No health bar? You call this stunningly beautiful NPC sickly?

This is a huge amount of information.

The alchemist straightened up, his gaze sweeping over the players around him, then glancing at the old royal knights who had surrounded him, a disdainful smirk playing on his lips.

"A bunch of traitors blinded by false freedom, do they even deserve to guard Your Majesty's side?"

The captain of the knights' faces darkened, and she tightened her grip on the hilt of her sword, but without Mu Zhixi's order, she dared not make a move.

"Humble lost souls." The alchemist bowed respectfully to Mu Zhixi once more, then ignored the knight and turned to all the players, announcing:

"From this moment forward, the cat-and-mouse game officially begins. Your value lies in doing everything you can to hide in this villa, evade capture, and please my supreme ruler."

"To die to please Your Majesty is your honor."

"Oh, right, there's also good news. The other two lucky winners from the game space will also be joining this grand party later. The final winner will be personally decided by our esteemed His Majesty."

After saying this, he bowed to Mu Zhixi and gracefully stepped aside.

Mu Zhixi: "..."

And yet, inexplicably, she became the final judge.

[WARNING: Instance mode changed.]

New game: Hide and Seek.

[Game Rules: For the next three hours, please find a hiding place within the villa. After half an hour, the alchemist, the dragon girl, and all puppet units will conduct an indiscriminate search of all players.]

Those found will be eliminated immediately.

[Supplementary Rule 1: In this round of the game, two teams from other instances, totaling twenty-four players, will join the battlefield.]

[Supplementary Rule Two: The final victor will be determined by His Majesty himself.]

[The game begins now.]

The players' brains have completely shut down.

There was too much information; they needed time to process it.

The Holy Land, the Old Royal Court, the Empire, the Princess... there seems to be a complex web of hostility and cooperation among these forces.

And they, these insignificant characters who weren't even cannon fodder, were somehow drawn into the center of this battle of the gods.

[Sanctuary! So the organization behind Miss Number One is called Sanctuary! That sounds so high-class!]

[The Old Royal Court and the Holy Land—these are clearly two opposing factions! And it seems the Holy Land has a higher status; even the dungeon bosses are their followers!]

I feel that this is beyond the explanation of a seven-star race...

[Just kidding, eight stars isn't even enough!]

"He never looked away, he just temporarily lost his eyes." Just as everyone was shocked, Mu Zhixi tilted her head, as if talking to herself, or as if speaking to some unknown being.

While everyone's attention was focused on Mu Zhixi and the upcoming "hide-and-seek" game that would affect three instances,

No one noticed that at the very back of the crowd, the player with the hooked nose in position nine was quietly retreating.

He made up his mind; he was going to run away.

This place is so eerie, and these people are so terrifying.

He wanted to take advantage of the chaos to slip away, even if it was to complete his seemingly impossible personal mission, rather than staying here and risking being killed by a single glance from some big shot.

Number Nine had just retreated to the corner of the alchemy workshop entrance, preparing to turn around and run away.

Suddenly, a petite figure appeared silently in front of him, blocking his way.

Dragon Girl?

The player with the hooked nose was taken aback, then a surge of joy filled his heart.

Great! A little kid is perfect to use as a hostage!

Just as he was about to reach out and grab it, the scene before him changed dramatically in the next second.

The adorable, chibi-style Little Dragon Girl suddenly grew taller and transformed into a woman with a blood-red palace dress, a slender figure, a cold and beautiful face, and long hair reaching her waist, with blood-red eyes.

She simply extended a slender finger, and a rose-red scythe materialized out of thin air, gently touching the hook-nosed player's forehead.

"Sizzle—"

Before the hook-nosed player could react, his entire body, like a disassembled building block, was broken into countless tiny parts and scattered all over the ground.

This bloody and bizarre scene happened in the blink of an eye.

The players in the Alchemy Workshop were still immersed in the shock and pressure of the upcoming hide-and-seek game, and no one noticed that one of them had quietly disappeared.

Only the viewers in the Wanzu live stream witnessed the entire process through the split-screen camera.

【?! ! !】

[What just happened?! That dragon girl... she... she instantly killed Number Nine?!]

[Instantly? Was that really instant? It was disassembled into parts!]

[...Was all that cute chibi-style appearance just an act? I remember she used to need Number One to hold her before she could even get into bed, right?]

[This is terrifying! The referee for this dungeon is a ruthless, deranged older woman! Miss Ran, run!]

Mu Zhixi also noticed the barrage of comments scrolling wildly like snowflakes in her live stream.

"Watch out for the Dragon Girl!" "The Dragon Girl is a serial killer!" "Get away from that referee!"

Mu Zhixi was somewhat confused.

Dragon Girl?

That well-behaved and adorable little guy who drinks "Sanctuary Glimmer" beverage and tugs at her sleeve in a soft, sweet voice, asking her to touch his dragon horns?

Could she be a serial killer? Don't these viewers have a bit too much of an imagination?

Mu Zhixi thought to herself, but still followed the guidance of the comments and turned her gaze toward the direction where the dragon girl was.

Then, she saw a scene that melted her heart.

At this moment, the Dragon Girl was standing in front of a staircase that was an insurmountable barrier for someone of her height.

She stretched out her chubby little legs, trying hard to step onto the first step, but failed several times because her legs were too short.

Finally, she simply plopped down on the ground, rubbing her bloodshot eyes with her little hands, looking aggrieved and on the verge of tears.

Mu Zhixi concluded that the reason why the dragon girl's eyes were red must be because she had just been bullied by that alchemist who didn't look like a good person!

As a referee, the Dragon Girl can easily defeat players by relying on the rules, but being so small, she is bound to be bullied by her strange colleagues.

Mu Zhixi felt that her guess made a lot of sense. The world was going to the dogs. These viewers from all races really had no sympathy at all.

The Dragon Girl's eyes were just a little red. How can you slander her out of thin air and say that such a small person is a murderer?