I Cracked the Zodiac Game’s Death Rules

My name is Chen Mo. When I woke up, there was a metal collar around my neck that I couldn't remove. Two words were engraved on it in cold letters: The End.

I wasn't the only one. Ten strangers, including me, were told that we had to take part in a death game called “Ten Days to the End.” Ten days, ten stages ruled by the twelve zodiac animals, and every step could be a trap leading straight to hell.

As the Tiger of Yin roared, people ran blindly in terror and triggered instant-death rules. In the Serpent of Si's poisonous fog, despair drove them to betray one another. They saw only chaos and slaughter. I was different. I saw patterns.

I could see the attack cycles of the mechanical tiger and crack the algorithm behind the serpents' pursuit. While they struggled to stay alive, I was solving death itself. Every rule I uncovered was like a puzzle piece, pointing toward a forgotten “parable of civilization.”

But this game was far more complicated than I had imagined. What did that quiet, mysterious girl know? Were we really fighting to survive, or were we merely “brains in a vat” in some grand experiment?

In this game, surviving is only the first step. My real goal is to flip over the board and find out who the “gods” on the other side really are.