Second World



Jack's eyes stayed on the truck. Which direction they went next would depend on which direction that truck decided to go.

Jack saw the truck make a U-turn and back to where it came from. It probably wanted to circle back to the street on the other side of this alley to resume its chase. Continuing forward might have a left turn to that street as well, or there might not be a left turn. The truck driver didn't want to take the risk, so he did the U-turn.

Seeing that, Jack told Stefan, "Turn right after coming out of the alley!"

This time, Stefan didn't argue. He followed the instruction.

They came out to the street they previously were. By turning right, they were going in the direction they came from. Since the obstacles had been cleared by the truck when they passed this street earlier, Stefan could just go straight at high speed. This effectively put more distance between them and the truck.

They made another turn before the truck came back to the same street. This way, the truck wouldn't know which turn they made. Thus, not knowing which way they went.

They continued to drive further and further, in a general direction that was away from where they lost the monster truck.

After thinking that they were safe, Stefan asked, "Where should we go?"

"Back to where we came from. We need to find the others," Jack said.

"Do you know which way?" Stefan asked.

"In that direction," Jack pointed. There was no sun up in the sky to gauge the North or South, but Jack had been keeping track of the direction from where they came ever since he entered this car. His plan was always to return.

Stefan drove the car in the direction Jack pointed.

"What if the friends of that truck driver are still back in that place?" Naomi asked. "There are five of them, right?"

"I don't think that truck driver comes at us alone," Jack said. "The other four should be at the back of the truck."

"Why do you think so?" Stefan asked.

"Because if that driver is alone. He won't be able to do anything even if he catches up to us. He won't be able to win against me alone."

Both Naomi and Stefan were speechless at Jack's declaration of confidence.

"You do remember they can use their skills and spells, don't you?" Naomi asked. "Remember the treants and the Ki Blast?"

"They did that using a tool. I don't think the tool unsealed their skills completely. Otherwise, they would have used that tool from the start. I think it only let them use skills for a short duration or maybe even only one-time skill usage."

"They are very lucky to find those tools so early. It is not even one day yet since this battle royale game started," Stefan said.

"I don't think it has anything to do with luck," Jack said.

"What do you mean?" Naomi asked.

"Remember Aglea said that the players who die in this game will be sent to what she called the nursery hall? Where those players are leveled up to rejoin the game again? I think those five are the participants from previous games, or maybe even the winners of the previous games."

"That makes sense…," Naomi said. "That's how they know about the tools and probably they started searching for those tools the moment this battle royale game started."

Jack nodded.

"But… If they were the past participants, why are there only five of them?" Stefan asked. "If they are only five, that means they lost every member during the sacrificial round. Wouldn't that be odd? They should have been more experienced in saving their comrades during the sacrificial round if they had gone through this game before."

"Perhaps they split up. Maybe the ones we saw are only half the team," Naomi guessed.

"In that case, we need to be careful. We might stumble into the second half of their team even if we go away from where that truck was," Jack said.

"Or the fourth team," Stefan reminded.

"Oh, I do hope we stumble into the fourth team. My friend should be on that team," Jack said.

"Yeah, yeah. The super beautiful woman, right?" Stefan said mockingly.

"If she still survives," Naomi said.

"She still," Jack said confidently.

The car continued to head in the direction Jack pointed. But instead of going straight in that direction, they took a rather roundabout way, one that was away from the last location of the truck. This was so it was more unlikely for them to accidentally stumble onto that truck.

"Anyway, how big is this place? We have been driving for more than an hour. This place is huge," Naomi uttered.

"It will shrink as time passed. Maybe it is big so we can get used to the place before we encounter the other teams," Jack said.

"Then how come we stumble into two teams just a few hours since the game started?" Stefan asked.

"Uh… Bad luck I suppose…?" Jack replied. "But that also means the starting points for all four teams are random rather than being intentionally placed far away from each other. Considering how big this place is, three teams won't meet each other so fast if it was arranged that way. We must have spawned nearby those two teams. So, yeah… Bad luck…"

Beeping sounds drew their attention. They also saw an indicator on the car dashboard that started blinking.

"Shit! We are low on gas," Stefan informed.

"This car runs on gas?" Jack asked.

"What do you think it runs on?" Naomi gave Jack a weird look.

"Uh… Game power?" Jack answered.

"We have to find fuel if we want to continue using this car," Stefan said.

"I remember seeing a fuel station a while back," Jack informed.

"I also remember it looks deserted," Stefan returned.

"Do you have a better idea where to look for fuel then, smart ass?" Jack asked.

"Let's go there. It's as better a place as any to start looking," Naomi said.

Stefan didn't argue. He turned the car around and traced the road they passed earlier.

"There!" Jack shouted.

Stefan also saw the fuel station. He drove the car there and parked right beside one of the pumps. The three came down the car and Stefan went and checked the pump.

"I never expect to ever go on a road trip in a car again. It's a nice feeling… Well, when we are not being chased by a monster truck, of course," Naomi said. "Do you think we can bring this car to the outside world?"

"I don't think so. This place is separate from the outside world. This car is a pure creation of this pocket world, it can't be brought out. If this pocket world collapsed, everything not part of the outside world will be gone with it."

Jack was repeating what Peniel told him in his mind. Naomi just took his words at face value.

"Crap… There is no gas," Stefan, who was checking the pump, told them.