Inside the game space.
After exposing a few of Jean's secrets, Lisa quietly waited.
Finally, a notification appeared.
[Audience Response: Enthusiastic. Mission Complete.]
[Reward Obtained: Invisibility Cloak]
[Invisibility Cloak: Covers the user and grants invisibility for 10 seconds. While invisible, the user cannot move but can still be physically touched. Usable 3 times.]
"Invisibility!"
Seeing the item in her hands, Lisa's eyes lit up.
A tool that granted invisibility was practically a trump card in a game of hide-and-seek.
"Excellent. Victory is mine."
With such a powerful item, she felt certain of success.
Trading away a few of Jean's secrets for an item like this…
It was absolutely worth it.
Since there was still plenty of time left, she decided to search for more missions.
If possible, she'd happily sell out the rest of Mondstadt.
[Barbara: Invisibility… That's amazing.]
[Sucrose: It can be used three times. Miss Lisa is definitely going to win this.]
[Amber: She hit the jackpot.]
[Rosaria: Selling out one Acting Grand Master Jean for an item like that? Totally worth it.]
[Jean: …]
Worth it?
I'm the one who suffered the loss!
Lisa had twisted her words completely.
She only said Valerius reminded her of Aik because of their abilities.
One could travel across galaxies and reverse time.
The other could produce all kinds of incredible items.
Wasn't it perfectly reasonable to think they resembled each other?
There was nothing strange about that.
But after Lisa framed it like this…
It sounded as if she had feelings for Valerius.
"No… when she gets back, I'm definitely teaching her a lesson."
The more Jean thought about it, the angrier she became.
Even someone as gentle as she was started losing her temper.
Best friend or not… today I'm beating up my best friend.
Inside the game space…
After obtaining the reward, Lisa's enthusiasm soared.
She searched every sports hall one after another.
Unfortunately…
She couldn't find a single new mission.
Even the original table tennis challenge had disappeared.
"Can each player only complete one mission?"
The discovery left her rather disappointed.
She had hoped to collect several more useful items.
Checking the time again, she saw that nearly an hour had passed.
"Valerius is about to appear. Time to hide."
With no time to waste—and no more missions to complete—Lisa headed straight for the hiding place she'd selected earlier.
It was a locker room.
She opened several lockers, rearranged them, and cleverly created a hidden gap between them before squeezing inside.
Then she restored the lockers to their original-looking arrangement.
From the outside…
Nothing looked suspicious.
Yet inside, there was just enough room for one person.
"Come on, Valerius."
"There's no way you'll find me."
She was confident.
As long as she stayed here for four hours, victory would be hers.
[Hiding Time Has Ended…]
The announcement finally echoed through the arena.
"I'll use my item."
Almost simultaneously, several players activated the items they had purchased before the match.
"Expose Hanabi's location!"
Without even discussing it…
They all reached the same conclusion.
At the start of the game, many participants had immediately bought one particular item.
Location Reveal Card.
Its effect was simple.
Use it to expose another player's location directly to Valerius.
Hanabi was a walking disaster.
She had to be eliminated as quickly as possible.
Otherwise, nobody knew what kind of chaos she'd cause.
[Candace: Ouch… Everyone picked Miss Hanabi.]
[Sampo: Ohoho… Now this is getting interesting.]
[Topaz: Isn't that a bit much…?]
[Boothill: Well I'll be… They're all ganging up on Hanabi!]
[March 7th: Goodbye, Miss Hanabi.]
[Jade: Heh… wishful thinking. Everyone who used that item is about to be exposed instead.]
[Yanfei: What do you mean?]
[Herta: Hanabi bought the Reflection Card. You know what that means.]
[Ningguang: So… all those players just exposed themselves instead?]
[Keqing: Uh…]
[Sunday: This is why you shouldn't harbor ill intentions.]
[Wriothesley: They're done for.]
[Furina: Sigh… They fell for it so easily.]
Inside the arena…
Hidden in one corner of the basketball court, Hanabi smiled mischievously.
"Hehe… I activate Reflection Card."
A flash of white light erupted.
Every Location Reveal Card instantly rebounded.
[Jean: …]
Jean felt utterly miserable.
Lisa… you dragged me down with you.
She'd sold Jean out to get an invisibility item…
Only to expose herself at the very start of the game.
At this point, Jean almost wished Lisa had never gotten that reward.
Meanwhile…
A pillar of white light descended into the basketball court.
Valerius appeared.
"A basketball court?"
He glanced around before noticing a small card lying nearby.
Walking over, he picked it up.
[Mission: Slam Dunk Master]
[Starting from the designated launch point, perform a tomahawk dunk and score.]
"A dunk?"
Picking up a basketball, Valerius bounced it a couple of times before looking toward the hoop.
[Seele: Isn't… this mission way too easy?]
[Gepard: Yeah. If all he has to do is dunk, doesn't that mean Valerius gets a free item?]
[Jing Yuan: Not necessarily. Everyone's physical abilities have been reduced to those of ordinary people. Valerius should be under the same restriction. A dunk from the launch point isn't as simple as it sounds.]
[Ruan Mei: Valerius is about 1.87 meters tall. In theory, he should be capable of it. It depends on his physical condition.]
[Yanfei: You noticed his height? That's surprisingly detailed.]
[Ruan Mei: A single glance was enough.]
[Bronya: If it's Valerius… he should be able to do it.]
Bronya still had confidence in him.
It was only a dunk.
With Valerius's height, it shouldn't be difficult.
[Serval: Which side are you on?]
[Bronya: Uh… it just slipped out…]
Inside the court…
Valerius carried the ball to midcourt.
He sprinted forward.
Three long strides.
His final step landed exactly on the launch point.
"Hah…"
Then…
Everyone watched as he tossed the basketball toward the backboard—
And simply gave up.
[Bronya: Huh…?]
[Sampo: Wait… he just quit?]
[Jing Yuan: No. He must have noticed something.]
Jing Yuan had seen it clearly.
With Valerius's speed and jumping ability, the dunk had been completely achievable.
Abandoning it halfway meant only one thing.
He had discovered something.
Sure enough, Valerius's next words confirmed his suspicion.
"All right, Miss Hanabi."
"I've already played along with you."
"Aren't you coming out now?"
"You're no fun."
From one corner of the basketball court…
Hanabi slowly walked into view.
Even after being discovered, she didn't look the least bit upset.
She simply strolled out and faced Valerius from across the court.
"You're really coming out?"
"Aren't you afraid I'll eliminate you?"
"You still have to catch me first."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course."
Hanabi remained perfectly calm.
Earlier, she'd completed a mission that rewarded her with a one-time escape item if Valerius managed to catch her.
From that reward alone, she'd already deduced the game's true rule.
Simply being seen wasn't enough.
Valerius had to physically catch a player to eliminate them.
Otherwise, the escape item would have been completely useless.
That was why she'd appeared in plain sight without any hesitation.
And judging by Valerius's reaction…
Her deduction had been correct.
He really did have to catch them.
Which meant…
There was plenty of room to play.
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