Yan doubled over with laughter. "Xiao Wu! A carrot planted in a tomato patch? Do you think I'm blind?"
Xiao Wu puffed out her cheeks. "I was only one spot off! If I'd known, I'd have stuck myself in that carrot patch over there!"
Hider Xiao Wu has been eliminated!
Xiao Wu retreated to the spectator area, looking thoroughly dejected.
Yan checked the time. Three minutes had passed. Three people left, two minutes to go.
He had to hurry.
Yan left the vegetable patch and ran a lap along the courtyard wall. He swept his gun across the walls, the trees, and the rockery.
Ratatatat...
He swept the entire Backyard Garden. The clumps of spirit grass were knocked every which way, the Stone Lantern hummed under the barrage, and chips of stone flew off the rockery.
No one.
Yan stood in the middle of the courtyard and caught his breath.
After a moment's thought, he started circling the Main Residence.
As he passed the side entrance, he glanced at those two rows of flowerpots again.
Eight flowerpots. Four in each row.
Yan hesitated, then walked over, raised his gun, and swept the first row.
The muzzle swung from left to right. Shock waves struck the flowerpots with four muffled thuds. All four pots rocked.
No reaction.
He swept the second row.
Ratatatat...
The first rocked. The second rocked. The third flashed white.
Hu Liena changed from a flowerpot back into human form.
She stood on the steps, her short rose-gold hair disheveled and dirt on her face.
"Why did you come back and shoot them?" Hu Liena glared at Yan.
Yan said, "Eight flowerpots? Would you put eight flowerpots outside your front door? They were way too neatly arranged!"
Hu Liena stamped her foot in frustration. "Didn't you miss them when you passed by earlier?"
Yan answered without a hint of shame, "I went to search inside first! Once I finished, I came back to sweep the outside!"
Hider Hu Liena has been eliminated!
Hu Liena retreated to the spectator area and stood beside Xiao Wu. Xiao Wu took her hand, and the two huddled together, whispering.
Four minutes had passed.
Only Qin Chuan and Xue Qinghe remained. One minute left.
Yan began to panic. Gun in hand, he ran around the courtyard, sweeping every wall, every door, and every suspicious object on the ground.
He passed through the side doorway of the Main Residence.
He tilted the muzzle upward and fired a burst at the wall.
Ratatat.
The shock waves struck the wall, sending dust cascading down.
Yan's muzzle shifted an inch to the left.
The shock waves swept across the "door" in the doorway.
A white flash.
Xue Qinghe changed from a door panel back into human form, a layer of dust coating his white brocade robe.
Hider Xue Qinghe has been eliminated!
Xue Qinghe brushed off his sleeves and glanced at Yan without speaking. So close. Just a little farther, and his shots would have passed right by.
Yan looked at him and grinned. "Young master, turning into a door panel and fitting yourself into a doorway was a good idea. But your wood grain didn't quite match the frame beside you. The color was a shade too dark."
Xue Qinghe froze for a moment.
He looked down at himself. He had already changed back, so he could no longer see the door panel's color.
Only Qin Chuan remained.
Yan roamed the courtyard with his gun.
Thirty seconds.
He passed the side entrance. Passed the remains of those two rows of flowerpots.
Passed the steps, his feet landing on the stone tiles at the side entrance.
The sole of his shoe pressed onto the tile right beside Qin Chuan.
Yan looked down at his feet.
Gray stone tiles. One after another, perfectly aligned. Exactly like the tiles in the corridor.
He didn't stop.
He strode on.
Fifteen seconds.
Yan ran back to the backyard and unleashed a barrage on an old tree.
Ratatat.
Leaves scattered, and two branches snapped.
No one.
Yan stood in the very center of the courtyard, looking around.
"Time's up!"
[Clown Dwarf] shouted from midair, "The Seeker failed to find all the Hiders within the time limit! The Hiders win!"
Yan lowered his gun.
"Who? Who haven't I found?"
Qin Chuan rose from the ground at the side entrance. Eight floor tiles scattered apart; seven dissolved into white light, and the last changed back into Qin Chuan.
Yan stared at the patch of bare earth beneath his feet, his mouth hanging open.
"You... you paved yourself into the ground?"
Qin Chuan brushed the dust off his sleeves. "I laid eight tiles over the dirt. You stepped on the one next to me and still didn't notice."
Yan stared blankly for two seconds, then thumped his forehead. "The one I stepped on wasn't you?"
"No. I was the one beside your left foot."
Yan crouched down and stared at the patch of dirt.
He couldn't understand it. He had passed this spot twice. He hadn't noticed the first time, and he hadn't noticed the second time either.
Xiao Wu ran over from the spectator area and laughed so hard she sank into a crouch.
"Hahaha! Yan, you were stepping right by Qin Chuan and didn't even notice!"
Hu Liena laughed too. "What did I tell you? He'd never think of it."
Yan's face flushed bright red. "Another round! I refuse to believe I can't find you!"
They changed Seekers for the second round.
Xiao Wu volunteered. "I'll do it! Watch me this time!"
Qin Chuan handed her the Spray Soul Tool. Xiao Wu took it, hefted it, then raised it in one hand to try it out.
"This Soul Tool is pretty heavy."
Yan mocked her from the side. "Hold it steady. Don't drop it."
Xiao Wu glared at him. "Just watch. I'll find you first."
The game began again. Xiao Wu vanished.
The remaining six took different forms from the previous round. The system assigned them randomly, giving them a different form each time.
This time, Qin Chuan became a teapot. It was blue-and-white porcelain, with a slightly upturned spout and a small round knob on its lid.
Yan became a broom. A bamboo pole bound with tufts of straw, long and rough.
Hu Liena became a lantern. Red, with a round belly and tassels dangling beneath it.
Xie Yue became a book. It had a dark blue cover and thread binding, and looked like an ancient text.
Zhu Zhuqing became a shoe. A black cloth shoe, women's style, with a pointed toe.
They played for nearly two hours before the Game Domain lifted and the scenery returned to the ordinary room.
Everyone had worked up a light sweat. Not from exhaustion, but from nerves and excitement.
By the end of the final round, Yan had been lying on the courtyard ground, panting.
"This is so much fun... so much fun... I still want to play..."
Xiao Wu had sat on the steps with her arms around her knees, the smile never leaving her face.
Hu Liena had leaned against a corridor pillar, her hair somewhat disheveled, but she hadn't cared in the slightest.
Zhu Zhuqing had stood quietly to one side, but the corners of her lips had stayed lifted.
Xie Yue had stood in a corner, his expression much the same as usual, but with his hand in his pocket, his thumb had been tapping a rhythm unconsciously.
Xue Qinghe had stood beside the pavilion, dust on his white clothes, still craving more.
Just then, he felt it.
The soul power within him stirred.
It wasn't the sensation of a slow, gentle flow. A surge of heat rushed up from within, pouring through his meridians into every limb and bone. It happened too quickly for him to react.
Hummm!
He broke through the level seventy-one bottleneck.
Level seventy-two.
Xue Qinghe froze where he stood.
He raised his head and looked at Qin Chuan, then at the others who had just been playing. Fortunately, no one had noticed.
He had played on the first floor for a little under an hour, and his soul power had increased slightly. Then he had gone upstairs and played Object Hide-and-Seek with everyone for less than two hours.
He had broken through.
He had been stuck at the bottleneck between seventy-one and seventy-two for over three months. Meditating twelve hours a day, even with the Angel Martial Soul's talent for rapid cultivation, he had only narrowed the gap a little in those three months.
Now, after two hours of playing a game, he had crossed it.
Xue Qinghe didn't want anyone to know about this breakthrough.
Xue Qinghe gathered his thoughts. He straightened his collar again, regaining the composed bearing he had worn when he entered.
"Qin Chuan," he said.
"Hm?"
"Will your shop have even more entertaining attractions in the future?"
Qin Chuan thought for a moment. "Yes. Otherworld Survival will open soon. We're also preparing the Immersive VR Experience on the third floor."
"What's VR?"
"You'll find out when the time comes."
Xue Qinghe nodded and didn't press further.
He turned and headed downstairs. At the stairway, he paused.
"I'll come often." With that, he pushed open the door and left the Game Hall with his two gray-clad attendants.
Before you continue