Chapter 387 Selection Game 17

After eating and drinking their fill, the four of them started to casually head back.

When they got back to the base, it was just in time for lunch. Today’s meal was edamame and spicy sweet potatoes. The air was filled with the fragrance of roasted sweet potatoes... and a foul stench.

It went without saying that the stench was the side effect of everyone eating the edamame.

The flatulence of one person in an open space would dissipate quickly. But when a hundred people were doing it, the potency was comparable to a poison gas attack.

Perhaps aware of this, everyone found a corner to eat quietly after receiving their portions. Even when they had to fart, they did it with restraint, trying their best to be silent.

But some people weren’t so considerate. Their farts came one after another, loud and smelly, like a string of firecrackers going off.

Dylan Adler saw Perry Yates and the others return and brought over three portions of food. There wasn’t one for Perry, as he knew she wouldn’t eat this stuff.

Seeing this, Rory Drake waved his hand and said, "No need. We already ate on our way back."

His words instantly drew everyone’s attention.

"You already ate? Don’t tell me you ran into some Executors?" Reina Quinn asked.

It was no wonder she thought so. After all, their only stable food source so far had been the supplies confiscated from Executors.

"No, we encountered a creature native to this game field called the Phase Shrimp."

Afterward, once Perry Yates and her group recounted their encounter with the Phase Shrimp, all eyes turned to Perry once again.

The reason was simple. Even when the Phase Shrimp was completely invisible, Rory Drake and the others hadn’t noticed a thing. But Perry Yates had, and she had reacted instantly.

At that moment, it dawned on Dylan Adler. "It’s spiritual power, right?" he said.

Perry Yates gave Dylan Adler an appreciative look upon hearing his words.

Although the others present had attended the first auction, they had arrived too late to buy the Holy Girl Fruits that could awaken a Spiritual Body. Subsequently, every batch of Holy Girl Fruits had been completely bought out by the Survival Game Administration, so naturally, they knew nothing about spiritual power or Spiritual Bodies.

Noticing the others looking at him, Dylan Adler immediately regretted blurting out the matter of spiritual power.

’He knew that the number of Holy Girl Fruits capable of awakening a Spiritual Body was limited. There weren’t even enough for their own group, and now they had a host of new competitors.’

With this thought, Dylan Adler decisively clammed up. Perry Yates simply said that an explanation would be useless right now; even if they understood, they wouldn’t be able to use spiritual power.

As for Amber Sheridan, who knew the truth, he was filled with regret. ’If I had known, I wouldn’t have let the price stop me from buying that Holy Girl Fruit.’

But it was too late for regrets now.

If he wanted to rectify his mistake, he would just have to wait until this game was over.

Now aware of the existence of an invisible creature in the game, the group conferred and decided Perry Yates should no longer go out to explore or patrol. Instead, she would be responsible for maintaining the barrier that protected the base and kept the Phase Shrimp out, while Dylan Adler would be in charge of detecting any Phase Shrimp in the surrounding area.

If they found any, they would be captured and brought back as food.

They hadn’t eaten meat in so many days and were all desperately craving it.

「Meanwhile」 In the Executor base, the Executor in the beak mask had just ended a call. His massive beak mask completely obscured his expression, making it impossible for anyone to guess his thoughts.

But the oppressive aura radiating from him made it clear that he was in a foul mood.

"Sir, did something happen?" one of the Executors asked, mustering his courage as he stepped forward.

"The squad we just sent out was attacked," the beak-masked Executor said, his voice frigid.

"Attacked?" The news startled the other Executors present. No wonder their leader was so angry.

"Was it an attack by those Croupiers? But how could they have known our plan?"

Hearing this, the beak-masked Executor let out a cold, bone-chilling laugh. "If it really had been them, I wouldn’t be this angry. They were attacked by Phase Shrimp."

The others were stunned once again at the mention of Phase Shrimp.

"Phase Shrimp? But they should be hibernating at this time of year."

The area they were in wasn’t actually barren; it was teeming with life. It was just that at this particular time, all of its creatures were in a state of hibernation, much like the winter hibernation on Cerulea.

As the apex predators of this region, the Phase Shrimp would also choose to enter a dormant state in the absence of food. Why they had suddenly awakened and attacked their squad was a mystery.

Just then, one of the Executors spoke up as if he had a realization. "Sir, it’s highly likely that these Phase Shrimp are targeting us."

"According to our previous research, Phase Shrimp are different from other creatures. They don’t actually need to hibernate to survive the barren season. They are only forced into a dormant state because all their food sources are hibernating and they can’t find anything to eat."

"What’s your point?" the beak-masked Executor demanded impatiently.

"I’m suggesting that our arrival might have made the Phase Shrimp think prey was available, prompting them to awaken from their hibernation."

In fact, he was right, but not entirely.

The Phase Shrimp had awoken not just because of the Executors, but primarily because of the System.

As the system of the survival game, it couldn’t be overtly biased, even though it sided with the Croupiers. Besides, what was the point of a game if it wasn’t challenging?

Therefore, to narrow the gap between the Croupiers and the Executors, the System had imposed numerous restrictions on the Croupiers, limiting the number of item cards they could bring.

Otherwise, Perry Yates alone could have pummeled the Executors to death with five-star cards. The other Croupiers were no pushovers, either. The scales of victory would have tipped decisively toward the Croupiers’ side.

However, the System wasn’t ready for the game to end. These Executors still had one final task to accomplish, so it had to ensure the game continued.

As for the Phase Shrimp, the System had originally intended for them to increase the difficulty for the Croupiers. As luck would have it, the shrimp stumbled upon a squad preparing to raid the Croupier base, and well...

「Back at the base」, Phase Shrimp kept showing up, but they were all detected in advance by Dylan Adler’s spiritual power. Combined with the Ice and Snow World forcing them to become visible, the group soon had a bountiful harvest and was feasting on their first meal of meat in days.