Hide and Seek: The Mad Girl Sees All novel Chapter 81

Chapter 81

Chapter 81

Meanwhile, outside the Live Channel, the real-world media sphere was in an uproar.

Aurelia was the first to issue an official statement.

[Resources inside the mission are the lawful entitlements of all participating nations. No country has the right to use physical force or gameplay tactics to block other players from accessing public resources. Draconia’s actions have damaged the fairness of the game, and we strongly condemn this monopolizing behavior.]

Niphonia followed suit.

[We call on Draconia to immediately lift the blockade on the basement resource area and grant all players free access imand out.]

Hanmark was even more direct.

[The whole world is starving. Why should Draconia get all the food for themselves?]

The Gallia player didn’t bother going to the basement, but instead released an eloquently worded statement, positioning themselves as the voice of ethics and calling for “resource sharing and human unity.”

Draconia’s Foreign Ministry gave a brief response.

[The basement is a secret zone that Draconian player Lyra Vance found and unlocked on her own. No other nation’s player had ever entered it before, so it’s not a public resource.]

Ursaria’s response was even more blunt.

[Draconia found it, we opened the door together, and Draconia checked the storage. Every bit of rice we hauled out was shared by Draconia. If you got a problem, go find your own supermarket in the game first.]

Belsoria seconded the motion.

Southern Reach didn’t bother with a statement. Their spokesperson just said one thing at the press conference: “If you want to snatch resources, stop pretending to be some righteous hero. Don’t be so shameless!”

Lyra couldn’t hear any of this.

She crouched in the shadows by the fire exit, her Maine Titan form hugging the floor, eyes locked on the battle playing out on the first floor.

At the end of the right corridor, a short guy crept along the base of the wall, moving in slow, cautious steps. He stopped every few steps, his head swiveling left and right as he checked his surroundings.

Up ahead to the left, a tall guy poked out half his body from behind a collapsed sign, hesitated for a couple seconds, then pulled back-only to pop out again.

Straight ahead, three figures were closing in on her, two leading and one trailing behind.

Lyra’s cat eyes narrowed. Three directions. Five people.

The first to arrive was a group of three, all crouched low and moving with barely a sound, eyes locked on the iron fire exit door. They were still about twenty feet from the entrance.

Lyra burst from the shadows. In her Maine Titan form-easily a size up from any normal cat-she launched off her hind

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legs, front paws tucked in, and barreled straight at them.

Thud!

Tanaka was sent sprawling, his back crashing onto the floor. Before he could even scream, a heavy cat paw slammed down on his chest.

After smacking Tanaka, Lyra didn’t pause. She sprang off the ground, twisting her body as she shifted direction.

Alex was already charging in. He saw Tanaka go down, hesitated for a split second, but didn’t stop. He veered off in an ac still making a beeline for the fire exit.

Lyra picked up speed, her four legs pumping as she closed in from an angle. With a powerful kick from her hind legs, she launched herself into the air, planted her front paws on Alex’s back, and kicked off him for extra momentum.

Alex stumbled forward, catching himself with his hands as his knees slammed into the floor.

“Damn it!”

He glanced back and saw a massive cat crouched behind him, its tail flicking once.

Park Jung-hoon came around from the left. He saw Alex get knocked down, his legs shaking, but he gritted his teeth and kept moving forward.

“Boss! We’ve been spotted! Let’s run!”

Alex scrambled up, wiping at his mouth. “Split up! A cat can only block one of us!”

Park Jung-hoon bolted left, Alex darted right.

Lyra didn’t bother chasing Alex. She spun around, closed the distance in three quick strides, and smacked Park Jung-hoon’s calf with a heavy paw.

Park Jung-hoon tripped and went down hard, face-planting on the floor.

Lyra spun around.

Alex was already about fifteen feet ahead, nearly at the entrance. She pushed off with her hind legs, kept low to the ground, and charged forward. Just as he was about to cross the fire exit threshold, she rammed into his waist from behind.

Alex crashed to the ground once more.

Tanaka got up, rubbing his back, gritted his teeth, and charged at her again.

| Lyra spun around and rushed right at him, smacking him hard in the face with her paw.

“You bastard! You’re so dead!” Tanaka shouted. Lyra hit so hard, Tanaka slammed to the ground, his head buzzing.

All three were sprawled out on the floor.

Lyra crouched right in the middle of the fire exit, her tail lazily swishing from side to side.

Off in the distance, the guy from Britannia was hiding behind a store’s doorframe, half his head poking out, mouth hanging open in shock.

One cat, taking on three people, and still coming out on top.

He ducked back behind the doorframe. ‘Maybe I should wait for the right timing, he thought to himself.

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Chapter 81

The Marsupia player didn’t wait. He charged out of the right corridor, making a beeline for the fire exit

Lyra’s ears flicked. She twisted her body, spinning around to intercept him head-on.

The Marsupia player was a big guy, almost six foot three, and his footsteps thundered across the floor as he ran.

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Lyra didn’t try to take him head-on. She ducked low, slipped through his legs, and kicked him from behind. The big guy lost

his balance, stumbled forward a couple steps, didn’t fall, but was forced away from the entrance.

Tanaka got up again.

Alex pushed himself to his feet too.

Park Jung-hoon rubbed his knee and hauled himself upright.

The four of them, each from a different angle, locked their eyes on the Maine Titan holding the center.

Lyra stayed crouched, her feline gaze sweeping across all of them.

One against four. Her tail slapped the floor with a sharp thump.

‘Come on, Lyra thought.

The four of them moved almost in unison.

Lyra didn’t back down. She charged straight at Tanaka, the closest one, swatted him down with a paw, then used the momentum to spring up, bumped Park Jung-hoon out of the way, and the moment her paws hit the ground, she kicked off and spun toward Alex.

Alex was ready this time. He dodged to the side, and Lyra’s paw just grazed his arm She let him go, since the Marsupia guy was nearly at the door.

Lyra pushed off with her hind legs, sprinted over and cut him off from the side, swatting his calf with her paw. The big guy stumbled a couple steps, didn’t fall, but got knocked off course.

The Britannia player, hiding behind the shoe store, watched the scene unfold and gulped, his Adam’s apple bobbing in shock.

One cat against four people-and amazingly, it’s still winning.

Lyra kept blocking them, but she also kept an eye on the rest of the mall, scanning it with a quick glance.

There were still about a dozen glowing spots left from the Treasure Chest Rain, scattered here and there-most had already been snatched up or faded away.

The gang of cats was still having a blast chasing down the scattered players.

She caught a detail.

One player got tackled by a cat and ended up sprawled on the ground-not dead, just lying there. As soon as another player dashed past, the cat instantly forgot about the guy on the floor and took off after the one who was running.

Moving targets always get priority.

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