Chapter 316: Escape the Desert 20

「The nineteenth day of the game.」

Perry Yates first stared, stunned, at what the camel spat out, but her surprise quickly turned to delight.

It was a card.

Ever since entering the game, she hadn’t seen a single sign of a card.

To think the camel had only been gone for a little while and came back with such a surprise.

Picking up the card, Perry Yates saw it was a White Card. The front depicted a fountain, but instead of water, it was spouting yellow sand.

’Looks like another useless card.’

After the initial excitement faded, Perry Yates quickly lost interest.

After all, she couldn’t imagine what use a sand-spouting fountain could possibly have.

’Oh well, it’s better than nothing.’

Perry Yates put the card away. Before she knew it, the next day had arrived.

「The twentieth day of the game.」

After packing up her Safe House, Perry Yates used the Any Door to return to the Oasis.

The Oasis had completely lost its former scene of harmony and joy. The streets were deserted, and the houses on both sides showed signs of being vandalized.

Although it was still the same Oasis, it now felt like a different world.

Through her Spiritual Body and Clones, Perry Yates naturally knew what had happened here.

After she had left the Oasis, the two Desert Robbers who returned with Candice Sawyer had made their move. They murdered the Oasis Guards and slaughtered ordinary people.

On the nineteenth day of the game—yesterday—a group of Desert Robbers had suddenly stormed the Oasis. Colluding with people already inside, they wiped out all of the Oasis Guards.

The survivors were rounded up. According to the information she had gathered, the Desert Robbers were planning to take everyone with them when they left.

Of course, they weren’t doing this out of kindness. They needed people to carry their supplies.

Just then, a dirty, tattered piece of cloth on the ground caught Perry Yates’s eye.

A closer look revealed it was the very blanket the shopkeeper had been weaving. She never thought it would end up like this.

Perry Yates made her way to where the crowd was gathered. At the very front, a man with dark skin, but handsome and sharp-featured, was brainwashing the masses. And from the looks of it, he was doing a very successful job.

His impassioned speech was indeed easy to get swept up in.

Perry Yates saw the flames of hope burning in everyone’s eyes. If they could truly leave this desert, then abandoning the Oasis seemed a small price to pay.

Seeing that the time was right, the man checked the time and turned to whisper something to his companion.

The voice was too low for others to hear, but with her enhanced hearing and the ability to read their lips, Perry Yates learned the content of their conversation.

The man was telling the other, "Let’s move out, quickly. We can’t let the next shift of Oasis Guards find us."

The procession was long, totaling several hundred people. Each person carried a large amount of supplies, as did the camels.

Using the power of her Silver Cross, Perry Yates concealed herself in the latter half of the line, completely unnoticed.

They were a conspicuous line of figures on the vast desert, like a colony of ants on a long migration. Everyone carried a huge pack on their back, dripping with sweat from exhaustion.

Above, the scorching sun beat down mercilessly. Below, the soft sand made every step more strenuous than walking on flat ground. Water and stamina drained from their bodies with every passing second.

Even so, not a single person complained.

Even as sweat blurred their vision, their eyes remained full of hope.

Perry Yates rode on her camel.

She deliberately controlled the camel’s speed, keeping it from the front but not letting it fall to the very back, maintaining a position in the lower-middle of the pack.

After several hours of continuous walking, the procession finally halted, giving everyone a moment to catch their breath.

They were so exhausted that they didn’t even have the energy to speak.

They silently removed the packs from their backs, granting their shoulders a moment of relief, then took out food and ate in silence.

Just then, Perry Yates noticed someone walking toward her.

At first, she didn’t pay him any mind. After all, her item was currently active.

While the Silver Cross didn’t grant her true Invisibility, the effect was nearly the same. She didn’t think anyone could notice her right now. Hadn’t she seen that even Candice Sawyer hadn’t spotted her?

However, when the person came to a stop right in front of her and stared directly at her, she instantly became wary.

Seeing a flash of killing intent in Perry Yates’s eyes, the person immediately raised his hands. "Calm down. I’m not here to cause trouble."

Hearing this, Perry Yates narrowed her eyes, sizing up the person before her. With a snap of her fingers, a barrier instantly enveloped them.

"If you’re not here to cause trouble, then what do you want?"

A faint smile was in the person’s eyes as he revealed his wrist.

On his otherwise fair wrist, a set of numbers suddenly appeared—003.

A Croupier.

"As you can see, I am Croupier 003 from Cerulea, number 223398. I’d like to propose a partnership."

Perry Yates didn’t immediately agree. She crossed her arms, her gaze scrutinizing the man before her. "Partner with you? What’s in it for me?"

She studied him. His face was obscured by cloth, leaving only his eyes visible. His voice was gentle, making him seem like a good person, but a glint of shrewdness occasionally flashed in his smiling eyes.

"I have a way to leave the desert."

Hearing this, Perry Yates tilted her head and blinked. "Aren’t we on our way out of the desert right now?"

’Is that all? And he expects me to partner with him for this?’

"Do you really think these people can lead us out? I can tell you, the path they’re on has been wrong from the very start."

At this, Perry Yates raised an eyebrow, not immediately believing the man’s words. "And how can you prove that what you’re saying is true?"

After all, in this situation, following the group seemed to be the only way out. For someone to suddenly appear and claim they’d been going the wrong way from the start... even if he was also a Dealer Player, it was hard for her to take his word for it.

As if anticipating her distrust, the man took out a card.