Chapter 13 Where To Go Next?
How could this be?! When I saw the map of District 13 in the hands of Black Sniper, I suddenly realized! If there is also a map in my backpack, if every team leader has a map in hand...?
What does that mean? It means the map was prepared by the game in advance, which means the game knows who will be the leader, in other words... the game system knows what will happen next!?
Heaven, could it be that we have all been acting according to the game's design? Thinking of this, I suddenly felt a chill down my spine. So, if that's the case, doesn't that mean our next move has also been seen through by the game?! Then, in the game, what will we do in the next moment?
I shivered inexplicably, and I finally understood why Black Sniper didn't want anyone besides me to come in—it's because this truth is too terrifying! It could even cause unnecessary panic.
Since I could think of this, Airo naturally must have realized it too. But it seems others still don't quite understand.
Glasses saw me take out the same map, and with a gloating smirk, he said, “Hehe, Sophie, oh Sophie! You didn't even know such an important thing was in your backpack—how did you become the team leader? If this doesn't work, maybe I should take over.”
“Yeah, you were too careless...”
Old Wan also wanted to tease me a bit, but when he saw me spacing out after taking out the map, he was puzzled: What's wrong with you?
“Annoying!”
Airo called out to me softly, and I knew what he wanted to say. Indeed, the fewer people who know this truth, the better.
~Uh! I pretended to cough twice and gave Black Sniper a glance: “Um, Team Leader Black, is your room still safe?”
Black Sniper smiled knowingly at my appearance and pretended to be annoyed: “Not very safe, we often hear 'thump thump' from outside the door, very loud—it doesn't sound like ordinary humans!”
“What?”
Before we could say more, Glasses exclaimed impatiently: “Oh my God, why didn't you say this earlier? Can those few guys really defend it? What if the bio-ghost breaks in? No, seems like we have to rely on me to step in!”"Yanjing is impatient and didn't wait for us to speak; he picked up his weapon and ran out on his own.
Old Wan glanced at Yanjing and then at us, thought for a moment, and finally ran out following Yanjing. As for Xiaobai, she was much more obedient. I, Ailuo, only gave her a slight look, and she got up obediently and left.
'Hey, little brother!'
Black Sniper looked at me, Ailuo, seemingly wanting to ask why he was still sitting here. I smiled and said, 'It's okay. Ailuo is considered my strategist, and there are many issues that need his help.' Indeed, in some situations, without Ailuo, I wouldn't know what to do.
Hearing my words, Black Sniper was momentarily stunned, looking at Ailuo with a somewhat complicated expression: 'I see! Hmm, I suppose he's also a top player in the game.'
'You flatter me,' Ailuo replied politely.
'Alright, now let's talk about the main issue!' After wasting so much time, it's time to properly calculate the path ahead.
'I didn't expect that from the very beginning, we were already calculated by the game system. I suppose encountering attacks by the defenders, or even the fact that everyone is scattered now, is the same reason.'
'There's a reason the game does this,' Ailuo spoke: 'Including the NPCs in the calculation, the number of infiltrators and defenders is simply too high. If everyone all attacks at once, it's very easy to take down a biochem ghost! Then everyone could easily pass the level. What's fun about that? So I think... the game is just increasing difficulty!'
'Smart!' Black Sniper clapped his hands and laughed: 'As expected of a strategist-level figure, you thought of this right away.'
Black Sniper said: 'Actually, it's just to make it harder for us to pass, but if one person fights alone, it's too easy to die. So the game fairly makes us a team of five. If we can find companions, the probability of success is even higher.'
'So, by your logic, the fact that we met each other is also thanks to the game?'
'This?'
Whether our two teams meeting was guided by the game or just by chance, Black Sniper didn't know how to calculate it, and could only say helplessly: 'I haven't thought about that yet.'
Hehe, of course I knew he couldn't think of it. At that moment, I turned my head to look at Ailuo.Gaara never disappoints me, and he immediately blurted out: 'It wasn't the game that brought us together; it was purely a coincidence!'
'Oh? How do you mean?' Black Sniper, hearing Gaara's words, was obviously intrigued.
'I think at the very beginning, it was indeed the game system that made the five of us form a group for battle, and quite cleverly spread us out. But I believe that once the game officially starts and the bioweapon ghosts appear, all battles—life or death—depend on ourselves! The game won't take care of us. Because I've never heard of a game affecting players and guiding them to play. Then is that really people playing the game? It should be the game playing people!'
'So I think the encounter between our two groups is purely coincidental.'
'Makes sense!'
Black Sniper and I nodded simultaneously. As expected of Gaara, he could quickly analyze the situation. But hearing his explanation made me much more relieved. Luckily, after the game starts, we won't be under the system's control. If our fate were always designed by the game, that would be terrible.
However, after hearing Gaara's explanation, I also suddenly felt enlightened: 'So, that means the game used Captain Locke's orders to separate us. In other words, Locke and David are both NPCs in the game. Their task is to help the game spread out us, the players, and even provide equipment rewards.'
'Exactly! Once the game starts, the two NPC captains have completed their missions and will retire.'
This clarified everything. Since the game won't affect us anymore, what should we do next? Should we stay here until the game time ends, or go find a safer place?
Everyone was momentarily speechless. Going out is too dangerous, but staying worries us because this place could be easily breached.
Just as nobody knew what to do, a knock suddenly sounded from outside. 'Come in.' As Black Sniper spoke, a slightly nervous face of Bullet peeked through the door crack.
'What's wrong?' Anyone could see that Bullet was a bit off.
'Captain! Outside, it seems like…'
'What?!' The three of us were shocked. Could the bioweapon monsters have found us so quickly?Picking up the weapon in hand, I stepped out the door and immediately saw Jingjing, Lao Wan, Xiao Bai, and Fireline Elite split into two sides, holding machine guns and leaning against the doorway. Everyone couldn't help but stop in their tracks, holding their breath.
We could hear footsteps outside the door: ‘Dong! Dong!' The rhythm was steady, each step hammering clearly. The ‘dong dong!' footsteps grew louder, as if the biozombie was running from far to near.
"They are searching for surviving players!" At this moment, everyone was extremely nervous, their ears standing on end, listening carefully to the sounds outside the door, silently praying that it wouldn't find this place! ‘Dong dong dong...' The sound got closer and clearer. The monster seemed to pause at the door, remaining silent for a few seconds.
"Aoo!" A low, terrifying growl came from outside the door, followed by ‘Squeak! Squeak!' sounds. It sounded like something clawing at the walls.
‘Squeak! Squeak!' The clawing sounds came right outside the door, as if scratching at our hearts, sending shivers down everyone's spine. Damn! That thing doesn't know we are in here, does it?
Listening to the horrifying sounds outside, I couldn't help but curse in my heart: "If you're coming, just come, don't scare us by pretending to be something supernatural!"
"Ah!"
Just as everyone's palms were sweating with tension, a man suddenly shouted outside: "Ah! Get the hell away from me!"
At the same time, the sounds outside stopped abruptly, followed by heavy footsteps running away: dong, dong, dong. We instantly breathed a sigh of relief. "For now, there's no danger, but just now the sounds outside were..." Everyone froze on the spot and instinctively looked out the window.
"Get away, get away!"
Outside, two guards were firing their machine guns at a bio-ghost. The ghost was riddled with countless bullets yet seemed unfazed, still hopping and jumping. Although the monster couldn't reach them for now, if the two ran out of ammunition, the consequences would be unimaginable.
"Not good, that is..." Suddenly, a red figure flashed behind the two men.
‘Aoo!' (End of Chapter)
