Chapter 44: Zhang Shan
The once orderly team disintegrated almost instantly as everyone scattered and fled, but the black bear only chased after Little Glasses.
"It's over, it's over, it's over..." Little Glasses muttered in despair, stumbling around the room. "Mom... I'm really going to die this time..."
Within ten steps, the black bear had already cornered Little Glasses against the wall.
Little Glasses's legs completely gave out, and he collapsed to the floor, unable to move an inch.
Leaning against the wall, he turned his head and saw an extremely terrifying black face filling his entire field of vision.
Ugly, hideous, reeking of filth.
The black bear extended its nose and sniffed Little Glasses's face.
Little Glasses's face was pale, his eyes vacant as he stared ahead. Even when the bear brought its mouth close to his neck, he didn't dare to move.
"Mom..." Little Glasses murmured. "I'm not coming back... Mom... don't wait for me..."
The black bear opened its foul-smelling mouth. Just as it was about to bite down, Qiao Jiajin, who was lying on the ground, suddenly shouted.
"Hey!! Time's up!! Damn it!! Are you gonna cheat?! No more killing!"
Everyone turned to look. The electronic clock on the wall had indeed finished its countdown and stopped at "0."
The next second, the iron door in the distance suddenly opened, and the black bear shuddered.
Then, a powerful suction force erupted from the iron door. The black bear, like a fluttering piece of paper, let out a painful howl before being rapidly pulled into the door by something invisible.
The game was over.
They had survived.
"I-It's over..." a girl said tremblingly a few minutes later. "The black bear is gone..."
The girls slowly stood up, hugging each other and weeping tears of joy.
Little Glasses seemed scared stiff; he could only sit on the floor, gasping for breath.
"Damn..." Qiao Jiajin stretched his aching body, holding his stomach with a weary look on his face. "That was tough, Conman. Thanks to your 'Eagle Catching Chickens.'"
Qi Xia stood up and said nothing, but his expression was worried.
"What's wrong?" Qiao Jiajin asked.
"Do you think..." Qi Xia began, "they made it?"
"They..."
Qiao Jiajin naturally knew Qi Xia was referring to Tiantian and Lin Qin, but he didn't dare to speculate blindly.
Who knew what had happened in the other room?
Had they been chased by a black bear too?
Had their teammates been able to unite and come up with an "Eagle Catching Chickens" strategy?
Everyone turned around and saw that the staircase they had come from had reappeared behind them.
"Don't overthink it. Let's go check on them." Qiao Jiajin patted Qi Xia on the shoulder. "Let's go."
Lao Lü helped Little Glasses up, and the group supported each other as they slowly climbed the stairs, returning to the room with the chairs.
Bullhead stood there quietly, waiting for their "triumphant return."
"Nine survivors?" Bullhead paused slightly. "Not bad."
"Damn it all..." Qiao Jiajin muttered under his breath. "One day I'm going to beat these guys up."
"Please wait a moment. The people from the other room haven't returned yet." Bullhead waved his hand, gesturing for them to sit.
The group didn't stand on ceremony and took their seats. After their narrow escape, nothing here seemed scarier than that black bear.
After waiting for about two minutes, Qiao Jiajin grew restless.
"Hey, Old Ox. Isn't their game over yet?"
"You both started at the same time, so both should be over now. But they haven't returned yet."
"What..." Qi Xia frowned, feeling a headache coming on. He quickly pressed his hand to his forehead and asked the minotaur, "If the game is over but no one comes back, doesn't that mean they're all dead...?"
"I don't know." The minotaur shook its head. "Please sit tight. Don't worry."
Easy to say, but who could actually stay calm? The teams had been randomly split, meaning almost everyone present had a teammate in the other group.
Qi Xia turned his head and saw Little Glasses sitting not far in front of him, whispering something to a middle-aged man beside him.
"What?! How can that be?" the middle-aged man exclaimed.
Little Glasses quickly waved him off and explained a few more words in a low voice.
"No, no, I don't agree!" The middle-aged man shook his head like a rattle. "Absolutely not."
Then he turned his head and met Qi Xia's gaze, but immediately looked away as if he hadn't seen anything. He continued speaking in a hushed tone: "If that's the case, I'll have Zhang Shan settle this for me!"
"Heh." Qi Xia let out a cold laugh, roughly guessing the content of their conversation.
After waiting for a full five or six minutes, everyone finally heard a heavy footstep emerging from a door on the side.
"They're coming..."
After this footstep, many more followed.
It sounded like this team had a decent number of survivors too.
A large man slowly emerged from the pitch-black doorway. His face was stern, and he quickly scanned the group, a faint smile creeping onto his face: "Damn... you're all alive?"
"Zhang Shan! Zhang Shan!" Little Glasses rushed over excitedly. "Great! You're okay... Holy crap!!!"
Little Glasses yelled and quickly stepped back.
The scene before him was truly horrifying.
This man named Zhang Shan had been standing in the shadows earlier, so they couldn't see him clearly. But as he walked into the light, his shocking wounds were fully revealed.
He was covered in blood, with three deep claw marks across his chest. His right arm was clamped under two black things that looked like thick tree branches.
Tiantian and Lin Qin also gradually emerged from the door.
"Pretty girls!" Qiao Jiajin looked them over. "Are you two okay?"
"We're fine..." Tiantian smiled bitterly. "How about you guys?"
"Same old." Qiao Jiajin shook his head helplessly. "Thanks to the Conman's idea, we survived."
"Huh?" Tiantian looked at Qi Xia in disbelief. "This game too? You came up with something?"
Lin Qin also found it hard to believe: "Qiao Jiajin, didn't you say you'd handle the 'bovine' games yourself?"
"Damn, forget it..." Qiao Jiajin cursed. "If the opponent had been human, it would be one thing. But that was a black bear! Who in the world can beat a black bear?"
Tiantian and Lin Qin exchanged glances, then spoke with some reluctance: "Maybe... someone actually can kill a bear..."
Hearing this, Qi Xia and Qiao Jiajin looked at the muscular man named Zhang Shan.
Had he... killed a bear?
More teammates kept emerging from behind him. They counted, and there were exactly ten.
Clearly, no one in their team had died.
Zhang Shan tossed the two things under his arm onto the ground, then sat down wearily in a chair. "Damn, Old Ox, you really went all out, huh? Got yourself a 'bear' and everything?"
Everyone looked down and saw that what he had thrown on the ground weren't tree branches at all, but two bloody black bear forelimbs.