BXBX NOVEL Chapter 103 103: Attacked In The Open [Pt1]
Amelia asked Keith with her eyes what was wrong with Sara but Keith did not know the answer. So, he just shook his head in return and Amelia got the message.
"A-Anyway, did you take care of your emergency?"
Sara questioned as she calmed down. But as soon as she asked the question, she broke out in a fit of laughter once more. Keith and Sara had a feeling there would be no point in stopping her anymore.
"Well, my business went as well as I could have hoped it to go with our current circumstances. We should keep on moving now."
The two hours were about to be over at this point and it was time for the system screen to flash. Keith tensed up when he looked at the screen since the results were not what he had anticipated it being.
Since Amelia was the protagonist and she was on the pink team, Keith had thought that the pink team would win. It was natural for the pink team to have won in the end since it contained the protagonist.
But that had been naive thinking on Keith's part. When the map flashed, it showed a different picture on it.
Pink was hardly a dominant color on the scene. The one most dominating right now was yellow, followed by grey. Pink had the least number of people available online.
While Keith was busy lamenting over this, Amelia noticed something major. She looked at the map and then at Sara and then back at the map.
"Hey Sara, you will not happen to have more than one paper slip on you, right? The map shows you having both a pink and a red slip in your hand."
Amelia asked as she observed the map before it stopped flashing. Then the figures and location markers on the map faded away and the time for observation was over.
"What? Oh yeah, I might have two of the slip on me. I found the red one lying down somewhere and I picked it up. Is something wrong with it?"
Sara seemed to not have noticed but Keith caught on to what Amelia was saying right now. There was a way to cheat in this competition and to ensure that they got past this competition.
Keith felt his hope rising inside his chest.
"Amelia, do you remember where the nearest colors flashed on the map? I think we have a few teams to visit right now."
Keith's voice was tense but also teasing. He had a plan in making which Amelia agreed with. She nodded and opened the regular map of this forest. That was the only resource they had right now.
"Well, as far as I remember, I know the location of 6 other colored slips. We will have to look for the rest when the map flashes again."
Amelia's sharp memory helped her mark the places she remembered but they needed to hurry now. Those who had been discovered would not sit still. Soon, the locations on the map would begin to shift once more.
But before that happened, Keith wanted to take a few colored bands from the enemy.
..........
"Man, we are so behind. Do you think we will be able to win?"
Man 1 questioned as he cooked his fish on the fire. It was part of the ration he had brought along with it but he was about to run out of food soon.
"Do not be stupid. Our team is in the second spot right now. Of course, we will win. Or at least get past this hurdle. We are strong after all."
Man 2 bragged as he sat down to eat as well. He was salivating at the smell of cooked food in the air. But Man 1 hid his fish behind his back, not wanting to share it with the other man.
"Hey man, do not be like this. Learn to share with your friend and I might take pity on you and protect you during the next fight."
Man 2 bargained with a heavy voice. There was a threat present in it which made Man 1 gulp down in fear. Suddenly, it did not look like a good idea for Man 1 to refuse Man 2 any longer.
He was about to hand his fish over with a heavy sigh when they felt the air around them smelling sweeter than before.
"Hey man, I am suddenly feeling sleepy. Wake me up when it is time to leave."
Man 1 suddenly said as he yawned. It was getting difficult to keep his eyes open suddenly. Man 2 was in a similar state, his yawns getting longer and longer by the second. His eyes also protested opening again.
Soon, they both fell asleep and they did not notice when a figure walked over to them and took their paper slip away. This all happened in under three minutes.
Amelia quickly walked back toward Keith and Sara with her light steps.
With this, they had managed to gather five sets of paper slips and there were four left on their list to get. So far, things had worked out somehow.
"Alright, just four more to go. At this rate, we will be finished quite soon. It is about time for the map to shine again."
Sara sounded happy about their success. She had not done anything on her own but she was celebrating this as if it was her victory. Keith wanted to point this out to her but he refrained from doing so.
He wanted to inform Sara that it was not a good thing for the map to flash. Their group would become a prime target for assassination if things continued like this.
But before Keith could say anything, the map flashed and that was it. The time for regrets was over and it was time to pay attention.
The map only had three dominant colors left on it - red, yellow, and green. Everyone else seemed to have been eliminated. There were one or two people from the minor color team left but that was not enough to win.
"We will need to get green and red as well. Also, I think we should hide the paper we do not need for now."
Amelia was full of good ideas today and Keith agreed with her. He took out a small box from his inventory bag and put it in the paper. Then he returned it to the space he had taken it out from.
"So, I have an idea. We already have the yellow paper with us, right? How about we find someone from that team and joined them? There will be safety in number, right?"
Sara pointed out and she was finally being helpful. Yellow was the most dominant color on the map currently so Keith had no problem with this plan.
Even Amelia looked ready to find the yellow team and join them. But finding one was not easy in the least. The forest had been cleared of a lot of people so running into someone worthwhile was a problem.
They were about to move to a new location as well when a team of six walked out from the other side of the clearing.
From the looks of it, they did not look friendly but Keith could not see any indication of their affiliation on their body.
"Well, hello there. We are here to rob you of your paper slip so kindly hand it over to us right now."
The leader of the other party demanded as he held his hands out toward Keith. The rest of his party cracked their hands, getting ready to fight and take the paper slip by force.
Keith raised his hand and took out his pink paper slip and handed it over.
The leader 'tsked' and threw the paper slip away. He looked angry with Keith's deception.
"This is not the paper slip I was asking you for. Give us the yellow one you have on you right now and you might get to live. Otherwise, I will kill you right now."
The leader threatened with a heavy voice. His group laughed behind him, finding his humiliation funny.
"Oh, shut up you all. If this is so funny to you then why don't you get this slip from him? As if I care anymore."
The leader sounded pissed off but Keith was not going to let his guard down because of it. Especially since it looked like his group was more than happy to follow his head.
"Alright boss, you got it. Let us take care of these fools for you and present you with the yellow paper."
Female 1 from the group replied as she cracked her fingers. She was ripped and her muscles were intimidating. But this world was not all about muscles and that was female 1's biggest problem.
She walked forward to punch Keith but she was taken down by Amelia before she could make it to Keith. Then, Amelia looked back at the group with an annoyed expression.