Player Reload
Chapter 152 - 138: Getting Separated

Chapter 152: Chapter 138: Getting Separated

"...There is still an estimated 1 hour and 28 minutes until sunset, and I am currently located in the Future World zone at the southwest corner of the park, with no sign of meeting up with teammates yet."

Elliot, carrying a briefcase in his left hand and holding a handheld recorder in his right, spoke in a lowered voice.

Large guilds like Prometheus commonly equip their members with small sports cameras akin to GoPros, attached to their collars, waist sides, or disguised as buttons on their clothing, continuously recording sound and images during missions.

After the mission’s completion and return to the real world, the guild’s think tank team will analyze the footage to evaluate the rationality of each action taken, helping players to summarize their gains and losses, and optimize their strategies to enhance performance.

Even if a player tragically dies on the mission, the small camera on their body would be retrieved by the guild as a negative case study to instruct newcomers.

Elliot was actually carrying a small camera, but he preferred narrating into a recorder rather than automatic recording—for one thing, it helped him organize his thoughts more clearly, and on the other hand, he just thought it was cooler that way.

"Other players didn’t go back to the toilets we parted from after the parade float disappeared. Nor did I see anyone release signal flares into the sky. In other words, like me, other players don’t want to, are unwilling to, or at least aren’t taking the initiative to regroup with their companions."

Elliot spoke solemnly, "Rule eight of the Visitor’s Code states that there is a red telephone booth in each of the four zones which offers protective effects. Each booth can accommodate two people.

At the same time, according to rule eleven, the sounding of the air raid siren indicates that the situation in the park will deteriorate significantly. Considering these two rules together, it’s predetermined that groups of players will find it difficult to regroup proactively after separation—

Each player, considering their own interests, will choose to play the attractions in the current zone first, get stamps on their visitor cards, then proceed to the next zone.

If the air raid siren sounds midway, they must rush to occupy a spot in the red telephone booth by any means necessary..."

All of a sudden, he felt something, his expression changed slightly, the recorder in his hand vanished into thin air, and in its place appeared a P30 semi-automatic pistol, pointing at the shadows, "Come out!"

"Don’t shoot, I’m a living person!"

A stuttering male voice came from behind the tree shadows, Wu Hengcai, who had previously hidden in the toilets with Su Jie, emerged trembling with his hands raised.

Elliot coldly said, "Don’t move. Where’s your visitor card?"

"It’s in the right pocket of my clothes."

"Take it out slowly with your left hand."

As Wu Hengcai followed Elliot’s instructions and took out his own visitor card, Elliot relaxed a bit after verifying the empty grid on the card, slightly lowered his gun, and asked, "Where’s Su Jie? Didn’t he run off with you?"

"I don’t know. We got separated after leaving the toilets..."

As a thorough Ordinary person, Wu Hengcai was first drawn into this Mysterious world by an earthquake, then heard about the Slaughter Field Game notice, and was even attacked by a monstrous creature that slashed his throat.

Terrified to the core, seeing a living person to him was like seeing a life-saving straw, he spoke haphazardly, "That Su Jie guaranteed us that our player status is very valuable, saying that we could get at least ten million in rewards if we could get out of here. What should I call you, sir? Please help me to leave this place, you can have the ten million, I don’t want a penny of it. I’m a local from Yin City, I have a house, I can sell the house and give you all the money..."

Wu Hengcai’s chatter was noisy and annoying. If Li Cheng were here, he would surely interrupt him with words like, "What Yin City local, your speech clearly has a Su Bei accent," forcibly imposing a thirty-second silence and a taunting aggravation effect.

"Stop!"

Elliot took a deep breath and assumed a gentle expression, "Mr. Wu, please calm down first. My name is Elliot, I’m an employee of Prometheus Company, you must have heard of this enterprise, right?"

Wu Hengcai replied excitedly, "I’ve heard of it! My company has had business dealings with you all. Do you know Albert? I’m quite familiar with him."

"Heh, that’s good." Elliot gave a forced smile, "Relax, Prometheus has a deep collaboration with Yin City Government. As long as it doesn’t jeopardize my own safety, I’ll do my best to help you.

It seems Su Jie isn’t in this area, so just stick with me for now."

"Really? Thank you so much." Wu Hengcai nodded vigorously, completely missing the indifference in Elliot’s eyes.

The situation was previously urgent, and Su Jie had explicitly mentioned that ordinary people like Wu Hengcai and Ding Shaohua, who had been accidentally involved in the amusement park, had all received the Slaughter Field notice and would be able to obtain player status through this mission.

That was no trivial matter. Each player status was a golden ticket to the future, invaluably precious for nations, organizations, and guilds alike.

If they could safely bring Wu Hengcai and the others back to the real world, the Special Affairs Bureau would certainly not be stingy. On top of rescuing their citizens, they’d offer a generous reward as a gift.

Su Jie had previously spoken those words actually to save the lives of Wu Hengcai and the others, hoping that other players would help protect these Ordinary people if possible.

Elliot let Wu Hengcai walk in front, staying half a step behind himself, "By the way, Mr. Wu, when you were with Su Jie earlier, did you hear an air raid siren? What was the situation at that time?"

"Yes, an air raid siren did go off once. At the time not only Ding Shaohua, Su Jie, and I, but also several other people were hiding in a food store. We just saw countless eyeless dolls with eyes suddenly appear outside, surrounding the food store. There were all sorts of characters like Donald Duck, Goofy, and so on.

Su Jie started Shooting, but bullets hitting those dolls only produced a burst of blood without any effect."

Recalling the scene, Wu Hengcai was still truly terrified, "Someone couldn’t take it anymore and ran out of the food store despite Su Jie’s warning, then they were overwhelmed by the dolls.

In the end, it was Su Jie who told us to take food from the shelves and throw it through the store’s window into the dolls’ arms, stopping them from advancing.

When the air raid siren stopped, those dolls vanished into thin air."

Rule seven of the amusement park visitors’ guidelines, if harassed by staff in performance costumes without eye holes, you may offer them food to get away.

Elliot thought for a moment, then asked, "How much food is left in the food store? Why didn’t you take some with you?"

"Most of it was thrown away, not much left. At that time, we also considered taking things out, but we found that food like hot dogs and sandwiches would turn to ash once they left the vicinity of the food store."

Wu Hengcai’s face showed bitterness as he said, "According to Su Jie, everyone must find a way to escape before sunset, so it’s not an option to keep hiding in the food store either.

After leaving there, we were attacked by a Princess on a parade float, so we could only hide..."

Talking like this, the two reached a facility.

This was a drop tower ride almost seven stories tall with no queue, and the sign next to the control station stated that each ride lasted three minutes.

"Gulp."

Wu Hengcai swallowed hard, a height of nearly 25 meters, just the thought was frightening, "Mr. Elliot, are we really going to ride this?"

"Not we, you."

Faced with the bewildered look from Wu Hengcai, Elliot smiled, "It’s very dangerous around here, if something happens to you, I can still try to save you. But if something happens to me, both of us will die.

So for safety’s sake, it’s better if you go first and ride this drop tower."

"..."

Wu Hengcai shivered all over, Elliot was clearly worried about something off with the drop tower, wanting him to check for mines.

"Okay, okay."

Wu Hengcai clenched his teeth and walked up hesitantly.

He was a corporate executive in the real world, and although he still wasn’t very clear on what exactly this Slaughter Field Game and Special Affairs Bureau were, human relationships were universal.

If Su Jie, with a national government background, still had a duty to protect the safety of the people of their own country, then for Elliot, there was no responsibility, no obligation, and not even the mood to care for the lives of others.

The consequence of resistance was Elliot pressing a gun against his forehead, forcing him to ride the drop tower. There was no difference.

"Rest assured, I said, I’ll protect you as much as possible without jeopardizing my own safety."

Elliot wore a slight smile, his tone calm as he watched Wu Hengcai get into the drop tower and fasten his seat belt.

Click.

As soon as the seat belt was secured, the drop tower started on its own, carrying Wu Hengcai straight up with Acceleration.

"AAAAhhh—"

Wu Hengcai screamed in terror, not just from dizziness caused by the height, but because at the top of the drop tower, suddenly metal spikes jutted out, pointing downwards, aimed straight at his head.