Miniana's Choice

Just as Gu Ding killed Si Kao Er, Liliath and the others had already tracked down to the vicinity of Miniana's hiding place.

Miniana is hiding in the One-Star Peak-rank God Zone of the Frost Zone. This entire area is actually a huge lake, which contains a large number of One-Star Peak-rank God virtual life forms.

Ordinary people would definitely not dare to hide in such a place, because they would be attacked by a group of virtual beings. However, Miniana, as expected of someone from the Assassin Family, completely simulated her aura to be exactly the same as that of the virtual beings, thus avoiding the danger of being attacked.

Moreover, she comes from the Assassin Family, and her methods of concealment are extremely sophisticated; she left virtually no trace along the way. Furthermore, this lake teems with tens of thousands of life forms, making it impossible to pinpoint her location even with a sufficiently wide detection range. It's fair to say that her concealment techniques are far superior to Si Kao Er's.

But what Miniana didn't expect was that Gu Ding Team also included Sea Emperor. In Sea Emperor's eyes, all methods of hiding were futile; her position was as obvious as a beacon in the darkness.

Liliath and the others stopped above the lake.

"Hidden in a place like this, she's clever." Miko stood on the lakeshore, having heard the Sea Emperor's description of the lake, he had a general understanding of the environment. "There's less than half an hour left in the game, and everyone's scouting abilities are limited. Although this virtual world has a location search function, it doesn't provide detailed coordinates, only a general area. Even if we know she's hiding in this lake, without knowing her exact location, the search alone will take at least several days, and the searchers will be attacked by virtual lifeforms." "Dokter, you stay and protect Miko. Elsa and I will go into the water." Liliath made the decision immediately, because Dokter was strong in both ranged and melee combat, making him the best choice to protect Miko.

As soon as she finished speaking, both women leaped into the cold lake water and swam toward the spot where Miniana was hiding.

Miniana was hiding in a cave, patiently waiting for the game time to end, when suddenly, a voice transmission entered her ears.

"Do you think you can escape?"

She was immediately startled. She could recognize the voice as that of Liliath from the Gu Ding Pirate Crew, because she had fought with Liliath before.

She knew it. Since they had caught up with her, they must be confident in their ability to deal with her, so she immediately fled towards a fork in the cave. She soon saw that Liliath and Elsa were chasing after her.

"Why are you chasing me? I wasn't the one who killed Gu Ding, it was that guy named Si Kao Er!" Miniana was also wary of Liliath's abilities. In their last encounter, although neither of them used any desperate moves, it was just a friendly spar. She knew Liliath's strength was no weaker than hers. Add to that Elsa, who was ranked even higher than Liliath on the Demigod Prodigy Ranking, and she had absolutely no chance of winning. "I'm from the Qi Ya Family, and that Si Kao Er is from the Dark Magic Domain. How could I possibly cooperate with him? It's really just a coincidence!" Miniana didn't know how to explain this, because no matter how you looked at it, she seemed like Si Kao Er's accomplice. Actually, her attack on Futu wasn't premeditated; she just saw Futu was about to die, and the thought of snatching points from Gu Ding flashed through her mind, so she acted. But what she didn't expect was that while Gu Ding was distracted, Si Kao Er also attacked Gu Ding.

"Do you think I'd believe you? Even if you really are from the Qi Ya Family, that doesn't mean there's no possibility of cooperation between you." Liliath felt there was no logical connection between the two things.

Miniana knew she couldn't clear her name no matter what, so she stopped explaining and focused on escaping. The two people behind her, however, were like two pieces of chewing gum, impossible to shake off. Those One-Star Peak-rank God posed no obstacle whatsoever; in fact, some were controlled by Liliath and launched attacks against her, putting her in an even more unfavorable situation.

Left with no other choice, Miniana frowned and darted toward the lake. Upon seeing Dokter at the lake's edge, she lightly touched the water with her toes and fled in the opposite direction from Dokter.

"Don't even think about escaping!" Dokter immediately launched an attack with throwing knives.

Miniana leaped several times, quickly escaping Dokter's attack range and running into the distance, with Dokter immediately giving chase.

Just as the two figures disappeared, Liliath and Elsa emerged from the water.

Seeing that Miko alone, Liliath quickly asked, "Where's Dokter?"

"Dokter went after her." Although Miko couldn't see, she knew what had just happened from the sound.

"Stay where you are and wait for us. Don't run around," Liliath instructed before she and Elsa chased after them.

After the two women disappeared, a head suddenly emerged from the water—it was Miniana, who had escaped earlier. She had actually already made her plan after seeing Dokter and Miko on the shore. She leaped out of the water to lure Dokter away, and then, after escaping far away, used her special spatial abilities to teleport herself back to the lake.

Her unique spatial ability allows her to teleport to any place she's been within the last half hour. Of course, this ability can only be used once a day, making it rather useless, but it's very useful for escaping.

The moment Miniana appeared, Sea Emperor issued a warning to Miko and Liliath.

"Miniana, is that you?" Miko, however, was not afraid.

Miniana didn't attack Miko, but instead asked, "Would you believe me if I said I wasn't Si Kao Er's accomplice?"

"I believe you." After a moment of silence, Miko nodded.

"You're saying this because you're afraid I'll hurt you, right? Not many words," Miniana, not really believing Miko's words.

"I'm not afraid of you taking action because my score has dropped to just over 1,500. Not making it into the top 1,000 is practically the same as being eliminated. And there are less than 20 minutes left in the game. My goal in entering this game from the beginning was simply to become as strong as possible. It's already a miracle that I've made it this far. Even if I'm eliminated, I won't have any regrets," Miko explained, shaking her head.

"I told you I believed you. If you really did it, you wouldn't be standing in front of me explaining this," Miko continued. "From a psychological perspective, because you didn't do it, you feel wronged by being framed, so you seek out someone you consider reliable to confide in, hoping for understanding and acceptance. In that sense, in your eyes, I'm a reliable person..."

Miniana fell silent upon hearing these words.

"Kidnap me. It's your only way to survive until the game ends. Lily and the others are all just as strong as you, and it won't matter where you run off to." Miko immediately offered a solution. "Only by kidnapping me will you have a chance to survive these last twenty minutes."

Miniana walked over to Miko and took his right hand. "Thank you for believing in me. For me, not getting a spot is just a punishment. But I won't betray my friends. So I've chosen to give all my points to someone I trust."

After saying that, Miniana shoved the dagger in her hand into Miko's right hand, then grabbed his right hand with both hands and plunged it into her own heart.

Liliath and the others rushed back and witnessed this scene.

Miniana's body went limp and began to dissipate rapidly; her name vanished completely from the Ranking List. Meanwhile, Miko's Ranking List soared to second place, replacing Miniana's.

Although Miko couldn't see what was happening, he guessed it.

Liliath and the others were stunned for a while before they realized what was happening.

"It seems she really isn't one of Si Kao Er's accomplices; we've all wronged her," Dokter stated the obvious fact.

"What exactly happened? How did Miko kill Miniana?" Elsa asked with the curiosity of a child. When she returned, her view was blocked by Liliath and Dokter, so she only saw the scene of Miniana falling down. She didn't see what happened before that, so she had no idea what had happened.

Many people were watching the changes in the leaderboard at the last moment. When they saw that Miniana's name was replaced by Miko, their first reaction was that the Gu Ding Team had deliberately captured Miniana and let Miko kill her in order to get Miko into the top 1,000.

Of course, a few people believed that the Gu Ding Team wouldn't do such a thing, including Shi Jia, who had contact with Miko. He knew that Miko hadn't received any help from the Gu Ding Team since entering the game, and had relied entirely on himself. He didn't think that the Gu Ding Team would do something like this at the last minute to get Miko into the top 1,000.

Time ticked by, and in the central area, many people were still exchanging blows, but they were all focused on the countdown of the remaining time.

With only ten minutes remaining in the game, the female voice in the sky rang out again.