The three walked towards the agreed-upon meeting point, where not only their teammates but also the 10 people from the Song Dynasty area were waiting, seemingly for them to arrive.
After seeing everyone had gathered, Xu Ke had a staff member push over a lottery box and then explained the subsequent rules.
“The box in front of you is for drawing lots; it contains 5 slips for the Qin Dynasty and 5 for the Song Dynasty. Whichever you draw is the dynasty you will go to. Now, please, those who successfully revived, come up one by one to draw lots.”
No sooner had he finished speaking than dissatisfied voices came from the front. A group of people led by Jia Nailiang spoke out, saying that since they couldn't revive anyway, they might as well do what they could.
“Director, you really love grouping people, don't you? Grouping before revival, grouping after revival. Can't you just put everyone together?”
“No. If you want to get off work early, hurry up and draw your lots. Don't say so much unnecessary stuff.” Xu Ke used his trump card; he had his own way of dealing with these people, and surely no one wanted to finish work late.
Indeed, when it came to getting off work, those protesting words instantly disappeared. Instead, they urged Yi Xing and the others to speed up, so they could be grouped quickly and get into the game.
The final team groupings were:
Qin Dynasty: Yi Xing, Tian Liang, Zhang Liang, Ju Jingyi, Jia Ling.
Song Dynasty: Huang Xiaoming, Pan Binglong, Chen Ou, Ada Choi, Zhang Xinyu.
Before entering the game, Yi Xing had a question for the director.
“Hey, Director, this grouping of ours, are we still in a competitive state?”
“No, you are in a cooperative relationship. The male and female protagonists are currently in different time and space, and you need to help them meet as soon as possible.”
“OK, understood.”
Hearing that it wasn't a competitive relationship, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. The transition from teammate to opponent wasn't something everyone could accept. They quickly headed towards their respective game areas, trying to minimize unnecessary time in between to get off work early.
After everyone arrived at their areas, the final mission for the Ultimate Acceleration Race was sent out.
“The time-space war vehicle carrying 30 hunters has arrived. Before the countdown reaches 5 minutes, 30 hunters will be released, with 15 entering each of the Qin and Song Dynasty areas.”
“To prevent the hunters from being released, you must make the male protagonist Wang Yi in the Qin Dynasty's Bai Manor and the female protagonist Bai Ruo in the Song Dynasty's Zhao Residence meet after their time travel, and place both their hairpins into the control device in front of the time-space war vehicle located in the central room.”
“No way, not again! Another 30 hunters. Do you have some obsession with this number? It's always 30.”
After reading the mission, Yi Xing was completely distraught. With more than a dozen hunters in such a small area, he almost had no way to survive when there were only 7 hunters in the revival round. Now it had doubled, making it impossible to enjoy the game.
“You'll have to ask the director about that. The missions and everything are arranged by him; it has nothing to do with us.”
“I'll go ask him after the recording ends!”
Of course, he was just saying that. After it ended, he wouldn't actually go question Xu Ke; it was all for the show's effect.
After complaining a bit, his state quickly shifted to mission-doing mode. Aside from the revival mission, this was the first mission they were doing, so he had to perform well and contribute to the team.
Tian Liang, also in the Qin Dynasty, rushed to the mission location as soon as he saw it. He quickly found the man staring blankly at a hairpin in the Bai Manor, stepped forward, cupped his hands, and asked, “May I ask if you are Wang Yi?”
“I am. May I ask who you are, sir?”
“I was sent by Bai Ruo. She asked me to bring you to meet her.”
“Is what you said true?” Wang Yi frowned, a bit suspicious of the other party's words.
“Absolutely true. Won't we know if we just go?”
“But…”
At the same time, in the Song Dynasty, Huang Xiaoming and Chen Ou also found Bai Ruo, explained their purpose to her, and were taking her on the way to meet him.
But someone wouldn't let things go so smoothly and issued an urgent notice with a flick of his finger.
“The time-space travel gate in the Song Dynasty has lost power and stopped operating. To allow Wang Yi and Bai Ruo to meet, the time-space travel gate needs to be restarted. The battery for the travel gate has been placed in a bamboo basket in the Qin Dynasty Market.”
“Qin Dynasty teammates must find the battery and transmit it to the Song Dynasty via the Qin Dynasty's idol. Song Dynasty teammates need to retrieve the battery from the Song Dynasty's idol and place it into the time-space travel gate to restore power, allowing the male and female protagonists to travel and meet.”
“Then place both their hairpins into the control device in front of the time-space war vehicle to prevent hunters from being released in one of the dynasties.”
“No, you guys are trying to stir up trouble with this mission, aren't you? No matter the outcome, one dynasty will definitely have 15 hunters enter.”
Ever since Yi Xing started complaining, he couldn't stop. The staff members beside him didn't even dare to look him in the eye, fearing they might accidentally get caught in the crossfire.
Seeing that no one was paying attention to him, it was meaningless for him to talk to himself. He happened to be in the Market, but there were too many stalls, and almost every stall had a bamboo basket. He had no choice but to search them one by one, greatly delaying his mission progress.
But the hunters in both dynasties wouldn't stop their pursuit. In a short while, his phone on his arm rang three times, but he didn't have time to see who had been eliminated. The top priority was to find the battery.
After flipping through at least a dozen bamboo baskets, he finally found the crucial battery. Only then did he take a moment to check the messages. Seeing that Zhang Xinyu, Ada Choi, and Zhang Liang had been caught, with 7 people remaining, he involuntarily quickened his pace.
He arrived in front of the statue, placed the battery inside, and the rest was no longer his concern. Now, he just needed to find a place to hide and patiently wait for news. Before the emergency notice was even issued, he already knew that Tian Liang had found Wang Yi and was on his way to the portal.
He had a hundred percent trust in Tian Liang's mission-doing ability; this was his faith in an Olympic champion.
As for where Ju Jingyi and Jia Ling went, probably only they themselves knew. Two people who couldn't read a map stayed together, sometimes going left, sometimes going right, and after walking for a long time, they were still circling in place.
The arrival of the hunters immediately flustered the two, and they ran in different directions. Because Jia Ling ran slowly, she unfortunately became the fourth member to be caught.
And Ju Jingyi, by accident, ran to where Yi Xing was hiding. She didn't know if this was due to some tacit understanding between them or something else.
“Xiao Ju, over here.”
From Yi Xing's perspective, he could see a girl turning her head left, then right, and even looking up at the ceiling to find the source of the sound.
Her cute appearance made him a little amused and helpless. He walked out from the corner and called out to her again.
Only then did the other party notice his presence and walk over. The two returned to the corner, which was pitch black. Fortunately, the camera had a lighting function, otherwise, even their faces wouldn't be clear.