Chapter 377: Selection Game 7

"You’re the owner of The Card Tavern!"

Perry Yates nodded. "Congratulations, you guessed right. But there’s no prize."

By now, Dylan Adler had calmed down from his initial shock, and his mind was already recalling many of the holes in Perry Yates’s cover.

He had never considered it before, but now that he connected Perry Yates with the identity of The Card Tavern’s owner, many clues began to surface.

Honestly, Perry Yates’s acting wasn’t exactly masterful. But she rarely went out, either staying at home or at The Card Tavern. After Anna Kane came along, she became even more of a hands-off boss. They hadn’t spent much time with her, so many of the inconsistencies were hidden.

"Why did you hide your identity?" Dylan Adler asked.

"Isn’t that a stupid question? Of course I hid my identity because I didn’t want people to know," Perry Yates said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"But..." Dylan Adler wanted to say more, but after thinking about it, he didn’t know where to start.

In fact, aside from concealing her identity, Perry Yates had done nothing to wrong Drakonia. On the contrary, the players of Cerulea owed their current strength entirely to her.

Thinking of this, Dylan Adler decided not to dwell on it. In the current situation, clearing the game was more important.

According to the game’s rules, this round had no time limit. The game would only end when one side was completely wiped out.

After Dylan Adler became a Croupier, the government had spent a fortune to have Perry Yates change his card attributes for him, all to boost his power.

Now, while Dylan Adler only had a single attribute, it was the extremely rare and powerful Superpower Attribute. Even the cards he had absorbed were meticulously selected.

"What are the three Skill Cards you’ve unlocked?" Perry Yates asked.

She didn’t ask how many cards he had unlocked, but what he had unlocked. After all, if he hadn’t unlocked any Skill Cards, there was no way he could have faced so many Executors without batting an eye.

"Telekinesis, Gravity, and Space Blade," Dylan Adler listed his current skills. One three-star Skill Card and two four-star Skill Cards.

"My Skill Cards are Pointed Explosion, Space-Time Gate, and Moon Blade," Perry Yates revealed her own Card Abilities.

They needed to understand each other’s skills to cooperate more effectively.

Perry Yates checked the mission progress. It was already at 3.5%, with only the final 1.5% remaining.

"Looks like our teammates are working hard on the mission too. Let’s go. Time to find some Executors." After speaking, Perry Yates glanced at the red moon in the sky.

Through experimentation, she had already determined the effect the two red moons in the sky had on her Moon Blade.

It was like climbing a hill. The effect on her Moon Blade was greatest when the moons reached their zenith, and that was when the skill was at its strongest.

After that peak, as the red moons began to set, the power of Moon Blade would wane, eventually returning to its normal level.

After some more time passed, the mission progress reached 4%.

After Perry Yates and Dylan Adler took care of three Executors and looted all their supplies, Dylan Adler asked, "There are two thousand Executors. How many players do you think entered this game?"

Perry Yates shook her head. "How would I know? But there probably aren’t many. Maybe very few, not even a tenth of the number of Executors."

After all, since entering the game, she had encountered plenty of Executors but only a handful of players.

Dylan Adler had a different take on it. "I actually think a lot of players entered this game, probably even more than the Executors. Don’t forget what was mentioned at the beginning: we’re just the prey. If there’s too little prey, how would there be enough to go around for the Hunters?"

"Then aren’t they worried we prey will team up and turn the tables on them?" Perry Yates said.

’Though, we’ve already started doing just that.’

"That’s why they placed a restriction on us, only allowing us to bring two item cards. All our Skill Cards were locked, and we can only unlock them by meeting specific conditions."

So for players who didn’t bring powerful items into the game, the first hour was the most dangerous.

During that time, a large number of unlucky players would be eliminated by the Executors.

Even those lucky enough to escape the Executors would be unable to unlock their first Skill Card because they couldn’t complete the first mission.

The second mission is to kill a Hunter, or an Executor. This means the first Skill Card they choose to unlock must be an Attack Card, because that’s the only way to kill an Executor.

This second condition eliminated another large batch of players—those without powerful Attack Cards, or those who were only focused on surviving at the start.

For these people, failing to complete the second mission meant they could never unlock their second Skill Card, let alone the third.

After this filtering process, the players who managed to survive until now are the prey the Executors truly want.

After all, for a Hunter, what’s the challenge in hunting mere rabbits and pheasants? Only strong, formidable prey can truly pique their interest.

So, what they had to do now was increase their strength, unlock their Skill Cards, and become the kind of beasts that could turn the tables on the Hunters and make them tremble in fear.

Just as the two were analyzing the situation, Perry Yates suddenly looked into the distance, her entire body instantly on alert.

"What is it?"

Dylan Adler’s five senses hadn’t undergone Ascension, so he wasn’t as sharp as Perry Yates. But seeing her reaction, he too instantly became vigilant.

"Something’s coming. It’s big. I can’t tell how many there are, and the sound is chaotic... like some large machine rolling over the ground."

Perry Yates listened intently, but she couldn’t identify the source of the sound. The only thing she was sure of was that it wasn’t footsteps.

Just then, the sound of a Heavenly Eye swiveling came from above.

Back in high school, her classroom had security cameras installed, and Perry Yates’s seat happened to be near one. Over time, she had become exceptionally sensitive to the sound of a camera turning.

Perry Yates pointed a finger toward a spot in the sky. A Moon Blade, glowing with red light, shot out. A moment later, an explosion echoed from that direction, and a spherical object, trailing black smoke, fell to the ground.

And as the Heavenly Eye was destroyed, the cacophonous noise from before vanished along with it.