sighed despairingly. "Keep tabs on each other, that kind of thing?"

"Yeah, that." Eric replied, walking to Wendy and Yun-Yeong.

"Sounds good." Ulrich replied with a finger snap. The hell was he gonna do, say no? That would be way too suspicious at this point.

"Okay, I'm with Yun and Wendy." Eric said. "Vanessa, you wanna come with?"

"Um, no thanks." Vanessa replied. "I might go with Amber if she doesn't have anyone to work with."

"I'll be with Micah, but sure, you can come." Amber sighed.

"Cyrus, Odebode." Valentina instructed calmly, and the two followed without a word.

Silvia and Seeta left without a word being spoken to each other.

"So, you got a partner?" Andrei asked Ulrich.

"Seems not." Ulrich sighed.

"Cool. Wanna work together?" Andrei asked calmly.

"Sounds alright." Ulrich shrugged. He only talked to the guy a few times, but he didn't seem like the smartest person, just a guy who got screwed over a lot. So if he did let some information slip, he probably wouldn't pick up on it. The two of them started walking through the hallways, taking the elevator before anyone else could.

"Okay, nice!" Andrei replied with a smile. One oddly warm for somebody so muscular. "Now, that item looked like a gem, right? Where would you keep one of those?"

"A…gem store?" Ulrich replied slowly. Seemed like a normal answer, anyway.

"That's the most obvious, anyway. Are there any around here?"

"Yep." Ulrich announced, looking at his watch. "Up north in the…pleasure district she mentioned."

"Oh, yeah." Andrei's eyes widened when he heard that. "So…are we gonna go there?"

"Seems like we have to." Ulrich replied.

"Aw, look at all the friendships that are forming!" Leonie announced, trying to sound sincere. It just sounded like the helium was wearing off. "In honour of these friendships, we're gonna add a little stipulation to today's challenge!"

"Fuck me." Ulrich groaned.

"Language aside." Leonie continued with fake annoyance. "Both you and your partners can go twenty-five feet apart from each other. Go any further, and you lose your ability to breath! Like so!"

Andrei fell to his knees, gasping for air. He fell to the floor, clutching at his throat. After a few more seconds, his panicked breaths were audible, and he stood up.

"Just in case you thought we couldn't!" Leonie said cheerfully. "Now, have fun hunting!"