Chapter 254: Giant Creatures 12

"Don’t worry. Young people these days are bleeding hearts. They won’t just leave you be. And even if they try to, just beg them a little. They’re soft-hearted; they won’t be able to refuse."

With that, the man looked toward a girl behind him who sported a choppy, uneven haircut.

Hearing this, the girl nodded forcefully.

Meanwhile, Perry Yates and Amber Sheridan were focused on the roasting grasshopper.

The grasshopper was massive, and their fire wasn’t hot enough. They’d been roasting it for ages, but its skin was still only slightly charred.

"Why don’t we just try roasting the legs?" Perry suggested.

Compared to eating the whole grasshopper, she found the legs more acceptable. At least they were all meat.

"Fine, whatever," Amber Sheridan agreed reluctantly, tearing off the grasshopper’s two legs and putting them back on the fire to roast.

"How are those people behind us doing with their little conference?" Amber suddenly asked.

"They’ve finished plotting. They’re planning to use a one-two punch of playing the victim and guilt-tripping to get close to us. They want to win our trust, find out where our supplies are, and then... they’ll kill any men, and as for the women..."

Perry didn’t say the rest, just gave Amber a look that said, ’You know what happens next.’

「Day fifteen of the game.」

Aside from the slightly uncomfortable bed, Perry and Amber had both rested well.

After completely extinguishing the fire, the two decided to set off again. Today, they were determined to get a card to drop.

On top of that, Perry also wanted to find some usable supplies to fill the empty containers in her system backpack.

Unfortunately, due to the torrential rains in the first few days, most supplies were waterlogged and unusable. The fruit, in particular, had all rotted.

Just then, a faint cry for help drifted over from not too far away.

Perry and Amber suddenly exchanged a glance, both thinking the same thing. ’It’s starting.’

The two of them completely ignored the weak cries for help, showing no intention of going to investigate.

Clementine Chase lay on the ground, feigning weakness and calling out for a long time. She didn’t attract the people she was waiting for, but she did attract a fair number of insects.

When she realized they hadn’t seemed to hear her cries, Clementine felt a pang of frustration, but she wasn’t about to give up such a good opportunity.

Scrambling up from the ground, Clementine chased after Perry and Amber in the direction they had gone, moving as fast as she could.

Upon spotting the two figures ahead, Clementine quickened her pace and darted in front of them.

"You two, wait."

Watching the panting girl, Perry blinked. ’Did she change the script?’

Before Perry or Amber could react, tears started streaming down Clementine’s face. "Please, save me! I’m being coerced.

Someone wants me to act pitiful to gain your sympathy, then use the chance to steal your supplies."

Clementine recounted the entire plan they had concocted the day before, leaving out no detail.

"Aren’t you all in this together? Why would you betray them?" Perry asked.

"I... I didn’t join them willingly. I just want to survive," Clementine said, her face a mask of sincerity. "You two don’t look like bad people. I don’t want to see you get hurt."

"But you’ve chosen to betray them now. If they find out, you’ll be in for a world of hurt, won’t you?" Amber pointed out.

At this, Clementine bit her lip and lowered her head, occasionally glancing up at them with a hesitant, pleading look.

However, her intended audience had no intention of playing along with her act.

Seeing that the two of them remained unresponsive, Clementine started to grow anxious. ’At a time like this, seeing me act so righteously and selflessly, shouldn’t they be inviting me to join them? Then I could just feign a little reluctance before agreeing.’

’So why aren’t they doing anything? Was my act not obvious enough?’

Seeing that they still had no intention of inviting her, Clementine decided to take the initiative.

"So, can I come with you? Don’t worry, I don’t eat much, and I’m a hard worker. I can work for you. I won’t slow you down."

’I’ve already said all this and humbled myself so completely,’ Clementine thought. ’There’s no way they’ll refuse me.’

However...

Perry grabbed Amber’s hand, and in the next second, both of them vanished on the spot as if they had never been there, leaving a stunned Clementine frozen in place.

’What did I just see?’

Not long after they left, another unexpected event occurred.

This time, it was a pile of plants—a pile of vines, to be precise.

Suddenly, the vines attacked.

Countless vines, as if sentient, swarmed and trapped the two of them. The thick tendrils were covered in sharp thorns, a single scrape from which could tear open skin and draw blood.

Perry immediately fought vine with vine, quickly turning the tables and killing them. On the other side, Amber also dealt with the vines that had ambushed her.

The vines seemed to realize they were no match for the two of them and decisively chose to retreat.

Neither Perry nor Amber was the type to take a hit without fighting back. Seeing the vines retreat, they immediately gave chase.

At that moment, their thoughts were perfectly aligned: a plant this powerful was sure to have a high chance of dropping a card.

The two of them chased the vines all the way into a park.

The plant life here was exceptionally lush, but Perry soon noticed a spot where the vegetation was sparse, as if it had been intentionally cleared out.

And in the center of this clearing grew a very peculiar plant. It was shaped like a fiddlehead fern magnified thousands of times over, yet it wasn’t quite a fern.

A closer look revealed that the curled parts weren’t fronds at all, but coiled, thorny vines.

And these vines were identical to the ones that had just attacked them.

"Let’s go, let’s get a closer look," Amber said.

Perry nodded and activated her Cold Moon Guardian, completely enveloping them in its protection.

As they walked deeper into the park, they quickly realized it was unnervingly quiet. Stranger still, they hadn’t encountered a single insect since entering the park. It was too strange.

"Maybe we should bring the RV over here," Perry said, stroking her chin.

Amber didn’t respond immediately, but from her expression, Perry could tell she was seriously considering the suggestion.

The feeling here was completely different from the forest they’d been in before.

Back on the road, everything had felt gloomy and oppressive, like walking through a rainforest. But here, even the sunlight seemed to have softened. Perhaps this was how the world looked to a character in an anime.