Cooperation and Mutual Benefit

Xiao Ming studied the map for the fastest route to the stadium, then headed in the direction the clue hunter had just gone.

There was a small door between the stadium and the training hall that led directly through, an employee passage. According to the program's setting, it should have plenty of places to hide, such as sports equipment.

He reached the stadium more smoothly than expected. The nearly unobstructed stadium seemed to stretch from one end to the other at a glance. Fortunately, he had snagged a cardboard box earlier. According to the hunter robots' settings, he could hide a little longer.

However, the overly open space also made every movement more dangerous.

At that moment, a bell rang, announcing that Lin Shange had been caught.

If Lin Shange had been caught, then Qu An, who had been hiding with her, was probably in grave danger as well. Xiao Ming frowned at the thought. What about the mission? There was no contact person anymore.

Xiao Ming, whose mind was solely on the mission, did not particularly care whether Qu An had been caught. He merely wanted to complete the mission faster through him.

If they could later read Xiao Ming's thoughts, they would probably add the caption, "What a pitiful tool," for Qu An.

After Xiao Ming left, Qu An listened to the incessant chatter beside him. Even after many polite yet distant responses, the other party seemed unable to pick up on his courteous signal that he did not wish to talk.

At first, he could still reply a few times, but later his responses became increasingly perfunctory, while the other person's voice grew louder and louder. Qu An no longer wanted to stay there either. The mission was more important, so he excused himself to look for clues.

Because Qu An ran so fast, Lin Shange lost sight of him in the blink of an eye. Just then, her upper body was exposed outside her hiding spot, and the hunter behind her locked onto her immediately, taking her out of the game.

Qu An figured that the item from the training hall would not be too close to Chang Le. As he ran, he deliberately headed toward the most likely location—the innermost part of the training hall.

Meanwhile, Xiao Ming had already crossed more than half the stadium. He happened to reach a staircase, beside which was a passage leading to the outer area. Below it were the changing rooms.

Suddenly, someone came running over. It was Jiang Yuan, and he saw Xiao Ming too.

"Xiao Ming, there's a hunter! Hide first!"

Xiao Ming's name destined him to be called Little Ming. Before the show had even started today, several senior cast members had already remarked that his name was amusing.

It was rather amusing. He might even have been the "classmate" or "friend" from those seniors' essays.

The two darted into the changing room. There were several lockers inside. After Xiao Ming hid himself away, he took a look around and spotted two tall cabinets without shelves inside. They seemed big enough to hide people in, so he called Jiang Yuan over to hide with him.

Xiao Ming was too skinny and flexible, so squeezing inside was no challenge for him. But for a big man like Jiang Yuan, it was truly difficult. He could only hide around the corner and pray that the hunter would not come in. Otherwise, he would be caught for certain.

Unfortunately, heaven did not grant his wish. Through the ventilation hole above him, Xiao Ming saw the hunter walking straight toward him, less than a meter away.

At that moment, Jiang Yuan, who was behind the hunter, seized the opportunity to rush out. The hunter quickly heard the commotion, turned around, and chased after Jiang Yuan.

The instant the hunter turned, Xiao Ming saw the pattern on his back. Without caring whether the hunter might turn back around, he opened the cabinet door. One hand held the door, ready to close it at any time, while the other pulled out the phone whose camera he had already unlocked and opened inside, snapping several rapid photos.

This scene was later jokingly referred to as his first coming-out moment.

Fortunately, the hunter was busy chasing Jiang Yuan and did not notice Xiao Ming behind him at all.

After taking the photos, Xiao Ming wanted to pull the cabinet door shut again, but the cameraman following him suddenly stopped him and took out a tiny portable camera. "The director wants you to put this in the cabinet."

"Oh, okay."

Xiao Ming had no objections. Since he had joined the show, he had to follow the arrangements. After all, it was over a hundred thousand!

The pattern on the hunter's back was easy to recognize: a ping-pong paddle. Xiao Ming had seen the stadium's table tennis hall on his way over, but its pattern differed from the one he had photographed. This one should belong to the training hall.

Without any hesitation, he sent the photo to Qu An, then called him.

"Hello, Brother Qu. I just sent you the photo I took. It should be the table tennis training hall on the training hall side."

"Okay, I happen to be nearby."

Xiao Ming remembered that the table tennis training hall was quite far from where he had separated from Qu An on the map. He did not know how Qu An had gotten there, but time was of the essence, so it was not convenient to ask more.

However, Qu An seemed to know what he was thinking and explained as he ran, "I guessed that since the item is from the training hall, whoever stole it to keep it from Chang Le probably wouldn't leave it too close to him, or too close to the other two locations. So I headed for the farthest place, the table tennis training hall, hoping to get lucky."

After saying that, the two tacitly stopped talking. They merely said they would meet up later before hanging up.

Although the location had been confirmed, obtaining the item would not be immediate. An NPC was waiting there.

"Hello, do you have any medicine for injuries or medicine to apply to wounds?" Qu An knew this had to be the plot NPC, so he hurriedly struck up a conversation.

"I don't know what you want, but if you can help me retrieve the ping-pong ball from the top of the cabinet, I am willing to give you the box in my hands. I believe you will like it."

Qu An immediately understood that the box contained what he wanted. Without wasting words, he promptly climbed up to the top of the cabinet.

The cabinet was probably close to three meters tall, but Qu An was 1.87 meters tall. He could reach the ball on top with a jump.

He smoothly retrieved the ball and exchanged it for the box.

Inside the box was Chang Le's injury medicine.

Qu An obtained Chang Le's injury medicine at the table tennis training hall.

There were 66 minutes remaining, and one item had yet to be found.

After seeing the message, Xiao Ming finally breathed a sigh of relief. He wanted to go after the remaining item too, but given his current situation, he would not be able to make it to the commercial street in time, so he gave up. He decided to set off during the next mission instead.

At the time, he had no idea he would later have to explain himself, leading a small portion of viewers to criticize him after the episode aired for not being proactive at a critical moment.

But soon, his phone rang.

You Duidui, Xing Tong, and Yuan Yangming obtained 2/2 wound-treatment supplies at the basketball stadium.

After that, the acceleration team members raced against time to deliver the items to Chang Le. With 56 minutes remaining, all the items had been delivered.

Mission Two Complete

With the help of acceleration team members including Yi Xiaoda, Qu An, and You Duidui, Chang Le recovered his injury medicine. The three clue hunters have been eliminated.

At the same time, Wu Qiyi and Li Zichang were captured by hunters, leaving seven acceleration team members. It had to be said that the pace was a little fast. After all, before even half the time had passed, more than half the acceleration team members had already been eliminated.

Only after receiving the injury medicine did Chang Le finally relax and begin preparing for his training.

After completing the mission, the acceleration team members continued hiding.

In the previous season, every episode had a mission involving VR equipment. This season adopted similar AR technology instead—augmented reality technology, combining virtual information with the real world. Put simply, it cost more money and required more space.

The little assistant who had betrayed Chang Le knew he definitely would not be able to escape, so he had hidden away early. Due to Chang Le's special circumstances, a special tracker had been installed on the assistant's phone within legal limits, but the assistant had now turned it off. Restarting it required a key.

To help Chang Le catch the traitor, the Interstellar Empire's marshal issued the third mission, adding positioning devices to the acceleration team members and placing a password machine in the stadium's security room.

Mission Three Released

When 15 minutes remain, all acceleration team members will be subject to targeted capture. To stop the targeted capture, acceleration team members must enter the Interstellar Universe to complete a challenge, obtain the key, and enter the key into the password machine in the stadium's security room.

The Interstellar Universe must be activated by the acceleration team members themselves. It can only be activated when two or more acceleration team members enter.

Because it was AR technology, the Interstellar Universe required a sufficiently large space to activate. Xiao Ming almost immediately thought of where that place would be.

Just as he was preparing to leave, someone called him. It was Qu An.

"Xiao Ming, where are you now?"

"I'm by the track in the stadium. The Interstellar Universe should be here."

"Okay, I'm coming over now."

"Okay."

Xiao Ming remembered that Chang Le's location was not far from the stadium track. Together with Qu An, the two of them would meet the activation requirement.

Having confirmed that he was going to do the mission, Xiao Ming climbed out of the cabinet and first stretched his slightly numb legs. Only after making sure he could run normally did he head out.

But the track area was too open, with nowhere to hide at all. If a hunter came, he would be almost certainly done for.

After thinking for a moment, he retreated a little. He decided to wait for Qu An before heading out. Based on the time it had taken him to get there and the time Qu An had called him, Xiao Ming ran toward the grassy field a few minutes early.

The switch should be at the main entrance. When Xiao Ming ran over, he happened to meet Qu An, who had come from the training hall, along with Yi Xiaoda.

Just as expected, it was almost exactly as Xiao Ming had guessed. A valve and a palm-print scanner were there. The three of them used their palm prints to activate the Interstellar Universe, and in an instant, the entire field transformed into an interstellar ocean.

"Wow, it's kind of pretty."

After entering through the entrance, being inside it truly made it easy to lose track of what was real and what was illusion.

A mission panel soon appeared before them.

Acceleration team members, welcome to the Interstellar Universe. You must cross this track and press three buttons to obtain the complete key.

The rules looked simple, but in practice, they probably would not be that simple.

The three buttons were located in three different areas of the field, and all of them were far from the starting point.

"Brother Xiaoda, go press the button in the middle. Xiao Ming and I will take the two on the sides. It'll be faster if we do it at the same time."

After all three confirmed there was no problem, they each headed toward their targets.

However, many planets and tiny particle-like objects floated in midair along the path ahead. Xiao Ming accidentally brushed against one without noticing, and a panel popped up before him telling him to return to the starting point.