Escape - Chapter 12.2
Chapter 12.2
The still water served as a mirror. 12 looked down at the surface. A human male with jet-black hair. The man’s face was generally human, but his eyes were a chilling yellow.
Hiss.
A sound pierced the silence. He turned his head. Something was approaching from all directions.
Green scales flashed in the dim light. Snakes with four crooked legs. They slithered slowly towards him.
The smell of blood filled the air. Though he’d never encountered it before, he instinctively knew. They were bringing him food.
12 smiled.
He was ravenous.
And he was the master of this place, the master of the snakes.
***
“Adeline, how much do you believe her?”
“Not at all.” Adeline answered curtly.
The two walked several meters behind the girl. The girl, who had introduced herself as Woo Yune (Luce had whispered that he couldn’t figure out which part was her family name and which part was her given name), insisted that this place was “inside a game.”
The name of the game was ‘Escape’.
A popular game that took the world by storm upon its release, set in a dystopian world imagined after the destruction of humankind on the surface, she’d explained.
That was around the time Adeline gave up on the conversation.
“Believe her or not, it doesn’t make any sense.” Adeline scoffed and muttered.
‘A game? She’s dreaming.’
The constant muttering was one thing, but the girl seemed completely delusional.
“I guess so… But…that game title. Isn’t it the same as the title of your book?”
Luce, lost in thought, asked cautiously. Adeline, who had been walking at a steady pace, suddenly stopped. Her face crumpled.
“Yes. It sounds familiar. But I don’t think we need to pay attention to her nonsense. At least thanks to her, we know this area is relatively safe.”
Judging by the fact that such a crazy girl was wandering around unharmed, the area around District 12 seemed safer than expected.
Adeline sighed. Her head was swimming with too much information. Although she was filtering out half of what Woo Yune said, there were definitely parts she wished were true. For instance, the “starting district.”
If the girl’s explanation was correct, it seemed to be a place teeming with people and relatively safe.
‘Please let Damian arrive there safely. So we can reunite, healthy and whole.’
She prayed to a god she had never believed in. If she could just confirm Damian’s safety, she would devote her life to any deity.
“Hey, sis, let’s go together. I’m scared.”
Just then, the girl trotted back to Adeline, who was lost in thought.
“Suddenly?” Luce asked, incredulous. It was understandable, considering they had been walking apart for hours. The girl had been incessantly muttering, as if narrating the situation, which had been driving them crazy.
“I just got a real-time tip from one of my viewers. They said snakes are roaming around up ahead again. Thanks, YellowDeer!”
“What?”
“As you know, I’m not really high enough level to be in this area. I’ve only survived this long thanks to tips from my viewers.”
More incomprehensible jargon. Adeline glossed over the unfamiliar words, focusing on the urgent information.
“Wait, so you’re saying you have a way of knowing if there are snakes nearby?”
“Uh… yeah? But, not always. If there’s someone like me broadcasting nearby, their viewers tell me what’s going on.”
The users ahead of them, a fairly large party, had been wiped out, the girl added in a slightly frightened voice.
“But what level are you two? I can’t see you even with detection items, so you must be higher than me.”
“It’s a secret.” Adeline replied indifferently. After hours of conversation, she had learned how to communicate with her. If she didn’t understand something, she just said it was a secret.
“Ugh. But this is the first time my live stream has hit 300,000 viewers. Sis, can’t we just stick together? Honestly, I came this far to boost my views, but I didn’t expect it to be this much. I think it’s thanks to you.”
“I don’t know what’s going on, but if I helped you, will you give me something? Like a fatigue recovery potion or something?”
Adeline joked playfully, chuckling.
She was tired herself, but she was more worried about Luce. They had finally reached the vicinity of District 12. District 11 was still far away.
“Yes!”
“Huh?”
The girl responded enthusiastically to what Adeline had intended as a joke. Before the bewildered Adeline could ask anything, the girl held out her hands. It happened in the blink of an eye.
“Here. One for each of you.”
In Woo Yune’s hands were two glass bottles filled with a red liquid.
‘Where did she get those from? She doesn’t even have a bag.’
Luce and Adeline exchanged glances in silence. She didn’t seem like a bad person, but she certainly didn’t seem normal either.
After a moment of hesitation, Adeline slowly accepted the bottle.
“What is this?”
“You asked for a fatigue recovery potion. Didn’t you mean a potion?”
“Will this… recover my fatigue if I drink it?”
