I only slowed down after crossing a sort of natural ridge that separated the battlefield from the rest of the area. Behind me, the explosions continued to echo, but the noise had already lost some of its intensity. The gunfire became harder to distinguish, and as I moved further away, the shouts of the combatants blended with the dull rumble of battle until they became almost indistinguishable.
I turned around several times nonetheless.
Nobody was following me.
But I still didn't allow myself to stop.
– ah
My breath finally left me behind a massive concrete block half-buried in the ground. I took a few seconds to catch my breath. My left shoulder was still throbbing, but I decided not to put too much strain on it. With my watch destroyed, I had just lost my primary means of accessing game information and, more importantly, anything that could allow other players to locate me.
I looked at my empty wrist.
– I really need to find another one.
– but first
I reached my left arm over a concrete block and took a deep breath.
And
Two
three
I let myself fall
CLACK
He suddenly repositioned himself, making my back shudder.
I was beginning to wonder if the fragment's reaction when the chest was activated was simply a coincidence, but that idea didn't convince me. Ever since I obtained that card, it's been drawing me directly into the same curse.
There must have been a reason.
I am being followed by an imminent death for having just been in contact with.
What good is it to have earned it through the sweat of my brow if it curses me too?
We're being tricked.
I get up and resume my escape.
The ground was dry, almost grey, and large metal structures rose up in places, resembling facilities abandoned for years. Some were so far apart that it was difficult to determine if they belonged to the same complex.
I started to move forward.
After a few minutes, I noticed something strange.
There were no animals.
No insects.
No sound of wind.
Even the explosions of the battle seemed to gradually fade away behind me.
I slow down.
This silence was anything but natural.
At least in the desert there was the wind, the sand, and that constant feeling of a hostile environment. Here, even the absence of life seemed to have been planned.
I continued, however.
About ten minutes later, I discovered a road.
It ran across the field for several hundred meters before disappearing behind a row of grey buildings. It was perfectly straight, without the slightest crack, and above all, no dust had accumulated on it.
I started to walk along it, it inevitably took me about thirty minutes.
"Another game installation..."
I sat up and looked around.
One of them was much closer than the others.
A door standing upright and unsupported.
I approached it cautiously.
The door opened before I even touched it.
This wasn't the first time I'd encountered these strange things, but it was starting to bother me.
The room was bathed in a dim white light. Screens covered the walls, but most were switched off. In the center was a long metal table covered with files, maps, and small devices whose purpose I didn't know.
I approached the first screen that was still lit.
A list appeared.
AMERICAN TEAM: GROUP 8
INDIAN TEAM: GROUP 7
I quickly skimmed the following lines.
Most of the information was banal.
– it's very different from our trials
I continued scrolling through the data.
Then a third category appeared.
–"YOU ARE FINALLY HERE"
My heart skipped a beat and even my armpits were tingling at once.
IsI remained silent and gently turned my head towards the track.
...…
I stepped back slightly.
My heart raced.
I stared at her.
– the doll?...
Perhaps I had just understood.
– "WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT IT, AND TO THINK THAT YOU WERE THE MOST SUPPORTED"
I think I have just lost the privilege of being invisible.