Hide and Seek: The Mad Girl Sees All novel Chapter 78

Chapter 78

Chapter 78

A

Lyra stood in front of the Draconia container, then turned to glance at Lina, Lydia, and Sergei.

All three had their eyes on her, brimming with anticipation.

She tossed a handful of dried noodles into the container, and they disappeared instantly. They kind of guessed what was going on, but it still felt unreal to them.

Lyra flashed them a smile, then turned to Lana. “Lana, could you let Southern Reach, Ursaria, and Belsoria know to get ready to receive the supplies?”

Lina clapped a hand over her mouth, Lydia’s eyes went wide, and Sergei tightened his grip on his hiking pole, his mouth hanging open in shock.

Lana’s voice came through the comms, steady and strong. “Got it.”

“Lyra, our comms time is almost up. We’ll keep an eye on the cats and players outside. If anything happens, we’ll reach out to Lily and the others.”

Beep-

The comms cut off.

Lyra lowered her hand and looked at the three of them. “These containers are hooked up to the real world. Just toss anything from the supermarket in, and it’ll show up here.”

She spoke fast. “Nobody knows when the System will notice us sneaking around like rats, so move it! Hurry and grab everything you can!

“Take as much as you can carry.”

Lina’s eyes welled up, but she didn’t say a word. She spun around and dashed toward the supermarket, determined to haul as much as she could.

Lydia was already out the door, her speed boost kicking in as she sprinted away.

Sergei tossed his hiking pole aside and bolted out without even looking back,

Lily cupped her face with both hands, her mouth stretched wide in disbelief as she hissed, “Goddess Lyra, you’re seriously badass!”

“Quit talking and haul the goods!” Lyra snapped.

“Got it!” Lily replied.

Draconia Strategic Command.

At Draconia Strategic Command, the moment Lana hung up, she ordered, “Contact the command centers of Southern Reach, Ursaria, and Belsoria immediately!

“Tell them to have their people ready at the material manifest zones, trucks on standby, and keep the comms open for real- time updates.

“On our end, send five more teams to the transfer zone. Clear it out fast, haul away the first batch, and make room for the next one.”

1/4

30

O

O

Chapter 78

Garrett was already dialing. “Yes!”

The whole command center sprang into action, keyboards clacking, comms buzzing, and footsteps filling the air

Lana sat back down, her eyes fixed on the screen.

Meanwhile, inside the supermarket, the five of them were running around like crazy.

Lyra hoisted a bag of rice, dashed into the room, lifted it over the container, and let go.

The fifty-pound bag of rice slammed into the red-gold glow, the vortex rippled, and swallowed it whole.

Lily came in, hugging a box of apples, stumbling as she went. The box was bigger than half her body, and she stretched up on her tiptoes to push it up to the container.

“Goddess Lyra, I can’t reach!” Lily called out.

Lyra grabbed the box in one swift motion and chucked it into the container.

“Keep moving! Be careful! Don’t grab anything that huge next time,” Lyra reminded her.

“Got it!” Lily replied, spinning around and dashing back out.

Meanwhile, Lina was in the supermarket, grabbing everything she could carry-veggies, eggs, fruit. She raced back to the room, found the Southern Reach container, and dumped it all in without a second thought.

The faint blue glow at the bottom, nearly gone, lit up for a split second as the supplies disappeared inside.

Lina froze for a moment, then bolted out again.

Lydia was the fastest and strongest of them all. She hauled two bags of flour at once, a hundred pounds on her shoulders, but her steps never faltered. She rushed in, found the Ursaria container, and with two loud thuds, dropped both bags inside.

Sergei was lugging four buckets of canola oil at once, two in each hand, his fingers going red from the pressure. He stuffed them one by one into the Belsoria container.

The five of them kept darting between the supermarket and the container room, their footsteps, ragged breathing, and the thud of supplies being dropped off all mixing together.

No one said a word, and no one slowed down.

After six runs, Lily was gasping for air, but her legs just wouldn’t quit.

She was racing back with a basket of eggs when her foot slipped and she nearly faceplanted-Lyra grabbed her by the back of the collar and smoothly caught the basket.

“Slow down! If you wipe out, you’re on your own,” Lyra warned.

“I’m fine!” Lily shot back.

She swiped the sweat from her forehead and bolted out again.

Lyra dumped the eggs into the container, spun around, and took off again. Passing the fresh food section, she scooped up every last bit of pork, beef, and chicken from the fridge, stuffed them under her arms, and sprinted back with her haul.

Lina was in the veggie section, shoveling cabbage, tomatoes, potatoes, and cucumbers into her arms like a maniac. She yanked off her jacket, spread it out on the floor, dumped all the veggies on top, grabbed the four corners, hauled the whole bundle onto her back, and took off running.

30

O

m

O

15:13

Chapter 78

Lydia had already finished hauling an entire row of rice and flour, and now she started grabbing the condiments.

She was pulling out box after box of salt, soy sauce, light soy sauce, and vinegar, barely pausing for breath.

Sergei had already cleared out half the oil section and was now hitting the frozen foods.

Dumplings, rice balls, frozen meat rolls-he yanked the whole tray out of the freezer and dumped everything/tray and all. straight into the container without even bothering to sort it.

Draconia Material Manifest Zone.

At the Draconia Material Manifest Zone, by the time the first team arrived, the transfer zone was already overflowing.

Rice, flour, dried noodles, cooking oil-pile after pile appeared out of thin air, all lined up perfectly.

“Hurry! Back the truck up!”

The military truck rolled in, tailgate down, and a dozen people formed a human chain, tossing bags onto the truck one after another.

As soon as they cleared one area, another batch of supplies materialized almost instantly.

Fresh veggies-leafy greens still dewy, tomatoes practically glowing red.

The soldier hauling the cabbage nearly dropped it in shock, staring for a couple seconds. “Are these really fresh?”

“Quit spacing out! Move it!” his squad leader barked.

“Yes, sir!” the soldier snapped back.

The second truck pulled in, and pork and beef appeared out of nowhere, along with basket after basket of eggs, all popping up right in the transfer zone.

The comms officer on site was so nervous his voice was trembling. “Command Center! Fourth batch of supplies just appeared! Fresh meat, eggs, veggies-everything’s fresh!”

The reply from the other end was just two words: “Got it.”

Southern Reach.

At Southern Reach’s command center, they were glued to the live feed. Before anyone could even ask Lina what was happening, a call came in from Draconia. With a mix of disbelief and excitement, they sent three people over to keep watch.

Then, out of nowhere, a whole ton of rice appeared right in front of them.

The three just froze, jaws practically hitting the floor.

And then-veggies, eggs, fruit started showing up too.

The squad leader, voice raspy, crouched down and touched the dew on a cabbage. It was real. Real dew, real cabbage-no joke.

He shot up, grabbed the comms, and his voice went up like eight octaves.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify