Like Rain sat up from her game cabin and turned to look at a middle-aged woman wearing an apron before sighing. “Mom… It’s okay for you to come to my room like that, but why did you unplug the power?”
“Knock the door so you can ignore me again?” Like Rain’s mother smiled.
“I heard you, but I was busy…”
“You’ve disconnected anyway. Come and help me fix the dinner.”
“Ah…” Like Rain sighed again, trying to press down her anger. “Mom ~~~ why don’t you ask dad to help you?”
“Your dad took the game helmet and hid in the garage.”
“You know where he’s hiding, but you didn’t…”
“It’s the innate tendency that men like to play. If they don’t cross the line, we can watch them with one eye opened and one eye closed. If not, today, I can catch him in the garage; tomorrow, he will hide in the basement; and maybe the day after tomorrow, he will unplug the pool and crouch down in order to hide there to play his video games.”
“All are fallacies. Alright, I’m coming.” Like Rain could see that her mother didn’t have another choice now. She got out of the cabin and obediently followed her to the kitchen.
…
At the same time, in Thriller Paradise.
Feng Bujue was standing in front of a tree, with both hands clutching onto the tree and constantly pounding his head to the tree trunk just like a woodpecker. He groaned, “Cheated your daddy! Truly cheated your daddy!” Of course, he didn’t hit the tree hard; he just used the action to express his desperation.
Like Rain irresponsibly disconnected and this completely messed up Feng Bujue’s plan.
As he had estimated, players had to depart from this castle and cross the jungle to reach the edge of the island, and it would take at least three hours. Meanwhile, General Zaroff knew the small island like the back of his hand. With the same distance, although he couldn’t ignore the terrain to do some high-speed performance, it would take him two hours max to reach there.
Feng Bujue thought that if they had divided into two teams and run away from two different directions, at least, one team could have more chances to survive. Whether the BOSS would chase after one team and kill them, this distance could help the other team survive the game period of five hours.
This was a simple strategy, using distance to lengthen the time. If they could do that, the chance that they could finish the scenario would be approximately 100%. Although each of the players would have 50% chance to be killed, this was still a good deal. As long as they completed the scenario, of course, they could take the rewards for completing the scenario; and the other team, even though they got killed, objectively, they had contributed to the development of the scenario, so the system would offer them enough EXP.
About who would die and who would survive, it was a matter of probability. Whoever the BOSS would chase after, this was not a matter that players could decide. Players couldn’t blame anyone for this but their bad luck. From these aspects, the chance that One Sword and Not Afraid would accept this plan was high.
And of course, Feng Bujue and Like Rain would form a team in this plan since he was worried about that Not Afraid pretty girl. From her title and her behavior, the skill she got from her title would be a hiding skill or relocating the mob’s resentment target. If he were together with her, it would be okay if nothing happened, but if any dangers happened, he would be the one who would die for her.
However, he didn’t have evidence for his reasoning. If he spat it out, the other could deny them altogether. Moreover, it was her playing style; if there was already someone who bought it, why did he need to play the bad guy’s role? Thus, Feng Bujue didn’t say anything when he saw One Saber and One Sword wanting to be her protectors. However, he wasn’t a guy who had more money than sense, so giving them some hints later was enough.
The problem now was he didn’t know why Like Rain got disconnected. If he wanted to follow his plan, Feng Bujue would have to walk alone.
Feng Bujue didn’t plan for each player to go in a different direction since working alone would be very dangerous. If they cross the jungle alone, they would be killed by wild animals or some unknown factors. If one of them went on their own way, they would all possibly die before they could reach the edge of the island. Then, the BOSS’ pursuit would be added up to their complete failure.
“Yeah, a scenario for five, but now, we’re just three right when the scenario’s main plot is coming.” Feng Bujue thought, “Three of us hiding together would have no meaning. When the BOSS finally catches up with us, gathering at one spot would result to all getting killed. We can’t change the plan for two teams then.”
After he had arranged his thoughts, he returned to One Sword and said, “Good. I’m going to talk about the running away plan.”
“Wait a minute,” One Sword quickly interrupted, “why are you giving us orders? Your level is the lowest here. You’ve just talked about the current situation, and the contents of the novel are not similar to our scenario. The information we know are the same, aren’t they?”
“Okay, then you take the lead, what to do next?” Feng Bujue threw the responsibilitiy to him at the very first words
“Argh…” One Sword was floundered. He gulped several times then rose his tone again. “We now head to the northwest, cross the jungle and reach the shore first. Just lengthen the distance between us and this castle then.” He acted like he was taking things very seriously. “Zaroff has hunting dogs; even if we could erase our footprints, it’s only a matter of time before he can find us. So, we shouldn’t care about footprints but instead take our time and set up some traps along the way to delay him a bit. Then, when he reaches the shore, it would be dawn already.”
“Good idea. You’re a genius!” Feng Bujue’s eyes shone with light.
“Eh? Ha, ha. Nothing, nothing.” One Sword didn’t realize Feng Bujue’s ridicule in his words.
Quite the contrary, Not Afraid was watching him with a weird look as if she was trying to figure out what he had implied. However, to maintain her image of a weak player, she didn’t open her mouth to say anything.
“Anyway, I think we don’t need to set up traps,” said Feng Bujue.
“Eh? Why?” asked One Sword.
“Do you know the traps in the jungle? Are you going to make some?” asked Feng Bujue.
“Oh…” Now, One Sword realized that the sort of traps he knew was just to dig up a big hole and put some leaves on it. He didn’t even know the simplest hanging rope trap.
“Basically, jungle traps can be divided into two types: hunting traps and combat traps.” Feng Bujue explained, “Their main functions are to trap and hurt the targets. Moreover, there are some traps that needs an operator to work with it. Personally, I think ‘First Blood’ and ‘Predator’ are the two movies that explain different kinds of trap clearly. Anyway, it’s slightly idealized. In fact, most of the traps are not reliable, and it takes a lot of time to set up.”
He cocked his head and casually raked his hand through his hair. “Although we can manage to set up some traps in just a short time, don’t forget that there are many wild animals in this jungle. Just consider even if we can set up traps, you can’t be sure that Zaroff and his dogs are the first ones who step into your traps. So, it will just waste our time.”
One Sword’s countenance darkened. Being stabbed bleeding with just one strike, when someone revealed your plan in just a short time, anyone would get mad.
“Of course, the trap is just a small flaw.” Feng Bujue’s tone changed. “Except for that, your plan is perfect.”
“Yeah… So?” One Sword didn’t dare to continue since he was afraid that he would be lifted up and then sunk down immediately.
“Of course, you two will go to the northwest. After we’ve separated here, you should be careful.” Feng Bujue waved his hand, turned around and headed to the castle.
“Hey! What are you doing?” One Sword was scared. “Are you going back there?”
Feng Bujue didn’t answer him. Instead, he said, “If we three go together, in case Zaroff finds us, we are all doomed. If we split up, you’ll go to the northwest and I’m going to the southeast, at least one side could survive.”
“Why are you going back to the castle?” asked Not Afraid.
“Oh, I don’t have a lighting device. I’m going to ask the General if he could provide me a torch or something.” After that, Feng Bujue walked on the stone ground to the BOSS’ castle.
“Ha, ha, this guy is crazy.” One Sword To Conquer The City beamed a forced smile. “Hm, that’s why he’s called ‘Unidentified Mental Disorder’ [1].”
Not Afraid watched Feng Bujue’s back with something sparkling in her eyes.
“We should go. Don’t care about him,” said One Sword.
Not Afraid wore the naive, innocent look again. “Yeah, One Sword-Ge, you have to protect me well, please.”
“Ha, ha… Count on me.” One Sword slapped his chest, exposing a trustworthy pose. He then took out his sword and flashlight, leading Not Afraid to the jungle.
…
In a deep northeast corner of the jungle on the island.
The soft, rustling sounds echoed in the dark forest.
A shadow was moving cautiously on the ground. Sometimes, it was on the tree branches. At other times, it lied between the gravel.
Python, the most dangerous predator of the jungle, was the top creature in the natural food chain.
There was a cold-blooded sinister giant monster in this island. It was more than 10 meters long with a flat head, and covered with folds. The creature had a black back and a black-brown stomach. There was a delicate white stripe on its back. It was a natural assassin. Its forked tongue was like a 3D searching radar, and its muscles were strong enough to bind and break its preys’ bones. The python didn’t have toxin since it didn’t need it. It could stretch its mouth until its jaw was misplaced to swallow a human completely. It would take the python several weeks to digest the food. After one hunt, it could live with no food for several months.
General Zaroff wasn’t afraid of this python, and no one else but him could kill this monster.
Normally, the python took a corner of the island as its territory, and no animal dared to step in its lair.
And tonight was the night it went out for dinner after the last meal a few months ago!
…
[1] Feng Bujue = Unidentified Mental Disorder