Images flashed rapidly before her—tanks, planes, cannons, watchtowers, iron doors... And beyond those, almost all the images were living creatures: elephants, giraffes, capybaras, sloths—everywhere you looked, medium to large animals populated the gallery.
This round’s difficulty had clearly ramped up again!
Ye Shu failed to choose a suitable form. It wasn’t that she was being picky; she simply couldn’t come up with anything.
[Ding! Player did not select a form in time. The system will randomly assign you a form for this round.]
[Form assigned successfully. Your form for this game: Fawn.]
Ye Shu went silent for a moment—then accepted her fate.
A fawn was at least better than a sloth—a lumbering, immobile stump of a creature.
“Da Piaoliang, you hide first. The hunters all know about you.”
Though ‘Weird’ was a great combatant, she stood out too much. Every hunter knew her face—dragging along a little black cat was an instant giveaway.
Ye Shu whisked Da Piaoliang into the spatial pouch. The next second, she shifted into her new form—a spotted fawn. Raising her hoof, she dashed toward the thicket behind the hospital.
Meanwhile, a motley crew of animals appeared at her side: a koala, a lion, an elk, a crocodile; in the sky, a woodpecker, a sparrow, a wild goose—all transformed players this time, with fewer turning into mere tools.
[Game prepping. Two minutes to official start! Hunters are in position. Prey, choose your hiding direction. Once a spot is chosen, the screen will show the scene 10 meters away. You may freely move, but cannot leave a 1-kilometer radius—stray outside and the alarm sounds. A hunting chatroom has been established. During the game, prey may speak up as they wish. Get struck by a hunter twice, and you’re eliminated. Game duration: two hours.]
The countdown sped by. Looking around, Ye Shu couldn’t find an ideal hiding place.
Suddenly, her gaze drifted back to the hospital... There might be one place left.
Fewer hunters would likely think to look there.
Seconds later, a small fawn appeared in the morgue.
Ye Shu used her hooves to open up a mortuary drawer and found that it had an inner compartment—completely invisible from outside.
Quick as a dart, she squeezed herself inside, moving nimbly; with a leap, she settled inside the cabinet. A new problem arose—the cabinet door needed to be closed from the outside, or she’d be exposed to every hunter’s gaze.
Just then, a pane of clear glass slid into the morgue. Seeing the stuck fawn inside the drawer, it blinked, then kindly shut the cabinet for her.
It then hung itself in the corner of the wall, merging seamlessly with the background.
Perfect timing—the game countdown reached zero.
Like the last round, Ye Shu noticed the new hunting chatroom buzzing, with many players openly provoking the hunters.
“A bunch of morons! Come kill me! I dare you to find me.”
“So what if you’ve got weapons? Put them down and just see—I’ll smash you hunters with my bare fists!”
“This game is so boring. I’m right in front of you, and you still can’t see me. Almost through this round, see ya!”
“Seems like this is all you guys are good for—a bunch of prey surviving every round.”
Perhaps the one-sided slaughter had gone too far; players truly ran wild, taunting the hunters relentlessly.
Ye Shu hurriedly sent a private message to Su Bai, warning her not to say a word in the hunting chat. Just speaking up might give away your location.
[Mu Zhanglang: Got it, Shushu. This round I turned into a dinosaur egg, so all I can do is roll around. Nearly cracked my shell just now.]
Su Bai grumbled as ever.
Ye Shu ignored her and shut the screen.
Just as she suspected, the chat was designed as a trap for the prey: any prey who spoke had their name displayed, dramatically increasing their risk of being found.
[Giraffe has logged out.]
[Elephant Plush has logged out.]
[Plane has logged out.]
The morgue was eerily quiet. For the first half hour after the game started, not a single hunter came by.
Player after player logged out as time passed.
Now, only 3,004 remained.
Her view limited, Ye Shu could only see the corridor and the occasional hunter passing by the window. Hunters seemed to shun the hospital’s sub-basement, as if it was jinxed.
That made it even safer for Ye Shu to coast to victory, hidden away.
She had barely had time to savor her luck when the sound of footsteps echoed from outside the corridor.
It was Lu Xiao. He was swinging his gun and had already eliminated several players-turned-chairs in the lobby.
Ye Shu spat in her mind, annoyed.
She had every reason to be. Lu Xiao’s senses were far too sharp, his shots always finding their marks—his performance in the first round left a deep shadow over her heart.
Almost as if he’d heard her worries, Lu Xiao headed straight for the very morgue where she was hiding.
He didn’t spot the glass camouflaged in the corner—no, his attention went straight to the cabinets against the wall.
Creak... The metallic drawers slid out one by one with an ear-splitting screech.
Ye Shu remained absolutely still within her drawer, holding her breath.
She gripped an item from her spatial pouch—a piece of Hard Armor, the one bit of luck she’d drawn before the game began. It could block three attacks for her.
Unless she absolutely had to, she didn’t want to use it. She could only hope this god of misfortune would just leave.
But Lu Xiao disappointed her. Instead of leaving, he searched the drawers one by one, methodically. Only three remained. Then it would be her turn... Ye Shu’s hoof tightened on her item.
The drawer was pulled open—it was empty.
Lu Xiao let out a puzzled “Hm?”, then swung his gun at a different cabinet.
Ye Shu: “...”
Was this old devil playing by some twisted rules? He hadn’t seen her, yet he was about to fire anyway?
What logic was that? Purely a waste of bullets!
Bang—
Twice the gun roared, bullets piercing through the metal cabinet.
A wide grin spread across Lu Xiao’s lips. This little prey had chosen the most dangerous place to hide—a secret compartment, clever, but she’d forgotten to wipe off the dust. A perfect fawn-shaped mark was left behind.
Clang—
A rocket shell tore through the cabinet, striking Lu Xiao, who hadn’t dodged in time; a dark blur shot from the drawer.
Lu Xiao, stunned from the hit: “?”
The prey took two shots and still survived??
Or maybe he’d misremembered the rules—was it actually three strikes?
Ye Shu, sprinting madly, hurled herself into the nearby thickets—only to run headlong into another hunter.
“Prey delivered on a silver platter.”
“A stroke of luck! The good animals have all been snatched up by that Lin guy—now we’re left fighting for scraps.”
Several hunters all raised their guns at once.
Ye Shu moved faster—she summoned Da Piaoliang from her spatial storage.
The hunters barely had time to shout before being swallowed whole.
For a moment, it was impossible to tell who was the hunter and who was the hunted.
“Master, they tasted awful.”
Da Piaoliang spat out the hunters’ clothing in disgust. Refusing to return to the spatial pouch, she flopped across the fawn’s back, unwilling to budge.
The spatial storage was far too cramped and stuffy—Da Piaoliang wanted no more of it.
All the same, the weird creature was eventually forced back in.
Ye Shu checked the shimmering screen—her Hard Armor could still withstand two more attacks. If not for that item, she knew she’d already be resting in the lounge.