Impossible. Absolutely impossible! Lin Qingyue—there’s no way he could see through it, absolutely... probably... As time ticked away, Ye Shu’s confidence wavered more and more.
“Lin... Cluck-Cluck Chicken, he’s our boss’s chosen prey... You just...”
“You people, have a problem with that?”
“No, no problem.”
“We’ll be going now.”
The group of hunters started to say something further, only to be silenced by one glance from Lin Qingyue, who frightened them into retreat. Ye Shu inwardly scoffed—these cowards! When they shot at the players earlier, they showed none of this groveling.
Crrreeeak—
Lin Qingyue’s step scraped harshly atop the ground cover, the sound sharp and jarring. His sharp, cold eyes didn’t miss a single inch of earth, sweeping their gaze across the dirt. Ye Shu could feel the sweat breaking out on her back. Had he really found her? Impossible, right?
The patch of dirt she’d drawn looked identical to the rest of the map—or at least, she’d thought so. This was already the game’s second round, and it wasn’t just the hunted players who were constrained; even the hunters... the bullets in their pistols had been restricted too.
Lin Qingyue squinted at the ground out of the corner of his eye. Ye Shu’s heart thudded so hard she nearly lost her breath and bolted. What was this guy up to? If he’d really found her, why didn’t he just shoot her outright? Instead, he just stared at her with that cold, uncanny intensity.
After a moment, Lin Qingyue’s lips curled into an ambiguous smile, then he simply turned and left.
A minute ticked by—Ye Shu remained completely still. Two, three... Ten minutes passed. No sign of any hunters. She had just begun to move when she felt a gaze lock onto her, dogging her steps like a shadow.
“So that’s where you were, little mouse.”
The newcomer was Lu Xiao. His nearly severed mechanical arm from last round had somehow fully recovered. Smiling, he strode in her direction—raising his gun as he walked, aiming straight at the patch of ground she hid beneath.
Ye Shu: “...”
That bastard—he’d really spotted her! Was it really necessary to hound her this relentlessly, just because she’d turned the tables and taken down a hunter last round? If she hadn’t drawn the dirt camouflage this turn, she’d have blasted him for sure.
Bang!
The bullet tore through the air. In the next instant, a soot-colored chunk of ground vanished. But Ye Shu, sharp-eyed, bolted the moment his finger squeezed the trigger, barely dodging death.
“That’s just like a little mouse...”
Lu Xiao’s smile didn’t waver as he broke into a run, chasing in Ye Shu’s wake. She dove into a thicket and was soon gone without a trace. Watching him rage and fume from a safe distance, she couldn’t help but snicker. He wasn’t nearly clever enough for her.
Five minutes left. If she could just hang on, the round would be over.
[Little Wax Bottle Candy: I give up. The only thing I respect here is the wall, not those lunatic hunters—he even ripped up the ground! I was hiding under the soil, got dragged out all the same.]
[A Button: I seriously suspect one of the hunters has God Mode—never misses a shot, hit me straight away while I was hiding in the trash can.]
[Candy Shell: Me too! They all call that hunter... Lin, I think? Even my candy-wrapper disguise was demolished, and he nailed me for two health bars.]
[Black Chess Piece: I got the same treatment...]
[...]
Ye Shu took a quick peek into the player chat. As she’d expected, all the hunted described the same nemesis—Lin... No doubt referring to Lin Qingyue.
Su Bai remained hidden in the ground without mishap. Fu Jingchuan hadn’t shown as offline, but he hadn’t contacted her during this round either.
Players remaining: 1,112. Slightly better than the last round—at least more of them had grasped the rules, and it wasn’t so easy to get eliminated now.
Three minutes left. Ye Shu finally allowed herself to relax a bit. Still, she recalled the way Lin Qingyue had stared at the ground just moments ago. That dread—the sense of death’s dominion... It was just like her first moments in this survival game.
But it had just been a feint. She hadn’t been found, after all, had she? Everything was fine.
Crrreeeak—
Suddenly, the crackle of brittle branches shattered the stillness behind her. Ye Shu’s heart clenched as her gaze met Lin Qingyue’s shadowed, forbidding face.
Not good! Why did it feel as though he was coming straight for her?
Inside, Ye Shu was a panicked mess, but outside she held her composure, melding utterly into her patch of ground, not moving a muscle.
Lin Qingyue stared squarely at the figure fused with the earth, his face even grimmer than before. He’d let that player—Fu, was it?—slip away after all. And that after hitting them once! This was his first failure ever. An unbearable humiliation!
Crrreeeak—
Dried shrubs crunched beneath his boots. Just her luck, Lin Qingyue was standing right on top of Ye Shu’s camouflage. Of course she couldn’t feel pain, but still—something about this made her deeply uneasy.
He raised his pistol and, instead of aiming at anyone, simply polished it. Ye Shu couldn’t guess his intentions for the life of her. And never had three minutes dragged on so interminably; every second crawled by like a year.
At last, the final three minutes elapsed. A countdown materialized on the game’s glowing screen.
[Hide-and-seek game countdown: 3, 2, 1.]
[Round two has ended. Surviving players: 1,002. Congratulations, you’ve escaped the hunters! You’ll earn +2 seconds for choosing your camouflage next round.]
[Now is the break period. Successful players will be transported to the lounge.]
Perhaps it was just her imagination, but as she was swept away, Ye Shu felt as though her cover had already been blown. Still, Lin Qingyue hadn’t taken action—even more, it felt almost as if he was protecting her... No, that couldn’t be. She rubbed her aching temple, convinced she must have been overthinking it...
All the players now found themselves together in the lounge, where a sumptuous buffet awaited. Apart from the lurking threat of the game itself, this was the most humane round yet in the entire survival challenge.
“This food... it’s just like what we had on Blue Star!”
“It’s almost as if they prepared it just for us.”
“Come on, how could that be? We’re the prey, remember.”
Ye Shu sipped her orange juice in tiny mouthfuls, casting a glance toward the transparent glass wall at her side—her brows furrowing. Once again, that unnerving sensation of being watched crept over her. What she didn’t realize was that, just outside that glass, Lin Qingyue stood, less than a meter from her, his gaze unwavering, fixed upon her through the wall.
For the first time, he saw Ye Xiaoshu so quietly at peace. If only she knew he was waiting just beyond—she’d hardly look so calm...
“Shushu...”
Su Bai quickly found her and greeted her with an enormous bear hug.
“Fu Jingchuan, you made it through this round too?”
Fu Jingchuan followed along beside Su Bai. When his gaze alighted on Ye Shu, his eyes brightened for a moment before falling back to their usual placidity. “Yes, I made it,” he said politely, no trace of agitation in his voice. Those who knew him recognized this mellow warmth as a sign of genuine good cheer.
Outside the transparent wall, Lin Qingyue’s fists unconsciously clenched, his onyx eyes pausing as though a delicious thought had just crossed his mind. The line of his lips quirked upward—seems, last round, he’d been far too merciful in letting that one live!