THE KILLING HOUR

Chapter 2 · Special Mission

"Since we're all teammates, we share the good and the bad. We need to hide. Any suggestions?"

Cigar quickly cast himself as "captain" and took charge. In his view, if a hulking man like him didn't lead, who qualified?

"I say we grab some dry food and hide in the basement for five days. Mission done, right?"

ILoveLillian was a student, after all. That was the easiest and safest plan he could think of.

If they got found, they could lock the basement door and hold out for a while. That would still complete the mission, wouldn't it?

There was no way the enemy could get in.

"I think we should get a boat and hide out. Even if we're spotted, we can sail away."

That was Singer's idea. A plan that let you attack or retreat was a good one. On the water, anyone chasing you needed a boat too—and if you had the fastest one, they'd never catch you.

As for planes and such—if the other side had those in a rookie world, wouldn't that be cheating?

After some discussion, the four of them finally decided to find a yacht and hide out on it.

But when they came back to their senses, they found that of the five Fugitives only four remained. The one called Zero was gone.

"Damn it, that kid stole all our money."

"People these days. How are we supposed to play now?"

"I knew that kid was no good from the start."

"How could he?"

He even ripped off a girl?"

Since they were staying at a hotel, they naturally had their belongings with them. But now their wallets, IDs and phones were all gone. Clearly this guy Zero had screwed them over.

"I'll go after him. He can't have gone far. Grab anything else worth money."

Cigar stormed out the door in a rage, and the other three followed, grumbling as they started searching.

In the lobby,

the chase went out the door.

Cigar gestured at the pretty greeter by the door for a while, then sprinted off in the direction she pointed.

Half an hour later, Cigar walked back into the room drenched in sweat. Looking at his defeated face, nobody needed to ask how it went.

There wasn't much time left before the Hunters arrived. The five of them—still holding two laptops—decided to leave right away.

It wouldn't be long before the Hunters found this hotel.

On the rooftop, a pair of eyes watched the group leave, then stepped out of hiding. After robbing the room, Kyle Vance had gone down to the lobby but hadn't left. Instead he'd handed the greeter a few bills,

and told her that if anyone asked about him, she should point them left and say he'd already gone.

Then he'd hidden on the roof to watch his teammates. Cigar really did try hard—those long legs pumped for all they were worth. But Kyle Vance hadn't left. The man could run his legs off and still not find him.

Once it was safe, Kyle Vance—dressed all in blue—took out the things he'd stolen from the room.

Three thousand fed credits, five IDs, five phones, key cards and several bank cards. In Cigar's wallet he even found a family photo.

One person in it looked very familiar. It was Tiger.

Clearly, in this world, these

two were close in some way.

ID

ID

ID

ID

[Cigar] Corporate clerk, Country H.

[Tiger] Student, Country H.

[Singer] Teacher, Country B.

[ILoveLillian] Model, Country C.

ID: [Zero] Singer, Country A.

Apart from Kyle Vance's phone, the other four were all locked. Even Kyle's phone, once opened, held nothing useful.

Something was off.

Just from reading the Fugitives' IDs, Kyle Vance spotted the problem. They had all spawned in one room. If these were identities the game had arranged, then what reason did they have to be gathered together?

Five unrelated people in one place. Fine, Tiger and Cigar had a connection. But why would the other three bring their important belongings here?

And if they were Fugitives, why were they being hunted?

What was the reason?

Kyle Vance thought for a moment, then went back to the room where the four had gathered. It had been Cigar's room, and since he had the key card, Kyle walked right in.

The messy room had already been stripped of anything valuable. They'd even taken the half-eaten loaf of bread.

Scanning the thirty-square-meter hotel room, Kyle Vance quickly recalled where each of the five had been standing when they spawned. Their positions were loose, but if they really were protecting something important,

then it had to be right under their noses.

In other words, the important thing had to be in this room. But where?

Again Kyle Vance pieced together how each of them had sat, every movement, every rhythm of breath.

After a few seconds of thought, Kyle Vance walked slowly toward the bed as if guided, one hand feeling over it again and again.

Sheets, blanket, even the bed frame—he searched it all. Unfortunately, he nearly took the bed apart and still found nothing.

"Psychologically speaking, something important would be right under their noses, inside their field of view. Add their positions, and only this spot counts as a shared 'safe zone.' There has to be something."

"Unless it isn't on the floor." Kyle Vance looked up. The three-blade ceiling fan hung there, perfectly still.

As if he'd figured something out, Kyle stopped searching and walked to the wall to hit the fan switch.

As the ceiling fan began to turn, a sheet of paper fluttered down from above.

Catching the falling paper, Kyle turned the fan off again and looked at it. The page was covered in dense writing, every character neat and orderly, like some kind of code.

[You obtained the item: Top-Secret Document]

[You triggered a special mission: The Leaker]

[Briefing: evade the enemy for five days and get the document out.

If a Hunter captures the document, every Fugitive is counted as having failed.]

[Reward: rating increase.]

[Penalty: all Fugitives counted as failed, rating decreased.