Chapter 25: Chapter 25: Glacial Realm 2
After stowing the box away, Perry Yates continued to advance slowly.
After walking for some time, she finally reached the foot of the mountain. It was still a boundless snowfield, but this time, there were small claw prints on the ground.
Besides these claw prints, there were also signs of digging, and they looked quite new.
Perry Yates stood up from her skateboard, gazing at the small claw prints and the pits dug out of the snow, her eyes filled with contemplation.
’These claw prints don’t look very big, which means the animal that left them isn’t large.’
’In that case, the animal that left these prints must be a small carnivore.’
’And looking at these pits in the snow... was it searching for food?’
Just as Perry Yates was lost in thought, a faint sound suddenly came from the ground.
Immediately after, cracks appeared in the flat snow. A mound of snow suddenly bulged upward, growing larger and larger until finally, a huge, black figure appeared before her.
A massive body, with black, sharp horns.
"A... a Bull Demon King!"
Perry Yates was so stunned by the sight that she was left gaping, even forgetting to run.
By the time she snapped out of it, it was too late. A giant hand was already grabbing for her.
"Got one!"
A voice like distant thunder rumbled in her ears.
Perry Yates was clutched in that black hand, helpless as a toy.
However, despite her panic, Perry Yates realized the giant creature didn’t seem to intend to harm her.
Though it held her in its hand, restricting her movements, it didn’t use lethal force.
’Otherwise, with the massive size difference between them, all the giant creature had to do was squeeze a little and she would be gone, without even a chance to resist.’
Moreover, the giant creature had just said "Got one," which made her suspect he had come specifically for her.
"Who are you? Why did you capture me?!"
Perry Yates shouted.
’The fact that I could understand the giant creature’s words meant their languages were compatible. There shouldn’t be any barrier to communication.’
After shouting several more times, Perry Yates still received no response.
Seeing this, she gave up on trying to communicate and began to observe her surroundings.
’It wasn’t that she hadn’t thought of using Instant Teleportation to escape, but for one thing, the giant creature didn’t seem to intend to harm her, and for another, Instant Teleportation had distance and usage limits.’
’It could only be used ten times a day, and the distance of each teleport was determined by the amount of energy she consumed.’
’In Perry Yates’s current condition, she could teleport a few hundred meters at most, and it would instantly deplete her energy reserves.’
’A few hundred meters sounded far, but to this giant creature, it was just the distance of a few quick steps.’
She also discovered that the giant creature moved incredibly fast over the snow.
Although each of its steps seemed incredibly heavy, it left not a single footprint on the ground it crossed.
After an unknown amount of time, a stockade appeared in Perry Yates’s view.
Upon seeing the stockade, she could clearly feel the giant creature’s pace quicken considerably.
When they reached the entrance of the stockade, Perry Yates saw at a glance several other giant creatures gathered there. In terms of looks, each one resembled the Bull Demon King more than the last.
And in their hands, they also seemed to be holding something.
’Players!’
’It seemed her earlier guess was correct; these creatures were targeting them, the players.’
With a thought, a mask appeared on her face.
Although Perry Yates had already bundled herself up so tightly that only her eyes were exposed, her sunglasses had fallen off somewhere when the giant creature grabbed her, but she still didn’t want to easily expose her identity.
’Although I don’t know what these giant creatures are capturing us players for, my intuition tells me it’s probably not for anything good.’
’Though she hadn’t sensed any malice from the giant creatures, that didn’t mean they weren’t in danger.’
After all, the players in the other giants’ hands weren’t conscious; their eyes were shut tight, clearly in a comatose state.
’After all, with the size of these giant creatures, crushing them would be as easy as crushing an ant.’
’Then again, it looked more like these people were simply frozen.’
After being brought into the stockade, the surrounding temperature instantly became much warmer.
However, before she could observe more of the stockade’s interior, she was taken into a room.
As the door to the dim room was pushed open, sunlight streamed in, allowing Perry Yates to clearly see the scene inside.
Countless players were locked in cages, all of them looking wretched.
Noticing the door open, nearly everyone looked toward the entrance, their eyes filled with anger and vigilance.
Soon, Perry Yates was also locked in a cage. As the door was slowly closed, the room was once again plunged into dimness.
"Are you okay?"
The person in the cage next to Perry Yates’s was a disheveled-looking middle-aged woman.
Hearing this, Perry Yates shook her head. "I’m okay. Ma’am, do you know what’s going on? Why have we been locked up?"
Hearing Perry Yates’s question, the middle-aged woman shook her head. "I was just captured a little while ago myself. My clothes weren’t thick enough, so I froze and passed out not long after entering the game. When I woke up, I was already here.
"It’s not just me; most of the people here have a similar story."
After she finished, the middle-aged woman glanced at Perry Yates and said, "You were smart, though, knowing to wear thick clothes to enter the game."
Perry Yates detected the envy in the woman’s tone and gave a dry laugh. "I didn’t have any foresight. I just got lucky and found a treasure box that had them inside."
"A treasure box!"
At these words, the previously quiet room instantly erupted with chatter.
In the cage opposite Perry Yates was a young man. He wore a black windbreaker, and even his pants and shirt were black. Black gloves, black glasses, a black mask, a black hat—he was wrapped up from head to toe.
"Are you sure what you found was a treasure box?" the man asked again.
Perry Yates nodded. "I’m sure."
As she spoke, she took out the treasure box she had stored earlier from her System Space.
The box’s craftsmanship and materials were quite good, so Perry Yates couldn’t bear to throw it away and had kept it.
Upon seeing the treasure box, the young man gasped and said to everyone, "Listen up. If you don’t want to die, then for the next few days, no matter what those giant creatures make you do, do not resist."
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