Chapter 14: Chapter 14: The Warped Jungle 14
"This isn’t a prop. It’s an instrument developed by our Survival Game Administration. With just a small sample, it can record a creature’s information, analyze its composition, and determine if it’s edible."
Hearing this, Perry Yates nodded. "Sounds convenient."
"It is. If you want one, we can give you one," Martin Sharp said.
Perry Yates turned her head. "I can’t accept a reward I haven’t earned. What are your terms?"
"As long as you’re willing to join our Survival Game Administration, we can apply for one for you. It’s free, you know! And the benefits at the Survival Game Administration are excellent."
Perry Yates didn’t refuse immediately. She just said seriously, "I’ll need to think about it."
Joining the Survival Game Administration was indeed a good option for a player, but it also meant being constrained. And Perry Yates was not someone who liked being controlled by others.
As they walked, Perry Yates suddenly sensed something was wrong. She stopped and looked at the surrounding plants.
Clarence noticed her strange behavior and stopped as well, asking in a low voice, "What’s wrong?"
"Something’s off about the plants here."
As she spoke, Perry Yates walked over to a large tree, placed her hand on it, and closed her eyes to sense it.
About two minutes later, Perry Yates, who had been sensing with her eyes closed, suddenly snapped them open. Then, to Clarence’s utter shock, she grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and leaped into the tree in a few bounds.
It all happened so fast that Clarence didn’t even have time to scream. By the time he registered what was happening and was about to cry out, the quick-reacting Perry Yates had already covered his mouth.
"Don’t make a sound. Something’s coming."
Perry Yates immediately used her cloak to wrap around Clarence.
Fortunately, when she had woven the cloak, she had made it extra large with the intention of covering her entire body, so wrapping up two people was no problem at all.
Not long after the two had jumped into the tree, a massive rat suddenly emerged from the grass right where they had been standing.
The moment Clarence saw the rat, his eyes widened. He then turned to look at Perry Yates.
’Did she know all along? Is that why she reacted so strangely just now?’
But now was clearly not the right time for questions, so he held back.
He looked down at the "rat" below again. It was a rat only in its general shape.
In truth, the thing on the ground was more like a monster.
From Perry Yates’s angle, she could clearly see that its body was covered in sutures, as if it had been forcibly pieced together from different animals to resemble a rat.
From what she could make out, the monster bore the traces of five or six different animals.
A bear’s ears, a cat’s tail, a frog’s hind legs, a dog’s nose...
The monster on the ground was currently prone, sniffing around with its nose as if searching for something.
After a few minutes, or perhaps even longer, the monster suddenly stopped its movements. It stood up on its hind legs, raising its entire body upright, and then let out a piercing scream in the direction Giselle Lowell and the others had gone.
After lowering itself back down, it tensed its hind legs, and in the next second, its body shot off into the distance.
Only after it was completely gone did the two of them finally relax.
"Thank you for saving me just now," Clarence said sincerely.
In that situation, if Perry Yates hadn’t acted so suddenly, he would have stood no chance against that rat monster.
"You’re welcome. It was nothing. But the others didn’t wait for you? I thought you were partners?"
Perry Yates looked in the direction the others had disappeared, her brow furrowed.
Although they hadn’t spent much time together, she could still tell that Giselle Lowell and the others were actually closer to Clarence. In contrast, they were indifferent, even somewhat distant, toward Joel Joyce.
’Logically, if they were going to abandon anyone, it should have been Joel Joyce.’
In response to her confusion, Clarence just gave a cold laugh and said, "It’s not that they didn’t wait for us—they probably didn’t even notice we were gone. Joel Joyce’s abilities are simulation and hypnosis."
Hearing Clarence say this, Perry Yates understood.
"But why? What does she gain from abandoning us?" she asked, confused.
"Of course there’s a reason. Without us two dead weights, the three from the Survival Game Administration can protect her with their full attention. Besides, the space inside that level-three prop is limited. It’s just right for four people. If you add two more, it would be hard for anyone to even turn around."
"If someone accidentally farted, the air in the entire space would probably be contaminated."
Hearing Clarence’s analogy, Perry Yates couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
"So, are you still going to look for them?" she asked.
Clarence shook his head. "Forget it. I chose to follow them in the first place because I thought it would be safer, but now it seems I’m better off relying on myself."
Seeing Clarence’s mature-for-his-age expression, Perry Yates suddenly asked, "What’s your ability?"
"To reduce my own presence to a certain extent."
Hearing this, Perry Yates’s eyes lit up. "Can that ability work on companions?"
Clarence nodded. "It can, but this is only my second game. My ability level is still pretty low, so to reduce someone’s presence, they have to stay very close to me."
Perry Yates nodded. She understood.
"From now until the end of the game, we’re sticking together."
Clarence hadn’t yet grasped what she meant by "sticking together" when, in the next second, he was lifted up again.
Perry Yates tucked Clarence under one arm, then pushed off with her feet, easily leaping to another tree.
"What are we doing now?"
Clarence asked after getting somewhat used to the situation.
"First, we find a place to hole up."
Hearing Perry Yates’s words, Clarence nodded.
’Find a hidden place to hide, and combined with his ability, there’s a good chance they could get through the rest of the game unscathed.’
Besides, this was a jungle. Although it was fraught with danger, there were also plenty of places to hide.
But soon, Clarence discovered that Perry Yates’s so-called "place to hole up" wasn’t on the ground at all—it was in the trees.
Perry Yates carried Clarence as she moved through the dense canopy.
After an unknown amount of time, she finally stopped when she saw a spot where vines and branches grew in a tangled, crisscrossing web.
"This spot is good. Let’s stay here."
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