Hide and Seek: The Mad Girl Sees All novel Chapter 50

Chapter 50

BEA

Three-minute countdown ended.]

[Retention time has expired. Unclaimed chests have been reclaimed.]

ง

The three pillars of light went out at the same time, and as soon as the chests vanished, the biggest source of heat around them disappeared too.

Lyra immediately noticed something even worse-the temperature was dropping.

The heat from the ground faded away, the last bit of warmth in the piles of leaves vanished fast, and the air turned chilly. still getting colder.

The real ice tree next to her reacted way faster than Lyra did. It shook off the corpse it had just killed, then pushed off with its roots and launched itself southeast at full speed.

Making a beeline for the pond.

Lyra’s branches trembled slightly.

As the temperature dropped, the water would get colder too. Anyone hiding in there wouldn’t be able to handle the chill for long-sooner or later, they’d have to surface.

The game was really cranking up the difficulty.

Lyra immediately followed the real ice tree. The two massive gray trees plowed through the bushes, their roots sending leaves flying everywhere.

On the way, two more ice trees suddenly burst out from the flank, all charging southeast.

Now there were four of them.

Lyra pushed herself faster, her roots whipping through the ground at top speed. She had to beat them there.

The three ice trees behind her saw their kin suddenly pick up the pace and immediately kicked their roots into high gear.

‘Are they seriously worried I’ll steal their prey? How hardcore is their KPI hustle for these ice trees?’ Lyra thought.

Lyra tossed aside the corpse that had gone completely cold, leaned her trunk forward, and sprinted with everything she had.

She was only three seconds ahead of the three ice trees chasing her. As the pond came into view, Lyra’s heat sense swept over the area before anyone else. The surface shimmered with an icy glow, and the temperature nosedived.

Lyra breathed easier when she saw Lydia wasn’t there.

But a moment later, her thermal scan snagged two heat signatures underwater. They were huddled behind a pile of rocks at the bottom of the pond, bodies curled up tight.

Lyra dipped a branch into the water. The water was getting colder by the second-give it five more minutes, and anyone normal would be toast.

Behind her, the three ice trees caught up.

Without hesitating, they drove their roots into the shallow water at the pond’s edge, thick branches thrusting in and thrashing around in every direction.

Water splashed everywhere, and mud and sand swirled up from the bottom.

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Chapter 30

Lyra followed their lead, thrusting two branches into the water and mimicking the chaos of the other ice trees

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The two people underwater were desperately wedging themselves into the cracks between the rocks at the bottom. scrambling for the deepest spot. The reeds were already useless-too short to help-so they’d given up on them long ago. relying only on holding their breath and hiding as deep as possible.

The ice trees’ branches couldn’t reach all the way to the bottom, but the water kept getting colder. Anyone stuck down there would either have to come up for air and get snatched, freeze to death, or just drown trying to hold their breath.

The guy on the west side couldn’t hold out any longer. A rush of bubbles burst from below as he choked on water, his body jerking uncontrollably. His instincts kicked in, dragging him toward the surface.

The person next to him grabbed his arm and shook their head frantically, eyes wide with panic-‘No, you can’t go up! they pleaded silently.

“Cough… gurgle…” The man was thrashing, desperate to break free from the grip, looking every bit like a drowning man.

The instant his head broke through the surface, he hacked out a few rough coughs, then sucked in air like he’d just come back from the dead.

All four ice trees raised their branches at once, and Lyra followed suit, though her move was a bit slow and off-angle.

The real ice tree on the far right was the first to strike.

Squelch.

Its branch plunged straight down from above, spearing right through his torso. Blood mixed with water sprayed out. spreading across the pond’s surface.

“Agh… The player’s hand clawed at the air for a moment, then went limp.

The branch yanked out, dragging the corpse away.

Lyra’s branch hovered in midair and gave the real ice tree’s leaves a cautious poke. Instantly, the other tree’s side branch swung over and knocked her branch away.

‘Still guarding its prey, Lyra thought.

There was still one person left underwater, squeezed into the deepest crack between the rocks, their face turning redder and redder from holding their breath.

Lyra frowned, feeling the pressure mounting. ‘I need to bail before things get ugly, she thought.

On her thermal scan, she spotted a few more ice trees closing in from the distance.

If all ten show up, I’m toast-my fake act will totally get busted. But if I bail now, with a player still hiding and all the ice trees rushing over, I’ll basically be screaming to everyone: hey, I’m not one of you!”

‘No way out, Lyra thought, caught in a deadlock.

Lyra’s roots scraped against the muddy ground for a moment. Taking advantage of that pause, she split off a bit of her mind and zeroed in on the butterfly specimen stashed deep inside her tree hollow.

[Dream Butterfly (Passive/Active)]

[Sealed state. Once contracted, it stays with its host.]

[Can create dreams and shield against mental attacks, including mental corruption from Wraith entities, fear gazes, memory tampering, and more.]

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Chapter 50

[Can only be used once per game round.]

‘Create dreams, Lyra thought, the words spinning in her mind.

“Would that even work on these Wraiths?’ she wondered.

‘No clue, she thought to herself.

But the images from the Scrying Orb were still etched in her memory-these ice trees were once people. After they died. they became Wraiths, thrown into another round of this twisted game.

People remember, people dream.

Even as monsters, their memories didn’t just vanish-the Scrying Orb had already proven that.

‘But what about dreams?’ Lyra mused.

‘Do the dead still dream?’ she wondered.

Let’s take a gamble, Lyra decided.

“Contract,” Lyra said.

The butterfly specimen glowed briefly, its wings unfurling inside the hollow and fluttering twice.

Then, a real, colorful butterfly fluttered out of the hollow, its wings scattering bits of light as it flew.

It circled the ice tree’s trunk, found the spot that would be the back of the neck for a human-right near the thickest knot at the top of the trunk-and landed there gently.

Its wings folded, blending into the gray bark’s texture.

While the contract was being made, three more ice trees showed up at the pond. Now there were seven of them, all plunging their branches in and churning the water into chaos.

Lyra didn’t hesitate anymore.

She shifted her roots, inching her way right into the middle of the other six ice trees, making sure her reach covered every single one-no way she was letting anyone slip through the cracks.

She activated Dream Butterfly.

She wasn’t sure what kind of dream would work on them, but the only image in her mind was that memory from the Scrying Orb.

A square, flags waving, crowds everywhere-a woman on stage giving a military salute, the people below shouting names.

Heroes coming home.

She sent that vision out-not just Jane Sullivan’s personal story, but a vague, collective memory for all of them.

[You beat the game.]

[You won.]

[You made it out alive.]

[Someone’s waiting for you.]

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