Chapter 35: Hide-and-Seek with Death

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Room One was completely empty, without a single piece of furniture.

Duoduo scampered around the room on her little legs. She ran and ran, yet never seemed to reach the end.

“It’s so huge here. Where are Daddy and Mommy?”

Bewildered, Duoduo gazed around the vast, maze-like place.

She had clearly seen her father, mother, and older brother here last time. Why were none of them here today?

Just as Duoduo was wondering about this, people began arriving one after another.

Thinking her father had come, she excitedly ran toward the crowd, searching among them for the strange figures of Ling Yun and the others.

When Yellow Hair saw her, he frowned and shoved her aside in disgust.

“Brat, what are you looking at? I’ll knock your head off if you’re not careful!”

Yellow Hair raised his fist and threatened her.

Terrified, Duoduo stumbled back a few steps before quickly running away.

Chouchou, whom she held in her arms, licked her lips.

How delicious. She loved the flesh of wicked people most of all.

Tonight’s dinner was settled!

After being shouted at by Yellow Hair, Duoduo went scampering off to inspect the others.

Yet after searching through the crowd, she still couldn’t find her father or mother.

“Sister, Daddy and Mommy aren’t here.”

Duoduo lowered her little head, somewhat disappointed.

Chouchou could not be bothered to answer. She simply continued pretending to be a quiet rag doll.

More and more people gathered inside Room One.

Suddenly, a man’s voice slowly drifted down from above.

“Welcome to the Hell Instance: Deadly Hide-and-Seek.

“Before the countdown ends, the instance will randomly generate items. These items may be used on both humans and anomalies.

“When the countdown ends, the anomalies will begin hunting.

“Control your heart rate. Anyone whose heartbeat exceeds one hundred beats per minute will be eliminated by the Strange Forest!

“Remember: this is an individual battle. Do not trust anyone else!”

When he spoke the final sentence, his voice suddenly changed.

Duoduo abruptly raised her head and sweetly called toward the ceiling, “Daddy, are you up there?”

No one answered. The room was utterly silent.

Duoduo pouted and stroked the ugly doll in her arms.

“Sister, did I hear wrong? I thought I heard Daddy’s voice just now!”

Duoduo sighed. When she lifted her head again, everyone around her had vanished.

“Huh?”

She looked around in confusion.

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Before she could figure out what was happening, a strange laugh suddenly rang out from every direction.

“Heh heh heh! Are you ready? I’m about to begin the countdown! Ninety-nine, ninety-eight…”

At the sound of that voice, Duoduo’s eyes lit up.

“That’s Big Brother’s voice! He’s here! Sister, let’s go find him!”

…

In Z City, netizens held their phones as they watched the Strange Forest’s live broadcast.

The moment Duoduo appeared, comments began racing across the screen.

[Wow, the zones have been merged. The people taking part in the Hell Instance are finally no longer just our Duoduo!]

[I really don’t understand what the person above is so happy about. Humans are much scarier than anomalies. Duoduo is so innocent—I’m terrified some bad person will bully her!]

[Only four representatives are left from Z City. I wonder if we still have a chance to recreate last year’s glory and take first place again?]

[With Zhang Yangfan in this round, Duoduo should be able to clear it. As for those two people next door, though, that’s hard to say!]

Since only three people from Z City had entered the Strange Forest, and they had chosen instances of only two difficulty levels, Z City’s netizens could watch the live broadcasts from Rooms One and Three.

Siyue had exhausted all her goodwill with the audience during the previous round.

Apart from the few people who wanted to watch her die, everyone else had gone to the Room One stream.

Seated behind the monitors, Ling Yun stared unblinkingly at Duoduo, who was clutching the ugly doll.

Why hadn’t the little one rested for a few more days? How had she ended up entering the Strange Forest again so soon?

Ling Yun’s fingers tapped intermittently against the tabletop.

The anomaly standing behind him trembled in terror.

What was wrong with General Ling?

Why had he suddenly come to the monitoring room and taken over his seat?

“Oh? What’s this?”

Duoduo crouched down and picked up a small card and a toy gun from the floor.

“Congratulations, player. You have obtained a clue and a weapon gun.”

The ambiguous announcement suddenly caused an uproar among the players.

Everyone except Duoduo looked around in bewilderment.

“No way, there’s even a gun? Are they really taking things this far?”

“Why don’t you go all the way and announce who found the item, too?”

Yellow Hair looked up at the ceiling and sneered.

He had already joined forces with two highly ranked players. With the strength of the three of them, they might be able to kill the weapon’s owner and take it for themselves.

Duoduo had no idea that she had become the target of everyone’s hostility.

She turned the card over and over in her hands, then held it out to Chouchou.

“Sister, what does this say? Can you read it?”

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“Do I look like someone who can read?”

Chouchou rolled her eyes.

She had never even had the chance to be born. How could she possibly have had the opportunity to attend school and learn to read?

“You can’t read either, Sister? What should we do?”

Duoduo stared at the card in her hand and scratched her head.

When she heard footsteps, she turned toward the sound.

A girl of around twelve or thirteen was walking toward her.

“Little girl, have you seen anyone else?” the girl asked.

Duoduo shook her head and held out the small card.

“Big Sister, can you read?”

“Of course!”

The girl hurried over, took the card, and read it aloud.

“Once the game begins, weapons will randomly appear throughout the area. Hide your weapon well and do not let anyone else discover it!”

After reading the words on the card, the girl suddenly remembered the announcement from earlier and stared at Duoduo in surprise.

“You were the one who picked up the gun?”

“Yes, yes!”

Duoduo proudly lifted the toy gun.

The moment the girl saw it, the brightness in her eyes abruptly dimmed.

She had thought her luck was excellent—she had found the first person to obtain an item.

She had never expected that the little girl had picked up nothing more than a toy gun.

Seeing the girl staring at the toy gun in her hands, Duoduo assumed she liked it and immediately offered it to her.

“If Big Sister likes it, I’ll give it to you!”

“Thank you! But this thing is useless. You should keep it and play with it yourself!”

The girl waved her off and continued walking.

Duoduo hurried after her, trying her best to keep up.

But the girl ignored her completely, walking faster and faster, as though afraid that if she slowed down even a little, she would be forced to take this “burden” along.

“Stop chasing her. She clearly doesn’t want to play with you.”

Only after the girl had gone some distance did Chouchou speak up.

Duoduo stopped and stared at the girl’s retreating figure, panting from exhaustion.

Being abandoned did not make her sad in the slightest.

She had only wanted to ask the big sister whether she had seen her brother.

“Sister, this place is so huge. Where should we go to find Big Brother?”

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