Chapter 184

Chapter 184
Eve’s POV
After a quick tidying up, we followed Walter to the playground.
Perhaps, as Walter himself said, because he'd been setting up a street stall for many years, he was particularly familiar with the winding paths in the city.
I followed him through various alleys, and several times I felt lost.
But Walter, instead, strolled leisurely, constantly turning left and right.
During that period, I saw the "numbers" Walter mentioned several times as well. I also saw "19," "34" and "52."
I guessed Walter might be right. These numbers were just signs written by someone to remember the way.
It took about twenty minutes to reach a run-down hotel.
The "dogman" was standing at the door, seemingly talking to several people.
When the four of us approached to take a look, our expressions changed instantly.
The "dog" mask before my eyes was just too lifelike. It was the face of a large bulldog. His suit was shiny black and his fitted shirt was spotless.
"It's 'Beta Dog,'" I thought to myself.
Clara blinked slightly. "What does 'Beta Dog' mean? Isn't it 'Omega Dog'?"
"Beta Dog is one level higher than Omega Dog..." I rubbed my chin. "In 'Beta level' games, people can die."
"Die..." Clara was taken aback. "Then should we still participate?"
"This..."
I frowned and thought for a moment. Even if it was "Beta level," the game was still a "cooperative type." As long as the four of us worked together, I was sure we could win.
Thinking of this, I turned around and looked at Clara and Walter carefully again. "Can you guarantee to follow my arrangement?"
"Sure." Clara nodded.
"Sure." Walter chimed in.
After hearing that, I felt relieved.
"Great! Someone's here!" A shout came from Beta Dog's direction. "Can we start now?"
I turned my head and saw the young people beside Beta Dog were all looking here.
"What's going on? Isn't it a team of four people?" I asked Walter in confusion.
"I don't know either. This morning, that dog told me only teams of four could participate."
I walked up and took a look at the four people.
Three men and one woman.
They all seemed to be in their twenties. One man and one woman were hugging each other, like they were a couple.
These people had a bit of a rough air and their hair was dyed various colors. My first impression of them wasn't very good.
If Daniel's first impression was that of a well-known gang thug, then these young people were like the lowest-level lackeys among hoodlums.
"Would you like to join my game?" Beta Dog's deep voice suddenly rang out. "Each person needs one Holy Grail. Life and death will be left to fate. The losing team will be completely eliminated. The surviving team will each receive a reward of five Holy Grails, plus all the spoils of the eliminated team."
"Complete elimination?" Everyone was taken aback.
"What are the rules?" I asked.
"Pay the entry fee and know the rules."
"Here we go again..."
I shook my head helplessly. It was the same with Beta Bull's games before. Before paying the entry fee, you didn't even know what might happen.
"Hey, is that okay, you guys?" A hoodlum with green hair seemed a little impatient. "You're already scared before you even play?"
I ignored Green Hair, thought for a while then asked, "Beta Dog, does your game 'randomly team up'?"
"Random teams..." Walter and Lila seemed to have thought of something.
This was indeed a problem. If Beta Dog were to learn from Beta Bull and suddenly disrupt everyone's team formation after paying the tickets, the outcome would be hard to predict.
"No." Beta Dog said. "You will always maintain the current team, and all your efforts are aimed at fighting for your team's interests."
Hearing this sentence, I gradually felt relieved.
It seemed this was a pure "teamwork" game, except there were two teams on the spot and an 80% chance they would compete against each other.
Seeing that I was hesitating all the time, Walter hurriedly took out four Holy Grails and handed them over.
"Walter..." I frowned. "What are you doing?"
"I'll treat you this time." Walter gave a sly smile. "If you win in the end, give me a little more share."
"I don't want to give you more." I said. "The Holy Grails won will be divided equally among everyone. Otherwise, I'll leave now."
"This..."
Walter sighed then nodded unhappily. "Well, alright, alright... Lady, you're really stingy."
Both teams paid their entry fees one after another.
To everyone's surprise, after paying the fees, Beta Dog's attitude suddenly changed 180 degrees. He was so happy he danced around and invited the eight people into the house like they were guests.
"Come in quickly, everyone!" Beta Dog smiled. "Welcome to my playground!"
Although everyone looked puzzled, they could only follow reluctantly.
After entering the room, I took a look around the run-down hotel.
The internal structure was relatively simple. There were long corridors on each side, and each corridor had several rooms.
"I wonder if any of you like watching spy dramas?" Beta Dog rubbed his hands together.
I found the back of Beta Dog's hands was fluffy, like he was wearing very realistic gloves.
"Spy drama? 007? Who's watching that stuff?" A blond thug shook his head. "Stop talking nonsense. Hurry up and tell us what we're going to play."
"How impatient..." Beta Dog pulled out two stacks of cards from the drawer at the front desk and handed them forward. "Although you're in a team of four, each of you has your own identity card in the team. Now please draw your identities."
Lila, who was standing at the front of the line, took the four cards then turned around. "Who will draw first?"
"It's all the same. You deal the cards," Clara said.
Lila nodded after hearing this, shuffled the cards, then distributed them to the three of us one by one.
I took the "identity card" and looked at it, completely puzzled.
It read "Sender" on it.
"Does this need to be kept secret?" Walter pinned the card to his chest and asked carefully.
Everyone looked at Beta Dog.
"No need." Beta Dog smiled. "Team members can check each other's identities. If you like, you can also exchange identities."
After hearing this, several people gathered around me and stood in a circle.
They turned over the cards one by one, and each person had a different identity.
My identity was "Sender."
Lila's identity was "Recipient."
Clara's identity was "Hostage."
"Where's yours?" I looked at Walter and found he still refused to show his card.
"I... this of mine... well, how to put it..."
At this point, I didn't ask any more questions. I directly grabbed Walter's wrist and forcibly revealed that card.
It read "Spy" on it.