Everyone's playing hide-and-seek: This crazy beauty has maxed-out third eyes.

The three of them finished hers too. The pit was covered with crisscrossing branches, topped with a thick layer of fallen leaves, and then covered with a layer of loose soil, leaving only a small entrance that was just big enough to crawl through, on the side near the tree roots.

Lin Sui'an rushed to the edge of the pit, and without hesitation, he put his feet down first, then slid into the pit.

With his right hand, he pulled the covering at the entrance over, and the branches and mud slid off with his gesture, closing the entrance.

The light dimmed.

Above were layers of branches, fallen leaves, and soil, with only a single reed stick sticking out from the cover, its opening hidden under the fallen leaves.

She put the other end of the reed stalk into her mouth and adjusted her breathing.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Slow down your breathing.

In the distance, the rustling sound came again; the ice tree was chasing after them.

Lin Sui'an remained motionless, with a reed stalk in his mouth.

The sound grew closer and closer.

She was so close that she could hear the soft rustling of roots rubbing against fallen leaves, and the soil above her head was trembling slightly.

The sound of roots rubbing against the ground stopped, and the sound of branches sweeping overhead came from searching the air.

one second.

two seconds.

three seconds.

With no heat source and no target, the branch was retracted.

The rustling sound resumed, and the roots shifted again, heading southeast.

further and further.

Lin Sui'an's lips curled up slightly.

A muffled sound came from under the nearby mound of earth.

"Happy New Year?"

It's Lina.

Lin Sui'an moved his fingers and tapped twice on the pit wall.

Tap, tap.

I am here.

The other side fell silent.

Two seconds later, two light taps came from the pit wall on Lina's side.

Tap, tap.

Lin Sui'an closed her eyes, put a reed stalk in her mouth, and felt the coolness of the soil seep into her back. She began to think and analyze.

Ten ice trees are scattered throughout the forest.

They find people based on their body heat.

The bark is extremely hard, making it impossible to cut down.

Fire can slow its movement, but it cannot harm it.

That's all the information we have.

A muffled scream came from afar; I couldn't make out who it was.

Another one died.

"Sizzle..."

"An'an," Jiang Lai's voice rang in my ears.

"exist."

"Currently, there are 28 players remaining in the forest. After 25 minutes, more than half of them have already been eliminated."

Lin Sui'an blinked. In twenty-five minutes, thirty-four people had died.

"We cross-referenced the distribution of ice trees using live stream footage from various countries."

Jiang Lai spoke faster.

"There is one tree about 60 meters to the northeast of your current location, two trees about 80 meters to the southwest, one tree about 120 meters to the north, and the remaining six trees are concentrated on the west side of the forest, which are farther away from you."

Lin Sui'an closed his eyes and mentally mapped out these coordinates.

"understood."

Jiang Lai paused for a moment: "There's one more piece of information."

"Um?"

"In the southeast corner of this forest, there is a natural pond, about 300 meters from your pit."

"Two players were hiding in the pond, but Ice Tree passed by three times without noticing them."

"If your location is exposed, you can move over there."

Lin Sui'an nodded: "Okay, I'll remember."

"An'an".

"Um?"

"be safe."

"Uh-huh."

Communication was lost.

command center.

Jiang Lai put the communicator back on the table and turned around, and Chen Zheng followed her.

"chief of staff."

"explain."

"Why didn't you tell her about the treasure chest?"

Jiang Lai didn't stop and walked towards the main screen.

Chen Zheng quickened his pace to catch up: "Our model predicts that the treasure chest will most likely spawn 30 minutes after the start of the game."

"Calculation".

"Highly likely."

"News that we ourselves are not even sure about."

Jiang Lai stood in front of the main screen, which showed Lin Sui'an lying in the pit.

"An'an just ran back from under the ice tree, and she's exhausted. She hasn't recovered yet. If you tell her the treasure chest is going to respawn, will she just stay in the pit?"

Chen Zheng opened his mouth.

"She will go out."

Jiang Lai tugged at her sleeve: "Not only will they climb out, but they'll also rush to the front to snatch the treasure chest."

Chen Zheng lowered his head, then looked up again after two seconds: "She has a scapegoat."

Jiang Lai turned around and stared at him.

Chen Zheng felt a chill run down his spine.

"Nine lives, is that a lot?"

Jiang Lai's voice wasn't loud, but she spoke much faster.

"With these forty-six rounds of the game, the time has been cut in half, and the difficulty has already increased."

"What about the forty-seventh round? The fiftieth round? The sixtieth round?"

"Can anyone tell me how many more rounds this game will have?"

"Can anyone tell me just how powerful the next round of weirdness will be?"

Chen Zheng's lips moved slightly, but he didn't make a sound.

"The scapegoat is a trump card, a trump card to be used in crucial moments, not to gamble for treasure chests."

Jiang Lai tapped her finger on the table.

"Go back and write a three-thousand-word self-criticism report, due tomorrow."

Chen Zheng stands at attention.

"Yes."

In the pit.

Lin Sui'an lay there for a while until her breathing returned to normal. She opened her eyes and listened to the sounds outside. The occasional screams from afar were becoming fewer and fewer.

It's not because there are fewer ice trees, but because there aren't many people left who can run on the ground.

Twenty-eight people—that number went through her mind.

If there are only 28 players left after 25 minutes, how many will survive after an hour and a half?

What would happen if the ice tree killed all the living people on the ground and couldn't find a new heat source?

Will it stop?

will not.

Buried underground, one can survive for a while, but not forever.

If things drag on, the rules might change, so she has to plan ahead.

Lin Sui'an braced his hands against the pit wall and slowly pushed his body upwards, creating a gap in the covering.

As light streamed in, she poked half her head out, glanced around, and seeing that the ice tree was gone, she immediately flipped out of the pit and quickly put the covering back on.

He smeared mud on his face and neck, covering all his exposed skin.

He stood up and was about to run back towards the starting point.

[Attention all players.]

Three treasure chests will be randomly projected in three minutes.

[Treasure chest will remain for three minutes.]

[The treasure chest has disappeared if it is not claimed within the time limit.]

[Friendly reminder: Treasure chests contain a variety of game items.]

[Countdown begins.]

Lin Sui-an retracted his raised foot, stood still, and shot three minutes later, keeping the timer for three minutes.

She calculated the time; the treasure chest would respawn in about half an hour.

The previous two rounds of treasure chests were obtained secretly without announcement, and there was only one chest each. This round, however, there was an announcement, and there were three chests.

"Tsk."

There was a rustling sound behind me.

Lydia poked half her head out of the pit, her golden braids covered in mud.

Lina then lifted the covering, her face still covered in mud.

Sergei was the last to emerge, squatting by the pit and speaking in a low voice, "Lin...game..."

All three of them heard it.

Lina climbed out and sidled up to Lin Sui'an, her voice low: "Three treasure chests? Didn't we only get one in the last two rounds?"

"right."

"Then why are there more this time?"

"fishing."

Lina blinked twice: "Fishing?"

"There was only one treasure chest before, and there was no notification. Players had to rely entirely on their own luck."

Lin Sui'an held up one finger.

"This round is even better, three in total, and they even gave us a three-minute advance notice, as if they were afraid you wouldn't know."

She wagged her finger: "You think the game has suddenly become more generous?"

Lina's expression changed: "Is it trying to lure people out?"

"clever."