Jiang Huaying stared at the camera for quite a while.
It never showed any intention of flying away.
Unconsciously, she stuck out the tip of her tongue to lick her lips.
Her rosy lips were tinted with a glistening wetness, her husky voice dripping with the sticky sweetness of honey: “I want to drink water.”
The footage was transmitted in real-time.
Zanen let out an ambiguous chuckle from his nasal cavity.
What did she take the camera for?
A wishing pool?
After finishing manipulating the camera, Zanen slumped back in his high-backed chair like a boneless ragdoll, propping his chin with one hand, his narrow eyes slightly squinting with pride.
Though the camera had drifted far from Jiang Huaying, it still hovered around her.
She struggled a few times before wobbling to her feet, her eyes drooping softly with a pitiful expression.
Zanen stared for a moment, then suddenly changed his mind.
His weak and helpless little sister couldn’t die so quickly.
Maybe he could temporarily fulfill her tiny wish.
The thought had just surfaced when several sharp voices interrupted.
“Damn, it’s an airdrop!”
“So many… so many airdrops!”
“Is this a dream? How did suddenly this many show up?”
On the live broadcast, two other bipedal sheep who had also escaped into the forest stared at the endless stream of small crates falling down, disbelief written all over their faces.
It was precisely because of these airdrops that Jiang Huaying knew there were over a dozen people nearby.
They were nearly starved crazy, red-eyed as they lunged forward.
Fortunately, the airdrops were plentiful, filled with water and food, and everyone desperately wanted to grab as much as possible.
No one noticed the small incident that had just happened to Jiang Huaying.
Only Chen Sixi quietly stole a few glances at her.
Feigning ignorance, Jiang Huaying tore open the nearest airdrop herself.
Countless viewers held their breath, pupils dilated, intensely watching the scene before them.
When Jiang Huaying picked up one of the airdrops, countless people shouted out in frustration.
Only the viewer who had won the chosen airdrop jumped up excitedly!
Zanen, halfway through operating, saw the live feed and his lazy smile stiffened for a moment, twisting into a crazed grin.
He stopped watching the broadcast, casually threw the terminal on the table, and left the room.
A few seconds later, the terminal on the table emitted a wail before shattering into pieces.
“Is this human the wanted target this time?”
“Looks so weak.”
“She’ll die in the forest anyway. No need for us to do anything.”
“The Boss said, kill her.”
“I’ll definitely do my best to complete the Boss’s task! Nobody else better compete with me!”
A group of small cats gathered together, chatting.
Their colors, patterns, and appearances varied, but if you looked closely, many of them bore disabilities.
“Has anyone seen the Boss? The mice have already entered, a total of 28,” said a beautiful Doll Cat stepping out from the shadows with an elegant hunter’s gait.
Its lake-blue eyes swept over the cat group, instantly silencing them all.
The orange tabby youth, saved by Sinclair that day, flicked his tail: “The Boss couldn’t wait for the wanted notice to be printed, went into the forest ahead.”
The Boss was so powerful, he sensed the human’s presence without even knowing what she looked like!
Just thinking about the Boss’s cold, bone-piercing murderous aura before he left made the orange tabby shiver.
That wanted human would surely die a miserable death!
The Doll Cat sat dignified in a high place, knowing that Sinclair was desperate to kill the wanted target once he knew her appearance.
It nodded slightly and issued the command: “Begin the Mouse Hunt Plan, everyone move out.”
The cats let out excited cries, each clutching a wanted notice as they scattered silently in different directions, disappearing into the shadows without a trace.
Jiang Huaying only recovered after drinking most of a bottle of water.
She reached out and tugged at her collar patiently, beads of sweat covering her neck.
So hot.
There was no snow here; the temperature was perfectly normal.
At first, Jiang Huaying hadn’t felt anything unusual, but now she felt like a steamed bun in a steamer.
She couldn’t care about anything else and started taking off her clothes.
One layer… two layers… three layers…
Like peeling an onion.
Her movement soon attracted the attention of others.
Their bodies were still stiff; the limbs frozen in the forest were just beginning to regain some feeling.
They glanced at their own tattered and empty cloth, then at the brand-new, thick clothes thrown on the ground, their expressions momentarily frozen.
The jealousy to come was even stronger.
She opened several more airdrops and, seeing they contained only dry rations, showed an expression of disinterest.
Others still had food stuck in their mouths; a few coughed harshly, but they still desperately stuffed the remaining food into their arms.
They were like from two different worlds.
Her face was rosy and healthy, fair and clean, the only mess coming from her recent escape.
Others were sallow and emaciated, with frostbite all over their faces, hands, and bodies, exuding a foul stench.
The sharp contrast was like an arrow piercing their hearts.
After removing her outerwear, the black terminal on Jiang Huaying’s wrist was exposed.
A player’s already fragile mentality completely collapsed.
He screamed in frustration, raising his weapon to aim at Jiang Huaying: “Don’t move! Hand… hand over your credit points!”
The air instantly froze.
Only the light rustling of branches swaying in the wind could be heard, eerie and chilling.
Jiang Huaying sensibly stopped all her movements and slowly raised both hands toward him.
The man was much younger than she expected, dark circles under his eyes, a gaunt jaw.
His right foot was injured, wrapped tightly with tape for several rounds.
After the recent escape, the frozen wound had split open again, bleeding and staining his shoe.
His face twisted in pain, blood vessels creeping across the whites of his eyes as he shouted angrily, “Why do you get to live so well? You’re a black sheep, why… why the hell?”
“Give me your credit points! Or I’ll kill you!”
Dragging his injured leg, he stepped forward two more paces, his voice cracking with sobs: “I know who you are, you’re that special bipedal sheep. Someone saw you following the Butcher, and they treated you differently. You survived the Butcher’s trial.”
“So it doesn’t matter if you turn back into a red sheep, just give me your credit points. Please, give me your credit points…”
He was a red sheep.
Among the dozen or so people present, half were red sheep.
The atmosphere in the forest plummeted to freezing point.
The injured man was oblivious, still rambling madly: “The Butcher won’t kill you. You won’t die without credit points. Someone’s been good to you. These clothes on you are all from the gods, right?”
“Look, since we’re all players, help me out. We’re on the same side. The more players that survive, the safer it is, right?”
“You should help us!”
His voice grew more and more agitated, as if Jiang Huaying not handing over credit points was the worst crime imaginable.
Jiang Huaying laughed coldly at his words.
Binding morality with such righteous conviction while indulging in his infantile tantrum was impressive.
She was furious inside but could only compromise under current circumstances, and her stuff wasn’t that easy to take anyway.
Jiang Huaying glanced around.
Among the dozen or so people, there were three players including herself.
One was Luo, the curly-haired youth she had saved, a red sheep.
The other was a muscular man with a nose ring, a black sheep.
Chen Sixi, unable to watch his savior being threatened, trembled as he spoke: “I think… the most important thing now is to figure out… the dangers here.”
Everyone looked at him.
Chen Sixi nervously swallowed and, as if summoned by some courage, continued: “The forest we’re in is clearly not the same as the previous city area. If we think in gaming terms and consider different regions, different areas have different bosses… which means the Butcher might not be able to come here.”
He observed everyone’s expressions while talking, then looked at the injured man and the nose-ringed man: “I saw something on a forum about this instance and this forest… this cedar forest is very likely the legendary and dangerous Zhaoguang Forest. Information is extremely scarce, but it was posted by a top-tier player.”
“He also went through a Cyber Instance, accidentally entered Zhaoguang Forest, and even encountered a boss-level monster—the Eye of Tunxi! If he hadn’t been teleported out when the clearance time ended, he probably would have died without knowing how.”
Later, when someone asked what happened to the top player, he couldn’t explain clearly and just told people to leave quickly.
“That time the top player’s activity area was the outskirts of the forest, but we…”
He didn’t finish his sentence, but the meaning was clear.
They had already gone deep into the forest to avoid the insect fog.
Jiang Huaying listened to his analysis, though she had no idea what a forum was, it didn’t prevent her understanding, and she thought his reasoning made perfect sense.
This was normal human thinking, after all!
Additionally, she noticed something else: mentioning “players” and gaming-related terms in front of NPCs didn’t attract attention. Perhaps the game system automatically blocked or corrected such words.
Jiang Huaying looked at the other two players’ reactions.
The nose-ringed man just chuckled, clearly unconvinced: “Take it one step at a time. Since the Butcher won’t come, even if they kill her, it won’t matter.”
Great, he was on the injured man’s side.
The nose-ringed man didn’t even bother to hide his vicious, wolf-like glare.
“I never said I wouldn’t give!” Jiang Huaying, afraid he might go mad and kill her, immediately took off the terminal on her wrist.
In the injured man’s fixed gaze, she threw it hard!
The black terminal arced through the air and “accidentally” landed behind the injured man.
Other red sheep behind him pounced like starving wolves!
Jiang Huaying ran right after.
She wasn’t sure if it was just her imagination, but since the beginning, she had sensed a terrifying feeling of being watched.
It was as if something dreadful was hiding in the forest, about to appear the next second to tear her apart, devouring her bit by bit.
Her intuition didn’t lie.
A pitch-black shadow followed her like a ghost.
Among the twisting branches faintly outlined, two clear yellow eyes lit up, vertical pupils cold and sharp, emanating boundless sticky, fermented resentment.
Found you…
That untrustworthy, hateful human was finally found by the gods.
Sinclair had completely forgotten his original purpose in coming here.
The god’s cannibalistic gaze was fixed tightly on Jiang Huaying, his heart pounding wildly.
The anger and unwillingness born from past betrayals and abandonment ignited deep within his soul, as his entire body, bones, and blood, along with endless murderous intent, all burned madly together.