Chapter 129: Single-Player Life-or-Death Game
The two of them were still struggling on the stools at first, but as time decreased, their expressions grew increasingly dull, and they eventually stopped moving altogether.
"Can this succeed?" the old gentleman asked with reddened eyes.
Xu Huo kept his eyes fixed on the two. When there were only three minutes left, the waiter and the old lady suddenly went mad, charging forward with the stools still strapped to their backs. He reached out and pressed them back to their original spots, but at that moment, the old lady actually stuck out her tongue and twisted it!
He kicked the stool away in a flash, but before the flying old lady even hit the ground, she exploded into a pool of blood!
His brow furrowed deeply, and Xu Huo simply covered the waiter's mouth.
But just then, the waiter herself stopped counting. The corners of her mouth lifted as if she were smiling, but in the next instant, she too exploded on the spot.
Blood and flesh splattered across his face. Xu Huo stood still for two seconds before wiping his face, then pulled out his dagger and slammed it into the ground. The next moment, the black-and-white boundary line on the floor dial began to ripple, and he was pulled into a pure white space.
The first thing he saw was a suspended black-and-white dial, about a meter in diameter. On the massive dial, a white pointer rested on one of the white grids. At the center was a countdown timer. From the moment he saw the dial, the numbers began counting down, ticking away incessantly.
Xu Huo looked down at himself. His body was intact, his hands and feet could move freely, and he had sensation and perception. But the pure white space amplified all his senses. The only ticking sound kept stacking on itself, creating a subtle illusion of acceleration.
He checked his stopwatch for a few seconds. The time wasn't speeding up.
"I'm fine," he said aloud, speaking to the painting woman outside. "Pinch my hand."
Soon, a sharp pain came from the back of his hand.
Confirming that he had a physical presence in both the pure white space and the outside world, Xu Huo vaguely guessed that this single-player life-or-death game had pulled him into the overlapping area of two spaces. He could see the game space while also perceiving the outside world, but his senses of sight and hearing were covered.
His consciousness and body hadn't separated; he was simply in a strange spatial angle. So items should be usable as normal.
Pacing back and forth in front of the dial a few times, Xu Huo stepped closer and carefully examined the twelve black and white grids.
Half a minute passed, and he still hadn't felt any binding force. Instead, after suppressing the illusion of time rapidly rewinding, even the faint, subtle urge to turn the pointer faded away—this life-or-death game wasn't mandatory.
In other words, as long as one kept their mind steady, there wouldn't be a situation where someone had to use their tongue or fingers to spin the pointer.
Actually, what the shopkeeper had said earlier made some sense. Simply tying someone up wouldn't work. If they were knocked unconscious, would that be a viable method?
But after a brief thought, he abandoned the idea. It wasn't at that point yet.
Besides, there was no guarantee that not spinning the pointer would let them survive, and a fifty-fifty chance wasn't low for him.
Confirming that the stopwatch was still on him, he successfully retrieved the two-color Rubik's Cube from his item slot. The next second, the cube opened, and he reached out to hook the pointer.
The countdown had five minutes left. The pointer rapidly jumped between the black and white grids. Seeing it about to stop, he suddenly reached for the dial, but almost simultaneously, the dial vanished from in front of him, flashing three meters away before reappearing.
It seemed forcibly fixing the pointer on a white grid wouldn't work.
He withdrew his hand and watched as the pointer's speed gradually changed, finally stopping precariously on the edge of a white grid.
The moment the pointer stopped, the dial vanished again, replaced by a massive "1."
Then the white in his vision rapidly receded, his field of view returned, and he was once again standing in the original front hall, though his position had shifted slightly.
Was it that easy to pass?
Was it because of the cube's power?
His eyes regained their vitality, and Xu Huo subconsciously furrowed his brow. He saw the painting woman standing in front of him, while across from them were the shopkeeper and several waitstaff. The two sides were clearly in a standoff.
"They want to steal your stuff!" the painting woman said, turning back to tattle as soon as she saw he was awake, then pointed at the two-color Rubik's Cube in his hand.
The shopkeeper and his group hadn't expected Xu Huo to come out alive, and so quickly at that. The greedy malice froze on their faces.
But Xu Huo ignored them. He put the cube away and said to the painting woman, "I'm going to the back to wash my face."
The painting woman nodded, shot the group a fierce glare, and followed him into the back kitchen.
"Splash, splash!" Water ran in the kitchen. Xu Huo spent a minute cleaning the blood and grime off his face. After washing, he noticed a white bar had appeared on the back of his hand. He rubbed it, but it wouldn't come off.
"Is this the survival count?" he paused.
The game rules announced by the player required at least two accumulations to have a chance to escape. If the other party wasn't lying, then winning one more life-or-death game would let him break free.
Although he had used the cube to land on a white grid the first time, this life-or-death game still felt too simple to him.
This black-and-white dial game didn't restrict players from using items. With items at their disposal, players could easily find loopholes. Setting up such a big life-or-death game couldn't possibly be targeting ordinary people.
Moreover, aside from players, the mortality rate for ordinary people was too high. Logically, with a fifty-fifty chance, there should have been at least one person who had emerged victorious from the game by now.
He subconsciously rubbed his palm, and the smile on the female waiter's face before her death suddenly flashed through his mind.
The painting woman looked at him in confusion and waved her hand in front of his eyes.
"It's nothing," Xu Huo said, taking the employee uniform she handed him. He changed into it and walked out.
The shopkeeper, who had been guarding the door, hurried over to block his path. Without a word, Xu Huo kicked him flying. Without even glancing at the man who had crashed into a row of tables and chairs and was spitting blood, he called for Wang Chaoqing and left.
Wang Chaoqing picked up his computer and stood up, casting a mocking glance at the group. "Idiots."
"Wait a moment!" The old gentleman, who had been sorrowfully clutching his wife's ring, suddenly snapped out of it and chased after Xu Huo and the others. He asked cautiously, "Can I come with you?"
"Sure," Xu Huo nodded. "We're going to find a place to settle down up ahead."
The old gentleman nodded eagerly. "I'll follow wherever you go."
Outside on the square, aside from a few bloodstains, not many people remained. Most were gathered inside the shopping mall. When Xu Huo entered, the people inside thought a rescue team had arrived and rushed forward. But after learning they were just there to rest, they disappointedly retreated.
He swept his gaze over their hands and didn't find a single one with a white bar on the back.
In some corner shops, blood and grime were everywhere.
It seemed those who had entered the life-or-death game had ultimately been pushed to these places.
Xu Huo fell silent for a moment. Just as he was about to leave the mall, three men in camouflage uniforms walked in. Two of them had a white bar on the back of their hands.
The leader stood at the entrance and announced loudly, "From now on, this mall is under our control. Go notify everyone nearby and tell them to gather here!"