The profiler, the scammer and DHB (4)

Cards then started appearing in the hands of players one by one.

In short, this is a game of 'poule, renard, vipère' (chicken, fox, viper) but with more complicated rules.

Moreover, to avoid displaying my name in the rankings, I can either not enter the top ten, which would however reduce the rewards I get at the end, or find the hidden object.

「6. An object to temporarily hide your identity in the rankings for the duration of the scenario will be hidden for each camp somewhere in the scenario area. Only the top ten will be shown.」

Let's try to find the object, but before that, I'll explore the area first.

After all, this is mainly a game of running away from each other, and I don't run fast so I'll need a good grasp of my environment and to use my brain.

As for the rest, let's improvise. I'm sure something will go wrong if I make a plan and try to follow it, so I'll find a strategy midway.

I felt a card materialize in my hand and glanced at it.

It was orange and had my name and surname written on it.

So I'm a fox, huh?

When night fell, I finished looking around and headed to the vipers' camp, the area surrounded by a green line on the floor.

If the scenarios still follow my logic, wouldn't the most dangerous location be the best place to hide the object that lets us disguise our identities?

Anyways, there is only one for each camp so I have to hurry to find it first.

The vipers' camp was actually a familiar building. It was the Fnac, a place filled with electronics on the lower floors and books on the higher floors.

Hey, since it's the end of the world, it's not a big deal if I steal some, right?

Nevermind.

I advanced to the front door and was stopped by guards.

"Halt! State your business here."

Halt? Seriously? Do you think we're in a movie or something?

Whatever, let's act confused.

"Uh… I only wanted to read some books because I was bored… since we're trapped here…"

The 'guards' (chuunibyous) looked at each other before turning to me.

"It's the vipers' camp here."

"Vipers' camp…?"

The delusiona- I mean guards, seemed to understand the situation.

"Are you a non-player?"

I tilted my head.

"A non-player? Er, yes, I suppose…"

The best way to not have your card checked and infiltrate the enemy successfully is to pretend to not have any card to begin with. After all, non-players are still useful to steal others' cards and do not belong to any camp.

"Are you already affiliated with another camp or ours?"

"What? No…"

Nodding, one of the delusional guys raised his hand.

"Wait here. I will report it to the boss and see if we can take you in."

"Hmm, thank you, I guess…"

Along with Guard Number 1, we waited for Guard Number 2 for a while until he came back.

"It's fine, the boss wants to see you."

So I was led by Guard Number 2 to the opposite end of the 1st floor and saw the type of guy you would imagine when you think of gangsters. The type with a bat and leader of a gang (like right now, with both the bat and the gang).

The guy was sitting on a chair, though I'm pretty sure it would've been a throne if there was one, and stared at me.

Am I supposed to bow my head, your thug majesty?

"What's your name?"

"Emma."

"I heard you were a non-player?"

Glad to know you're not deaf.

I nodded.

"Then…"

His majesty the thug was then cut off by a man wearing a suspiciously fake smile.

"David, is this a newbie?"

David the thug frowned.

"What are you doing here?"

I glanced around the room.

The people following David and standing next to him seem to be mostly armed men. Moreover, I noticed that there were women, children and elderly on the other side of the floor staring at what's happening here, most likely at the man talking casually to David who appears to be their leader.

In other words, I think the enemy camp is currently divided into two groups—one controlled by David and the other by the man with a suspiciously fake smile.

If I had to judge, David looks like a tyrant and the other like a manipulator taking advantage of the situation to make others do things in his stead while pretending to be nice.

"What do you mean? I only wanted to greet the newbie."

David glared at him.

"It's not your business. Don't steal others' subordinates like a fox."

"Don't be so mean, I only wanted to make sure everyone was fine."

He turned to me.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Thomas. What's your name?"

"Scram," David answered.

That is my name.

Pressured by a gangster who was holding a bat, Thomas laughed it off and decided to not anger him further.

"Anyway, Miss, just know that you can join our group anytime if you don't like David. Good evening."

See? I was right again. I knew I should've become a fortune teller.

I nodded.

When Thomas left, David's gaze went back to me.

"You will join the hunting group. Your task is to steal the cards of the foxes; you can steal them, gain the members' trust to betray them or directly beat them up—the means isn't important. You will do so tomorrow. For tonight, keep guard around the building with the others. If you have any question, ask it to them. You can leave now."

I nodded and headed outside, where the other members of the hunting ground were.

While keeping guard, I also learnt that the players in the hunting group had their card safeguarded by the boss (David) so that it didn't enter the enemy's hands even if they were caught or killed.

Then, it was decided who would stay awake at what time and I thought about where the object to hide one's identity could be while night passed by.

It was hard to sleep outside since I am used to beds so I spent more time being awake than asleep.

When the sun rose, we were ordered to begin hunting for cards and I seized that opportunity to search for the object.

However, since food was only distributed to players and I was considered a 'non-player', I hadn't eaten anything since lunch yesterday.

I feel like one day I'll die because of malnutrition, but it'd be better if that didn't actually happen.

I felt somewhat dizzy so I decided to search through the stores in the scenario area for food. In the end, I located a Starbucks and stole a sandwich, not forgetting to cover my face just in case there were cameras.

After I threw away the ingredients I didn't like into a nearby trash bin and finished eating the sandwich, I finally went back to the vipers' camp.

When I came back, I saw people looking at someone from afar and talking among themselves.

"Look, it's the Masked Knight!"

"The one who gathered a lot of cards on his own?"

"But if he's part of the hunting team, isn't he supposed to give these cards to one of the leaders instead of keeping them?"

"No, because he isn't part of the hunting team! He operates individually. With him, our group will definitely win the scenario."

"You're a non-player, why would it matter for you if we won?"

After eavesdropping a little and filtering the unnecessary parts, I understood the situation.

No, the 'Masked Knight'? What is this cringey name?

The person they were looking at indeed wore a mask to hide his face, but still.

Let's see, if he gathered a lot of cards, then…

I turned my gaze to the rankings displaying the top 10 people who had gathered the most cards. As expected, since I didn't even steal any, I didn't appear in it.

While I didn't know most names, the top 4 was both intriguing and alarming.

[1. -Anonymous Player-]

The first one was apparently someone who had hidden their identity.

[2. Player #71571259: David Goliat.]

The second was probably a certain leader of the vipers' group.

[3. -Masked Knight-]

Another anonymous one. I don't know if 'Anonymous Player' is from the chickens' group of from mine, because if it's from mine then it means I'm searching for nothing.

[4. Player #25661354: Thomas Seschire.]

So, except if there are other people called David or Thomas here, my camp is losing. The enemy is already occupying at least three places in the top ten.

I don't have time to waste.

I turned back and decided to search around for that object to hide one's identity some more. If only I knew what it looked like, whether it was already found or if I was searching at the right place, it would be easier. Unfortunately, the second scenario I wrote about in my novel was completely different.

Anyway, even if I don't find it, I still have a way to catch up to the top 10 later. It's just that it would be more troublesome to reveal my real name in the rankings.

When I came back to the vipers' camp once again, there were more guards than before.

From what I heard, they were tightening the security because the cards gathered from the foxes' camp had disappeared.

On the rankings, David the thug had indeed disappeared from the top 10 while the 'Masked Knight' became 2nd.

I don't mean to make any conspiracy theories, but are you sure it's not the Masked Knight who stole them?

Now, instead of putting all the cards unsupervised in one place, they kept them on them.

Actually, this situation is perfect.