Soulless Players

Chapter 7: Colors

The orange light coming from the sky dimmed and slowly changed into the colors of white and black, and the forest, which should have been filled with greenery, now turned dark and shady.

Steve stood alone in the nearby small village, holding a lantern in his hand. After Philip escaped from his house, he left the forest and stayed in the village, waiting for his men to come with news.

He chose this place to wait as it was the only way for someone to exit from the forest. If Philip wanted to escape, Philip had no choice but to pass through where he was standing.

Both the village and the forest were situated in a mountainous region, with cliffs, waterfalls, and valleys surrounding them. This was the reason behind Steve's confidence, as only death would await Philip if he chose to leave other than this village.

Moonlight shone towards Steve's face as he stared at the woodland in front of him. It has been an hour yet not even a single small shadow managed to come out from it.

When Steve was about to become impatient, his men arrived with dejected faces.

Upon seeing this look, Steve sensed an intense foreboding and asked, "What happened?"

The muscular man stepped forward and answered with his head faced down, looking ashamed, "We can't find him." He then explained what had transpired earlier, including the clothes and the bear trap embedded in the tree trunk.

After hearing this, Steve's face became ashen. He instantly guessed what exactly had happened, 'It was a diversion.'

Philip's small stature was both an advantage and a disadvantage, but more on the latter. However if used well with the right approach, its advantage could overcome the huge margin between the two, becoming a powerful weapon to its possessor.

Steve rubbed his fingers against the lantern's handle, deep in thought. His understanding of Philip had once again deepened.

At first, after knowing his deeds in the capital, Steve felt nothing but admiration for him. At four years old, when he was still acting like a real child, Philip had already entered the battlefield, defeating a hidden government force all by himself.

This action of Philip brought hope to Steve, a hope that he could also defeat the other players who were stronger than him. In his head, 'If Philip could do it despite being four, why could he not?'

After that, he steeled his mind, stopped acting like a baby, and started working on getting stronger.

Time went by and one day, he finally received an intel about his location. Steve immediately jumped in excitement. It took him four long years to find him!

Steve obviously had expectations for his idol. Even though both of them were destined to become enemies, it still didn't stop him from looking up to Philip.

He used Philip as a benchmark, and only once he defeated this benchmark would he have the confidence to defeat other players.

However, after learning about Philip's current life, his world instantly crashed. 'Why is he hiding in that damn forest!?'

Steve's mind was in a mess, his expectations for his idol were utterly destroyed.

'Where is the man that I've been looking up to? Why is he not fighting and killing other players?' Steve thought disappointingly.

Steve could not believe how Philip ended up becoming like this!

In anger, he traveled all the way here to meet him. If the intel was wrong, he would only quietly observe him and leave. When he is strong enough, he will come back and defeat him personally.

However, if the report was indeed correct, that he was truly living a life in cowardice, he would make sure to be the one to end his life, right there and then.

'It was the price of breaking my expectations,' declared Steve.

And when he arrived at the village a few weeks ago and saw Philip delivering lumber to the neighborhood, it was then he confirmed the truth.

'Ah, he's drunk from the peacefulness brought by the fake world.'

Steve became angry at this. They have their own fates to overcome yet here he was, living as if part of the world.

In fact, aside from admiration, Steve also felt an insurmountable envy towards him.

The truth is, Steve was a product of a happy ending book, with a target market of teenage girls and audiences who like dog-blooded drama.

Steve was envious of Philip's experience in fighting and his past life. After knowing his deed four years ago, he somehow understood that Philip was a combatant main character, unlike him who was just a character created for comedy and pastime.

When he determined that Philip's growth was stagnant for years, he thought he could defeat this coward. But alas, reality hit hard. He still can't, especially when Philip could still escape from his grasp.

Steve could not accept this defeat! He deserved better than the lazy one.

'I still don't know what power he possessed.' Steve mulled while walking in circles, 'Even though I'm sure he will soon pass through this village…'

Steve felt the need to be aggressive in his approach. He knew that compared to a combatant player, he was still behind both in experience and power.

Let's go all in…

He gave the forest a glance then bowed his head. While looking at the thing in his hand, he ordered,

"Proceed to Plan C."

After hearing this, the men trembled, worried and horrified. The plan was dangerous and immoral, and a single mistake might cost their lives.

Seeing this slight hesitation, Steve raised three of his fingers and offered, "I'll triple your pay. Just catch him for me."

The men instantly became encouraged. In their minds, as long as they were careful, they might succeed and earn enough for retirement. As for the plan being immoral, well, they were evil people to begin with, what's wrong with one more sin?

Steve watched them make their preparations and leave.

He looked at the forest again, but unlike earlier, his hand now held nothing.

***

After crawling his way out from the entrapment, Philip could be seen running towards the village.

His priority now was to escape because with his body he could not see any way of winning this fight. Also, for fairness, he needed information about his enemy.

He was sure the child had seen him in the past and knew a lot about him. As for him, today was his first meeting and only the child's face and manpower were known.

That was why the best course of action now was to retreat.

As for revenge, he can do it later. Anyway, time is on his side.

In the sloping area of the forest, he looked down and observed the village nearby. He saw the child standing, obviously waiting for him.

In addition, he also watched his men forming a barricade between the woodlands and the village.

Upon seeing this, Philip frowned and thought he was cornered again.

"Hehehe…" Philip let out a moronic laugh and whispered, "You think this will work on me? I don't think so."

Yes, it was true that the village was the only entrance and exit of the forest. But that was only the case for a person traveling with safety in his mind. For more dangerous routes, obviously, there were many.

Philip rolled his eyes and ran back deep inside the forest, however, this time he was moving much slower pace than before.

After running for almost an hour, Philip began to get exhausted. With his eight-year-old body, this was actually bound to happen.

Additionally, coupled with the mental distress he experienced earlier, Philip's strength started to get weaker as time passed. The only thing that kept him from moving was his willpower and desire for revenge.

The dark night wasn't of a help either. With no torch and other sources of light, the forest was the worst place to get lost into.

Good thing the moon was bright enough for him to see half of his surroundings. He could at least rely on the moonlight and on his knowledge of the forest topography to escape.

However, as he continued to run, he sniffed something familiar on the way.

At first, Philip had a hard time telling what the smell was, however as the familiarity kept on pushing through his nose and lungs, he stopped and gave himself the time to think.

Strangely, he felt an immense amount of ominous energy around, it was like death was coming on his way.

'Right, the smell of death…' thought Philip.

Upon realizing this, Philip's eyes widened in an instant. He quickly ran towards the source of the smell.

It was then, for the first time in this chase, he felt that he was cornered.

Because, before his eyes, he saw the forest turning into a new color.

A color that should not be associated with a woodland environment.

-Red.