“Mm, it seems this playstyle isn’t complicated either.” After quickly browsing through the introduction text, Xia Li commented, “Broadly speaking, it’s just about resisting the attacks of those fellows wandering in the forest while inside the school, and surviving until the morning of the fifth day.”
“Mm, correct. Moreover, the days here are not calculated according to hours, but based on the calendar, so I specially selected a time close to nightfall today to begin the Game,” Xushinige sat in the driver’s seat of the bus, looking at the gradually sinking sunset outside the window—because the bus was self-driving, he currently had nothing to do, “In this way, we can in fact stay here a dozen or so hours fewer.”
“Hmph, this brat really has figured out all the bugs.” Weeping of the Shadow muttered in a disdainful tone, “I hate this kind of fellow who only knows how to take opportunistic shortcuts the most.”
“When it concerns life, taking a few opportunistic shortcuts is not a bad thing at all,” Xia Li said, “As long as it can raise the survival rate, it’s fine.”
At the same time, the other people inside the bus also began chattering and whispering in low voices; some people appeared rather excited, while some others were a bit uneasy, but at least no one showed obvious fear… however, this situation only continued until the bus passed through a faint red light wall.
The instant the vehicle passed through the light wall, a strange shadow suddenly leaped out from a clump of bushes and collided against the vehicle body with a thud.
And the chattering of the lolis also abruptly stopped at this instant.
“The vehicle seems to have hit something!”
“Eek! What is that?!”
“Could it be… a chicken?”
Just as someone had said, the thing that had been knocked over to the side by the vehicle body looked very much like a chicken—or more accurately, a meat chicken that had been plucked of its feathers, had its head chopped off, and was prepared for further processing.
Under normal circumstances, such a chicken would most likely make these beast-eared lolis who ordinarily lived in hardship and rarely got to taste meat extremely excited.
But now, the young girls instead erupted in hoarse screams; one of the smallest cat-eared girls even whooshed and directly leaped into Xia Li’s arms, nearly knocking her over onto the floor.
Of course, this was not strange either.
After all, no matter in the slaughterhouses of which planet, a giant chicken over two meters tall after having its head chopped off would never appear.
What was even more terrifying was that although it had experienced plucking and bloodletting and had already lost its head, this chicken crawled back up not long after being knocked over, continued flapping its featherless wings, and hopped and jumped through the forest with strange and eerie steps!
“Eek eek eek eek eek eek ahhhhhhhhhhhh—”
The unreasonable scene before their eyes instantly caused quite a few of the witnessing young girls to fall into a state of SAN value clearing to zero.
Some people were even so frightened that they jumped up from their seats—fortunately, just at this moment, they heard Xushinige’s gentle yet firm voice.
“Do not panic! This is nothing more than a comedy roasted chicken that only knows how to jump and do a tap dance! It currently cannot threaten us; this one can guarantee this point!”
“Re… really?” Someone asked.
“That’s right. Although after crossing the inner boundary of the ‘Limbo’ area, that is, that red light wall, we count as having entered the Game area, this does not mean that danger will immediately occur,” Xushinige explained, “After entering the green light wall of the ‘Limbo’ area but before crossing the yellow light wall, the Game system will conduct detection, determine our numbers, intentions, and so on, and judge whether we meet the standards for carrying out the Game. And between the yellow and red light walls is the area for us to confirm whether we want to begin the Game.”
“Is that so…”
“Correct. In most cases, crossing the red light wall means ‘the Game formally begins,’ and in that instant, danger may assault. But a portion of Games have designs of a ‘main stage’ or ‘starting point.’ Until the players are sent to the destination, the challenge will not begin. Therefore, the transportation vehicles that pick up and drop off players come with invincibility attributes within the Game.”
“Then aren’t we…” Some people with flexible minds had already begun entertaining crooked ideas.
“Very sorry, remaining inside the transportation vehicle counts as a violation. After arriving at the destination, if one does not get off within ten minutes, one will be repatriated to the ‘Limbo’ area and directly eliminated.” Xushinige shrugged his shoulders, “But for now, everyone can at least familiarize yourselves with our opponents.”
After learning that they were completely safe, the lolis who had originally been in extreme panic calmed down again and began to rally their spirits, observing those monsters wandering in the forest outside the vehicle windows.
Aside from the previous oversized plucked roasted chicken, what appeared next also included withered gray dry corpses, faceless tall thin men, and pumpkin-head monsters holding kitchen knives.
Although at the beginning, merely seeing them would cause the little lolis to cry out continuously and tremble unceasingly, and some people even wanted to pull down the vehicle window curtains because of excessive fear, these behaviors were all stopped by Rom and Nefiria.
“Look carefully, do not be afraid! To survive, you must clearly recognize the appearance of your enemies!” Xushinige said, “Don’t forget, fear can also kill people! Overcoming fear is a crucial step!”
Just like that, everyone was unwillingly forced to look outside the windows… and indeed gradually grew accustomed to these monsters.
Slowly, some bold people even dared to make faces toward them.
Even the little cat girl curled up in Xia Li’s arms slowly loosened her hold… and revealed an apologetic expression.
“Uh… I’m sorry. Lunene just now couldn’t… couldn’t control herself… Big Sister, please don’t be angry…”
“It’s fine.” Xia Li said.
She of course would not be angry at such a soft and cute little fur ball.
Although the group of people Xushinige had brought were almost all newcomers, and the majority clearly were not skilled at combat, among them Lunene was also the weakest one: her height was at most only 1.35 meters, and that was the result including the pair of cat ears on top of her head; her weight was less than thirty kilograms.
The entire equipment she had brought consisted of only one leather chest protector of unknown age, one old dagger with a rusted edge, and one small pack; if she encountered danger, she would almost one hundred percent be unable to escape.
However, from the statistical information seen earlier, as well as the composed actions of Xushinige and his deputies, the probability of this operation overturning should be extremely slim—the only thing to note was simply not to let the too-weak people run around randomly.
Upon thinking of this, Xia Li stroked Lunene’s forehead: “By the way, how about this. For the sake of your safety, until the Game ends, don’t run outside Big Sister’s field of vision, okay?”
“Mm.” Lunene narrowed her eyes and swayed her tail back and forth, seeming to greatly enjoy the sensation of being stroked on the head.
However, before Xia Li could seize the time to rub a few more times, the bus had already passed through the school gate and stopped in front of a teaching building resembling an old-style Western-style mansion.
This aristocratic school in the forest was very small in scale; altogether there was only one playground enclosed by walls, and six buildings: one large and one small teaching building, one warehouse, one dormitory building, one small chapel about the size of a street-side convenience store, and one water tower over ten meters high that counted as the highest point of the entire school.
Because the school itself was located on a small highland, and the walls were also three or four meters high with the tops covered in iron spikes, overall it was indeed easy to defend and difficult to attack: at least, relying solely on those pumpkin heads, thin dry corpses, or comedy roasted chickens that jumped and did tap dances, charging in still had a bit of difficulty.
“Everyone get off the vehicle quickly, follow behind the experienced people! Don’t fall behind!” Xushinige continued calmly issuing instructions and drew his own sword; Rom and Nefiria respectively took out a shotgun and a micro submachine gun.
While the other players with inferior equipment lined up in a string behind them like the chicks in the “eagle catches chicks” game, seeking protection.
It was worth rejoicing that Xushinige and his assistants competently played the role of the “mother hen.”
They quickly systematically searched the entire school and eliminated the enemies hidden inside the buildings: one lizardman holding a cleaver was shot dead in the three-story large teaching building; two pumpkin heads fighting with pitchforks were eliminated in the small teaching building.
On the second and third floors of the dormitory, one purple toxic giant frog each was hiding, but all were timely discovered and eliminated; while in the small chapel, one “mummy” carrying a wood-splitting axe had just charged out from under a seat when it had its head sliced off by Xushinige with one sword stroke.
All these fellows, when eliminated, did not flow with blood but instead leaked large amounts of white liquid.
Xushinige explained that they were merely “bionic machines driven by Extra-Rational Power,” and therefore there was also no need to hold the slightest mercy or pity toward them.
After the entire campus had been swept clean by the players without injury, the unmanned school bus also automatically drove away.
Then, while it had not yet grown dark, Xushinige directed the beast-eared lolis to carry large amounts of miscellaneous objects, block the school gate and the entrance of the dormitory building, and transform the dormitory into a temporary defensive position.
After that, he further formulated detailed rotating patrol routes and duty schedules.
“The combat upon entering the school is the most dangerous; the majority of player deaths occur in this stage,” after the light of the sunset completely disappeared, Xushinige said, “However, afterward one also cannot relax. Until the Game ends, everyone absolutely must not casually leave the campus, and must also ensure rest. Now, those not on duty all go to sleep!”
Of course, this order was quickly executed: in this school, there were ready-made dormitories.
Moreover, the beds inside were all clean and soft—likely more comfortable to sleep on than the beds in the homes of the majority of people who had come to challenge.
And for Xia Li who had previously endured half a month of eating in the wind and sleeping in the open, the bed emanating the fragrance of jasmine flowers was even more like heaven.
The moment her head touched the pillow, the god of sleep found her…
…Until a strange sensation arrived.
“Ah… leh?” The moment Xia Li woke from deep sleep, she immediately sensed that a fragrant, soft thing emanating heat had suddenly drilled into her covers; although she could not see clearly in the darkness, she could feel that it seemed to be a girl!
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