Chase Game

While everyone was investigating, the two outside also made some discoveries.

Meng Dong retrieved the empty jewelry box from the lake in the garden.

Perhaps it was too big to hide, so it was abandoned in the lake.

Zhang Qiang caught the suspicious-looking Grytton in the military camp outside the palace.

The group reunited in front of the main hall, just as an hourglass ran out of sand.

The four interrogated Grytton before the palace, and at first he pretended to be stupid and said nothing.

He only cried and begged for mercy after Yuan Xiangqing slapped the letter in his face.

"My lords!"

"It has nothing to do with any villains; it was all orchestrated by that despicable woman, Leah..."

Grytton shifted the blame to Leah, portraying himself as a coerced and vulnerable victim.

The truth was no longer of interest to them; they only wanted to know one thing:

Where is the white jade bracelet hidden?

Grytton answered, trembling with fear:

"The back...the back mountain..."

……

"Phew, finally dug it out!"

Ling Miaomiao dug out a cloth bag from under the soil buried by fallen leaves.

Inside, there were various kinds of jewelry.

She spotted the white jade bracelet immediately and picked it out separately.

"Phew, now it's just a matter of finding a quiet place to take away the source."

Hmm... let me think of a good place...

Oh! There's actually a place like this? Not bad, let's go there!

Ling Miaomiao tied a knot in the cloth bag containing the jewelry, turned around and transformed into a little deer, picked up the bag, and happily ran towards the mountain.

She thought to herself with a smug satisfaction:

"Hehe, these are all my spoils!"

Therefore, when Ling Yi and his group arrived here under Grytton's guidance, all that remained was a scene of utter devastation.

"This...this...I clearly remember this is the place..."

Grytton held a handful of yellow earth in his hands, the dust falling through his fingers, but there was no trace of jewelry.

"It seems we're a step too late."

Meng Dong felt regretful.

"It's not too late," Ling Yi stepped forward and picked up a small handful of soil. "The soil that's been turned over is still very fresh."

It would be great if we could use the [Ten Directions Grand View] to look back on the past.

He thought to himself.

Unfortunately, this is a skill associated with the identity of a fugitive.

Based on his current abilities as a fugitive, [Try Again] leans towards escaping; [Ten Directions Grand View] leans towards reconnaissance; and [Silence] leans towards infiltration.

The hunter's skill, [Instant Karma], is primarily offensive. Although it has some tracking effect, it's useless if the hunter can't be found or marked.

He didn't know exactly what Yuan Xiangqing and Meng Dong's skills were, but seeing that one of them could restore letters and the other could find the jewelry box at the bottom of the lake, it meant that they were both good at gathering information.

I wonder if there will ever be an opportunity for him to use both of his dual-identity skills in the game.

Where will Leah go?

This is a question that lingers in everyone's mind.

Due to the intervention of the Chosen Ones, the original plot development was altered, so there were absolutely no clues pointing to Leah's whereabouts.

The probability of encountering a chosen one is actually very, very small. Wang Xiangyu subconsciously ignored it and didn't mention it, which was a small trick on the four of them.

Wang Xiangyu can no longer transmit information to everyone through the crystal ball; now, they can only rely on guesswork.

"Hmm... if I had such a large bag of treasure, I'd definitely want to leave this kingdom as soon as possible, right?"

Zhang Qiang adopted a thoughtful posture.

Ling Yi was also pondering this question.

The game is confined to the entire palace; if they fail to find the white jade bracelet within three hours, they lose.

In other words, if Leah hides for three hours with the white jade bracelet, she wins.

So, we can now consider Leah as a fugitive, an NPC fugitive.

Besides hiding, there is another way for fugitives to quickly win the game: counter-attack!

From the perspective of game fairness, it is inherently unfair for four pursuers to turn the tables on one fugitive.

What if we change the way we counter-attack in the physical sense?

For example, leaving the palace with a white jade bracelet?

From a player's perspective, with little time left, there might not be any need to risk revealing their location by trying to escape the palace.

As long as I can survive until the end of the game, that's fine.

But what about Leah?

She is not a player; she is an NPC.

From the NPC's perspective, she was unaware of the three-hour time limit, so for her, every extra moment she stayed in the palace meant an extra bit of risk.

The normal thought is to want to escape as soon as possible.

Ling Yi's mind cleared instantly, and he asked Rogers, who was standing beside him:

"Your Highness, have the entrances and exits to the palace been sealed off?"

"After the incident, we blocked all roads leading in and out of the palace, and even convoys that were going to buy supplies could only enter and exit at fixed times."

"What else?"

The usual routes of entry and exit may be well blocked, but he prefers the unusual ones.

Rogers thought for a moment, then exclaimed in surprise:

"Oh...right, and there are hot air balloons on the mountaintop!"

This is very likely it!

A strong premonition rose in his heart.

Although Ling Miaomiao's original intention differed slightly from Ling Yi's guess, it inadvertently brought Ling Miaomiao's location into the scope of the investigation.

Hearing this, Yuan Xiangqing, Meng Dong, and Zhang Qiang, who were standing nearby, basically understood Ling Yi's thoughts.

Just as everyone was pondering and wondering, a strange thing happened!

A huge beam of light suddenly shone from the mountaintop, attracting everyone's attention.

Without further ado, everyone started running up the mountain.

But after running for a short while, a flock of birds blocked his way, and Meng Dong chose to stay behind to hold them off.

The three ran for a while longer, and then a herd of sika deer came out and blocked their way.

These animals appeared out of nowhere, forming a huge herd that blocked the road up the mountain.

At this moment, Zhang Qiang stepped forward. He opened his mouth wide and roared, but the sound that came out was that of a tiger's roar.

The tiger's roar startled the deer herd, but they quickly calmed down.

But Zhang Qiang wasn't finished. After a tiger's roar, his body began to swell and become stronger. Soon his shirt was torn, revealing the tiger's stripes, and a long tail grew from his back.

Zhang Qiang's lips curled into a wide grin, and he said in a sinister tone:

"Lingzi, I'll clear the way, you guys go up first."

"it is good."

This should be Zhang Qiang's Hunter skill, but based on this performance, it seems to be related to the tiger he can summon.

However, now is not the time to think about that.

Zhang Qiang jumped into the herd of sika deer and, with a flurry of punches and kicks, quickly cleared a path.

Zhang Qiang stayed behind to stop the deer herd that wanted to give chase, while Ling Yi and Yuan Xiangqing rushed to the mountaintop.

Fortunately, there were no more checkpoints to stop them.

If they had, neither of them would have voluntarily stayed behind to cover the other's retreat.

The reason is nothing more than mutual distrust.

The hot air balloon on the mountaintop was ready, its balloon fully inflated into a teardrop shape, and its "engine," the heating system, was shooting flames upwards.

A tiny figure stood inside the hanging basket; it was Ling Miaomiao.

She gently closed her eyes, held the white jade bracelet in her hands, and pressed it against her heart, where a huge beam of light enveloped her.

Then the beam of light gradually contracted, and the hot air balloon rose into the air.

The girl opened her eyes and said happily:

"I've got my first source!"