Virtual Reality : Dystopian Tales Online

013.6 | Hide and Seek

The fourth game ended.

Xavier and Alexander stood passively before the frozen creature. The last five-minute probation has started and they are here to contemplate about the key details of the game.

There are presently five players playing as seeker.

Six players left for the hider's team.

If they could maintain the number the same for the last twenty minutes, It'll be the hider's win. The game system will impose the rules of the game and slay the creature. As for the infected players, they will be restored to whatever state they have before the game started.

But such thing is just too good to be true.

The other players that are following the instructions are also starting to get anxious. They are good players if not best. Like Xavier and Alexander, they have low chances of getting caught. That one player that got subdued is just an accident. They didn't know that looking directly at the creature would reveal their position.

"There's something that I don't understand," Xavier suddenly voiced out.

Alexander crossed his arms while promptly kicking some non-existential object on the ground. Xavier frowned, pursing his lips, then said, "How can the creature tell that we are hiding or not?"

"We are playing hide and seek," Alexander shrugged his shoulders. "There should be a seeker and a hider."

"But you don't have to really hide to become hidden," Xavier pointed out. "Some people would run around while avoiding the seeker and win by touching the home base."

There are many ways to define 'hidden', however, the general idea is being out of sight. As long as an object is concealed or invisible, it is considered as hidden. Following the thought process, it is reasonable to say that they don't necessarily have to stay in one place. As long as the creature did not see them, they are safe.

"So that is how the rule suggested it," Xavier added. "Once you are seen, you can no longer hide. It violates the concept of being hidden."

They merely have to avoid the creature, that's all. And if the creature is around them, they have to close their eyes so it won't detect them. The three chances of hiding into different places are just the system's ploy telling that they can only be marked three times. After that, no matter how they try to hide, they will be spotted.

"If what you are saying is correct, then, the weapon that we have is not a melee," Alexander said.

"Yes," Xavier nodded. "The weapon is something that can injure the creature but in such a way where it didn't require any contact."

"Do you have any idea where it can be found?"

While Xavier is nodding, the time for the five-minute probation is up. However, instead of hiding to different areas, everyone remained on the same position. They all know that the seeker only needed one more player to win the game. Xavier told them that it was better to hide in the same area.

"Are you not afraid that he will use the X-ray vision ability?" Someone from the group asked.

The X-ray vision is undoubtedly a headache but Xavier is not worried about it. The ability can only be utilized once. It might be able to mark their positions, but that is the limitation of the ability. Against them six people, that one unnamed character is just a joke ready to be thrown.

In addition, they still have the chance of blocking the creature by answering some questions. If one of them got caught, someone would come in the way to request the three questions. It can be performed six times without trouble. Hopefully, on that time, they could reach the twentieth mark and could restore the world back again.

The timer is about to end. The players walked to the fourth floor without any intention of hiding to places. They silently walked unto the corridor while following the two leaders. A loud howl can be heard from the lower floors. It seems that the creature is now awake and ready to kill!

"If it can see through our eyes, does it mean that it can tell that we are in the fourth floor?" A player asked from behind. "Will it not discover us easily?"

Xavier swayed his head sideways. "If the creature can, then, it must have rushed to this floor than going down to the first floor. I assume that its ability to see from the player's eyes has a range cap. Only if the player is nearby only it can share the sight."

"That's when he will use the X-ray vision," Alexander added his thoughts. "When the creature could no longer see anything after many rounds of searching, it will acquire the bestowed ability. And once that happens, we will start moving."

The time seems to trickle slower in this round. The six hiders had done everything to keep their tracks hidden. They removed their shoes and walked around in socks. During the tenth minute of exploration, they had an intersection to the third floor. The group rushed to the nearby restroom and hid inside the stalls.

As what is briefed unto them, all the players closed their eyes. The sounds of thrashing came eventually. It opened the door of the restroom and looked around. Nobody dared to move and even held their breathes. The creature could tell that there are people hiding around. It cried shrilly and giggled as if annoyed for not seeing anything.

Twos and threes are camping inside the stalls. Xavier blindly groped the bleak wall until he got hold of Alexander. He reached out for his hand and wrote something on his palms. Alexander waited for Xavier to finish writing and was surprised by the words he had written.

If only they were not restricted, Alexander must have asked more questions. But he remained composed and even wrote something back to Xavier's palms. They exchanged information while the creature is frustratingly looking around searching for a leak. As people that were mentally trained for years, the feeling of wanting to see the surroundings are extremely little as compared to the desire to survive.

The creature knows that they are here, so it would not dare to go out and seek the other rooms. The players will also not dare to expose themselves. One player is required to determine the winner of the game. If one of them will get caught, it'll be their end.

Hence, the two teams remain in a stalemate. One hiding, one seeking - all in a single room. There is only one way to breach the wall and that is the creature using the X-ray vision. Once the ability is out, it will be able to see the players and capture them in one go.

But the creature is still on the losing side.

The players can still nullify the influence by using the three-questions dare. Xavier cracked the creature's weakness, so they will return to the similar state as this. At the end, the seekers have the upper hand in this game. Against the trained players, the creature merely became a plaything.

It seems like Damian taking the first step worked.

In another place, a number of people are watching the broadcast of the game. These people are wearing dark tailored uniforms with the insignia of the federation. They are the reserves of the army. Despite their status as students, they are efficiently considered as soldiers once a global emergency happens.

Roderick Hussein, known as Rios-72 in game, is the leader of their platoon. He is currently guiding his team of twenty classmates towards a district together with the other platoons. The reason for their expedition is due to a report of a few unknown wild animals appearing. They are here to subjugate them.

On their way to the district riding in a specialized hover car, Roderick received a notification. It wasn't coming from his terminal but somewhere inside his head. He was surprised and looked around, asking his platoon if they called him or something. All of them shook their heads, looking at their platoon leader with inquiry.

While in the middle of staring and confusion, all of their terminals beeped in unison. Their actions were swift and precise as they opened their terminals at the identical fluid motions. Translucent holographic screens appeared before each person looking for the cause of the sudden notification.

That's when Roderick found out about a game being initiated in a well-known art school. As one would expect, he is more familiar with the people playing the game. He watched the game play and wasn't surprised by how the people acted. He even thought that both guild leaders are relatively weak compared to their in-game characters.

However, it is different to his platoon. They all commented some praises saying that these art school students are formidable. It is a stereotype that people under the humanities field are people that retains much vulnerable state as compared to those that performs intensive work.

It is not to discriminate classes. There's a reasonable connection since they don't maintain the daily routine of fighting and clashing people. They are not weak, just vulnerable.

When the game entered the concluding stage, all the students become silent. The sides opposing sides are currently locked in a single room. Nobody is doing anything. Roderick can understand the situation very well.

"The seekers won the game," Roderick commented. "From the start, it is their win."

One of his classmates asked, "Why did you say that, platoon leader? Weren't they the one who got the disadvantage?"

"No, they were winning from the start," Roderick grimaced. "You guys played hide and seek before, right?"

Everyone nodded.

"It meant you in the past played as seekers, right?"

Everyone agreed.

"At that time, tell me, have you ever won the game?"

Nobody answered - nobody dared to since they never really won the game as seekers. It is always the hiders that wins the game. Since they could not win against number, the thing that comes to mind is to search for the child that is not good in hiding and transfer the role to them.

"There is no winning or losing in this game," Roderick added. "It is just as what the last rule said, just have fun."

As what is expected, the twenty minutes gone by and the creature wasn't able to collect one more player. The game system played a cheerful song announcing the winners of the game. The creature, hearing the automated sound, suddenly started to panic. It ran out from the restroom, penetrated the nearby window, and jumped out from the third floor.

The blue dome engulfing the building vanished that allowed the creature to run amok. The students were already evacuated outside the gates, so they weren't worried of getting implicated. But there are shrieks and words of worry since the creature seems to be running in their direction.

To everyone's surprise, the players of the game rushed towards the creature. The leading students are Xavier and Alexander. Nobody knows the reason but they acted like they are confronted with something grim. Alexander, being the fiercer amongst the two, took out a steel pipe he used earlier. With a strength enough to m******e people, he wrecked it towards the creature's nape.

Nobody seems to question on how these two were able to traverse the distance quickly. They are all surprised as to why would Alexander beat the creature up. Xavier also joined in. He wasn't fierce. He just poked the eyes of the heads of the creature rendering cries of agony.

When the system announced their win, everyone is happy. They can now breathe a sigh of relief. However, when they are exiting the restroom, the system suddenly said:

[Finders win the game. The influence of the seeker will now be nullified.]

And that's all. They felt a sudden shiver on their back. What does it mean by having the seeker nullified? Xavier reread the rules and thought that the game has not ended however. Why is there a need to nullify the creature? And the weapon, they haven't utilized it yet. What will-

Damian and the other people that were infected by the seeker collapsed after the announcement. They are lying on the floors of the third corridor. Alexander searched for his cousin and instantly discovered him. Greeting a long-lost companion, he slapped the person awake. It seems effective since Damian woke up.

However, when he revealed his eyes, there is only the sclera.

"Did the system say that if we succeed the infected will be restored?" Alexander asked.

"No," Xavier replied solemnly.

They now understood why the creature suddenly rushed out after knowing they lost the game. It wanted to escape. The creature presently owned the stolen eyes of other players so without the game system's restriction, they could use it at free will.

"Then what do we have to do?" Alexander asked the other people to take good care of the other people.

"Easy," Xavier grinned." "We have to get what is ours."

It resulted to two people striking the creature under the daylight. Xavier unhesitatingly poked the creature's eyes without worries. After getting poked, the eyes grow back. Four people got their sight stolen so he only needed to poke each pair of eyes twice.

The calm manner they did made the people watching them feel horrible. They felt that the two of them are dangerous. The creature has crimson blood, and it splashed in their body without discrimination. They are literally bathing in blood.

The creature cried in agony. There are no waters but only blood tracing on their cheeks. Xavier and Alexander backed out and sought the state of the other players. Seeing Damian open his eyes that were back to normal, Alexander sighed in relief. He collapsed to the ground where he was standing and blacked out.

Xavier also wasn't in a good state. After escaping danger, he felt exhausted  and fell to the ground. The military officers came to rescue that immediately pulled the players out of the scene. They tried to avoid the dreadful creature that continued thrashing around.

At the end, the system recalled the creature. A intense light from somewhere struck the creature that solidified it in a state. Sounds of static enveloped the creature that suddenly released some glowing glitch. A intense light from somewhere struck the creature that solidified it in a state.

And the glass, as if burdened by force, crumbled to become powder that is blown away by the wind.