"Let me introduce myself. My surname is Dai, and you can call me Mr. Dai. Now, as a courtesy, may I ask how to address this unexpected guest?"

“Okay, Xiao Dai, you can call me Grandma, or Great-Auntie is fine too.” Xia Chuhe said with a half-smile.

Mr. Dai's fake smile vanished immediately: "If you won't listen to reason, you'll have to suffer the consequences."

Mr. Dai made a starting preparation motion.

If he were on the playground, his posture might look somewhat cool, but making such a move in front of an internet cafe would only make people wonder if he's mentally ill.

Xia Chuhe casually tucked a high school student behind him, his sharp eyes fixed on Mr. Dai.

Mr. Dai moved with incredible speed, leaving afterimages in his wake. However, before he could reach the high school student he needed to protect, Xia Chuhe kicked out, striking him squarely in the jaw.

"puff--"

Mr. Dai spat out a few bloody teeth, wiped the blood from his lips, and laughed, "You've got some skills. I originally wanted to resolve this quickly and cleanly, but now, I'll have to trouble you to play a game with me."

"Game - Start -"

As Mr. Dai shouted, several cards appeared above his head.

Xia Chuhe sensed something was wrong and kicked out again.

However, her attack was blocked by an invisible shield.

Mr. Dai waved his hand, gathering all the cards in his palm: "Don't be impatient. There are protection mechanisms before the game officially begins."

"Let me explain the rules of the game to you..."

Mr. Dai closed his eyes and said as he thought:

Game Name: Hide and Seek

Game setting: Abandoned internet cafe; Keywords: dilapidated, traces

Game Background: In the dead of night, during a torrential downpour, the protagonist receives a mysterious private message—[Aren't you looking for your sister? Her account just logged in at xx Internet Cafe]. In search of his sister, the protagonist arrives at the long-abandoned xx Internet Cafe. Pushing open the rusty iron door, all the computers simultaneously power on, and the protagonist finds his long-lost sister at computer station 0914.

Core rules... generation

Key item... generated

Task card... generated

..."

As Mr. Dai recounted his story, the internet cafe where the three of them were located gradually changed.

All outsiders were evicted from the internet cafe, which became dilapidated, with blackened walls and a thick layer of dust covering the floor, computers, and gaming chairs. The large computer screens emitted a faint blue glow...

Meanwhile, Mr. Dai's hand accumulated more and more cards, and when he said "complete," the cards stopped growing.

Mr. Dai divided the cards into two stacks, unfolded one stack, and read it word by word. After a long while, he laughed and said, "This is fun! Let's draw a card!"

He handed another stack of cards he hadn't looked at to Xia Chuhe: "Draw an identity card."

Xia Chuhe shook his head, refusing to draw a card.

The cards in Mr. Dai's hand floated up, one of them flying straight into Xia Chuhe's hand, and another flying into the hand of a high school student.

Forced to draw a card, Xia Chuhe had no choice but to confirm her identity—the protagonist's older sister… Heh, an interesting setup.

The identity of a certain high school student is—the protagonist.

She obediently showed her identity card to Xia Chuhe and peered around curiously to see what identity Xia Chuhe had drawn.

Xia Chuhe stuffed the ID card into her pocket, amused at her own immaturity. It was obvious she was quite interested in the game Xiao Dai had set up. This silly child, did she even realize she was facing a life-threatening situation?

After the two Xia Chuhes finished drawing their cards, Mr. Dai also pretended to draw one.

Mr. Dai had three ID cards left, so he threw them on the ground.

The card landed and transformed into three men.

The first person was wearing a blue-collar uniform and carrying a tool bag with the words "On-site repair, Flybird to your door" written on it.

The second person was wearing a plaid shirt and black-rimmed glasses, and looked a little bewildered.

The third one had acne, wore a baggy hoodie, and was about the same height as the high school version of Xia Chuhe.

"They are NPCs who help complete the game," Mr. Dai kindly explained. "Now that all the characters are here, please make your selections using the item cards."

Four cards flew out from the stack of cards Mr. Dai had just looked at, each heading towards one of four people—Xia Chuhe, the blue-collar worker, the man in the plaid shirt, and the man in the hoodie.

Xia Chuhe received a prop card, which served as supplementary information about her identity.

Her tool is a firewall; she can select a computer, set up a firewall, and block the ghost's attacks.

Xia Chuhe stared at the word "ghost"—ghosts exist in the game.

The game is called Hide and Seek, so is it ghost chasing people, or people chasing ghosts?

What would be the consequences of getting caught?

A high school student stared longingly at Xia Chuhe: "Mom, can I take a look?"

Xia Chuhe coldly put the card back into his pocket.

If all the cards in this round are item cards, then four people have definitely obtained items, one person has not obtained items, and whether Mr. Dai has any items is a questionable issue.

The blue-collar worker, the man in the plaid shirt, and the man in the hoodie, all NPCs, seemed to know a lot about the game's background. After receiving the item cards, their expressions changed positively, and they seemed quite satisfied with the items they had drawn.

Mr. Dai tossed the last remaining rule card onto the table: "Read the rules. Once everyone has read the rules, the game will officially begin."

The card landed heavily on the computer desk, sending dust flying everywhere.

The boy in the hoodie covered his face and waved his hands haphazardly in the air, saying, "So dirty."

The other four huddled together to look at the rules—

1. The game is divided into two camps, humans and ghosts. The game ends when only one camp remains on the field.

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