HASALYNX PRESS
Read Romance Ebooks Legally — Anytime, Online, With a Monthly Subscription

I stand on the beach, looking at the lush green forest right before me. I can feel the excitement bubbling in my chest as I prepare to take part in the first part of this intense game: I'm part of a team of four castaways, pitted against another team of four...

The rules of this game are simple: we need to survive by finding our food and gathering resources and trying to achieve a better living standard than the other team. Every three days, there's a special challenge, too: a contest that can help both teams gather more resources...

This sounds like a shortcut, but the challenges aren't easy, from what the organizers told us. To gain an advantage over the competition, we must learn to cooperate well within our team and leverage everyone's skills to the group's advantage... The one with the most wins will win the whole game.

I think that it's quite fun to participate in something like this, especially when you're a boring corporate rat, just like Ethan and me...

We arrived here just this morning. The sun was rising as our boat moored on the island's sandy coastline. We had been preparing for this day for weeks, and finally, we managed to arrive...

After introducing each other to our other teammates, our team's guardian led us to the checkpoint where we could meet the other organizers. Just like the other castaway team, we were given an old wooden chest with a map, compass, and a few basic tools inside. This made me happy because we weren't allowed to take anything aside from hygiene products and some spare clothes.

After repeating the rules of the game (no violence, no cheating, and no playing with wild animals!), Ethan and I finally got some time to get to know the people on our team: Thaddeus and Naoko. After playing a short game that helped us break the ice, we were given our first task: finding a source of water in the jungle... And that's exactly what I'm trying to do right now.

Running through the dense undergrowth, I can feel my heart pounding as I try to stay ahead of the rival players. I hear their footsteps behind me, and I know that they're getting closer... Still, I'm determined to win this challenge of finding water because it means getting extra resources, and I want our team to start off as nicely as it's only possible; after all, we don't know what awaits us later...

I push myself harder, leaping over obstacles and ducking under branches. After spotting a clearing up ahead, I make a break for it, hoping that the others will lose my trail...

I enter the clearing and look around, searching for any advantage that could give me an edge. Even though finding water is my main task, this doesn't mean that I can't do other things as I go... I see a fallen tree and quickly gather some of its twigs...