Chapter 38: She…
Mǐ Qiū finally broke free from the snake tail that had been endlessly coiling around her. The snake’s head was still bobbing up and down, burying its body in the sand. Its body looked as if it had been bent and snapped into several segments…
Mǐ Qiū saw that its head was triangular, and its entire demeanor appeared incredibly aggressive. Facing it, Mǐ Qiū still couldn’t quite adapt; her subconscious reaction was to flee…
Even though the snake only existed within her hypnotic dreamscape, the fear was the same. Mǐ Qiū tried to gently stroke its body with her right hand. Its body was slippery. Amidst the scorching sand, Mǐ Qiū could still feel the chill radiating from the snake’s body. Mǐ Qiū had already tried to accept everything about it; even while shivering, she continued to soothe it, trying her best not to make eye contact. Finally, the snake lowered its head, allowing her to stroke it carefully without any struggle.
Mǐ Qiū had finally accomplished the first step. Of course, this used up all her strength. Only after this did she realize that her forehead was already slick with sweat. It wasn’t hot sweat, but cold beads of perspiration oozing out, making her bangs stick to her forehead.
Next, Mǐ Qiū entered the deep layer of the dreamscape. At this moment, she could finally relax a little and let out a breath. However, she knew very well that it wasn’t over yet. She felt her body become unsteady, and then she fell onto a patch of ground. Fortunately, there was a layer of very dry weeds cushioning her fall, making a rustling sound. Because it was soft enough, Mǐ Qiū wasn’t hurt.
Where is this? She was a bit confused. The scene wasn’t like before. She only heard people talking ahead, and they seemed to be discussing her?
Mǐ Qiū didn’t hear it clearly. In any case, she decided to get up first.
“Hey, did you hear that noise just now… You don’t think there’s some giant animal in these woods, do you?”
” doesn’t look like it. Probably a snake or rat or something. Should I go check? Haven’t eaten in days.”
“You can’t be serious, eating that kind of stuff?”
“Do you know what a Level 1 Assessment is? A Level 1 Assessment! If you want to get Level 1, the first thing you have to do—to put it simply—is to ‘lie low’ in this godforsaken, arduous terrain. Do you know what ‘lying low’ means?”
“Besides, the canned food I brought is almost gone. Shouldn’t I go check?”
“Doesn’t that count as a foul?”
“Under current natural conditions, there’s no other way. How can it be a foul? Anyway, there are still two days left in the assessment. Just taking a look shouldn’t hurt.”
The two of them began to move forward, inch by inch. One of them spoke up again: “Then you be careful. Don’t get ambushed by Officer Qiū in a moment. That would be bad. Right now, to us, Officer Qiū is the enemy.”
“A simulated enemy.”
“A simulated enemy is still an enemy. You have to get that clear.” Their bodies crouched lower and lower until they were practically crawling forward.
“Wait, do you know the location?”
“Listening to the sound just now, the direction should be about 500 meters due south.”
“Not bad! You’ve got sharp ears, kid!”
“With years of combat experience, if I couldn’t even do that, would I still be here?”
Mǐ Qiū found it difficult even to turn over. This was just great—she didn’t know where Qiū Chú Huán was right now. She was even dazed about her own location, and she wasn’t clear about her surroundings. It felt as if there were guns in the jungle aimed right at her. Mǐ Qiū didn’t know why she thought that; it was just a vague intuition.
Then, a rustle, rustle sound seemed to come from a shrub beside her. This scared her half to death. It couldn’t be… it couldn’t be a snake, could it?
The scene of petting his spiritual body just now reappeared in her mind. Perhaps due to a conditioned reflex, even though Mǐ Qiū was aching all over, she patted the dust off her clothes and walked away as fast as she could. Her intuition told her again: this place was not safe to stay.
“Slow down, slow down! I can’t keep up.”
“I told you, but you didn’t listen. Just don’t follow me. If you follow me and we get discovered, we’ll both be out of luck!!!”
“Don’t forget, as long as we step out of the boundary, we’ll be within a targeted range at any time. It would be too easy for them to find us. Eliminating us would just be a casual move.”
“With all your nonsense, I would have arrived by now. I told you not to follow me, but you insisted.”
“I have to see if what you said is true or false, right? Your canned food is gone; what if you eat alone?”
“But you won’t lose out.”
“Isn’t that the truth?”
The two got closer and closer. Only 20 meters away. But they discovered there was nothing there. That didn’t make sense! Where did they go wrong??
At that moment, a red circle appeared on both of their foreheads. That was the infrared gun aiming at them…
The two were completely discovered. Now, they really couldn’t reach Level 1 anymore. The assessment failed.
They could only obediently walk out. Although they were very disgruntled in their hearts, they couldn’t say anything.
The key point was, they hadn’t even seen the potential food they thought appeared before they were eliminated by Officer Qiū just like that. Forget it, forget it. Both of them resigned themselves to their fate.
Mǐ Qiū finally found a path leading out. Suddenly, there was something flashing above her head. How strange. She grabbed at it with her hand. Did it seem like some kind of infrared light? Mǐ Qiū was thinking, unable to figure it out for a moment, when someone shouted at her: “I advise you to come out quickly. Don’t waste effort hiding. Your hide-and-seek skills aren’t as good as mine!”
What was that person saying? Why couldn’t she understand at all? And his voice sounded somewhat familiar, as if she had heard it somewhere? Where could she have heard it? Probably on the island, right?
When Mǐ Qiū saw him, it confirmed her inner thoughts. It really was Qiū Chú Huán.
Qiū Chú Huán was surprised when he saw Mǐ Qiū. The person inside wasn’t a Sentinel at all, but a woman. And judging by her clothes, she should be a Guide. Her expression was wooden, obviously unaware of what had happened outside.
Qiū Chú Huán was sitting on a vehicle—a heavy-duty mecha vehicle. After modification, it looked just like a black beetle. He looked her up and down and asked, “Guide? Why are you here!”
Mǐ Qiū was the one who was even more confused. To be precise, she thought their meeting scenario shouldn’t be in a place like this. She walked closer to him, gradually getting nearer.
Qiū Chú Huán: “Please stand right where you are. Name? Where are you from? Speak clearly first. This Guide, you hear what I’m saying to you, right? Please answer quickly.”
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