Cross-country Relay Race
Welcome to the Third Checkpoint: the relay race!
Level Description: After the level begins, the key awarded for this level will be given to the participants. The participants must pass the key through a relay race in a complex terrain. During the race, a pursuer will try to steal the key. If the participants can pass the key to the finish line without being caught by the pursuer, they will keep the key and successfully complete the challenge.
The seven doors on site correspond to the locations of seven flags in the venue. The key is passed from number one to number seven. The first contestant can only enter the venue through door number one, exit through door number two, and return to their room to pass the key. The second contestant enters through door number two, exits through door number three, and so on. Only one contestant can enter the venue at a time.
All participants who reach this stage must participate in the relay. If there are fewer than seven participants, one person can participate in multiple relays. Unless there is only one participant left, they cannot participate in the relay consecutively; there must be a break in between.
Each relay segment is approximately ten kilometers long. Once the challenge begins, the pursuer will emerge from a cave one kilometer before the starting point and begin its chase. The pursuer has no physical form, cannot be destroyed, and will not harm the participants. It will ignore the terrain and move at a speed of sixty kilometers per hour, but it will steal the key as soon as it comes into contact with a participant.
The trackers possess a certain level of intelligence. Each relay segment is approximately ten kilometers long, with varying terrain. Participants are requested to assign relay order based on their respective strengths.
The level will officially open in ten minutes.
Good luck with your test!
Luo Jun didn't rush to choose. He looked at Lao Miao Miao and asked, "What do you want?"
"I want to be the first runner," Lao Miao Miao insisted.
Although some people still had doubts, with Lao Miao Miao's insistence, she finally got the first baton.
As the ten-minute Countdown drew near, she stood in front of door number one, took two deep breaths, and pushed the door open the moment the numbers on the door lit up.
"If you don't trust me, you won't feel at ease no matter which baton you're given, right?" Lao Miao Miao said calmly. "Rather than putting me at the back and squandering the advantage you built up earlier, it's better to give me the first baton. As long as I pass, you can rest assured about the rest of the baton."
Cross-country Relay Race covering 70 kilometers? Everyone looked at the map and fell into deep thought.
Lao Miao Miao looked at the terrain. "I choose to be the first batter."
"That makes sense!" Cui Zheng Hai agreed.
"I suggest we let Elisa run the first leg," Du Jincai said. "She can use her flight ability to create distance and give the rest of the runners an advantage."
"The first leg?" Everyone looked at the map. "The first leg is through a mountainous area covered with strange rocks. What are your special skills?"
As he spoke, he looked at the jungle checkpoint for the third leg. "I'll choose this one. The vegetation here is lush and obscures the view a lot, so my ability will allow me to find the shortest route in a short time."
"You guys choose first, just give it to me last." Elisa was confident. "I can create a Giant Bird, fly over there, it doesn't matter what the terrain is."
"This..." I have to admit, what this guy said makes a lot of sense...
"Why?" Cui Zheng Hai asked, "You're not trustworthy right now. Do you think persisting like this will be useful?"
"Sixty kilometers per hour, ignoring terrain..." Cui Zheng Hai analyzed, "To shake off the pursuers, we must run ten kilometers in ten minutes. Running on flat ground is easy for us; the key is how to minimize the impact of terrain."
Meanwhile, in the cave behind Flag One, a black dot appeared and began to chase after Lao Miao Miao's portrait.
"Then I choose the swamp," said Zhu Sanyang. "One of my Transformed Form allows me to move quickly through the swamp."
While the participants couldn't see the specifics of the relay race, they could see Lao Miao Miao's avatar next to the number one flag on the minimap.
"Exactly!" Elisa chimed in, "Leave it to me, I'll definitely keep the distance!"
This must be the tracker!
Faced with the pursuers, Lao Miao Miao did not rush towards the number two flag, but instead moved to the side.
"What is she planning to do?" everyone exclaimed in surprise. "Is she going to sabotage the obstacle course from the very first runner?"
"We shouldn't have trusted her!" Du Jincai said through gritted teeth.
"What's the use of not believing?" Cui Zheng Hai sighed. "As a contestant, she has to participate. If she's determined to cause trouble, no one can stop her."
"Fighting is not allowed in this level..." Zhu Sanyang sneered, "If I had known, I should have thrown her out after the First Checkpoint of Hide-and-Seek."
"What do we do now?" Elisa asked anxiously. "Are we just going to watch ourselves fail?"
"Wait, look!" Luo Jun suddenly pointed to the map and discovered that the trackers were also following Lao Miao Miao. After circling around a few times, Lao Miao Miao suddenly turned back and rushed towards the trackers' cave.
"What is she trying to do?" the crowd asked, puzzled.
The pursuer wasn't stupid either; after seemingly hesitating for a moment, it stopped chasing and instead rushed straight towards the direction of Flag Number Two.
Waiting for a rabbit to run into a tree stump!
No matter how Lao Miao Miao runs, she must reach the position of the second flag to complete the relay. If we stay here, we just need to wait for Lao Miao Miao to walk into our trap.
However, Lao Miao Miao seemed unmoved and continued until she reached the entrance of the pursuer's cave, where her image stopped.
The crowd exchanged bewildered glances, wondering what she was doing.
About a minute later, Lao Miao Miao's avatar continued to move, heading towards the direction of Flag Number Two.
At this moment, the tracker is heading straight for the second flag. If he captures the second flag, Lao Miao Miao will be unable to complete the relay.
If they pursue in a straight line, there's a sliver of hope of catching up, but they'll inevitably run into the pursuer and have their keys stolen... If they try to avoid the pursuer, there simply isn't enough time...
How is this Lao Miao Miao going to get into Gate 2 and complete the relay?
Just as everyone was speculating whether she had some kind of secret weapon, her profile picture suddenly overlapped with the black dot on the tracker's face...
"The key has been obtained by the tracker; this level has been failed!"
Several large characters appeared above the map, leaving everyone stunned.
It's a failure already? So simple and straightforward, not even a hint of a twist?
Just as everyone was stunned, Gate Number One opened, and Lao Miao Miao walked back.
"What else do you have to say now!" The crowd's eyes were practically ripping them apart... If violence weren't prohibited here, they probably would have already taken action.
"What exactly are you doing?" Luo Jun asked. "Why have you been in the tracker's cave for so long?"
"I have nothing to explain, please continue." Lao Miao Miao shrugged, offering no further comment, appearing quite nonchalant.
"Further words are useless!" Du Jincai sneered. "Ye, it seems your previous analysis was wrong. This guy is the mole!"
At this point, the text changed, and the voting process began.
"We can open the Mid-Level Treasure Vault with two keys..." Elisa comforted everyone, "As long as we throw her out, we still have a chance to obtain Epic Treasure Item, which is a very generous reward!"
Now that things had come to this, they could only accept their fate, and even Luo Jun was beginning to waver. If Lao Miao Miao really wasn't the mole, why would she deliberately cause the checkpoint to fail? What exactly was she doing at the pursuer's cave at the end?
Just as Luo Jun was pondering, the words changed again.
"Someone used Special Permission; the vote on the mole in this round is canceled. Due to the failure of this round of the mission, no additional clues can be obtained!"
(End of this chapter)