Chapter 133: The Way to Survive
"If you don't spin the pointer, the Life-or-Death Game will be invalid. According to your logic, knocking someone unconscious would work too, wouldn't it?" the tall, burly man in camouflage sneered.
"Unconsciousness doesn't mean loss of action. Under stimulation, they can still wake up. However, whether an unconscious person is included in the game rules is another matter," Xu Huo analyzed calmly. "But if you pass the Life-or-Death Game by being unconscious, can you obtain a survival opportunity?"
"No survival opportunity, you still can't leave the game."
"But this might be a way to survive. This item can't control the city indefinitely."
"Let's grab two people to test it out." Brother Feng thought briefly and then said. The tall, thin man in camouflage immediately went to drag someone over.
This time, the man in the peaked cap forcefully intervened. "Since there's a feasible method, why use others for experiments? I'll..."
Before he could finish his sentence, he was grabbed by the neck and lifted up. The tall, thin man in camouflage had a sinister expression. "Who the hell wants to stay obediently in the game? We want survival opportunities!"
"If you don't spin the wheel, there won't be any survival opportunities," Xu Huo spoke up.
Brother Feng, however, revealed a smile. "How do you know without trying?"
"Brother..." Wang Chaoqing suddenly came up behind Xu Huo and handed him his phone. "Look at this."
"Look at what!" The tall, burly man in camouflage snatched the phone. On it was a government news broadcast, which had released information stating that someone had survived a Life-or-Death Game without spinning the pointer. Therefore, the government urged the public not to touch the pointers, to stay put in multi-player Life-or-Death Games, and to wait for rescue.
"Brother Feng, it seems like not spinning really doesn't give you a survival opportunity." He threw the phone back.
Xu Huo caught it, minimized the video interface, and saw the text in the memo behind it.
"There's a woman on the eighteenth floor of the skyscraper. Although she's dressed like a man, I could tell at a glance she's a woman."
"She has a pocket watch that can hypnotize. I saw her telling those trapped people to jump off the building, and they really lined up and jumped one by one!"
"It's terrifying. The ground below the skyscraper is now covered in corpses. When I left, quite a few players and special forces had gone in."
Xu Huo quickly scanned these lines, returned the phone to him, and then said to Brother Feng, "Actually, there's another possibility."
The three of them, led by Brother Feng, all turned their heads.
"The name of this item is 'Seeking Death Over Life.' Earlier, that old gentleman entered the Life-or-Death Game with the determination to die, but in the end, he landed on a white square."
"Doesn't that mean the less afraid of death a person is, the higher the chance of landing on a white square?"
Facing their skeptical gazes, Xu Huo calmly explained, "Previously, those caught in the Life-or-Death Game, whether tied up or pressed down, would still spin the pointer in the end, terrified of death to the point of madness, unable to even stay calm, let alone have the ability to control themselves from not spinning the wheel."
"It's the complete opposite of that old gentleman."
"What this kid says makes sense." The tall, thin man in camouflage had already released the man in the peaked cap. He said, "Looking at the item's name now, it really does seem to have some meaning."
Brother Feng thought for a moment before looking at Xu Huo. "You failed that last round."
"This is just one possibility to increase the success rate, not a guarantee of one hundred percent success," Xu Huo said. "I can try again in the next round."
Brother Feng didn't agree this time, however. He said, "This round isn't your turn. Switch people."
As soon as he said to switch people, everyone in the wheel shrank back.
The other wheels had already killed two or three people. They were still safe only because others were blocking the front. So now someone said, "Young man, you're so capable. You're sure to find a way for others to survive. Help us old folks out."
"You might still come out alive if you go in, but we'll definitely die!"
An old woman, with tears and snot streaming down her face, grabbed Xu Huo's hand.
"Ma'am, I might die if I go in too," Xu Huo said.
"But you have the skill..." the old woman said. "My son isn't married yet. I don't want to die here."
"Whether I have skill or not has nothing to do with you, ma'am." Xu Huo pulled his hand away. "Look behind you. There are so many children. If you're in front, they might survive."
"But those aren't my children!" the old woman said excitedly. "Why should I die for them?"
"Then why should my brother die for you?" Wang Chaoqing spat. "You're old, but your face is pretty thick. Can't you learn from the old gentleman in front of you?"
The old woman's face changed color. Her lips trembling, she was about to say something else, but Xu Huo pointed at the ground and said, "Everyone only has one life. Let the game decide. Whichever square it stops on is the one."
The old woman jumped back as if burned, nimbly ducking into the crowd and hiding behind someone else.
There was no anger on Xu Huo's face. He reached out and wiped the snot that had gotten on Wang Chaoqing's back.
Wang Chaoqing glared at him sideways.
"People," Brother Feng spoke up at this moment. "Most people being eliminated by evolution makes sense."
"I agree with what you said. Don't waste time." He pointed at the man in the peaked cap. "This time, you go."
The man in the peaked cap was stunned for a moment and instinctively looked at Xu Huo.
Xu Huo nodded at him. "You have one survival opportunity. You won't die. What's there to be afraid of?"
The man in the peaked cap thought about it and figured it was true, so he puffed out his chest and stood in the circle.
He remained calm for the first few minutes, but his expression gradually changed. Especially in the last two minutes, his limbs took on a strange posture, as if he were tied up, with only the soles of his feet frantically shuffling on the ground.
"This one's done for." The tall, burly man in camouflage crossed his arms and sneered. "He was jumping around so much earlier, I actually thought he wasn't afraid of death."
A few seconds later, the man in the peaked cap regained consciousness. The white bar on the back of his hand had disappeared.
He hung his head in shame, silently stood up, and walked to the side. The female player beside him cast a comforting glance his way.
Having already lost two survival opportunities, Brother Feng stopped using survival opportunities for attempts and began making others take turns entering the Life-or-Death Game.
Unsurprisingly, the next seven or eight people all died.
Noticing that the tall, burly man in camouflage was secretly counting the number of dead, Xu Huo stopped someone who had voluntarily stepped forward. "This time, I'll go."
Brother Feng gestured for him to go ahead.
Xu Huo stood in the circle and quickly entered the pure white space.
The space hadn't changed, but this time, the pointer was white again.
There were enough people in the mall. With someone taking the lead, the others quickly caught on. Some who could maintain their calm imitated the old gentleman, loudly shouting out the information they saw, hoping to leave a way out for their relatives or children.
Among all the information, the space and the wheel were fixed. There was only one variable: the pointer.
Black and white represented death and life. Both he and the old gentleman had obtained survival opportunities under the white pointer. He had also asked the man in the peaked cap and the female player, and they had seen the same white pointer.
This same situation repeating itself couldn't be a coincidence. So, any Life-or-Death Game where a survival opportunity could be obtained was very likely to have a white pointer.
But he didn't think that having a white pointer guaranteed landing on a white square. Or rather, even if you landed on a white square, it didn't necessarily mean you would survive.
In a multi-player Life-or-Death Game, if no one voluntarily entered the game, the game would indiscriminately kill people according to its own rules, regardless of black or white.
The item name "Seeking Death Over Life" might have some direction, but it didn't mean that not fearing death would guarantee survival. Looking at the countdown before him, he reached for the pointer.