Chapter 371: Selection Game 1

Perry Yates, who had been sleeping, awoke instantly at the sound.

Seeing the three-minute countdown, she shot out of bed, dressed as quickly as possible, and grabbed the two cards she needed to bring.

She finished just as the three-minute countdown ended.

A flash of white light flared. By the time Perry Yates opened her eyes again, she was already inside the game.

"What the hell is this place?"

The barren ground was covered in nothing but rocks, and it glowed with an eerie red light. Even the sky was red. Everything was unnervingly strange.

Before Perry Yates could observe any further, a translucent screen materialized in front of her.

[This is a selection game. Players will take on the role of prey. Survive the hunt. This game will not end until all prey are dead, or all Hunters have been killed by the prey.

The one-hour hiding countdown begins now. After one hour, the Hunters will enter the arena.

As a clever prey, hiding is an essential Skill. Stay in one place and remain undetected by the Hunters for one hour to unlock a random Skill Card.]

The countdown had already started as she finished reading the screen. She needed to hide—now.

Fortunately, the items she’d brought would all be useful. Surviving for an hour in hiding shouldn’t be a problem.

The two items Perry Yates had brought were the Silver Cross and a brand-new card she had just created through Ascension: Guardian 001.

That was the name Perry Yates had given it. It fused the abilities of multiple cards—protection, healing, temperature control, barriers, attack, Identification, scanning, flight, camouflage, transformation, and more—truly a case of one card being stronger than six.

As for the Silver Cross, she had originally intended to bring her poker cards but had grabbed the wrong item in her haste. Looking at it now, though, the Silver Cross seemed far better suited for this game.

Activating Guardian 001, a suit of lightweight armor instantly enveloped Perry Yates’s body. Then, she activated the Silver Cross. Now she needed to find a spot, hide for an hour, and unlock her first card.

This game was clearly different from the others. This time, she couldn’t just hide; she would have to go on the offensive. The rules were perfectly clear: the game would only end when one side was completely eliminated.

’I hope my teammates are competent this time.’

Perry Yates used Guardian 001’s scanning function to quickly find a suitable hiding spot. After cleaning up any traces she might have left, she slipped inside and activated a defensive barrier.

Soon, the countdown ended. The Hunters were entering the arena.

Once the initial countdown ended, the screen in front of Perry Yates vanished. Fortunately, Guardian 001 could keep time.

She set a one-hour countdown on it. The moment time was up, she would be able to unlock a card and begin her counterattack.

Perry Yates didn’t enjoy fighting, but she hated the feeling of being hunted like prey, unable to strike back, even more.

Twenty minutes passed with no sound from outside.

’Is the game map just that big? Is that why the Hunters haven’t found their way here yet?’

Just as Perry Yates had that thought, a massive explosion suddenly ripped through the air not far from her hiding spot.

The sound made Perry Yates jump. It was followed by the whine of machinery from the sky, and then the thud of heavy footsteps.

"Stop messing around, Cole. We have to go catch the little mice."

"What’s the rush? Let me get a couple more shots in."

"I hear this batch of little mice is especially tough. Slime was taken down by one of them."

"That waste of space. He’s a disgrace to us Executors. If he were standing in front of me right now, I’d smash him to bits."

"All right, Cole. What’s the point of saying that now? That loser has already been expelled from the Executors."

As the voices outside faded, Perry Yates couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. The conversation, however, had given her a lot of useful information.

She hadn’t expected their opponents this time to be the Executors themselves. ’Does that mean the "little mice" they mentioned are all Croupiers?’

’And that Slime they mentioned... surely it’s not the one I have locked in a cage, right?’

She stared at the one-hour countdown. ’Why is time passing so slowly?’

After what felt like an eternity, the countdown finally ended. An array of all the cards she had fused to date appeared before Perry Yates.

After a moment’s hesitation, Perry Yates chose Moon Blade as her first unlocked Skill Card.

It was her only four-star card, but it was also, without a doubt, her strongest offensive card.

The condition to unlock a second card was to kill one Hunter.

’It feels just like doing a quest in a video game.’

Except, failing a quest in a game usually just costs you some experience points. Failing this one would cost her her life.

Perry Yates activated Guardian 001’s Invisibility simulation mode.

This time, it wasn’t just her Skill Cards that were sealed. Her fused Talent, attributeless cards, and even her Spiritual Body were sealed away as well.

In other words, she was left with nothing but two item cards, a single Talent, and the card she had just unlocked.

After leaving her hiding place, Perry Yates began searching for Hunters and other players.

In a game like this, if the players tried to go it alone, the Executors would just pick them off one by one. They had to work together.

"Activate Swift Mode."

[Swift Mode activated. Please be careful!]

The next second, Perry Yates’s figure shot forward like a bullet.

After an unknown amount of time, she stopped and looked at the repetitive scenery. If Guardian 001 hadn’t confirmed that she wasn’t lost, she would have sworn she’d been running in circles.

There were only rocks here, nothing but rocks. There were no landmarks, and the red sky was empty, without a single cloud.

The map for this game was absurdly huge.

She’d been in games with massive maps before, but this was the first time an area felt so vast and empty that it was unsettling.

’I wonder if this game will spawn any supplies.’

After all, they were only allowed to bring two items, and there wasn’t a single plant in sight. Without supplies, they could probably endure a day or two. But any longer than three, and the Hunters wouldn’t even need to bother—they’d die of thirst first.

Just then, Perry Yates felt a chilling sensation prickle the back of her neck. Without a second thought, she reacted purely on instinct, throwing herself into a dodge.