Pan Xiaoxin had his own calculations. He was small and physically weak — he couldn’t match blows with the adults. To avoid having his walnuts stolen on the way, he had deliberately come late.

That way, he wouldn’t only reduce the chance of anyone noticing him, but the other players would have already finished submitting, so there was no need to worry about being robbed.

But what Pan Xiaoxin hadn’t anticipated was that when he arrived at the small cabin, he would see Fu Miaoxue again — in this particular guise…

Pan Xiaoxin was a little stunned.

The others didn’t recognize Fu Miaoxue, but he did. He could, of course, tell the difference between a player and an NPC.

“Hey! Kid, hurry up and put your walnuts in the crate!” the burly man said impatiently. “Stop wasting time. What’s a little kid doing in this game? Your parents must really be something, letting you participate!”

Pan Xiaoxin pressed his lips together, his small face tense and stiff.

Whether his parents had big hearts or not, he didn’t know. But this burly man certainly had quite the big heart himself.

Pan Xiaoxin strained to carry his heavy bamboo basket and slowly walked up to Fu Miaoxue. He looked at the two large crates beside her, and despite himself, felt a surge of admiration for her audacity.

He had deliberately delayed until the very last moment — the inspector could appear at any time now. And yet Fu Miaoxue showed no fear of being exposed.

If these players discovered she was pulling a trick on them…

The consequences were simply too awful to imagine.

Pan Xiaoxin silently looked at Fu Miaoxue. The complexity in his gaze said everything.

Fu Miaoxue also looked back at him, a trace of hidden mirth — and smug satisfaction — gleaming in her eyes.

At that very moment, the cabin door let out a long creak and swung open —

The puppeteer, carrying a marionette, walked out of the cabin.

The puppeteer wore a tall red hat, a royal blue vest and black trousers, and a pair of green boots. The marionette in its hand was dressed in the exact same outfit — elaborate and flamboyant.

“Oh, it looks like everyone has finished picking walnuts. Jamie, we have work to do,” the puppeteer said to the marionette it held.

The marionette moved with lifelike animation, its jaw clicking open and shut as it spoke in a child’s voice. “Understood, Jack! We need to count the walnuts. Hmm… let’s start from the player with the fewest!”

The puppeteer nodded. “We’ll do it your way. These players don’t have enough walnuts to join the Labyrinth War — they can be eliminated right now.”

Every player had been assigned a number upon entering the game.

The marionette clicked its jaw: “Number 14 — 0 walnuts — eliminated!”

A man in the crowd looked stunned, then glanced down at the number on his body. Before he could say a word, his body vanished from before everyone’s eyes.

“Number 23 — 0 walnuts — eliminated!” the marionette continued.

Another person’s eyes went wide with shock. “That’s impossible… I clearly had so many walnuts…”

Gone again.

Unrest began spreading through the players. Suspicious eyes kept drifting to Fu Miaoxue.

The marionette: “Number 8 — 0 walnuts — eliminated!”

Number 8’s expression twisted with shock and fury, and he pointed at Fu Miaoxue. “I had walnuts! My walnuts were already submitted in the crate!”

The inspector — or the inspector’s puppet — had no interest in hearing his explanation. Number 8’s body vanished.

Everyone finally sensed something was wrong. They surged toward Fu Miaoxue in unison, demanding answers. “Hey! What is going on?! Didn’t we already hand our walnuts to the inspector’s assistant?!”

“Assistant?” The marionette looked up at the puppeteer. “Dear Jack, do you have any other assistants besides me?”

Without waiting for the puppeteer to answer, Fu Miaoxue suddenly kicked one of the crates over with a swift, powerful blow! Then, moving with lightning speed, she scooped up the other crate of walnuts and sprinted into the forest!

A crate of walnuts scattered across the ground!

Everyone was stunned!

“Kid! Run!” Fu Miaoxue had already plunged into the forest — only her voice drifted back.

Pan Xiaoxin snapped to attention, clutched his own walnuts, and bolted into the forest!

The crowd erupted in outrage!

“What the hell! After her!”

“Get that person!”

—