Zhao Mingdeng was a little displeased. “That’s too piecemeal. If we run into a head-on confrontation with Mali’s cat and end up fleeing into a section we haven’t explored, we won’t know the terrain there at all — wouldn’t that be a serious disadvantage?!”

Bai Youwei said indifferently: “If you finish exploring your assigned section with time to spare, you can go wander the other areas — nobody’s stopping you.”

Zhao Mingdeng thought about it, decided she had a point, and said nothing more.

Atop the carousel, Mali and the cat continued to sleep soundly.

Because of their position below, they couldn’t make out the full top of the canopy. Looking up from the ground, that cat — and Mali for that matter — were completely motionless, resembling nothing so much as decorations on the carousel.

Not far away stood a very large park map sign.

Shen Mo walked over and looked it over briefly, then said: “Our current position is roughly the center of the entire amusement park. Splitting into three groups — Group One explores Fantasy Avenue and Dream Garden; Group Two covers Adventure Island and Treasure Bay; Group Three covers Future World and Fairy Tale Kingdom. The Fairy Tale Kingdom section has the largest area, so we can assign four people there.”

No one raised any objections.

The groups formed naturally.

Group One — Zhao Mingdeng, Luo Bin, Jiang Hao.

Group Two — Yan Qingwen, Lu Ang, Yu Yaqing.

Group Three — Shen Mo, Bai Youwei, Tan Xiao, Shen Fei.

Ten people in total.

“I hope everyone avoids acting alone and stays with their teammates as much as possible.” Shen Mo swept his gaze across everyone and said evenly: “Two hours from now, we regroup here. If there are no questions, we disperse now.”

They had all been through games before. Their overall composure was steady, lacking the panic and fear of ordinary people entering a game for the first time.

After a brief exchange, they split up on the spot and headed to their assigned sections.

Going by proximity, Shen Mo and Bai Youwei’s group went first to the Fairy Tale Kingdom.

The Fairy Tale Kingdom — as its name implied — was a themed play area built around fairy tales. There were magnificent and grand fantasy castles, charming fairy-tale villages, mysterious forests brimming with the spirit of adventure, and all manner of dazzling game attractions that could make your eyes go wide.

Of course, at present, all of these sights and facilities had ceased operation.

The paths were unbelievably quiet.

Tan Xiao strolled along, looking around this way and that, and said: “If we’re looking for places to hide, it’s almost too easy! I just glanced around casually and spotted more than a dozen places a person could hide!”

Shen Fei also looked left and right, and mused thoughtfully: “The section is big and there are certainly no shortage of hiding places — but since none of the people who came before us ever cleared the game, that means ordinary spots won’t cut it. We definitely need to find somewhere more concealed…”

“Ah, why bother looking any further! I think right here is great!” Tan Xiao pointed to a penguin-shaped trash can by the roadside. “Hide in there — I refuse to believe that cat could find you!”

“…Hide right by the road?” Shen Fei was unconvinced. “Isn’t that too obvious? What if the cat walks past and bumps into the trash can — wouldn’t you be exposed right away?”

“Look! That hot dog cart over there looks good too!” Tan Xiao jogged ahead, bent down and peered underneath the hot dog cart, then called out: “Yeah, yeah! There’s just enough space inside to hide one person!”

Shen Fei frowned. “What if the cat walks past and tips the cart over…”

“Ugh! You’re so contrary, you know that? Then where do YOU think we should hide?” Tan Xiao asked him with obvious irritation.

Shen Fei looked all around, and finally his gaze landed on the mine mountain ahead. “We could go check out that mine. There’s a tunnel inside — it’s very dark, and there are a lot of branching paths. Hiding in there should be concealed enough.”

—