Hide and Seek: The Mad Girl Sees All novel Chapter 91

Chapter 91

After breakfast the next morning, Lyra followed Zoe into the Strategic Command conference room.

“Goddess Lyra, over here.” Lily’s voice called out from the second seat on the left.

Lily was waving her hand like crazy, practically bouncing out of her chair.

Lyra glanced at her seat and saw an extra chair next to it. Lily was sitting there, back ramrod straight, her face practically screaming, “I’m so hyped right now.”

Lyra walked over and sat down, pulling her chair closer. “Did you get to eat last night?”

“Yeah, I did! Barbecue ribs! My mom cried through the whole meal.” Lily said, looking so proud.

“My dad said he’d forgotten what food even tasted like. He only got to enjoy it thanks to me,” Lily added, grinning frøm ear

to ear.

“Goddess Lyra, after the meeting, I’ll take you to meet my mom! She’s your biggest fan.” Lily said, and she could barely sit still.

Lyra felt a little embarrassed. ‘Am I really meeting a fan already? I better Google what kind of gift you’re supposed to bring,’ she thought.

Footsteps sounded at the door as Lana walked in, with Garrett and three unfamiliar faces trailing behind her.

Lana took the head seat. Once she saw everyone was there, she skipped the pleasantries and flipped open the folder on the

table.

“Let’s get started,” she said.

Garrett stood up and tapped the conference room’s big screen, bringing up a stream of data.

“The food stats are in,” he said.

He pointed at a line of numbers on the screen. “350,000 tons of wheat, 500,000 tons of flour, 1,400 tons of cooking oil, 2,100 tons of vegetables, 90,000 tons of meat, and various condiments.”

Lily’s mouth dropped open.

Lyra was stunned. The stuff they’d dragged out of the supermarket had somehow turned into thousands of times more in real life. ‘How did it all multiply like that?’ she wondered.

Garrett continued, “The supplies are all packed up. After the meeting, they’ll be handed out to each district based on population.

“Residents will need to show ID to get their daily ration. Local civil affairs stations will handle the distribution, and stationed troops will help keep things orderly,” he added.

Lana nodded and turned the page.

“Next item,” she said.

Garrett sat down, and the guy with glasses next to him stood up. Lyra had never seen him before, but his name tag said “Strategic Analysis Team, Miles Thompson.”

Miles pulled up a video. It showed an overhead shot of Lyra sprawled among ten cats.

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Chapter 91

“About the game ending early, here’s the timeline. Forty-seven seconds after Lyra used Dream Butterfly, the cats started acting strangely, like they were waking up. At fifty-two seconds, the Tricolor Mimic tried to vocalize. At fifty-four seconds, the System issued the shutdown command, Miles explained.

He swiped his finger across the timeline.

“Our theory is that the System has some kind of failsafe mechanism. When an outside force triggers a Wraith’s self- awareness past a certain threshold, the System force-ends the mission,” Miles said.

Lana looked up at him. “How do we figure out what the threshold is?”

“We can’t really measure it yet,” Miles said, shaking his head. “We’ve only got one sample, so there’s not enough data. Topin down the threshold, we’ll need at least two or three more experiments.”

“So, we’ll have to keep trying in the next round,” Lana said, shooting a glance at Lyra.

Lyra propped her chin on her hands and flashed her a quick smile.

Lana looked away.

“Third item, the cats’ condition,” Lana said.

Miles switched to a new slide. It showed ten cats sprawled out on soft mats, monitoring patches stuck to their bodies, and thin feeding tubes by their mouths.

“As of eight this morning, none of the ten cats have woken up. Their heart rates, body temperatures, and breathing are all normal. We’re administering nutrient solution through the tubes to keep their vitals stable,” Miles explained.

Lily leaned over and whispered to Lyra, “Wait, cats can get nutrients like that too?”

“Yeah, it’s the kind they use for animals,” Lyra whispered back.

Miles continued, “Based on the info from Lyra Vance, each cat has a soul inside them. We believe it’s the residual consciousness of a deceased player, and right now, it’s currently dormant.”

He closed his file. “We can’t say if they’ll wake up on their own, or if we’ll be able to control them once they do. It’s impossible to predict at this point.”

Lana turned to Lyra. “Lyra, is there any difference between the soul inside the cat when it’s asleep and when it’s awake?”

“Yeah, when they’re asleep, the soul is quiet. When they wake up, it’s active. And when they’re being awakened, it starts to tremble,” Lyra replied.

“What about the strength? Can you tell if the soul is getting weaker?” Lana asked.

“I can’t really tell. It’s just a blob of soul energy; maybe we’ll only figure it out once the soul actually comes out,” Lyra said, shaking her head.

Lana nodded and scribbled something in her file.

“Next item,” she said.

Lana set her pen down, looked up from her file, swept her gaze around the conference table, and was the first to stand up.

“Stand,” she said.

With a flurry, everyone in the room got to their feet. Lily paused, shooting Lyra a confused look; Lyra was just as lost, so she stood up too. Seeing that, Lily hurried to stand as well, her chair scraping loudly against the floor.

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Chapter 91

Lana pulled two documents from the back of her folder and handed them to Zoe.

Zoe walked over and placed the documents in front of Lyra and Lily.

Lyra glanced down at the paper in front of her.

It was a promotion order.

“By decision of Draconia Strategic Command, Draconian contestant Lyra Vance is hereby granted the rank of Major General, and Draconian contestant Lily Sterling the rank of Major. The order takes effect immediately, the document read

Lily’s hand trembled as she stared at the paper, her mouth opening and closing in disbelief.

“Me? Me?” she stammered, her voice full of shock.

“Shh,” Lyra whispered, nudging her with her elbow.

“Lyra, Lil Lily,” Lana said, her gaze gentle as she looked at the two of them.

“Here.” Lily blurted out without thinking.

“About the commissioning ceremony, Strategic Command wants to hold it tomorrow at the District Hall. There’ll be media there, and it’ll be broadcast live. What do you think?” Lana asked.

Lily was totally lost, her mind blank. She instinctively turned to Lyra for help.

“Lana,” Lyra said.

“Yes? Go ahead,” Lana replied.

“Are you trying to make us stars?” Lyra asked.

Lana’s expression didn’t change. “Not stars. Flag bearers.”

She walked over to the screen and pulled up a chart.

“After the Nuclear War, folks in Draconia have been through hell: death everywhere, resources running dry, whole regions falling, safe zones lost one after another. Morale’s hit rock bottom, lower than it’s ever been since the country was founded,” Lana said.

She tapped the chart at its lowest point.

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