Hide and Seek: The Mad Girl Sees All novel Chapter 137

Chapter 137

Chapter 137

The moment the countdown hit twenty minutes, the entire room lurched violently to the left.

Lyra was hurled by the sudden momentum. She quickly steadied herself and grabbed a cabinet for support, but before she could catch her breath, the room flipped to the right. To dodge the falling cabinet, she jumped to the other side.

Before she could even get used to the room’s wild swaying, the table shot up from the floor, the cabinet toppled over, and the bed frame slammed into the ceiling.

Wait, no, the ceiling was now the floor.

Lyra darted around the room with agility, but the changes were coming faster and faster. Her stomach churned, and she was tossed about, just barely managing to avoid getting smashed by the flying furniture.

It felt like she’d been stuffed inside a Rubik’s Cube, with some giant hand twisting it from the outside.

Lyra thought, ‘Left, right.’

Up, down, her mind reeled as the room flipped again.

She thought, ‘Left, right, again.’

The cabinet came crashing down overhead. Lyra dove sideways, barely dodging it, the corner scraped her ear as it smashed into the floor, sending splinters flying.

Over on the Draconia Live Channel, the chat exploded.

[BornToCuss: Is this game insane or what? Who gets hurt just by hiding in a game of hide-and-seek?]

[Another DayAlive: Aaaaah! I just checked the other countries’ streams, at least seven or eight people are already injured, and one poor guy got his leg smashed by a cabinet.]

[LyrasNumberOneFan: Holy crap! This is way too fast. Even Lyra, with all her agility, is just barely managing. Most people didn’t even have a chance to react before they got tossed to the floor.]

[LyraSuperfan: Is Lil Lily alright? I saw her holding onto that steel pipe and not letting go.]

[momo: Lil Lily’s actually pretty lucky. She’s in a dance studio with barres welded to the floor, mirrors bolted to the walls, and padded bumpers. She’s getting tossed around, but at least she’s safe.]

[LuckyKoi: Lil Lily’s not hurt! She reacted fast and grabbed onto the barre! But she’s being tossed around so much she can’t even keep her eyes open. My heart aches for her!]

[Veggie Edition: I’ve never seen a game where the room actually flips over, the ceiling becomes the floor, and all the furniture comes crashing down. This isn’t a game, it’s a meat grinder!)

[GoDraconia: It’s gonna happen again in ten minutes. What about the ones with broken bones? They can’t even try to dodge anymore!]

Just as the chat was blowing up with messages, the room finally stopped shifting.

[Hide-and-Seek Countdown: 19 minutes and 49 seconds]

The room suddenly went still.

Lyra sat on the floor, breathing hard. She looked around. The table, cabinet, and bed were back in place, and even the splinters had vanished. Everything was reset.

14:15 Tue, Jul 7 M

Chapter 137

Lyra got up from the floor, her face grim. She hadn’t been hurt, she’d just been quick enough to dodge.

But what about Lil Lily? Lyra worried. She was only ten. If the furniture had crashed down during that violent flip, one hit could have crushed her.

Lyra pulled out her Soul Deck. “Soul Deck, release.”

White light flashed, and Jare appeared.

As soon as Jane materialized, she saw the look on Lyra’s face and immediately asked, “What happened?”

“The mission’s structure changed,” Lyra said, keeping it brief. “The whole room flipped, up, down, left, right, everything was moving. All the furniture was crashing down from above.”

Jane’s expression darkened. “What about Lil Lily… is she alright?”

“I’m worried about that too,” Lyra replied, sensing for the blank card’s location. The spot had shifted, but she had no clue anyone got hurt.

Lyra shook off her worries, getting anxious wouldn’t help if she couldn’t find anyone right now. She turned to Jane. “Hey, you mentioned you found two things earlier. What were they?”

Jane pulled herself together and floated over to Lyra. “First, I think there aren’t that many rooms in this maze.”

Lyra frowned.

“After I left you, I made my way through nine rooms, and in those nine, I encountered three players from other countries,” Jane said.

“Three?” Lyra echoed, surprised.

“Yeah, and two of them even ran into each other, they were in the same room,” Jane added.

Lyra mulled it over. Three players in nine rooms? That was a pretty high density.

“So you’re saying the whole maze might just have two or three hundred rooms/tops?” Lyra asked.

“Three hundred at most,” Jane said, sounding sure. “With fifty players spread out over three hundred rooms, running into three people in nine rooms actually adds up. If there were thousands of rooms, there’s no way I’d run into folks that often.”

Lyra paused, thinking. There was another possibility, maybe those three players just happened to be clustered in the same area, pure coincidence. But Jane’s logic made more sense.

“What’s the second thing you found?” Lyra asked.

Jane didn’t answer right away. She drifted over to the wall and pointed at the number [5] Lyra had carved there.

“You’ve already made it to the fifth room. Did you find the treasure chest I left for you?” Jane asked.

Lyra blinked in surprise. “What treasure chest?”

“I found two treasure chests,” Jane said, holding up two fingers. “One was in the fourth room, and the other was in the

seventh.”

“I dragged the chest from the fourth room and put it smack in the center of the room. You definitely should’ve passed by it,” Jane added.

Lyra thought back, but she hadn’t seen any treasure chest. She shook her head. “Nope, didn’t see it.”

14:15 Tue, Jul 7 M.

Chapter 137

“Just as I thought, Jane said, her expression confirming her suspicion. “When I came back, the chest in the seventh room was gone too.”

“Did someone else take it?” Lyra asked.

“That’s what I thought at first,” Jane said, shaking her head. “But when I went back and searched the spot again, the chest was back in its original place.”

Lyra narrowed her eyes.

“I tried taking the chest out of the room,” Jane said, spreading her hands. “But it wouldn’t budge. As soon as I got to the doorway, it disappeared. When I checked again, it was back in its original spot.”

Lyra put it all together. So the chest couldn’t leave the room, it just popped back to where it was.

“So having you scout out the chests ahead of time is basically useless now,” Lyra said.

Jane nodded. “At best, I can get there a little before you and tell you which room has a chest, but you’ll still have to go there and open it yourself.”

Lyra nodded. She had assumed the Endless Maze meant countless rooms. If the number was limited, Jane didn’t need to keep scouting for chests. She had something more important to do.

Lyra looked up at Jane. “Jane.”

“Yeah?” Jane replied.

“Forget about the chests,” Lyra said.

Jane met her gaze, already knowing what Lyra was about to say.

“Go find Lil Lily,” Lyra said.

Lyra pointed north. “I can sense a card straight north of me. If there really aren’t that many rooms, just go through the walls, you should be able to find her in no time.”

“Got it,” Jane replied.

“Once you find her, bring her over to me. I’ll head north as well, and we’ll meet halfway. That way, we can test if the room count is really as small as we think,” Lyra said.

Jane didn’t hesitate. “Alright.”

She turned to go through the wall, but Lyra called out to her.

“Jane,” Lyra said.

“What is it?” Jane asked.

“When the mission shifted, the furniture came crashing down from the ceiling,” Lyra said quietly. “If Lil Lily got hurt…”

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