Chapter 89

Seemingly rising from the game pod, Seeyu looked at the middle-aged woman in an apron in front of him and sighed deeply, "Mom... it’s fine that you came into my room, but why did you unplug the power?"

"Didn’t you hear me knocking on the pod door?" Seeyu’s mother laughed.

"I heard you, but I was busy..."

"Anyway, now that you’re disconnected, come out and help Mom prepare dinner."

"Ah..." Seeyu sighed with a complaining tone, "Mom~ Can’t you ask Dad to help you with this?"

"Your dad is playing with a game helmet in the garage."

"You know where he’s hiding... and..."

"Men are naturally playful. As long as it’s not excessive, we women can turn a blind eye. Otherwise, if I drag him out of the garage today, he’ll hide in the basement tomorrow, and the day after, he might even drain the swimming pool to squat inside and play."

"All excuses... Fine, I’ll help." Seeyu had no choice but to comply, crawling out of the game pod and obediently heading to the kitchen to assist his mother.

...

Meanwhile, in the Haunted Park.

Feng Bujue stood in front of a tree, hands on the trunk, banging his head like a woodpecker, moaning, "This is ridiculous! Truly ridiculous!" Of course, he was just pretending to show his frustration; he wasn’t actually hitting his head hard.

Seeyu’s irresponsible disconnection had completely disrupted Feng Bujue’s plan.

Based on his estimation, players needed at least three hours to cross the dense jungle and reach the edge of the island. General Zaroff, on the other hand, was powerful and knew the island like the back of his hand. Although he couldn’t ignore the terrain and move at high speed, he could likely complete the journey in two hours at most.

Feng Bujue’s idea was: as long as the four of them split into two teams and head to opposite ends of the island, at least one team’s chances of survival would significantly increase. Regardless of whether the boss could catch and eliminate one team, the distance between the other team and the boss would be sufficient for them to survive until the five-hour time limit for clearing the game.

This was a very simple spatial-for-temporal strategy. If they did this, the success rate of clearing the game would be close to 100%, although each player had a nearly 50% chance of dying. However, this deal was still quite favorable. As long as they cleared the game, the team that wasn’t pursued would naturally receive the clearance reward; the team that was pursued would have made a significant contribution to the survival of the other team, and the system would not give them less experience when the game was successfully completed.

As for which team would die and which would survive, it was purely a matter of probability. The boss would pursue whoever he chose, and the players couldn’t control that, so they could only blame their bad luck. From this perspective, the likelihood that Yijian and Bupa would accept this plan was also quite high.

In this plan, Feng Bujue naturally intended to team up with Seeyu, as he was very concerned about the girl Bupa. From her nickname "Hide and Seek" and the hints in her words and actions, her skill was likely related to stealth or shifting attention. Staying with her would be fine when there was no danger, but in a dangerous situation, he might become a scapegoat.

However, his reasoning lacked concrete evidence, and even if he said it, Bupa could easily deny it. Moreover, her playstyle might be like that, and since someone was willing to take the bait, he didn’t need to ruin their fun. So, when Feng Bujue saw Yidao and Yijian showing intentions to protect the girls, he didn’t stop them. He just didn’t want to be the one to take the hit and reminded his friends not to fall for it.

But now, a problem arose. Seeyu had somehow disconnected, and if they followed the original plan, Feng Bujue would have to go alone... which introduced many variables.

The reason Feng Bujue didn’t plan for the four to split in four different directions was that the danger of acting alone was too high. One person might not even make it through the jungle before being killed by a beast or some other unknown factor. If the four split up, they might die one by one on the way, and even if the strongest one managed to reach the edge of the island, the boss’s pursuit would still result in failure.

"Hmm... a five-player game, and we’re down to three just as it’s getting started." Feng Bujue muttered to himself, "If the three of us run together, it’s meaningless. The boss will definitely catch us, so staying together means certain death. The plan to run in two directions can’t be changed..."

After thinking it through, he returned to Yijian and Bupa and said, "Alright... let me explain the escape plan."

"Wait a minute." Yijian said unhappily, "Why are you the one giving orders? You have the lowest level here, right? Besides, according to what you said, this game’s plot has nothing to do with the novel, so the information you have is the same as ours, right?"

"Then you lead. What should we do next?" Feng Bujue threw the responsibility back at him.

"Uh..." Yijian was taken aback, swallowed, and, lacking confidence, raised his voice, "We’ll run to the northwest corner, cross the jungle, and keep running until we reach the sea, putting as much distance as possible between us and the castle." He said with a serious tone, "Zaroff has hunting dogs, and even if we eliminate our footprints, being tracked is just a matter of time. So, we might as well ignore the footprints and set up traps along the way to slow him down. By the time he reaches the sea, it might already be dawn."

"Great idea, you’re a genius!" Feng Bujue said with glowing eyes.

"Ah? Haha, too kind, too kind." Yijian didn’t catch the sarcasm in Feng Bujue’s words.

Bupa, however, looked at him with a strange expression, as if she wanted to remind him of something, but to maintain her weak image, she held back.

"However, I don’t think setting traps is necessary," Feng Bujue said.

"Ah? Why?" Yijian asked.

"Do you know much about jungle traps? How many can you set?" Feng Bujue asked.

"Uh..." Yijian realized that his understanding of traps was still at the level of digging a big hole and covering it with leaves. He didn’t even know how to set a simple foot snare.

"Basically, jungle traps can be divided into hunting traps and combat traps," Feng Bujue explained. "Their main functions are to capture and kill. Some traps require someone nearby to operate. Personally, I think the movies 'First Blood' and 'Predator' do a great job of depicting the power and effectiveness of traps, but they are somewhat idealized. In reality, most traps are unreliable and take a lot of time to set up."

He tilted his head and scratched his hair, "Even if we could set up some traps quickly... remember, this jungle is home to many other animals. Even if we set traps, we can’t guarantee that Zaroff and his dogs will be the first to step on them, so... it would just be a waste of time."

Yijian’s face darkened, feeling embarrassed and angry at having his plan’s flaws pointed out so quickly and accurately.

"Of course, this is just a minor flaw," Feng Bujue’s tone changed, "Apart from that, your plan is perfect."

"Is... it?" Yijian was hesitant to respond, fearing another fall from grace.

"Of course, you two head northwest, be careful on the way, and we’ll part here." Feng Bujue waved and turned to walk back up the castle’s stone steps.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Yijian exclaimed, "You’re going back?"

Feng Bujue didn’t answer the question directly, "If the three of us go together and are caught by Zaroff, we’re all dead. But if we split up, you go northwest, and I go southeast, at least one of us can survive."

Bupa asked, "But why are you going back to the castle?"

"Oh, I don’t have any lighting equipment. I’ll ask the general if he can give me a torch or something." Feng Bujue answered and started climbing the steps, heading back to the castle where the boss was.

"Hah... this guy is crazy..." Yijian laughed nervously, "Hmph... no wonder he’s called Feng Bujue."

Bupa, however, looked at Feng Bujue’s back, her eyes filled with thought.

"Let’s go, don’t worry about him," Yijian said.

Bupa immediately resumed her innocent and naive act, "Okay, Yijian, you have to protect me, okay?"

"Ha... leave it to me," Yijian patted his chest confidently, drew his sword, and, with a flashlight in hand, led Bupa into the jungle.

...

In the northwest corner of the island, deep in the dense forest.

In the darkness, faint, rustling sounds could be heard.

A shadow was moving on the ground, sometimes circling around tree trunks, sometimes slithering over rocks.

The python, one of the most lethal predators in the jungle, a top predator in the food chain.

On this island, there was a large, evil, and cold-blooded creature. Its body was over ten meters long, with a flat, wrinkled head. Its back was black, its belly dark brown, and it had a thin, longitudinal white stripe on its tail.

It was a natural killer, with a forked tongue like a three-dimensional scent detector, and a powerful body that could crush any animal’s bones and muscles. It had no venom because it didn’t need it. It could dislocate its jaw to swallow a human whole and take weeks to digest. After a single hunt, it could go months without eating.

Apart from General Zaroff, the python feared nothing, and no one could kill it except Zaroff.

It usually resided in a den deep within the island, a place other animals avoided.

But tonight, after months of inactivity, it was out hunting. (To be continued.)