The child who had been keeping watch saw the helicopter land and immediately ran to notify the people around him.
"They're here! They're here!" His voice was pitched so high it cracked, as if something was strangling his throat, the sound exploding in the quiet woods.
Some chose to hide.
Some immediately figured out how to turn on those around them in exchange for a chance to survive the gun barrels.
But the group Shen Yi was in was much more harmonious.
Mianmian didn't run away immediately.
She stood her ground, looked at the people fleeing in all directions, and then looked at Shen Yi, her small face full of conflict.
Finally, clenching her fists, she ran up to Shen Yi.
"You have to do your best to survive, big sister. I'm still waiting for you to finish telling your story."
"Okay," Shen Yi readily agreed, gently pinching the girl's cheek. "You hide well too, and don't get caught."
Mianmian: "I have experience with this. You must be careful."
"I will," Shen Yi replied. "By the way, where is my little follower?"
She looked around for a long time but didn't see Dahei's shadow.
"Number Four ran away ages ago. Whenever something happens, he's usually the coward who runs the fastest."
Mianmian no longer held any expectations for that coward.
Shen Yi didn't ask any more questions, her back quickly swallowed by the twilight.
The terrain and climate of this island were both advantageous for the children's movements. The woods were dense, and visibility was limited. Adults moving around in here were actually at a greater disadvantage than the children.
Yet those people were arrogant enough to choose to hunt at night when visibility was unclear?
They probably thought it was more fun at night, better able to scare the children trembling in the dark.
They thought this was the rule of a cat-and-mouse game.
Shen Yi felt that this rule might need a revision.
She stepped lightly onto a tree trunk, crouching in wait to the side beforehand.
Some people held guns in their hands, some carried guns on their shoulders, and one person smoked as he walked, his posture casual.
They didn't take the children on the island seriously at all.
Fair enough.
A group of children, unarmed, with no weapons, no training, and not even enough to eat.
In front of ten fully armed adults, what could they do? They couldn't run far, couldn't hide for long, and when dawn came, a casual search would root them all out.
Shen Yi observed the direction they entered, and finally, picked the slowest hunter, trailing all the way behind him.
[Aren't you afraid?]
The system didn't expect that in the blink of an eye, the trembling Shen Yi would actually take the initiative to play the executioner here.
Shen Yi had already mastered her father's glib speaking ability. "Of course I'm afraid, but they are coming to kill us. Should I just lie flat and let them kill me? Girls have to protect themselves when they are out!"
As the saying goes, those who kill will always be killed.
Morals and values did not hold up in this place.
Oh, they didn't hold up in her world either.
In this bizarre comic world, order was zero, black and white were hard to distinguish, and if you didn't kill, you waited to be killed.
The night was quiet, the ten people split up to move, and Shen Yi followed behind her target without making the slightest footstep.
Her father once said, "If you want others not to hear your footsteps, don't create an independent sound. You have to turn yourself into his shadow; your sound is his sound."
And the first time she really used this technique was in a place like this.
Shen Yi was very fast, so fast that the man only had time to feel a gust of wind strike from behind. Before he could turn his head, his entire body was tackled to the ground by the waist.
He didn't even have time to see clearly what had attacked him.
In the instant she landed, Shen Yi adjusted her center of gravity, her force smashing precisely onto his cheekbone.
The muffled sound of bone colliding with bone seemed exceptionally clear in the quiet woods.
The man let out a muffled scream, instinctively reaching out to grab her ankle.
Shen Yi's movement slid from his face to his temple, and then—
She kicked down ruthlessly once more.
The movement was clean and neat, without any unnecessary flair.
The power was accurately transmitted to that most fragile spot. Waiting until the person completely stopped moving, Shen Yi picked up the gun and weighed it in her hand.
She recognized the model; medium recoil, sufficient range, and enough lethality at close quarters.
She checked the magazine, pulled the bolt to confirm a bullet was chambered, then slung the gun strap diagonally across her shoulder, turned, and ran up a tree.
Three steps up the tree, her movements as fluid as a cat.
Shen Yi squatted on a branch, mounted the gun, and looked through the scope at the distant woods.
Nine left.
The night breeze blew in from the sea, carrying a salty, damp scent.
From the distant woods occasionally came the crisp sound of a dry branch being snapped; that was the sound of the gunmen searching in the dark.
They were probably still enjoying this cat-and-mouse game.
Shen Yi pressed her eye to the scope, the crosshairs slowly sweeping across the distant woods.
Her breathing was very steady, her finger resting outside the trigger guard.
You like teasing kids at night, do you?
Shen Yi's finger curled onto the trigger.
Psychopaths.
Go to hell.
Bang.
Bang.
...
Apart from the first person who was unfortunately kicked to death by Shen Yi, the remaining two were both sent off by her gunfire.
After harvesting three guns, Shen Yi hid them all.
Tonight was an opportunity for her.
It was the same for the other children.
The helicopter had landed, so why not try to escape?
The so-called hunting ground was essentially just a place where whoever held a gun was the boss.
Accompanied by the two gunshots, many children nearby heard them loud and clear. They knew that shooting meant a companion would die.
"Are they making their move this early?"
In the past, this group of people would always toy with them first, watching them kill each other. Why was it so sudden this time?
Among the rocks in the distance, a small figure curled up in a crevice.
Shen Zhizhao pressed his back tightly against the cold stone wall, his knees drawn to his chest, his face buried in his knees, looking like a little white flower that couldn't withstand the wind and rain.
Fragile, pale, shattering at a touch.
He remembered some things.
Before sending him here, his grandfather had told him word by word: "If you don't learn to grow up, then watch closely to see who pays the price for your naivety."
At that time, he didn't yet understand the meaning behind his grandfather's words.
Until now.
He saw a companion he knew being hoisted up by a hunter.
That boy was a little older than him, his face covered in tear stains. They had picked fruits together. The boy didn't talk much and worked very hard.
Now he was being held in mid-air like a little chicken.
"Still not going to compromise? Eldest Young Master?" The man sighed as if helpless. "You know this person, right?"
"I went out of my way to find him." He pushed the boy he was holding forward, as if showing off a piece of merchandise to Shen Zhizhao.
"You really know how to hide. You managed to slip away the last two times."
"Young Master, Eldest Young Master, are you still not ready to kill him? Do we have to force you?" His tone was teasing as he watched Shen Zhizhao's terrified, tearful appearance.
"Would a young master with your background actually get soft-hearted? If you don't kill him, he is going to come right back to kill you."
He despised this kid with a burning passion.
Why did someone so cowardly and utterly worthless get to be born at the very top of the pyramid?
Toying with Shen Zhizhao gave him a twisted sense of pleasure.
Look at him now—so what if he was a wealthy, powerful young master? He was no better than a pathetic prey, shivering in fear at the barrel of his gun.
