Chapter 865: Three-Color Competition
"Fifty people..." The one being beaten was a young man, his mouth full of blood. He didn't dare to look directly at the player who had hit him, only pleading softly, "Everything I said is the truth, please don't kill me..."
As he said this, several people around them unconsciously took a few steps back.
This scene caused the attacking player to unconsciously relax his grip a little.
"What's going on?" Xiao Xianglin said. "It seems like there are rules that only we players don't know about."
Xu Huo shook his head, indicating he didn't know.
In fact, this was almost obvious.
Participating in this show were players and ordinary people. Perhaps some players were aiming to settle down in Sea World. For players, reducing competition would be easy, but the non-players present didn't see this as a primary threat, indicating that the show had relevant restrictions—players couldn't just kill people as they pleased.
The main content of the show "Hello and Goodbye" was the three-color competition and subsequent task completion. The most important selection step required cooperation between both parties, which had nothing to do with personal identity. Since non-players and players were competing together, the task content might also be adjusted according to both sides' abilities.
"Time's up!" The host's voice rang out again. "All 381 guests participating in the show have received their numbers. Next, please look at the bottom of your screens. The number that appears after the five-second countdown will be your teammate. Five, four, three, two, one!"
Xu Huo looked at the two lines of numbers on the projection screen in front of him. The top one, 313, was his number, and the bottom one, 64, was his teammate's number.
"You're 313, what a pity." Xiao Xianglin was 340, matched with teammate 117. He waved at Xu Huo. "I'm going to find my person."
The two entered the crowd one after another, crossing the square according to the arrow indicators on the projection screen.
Just as he approached the center of the square, several people gathered around a man, somewhat enviously congratulating him on getting a bye this round.
With 381 people, pairing up in teams of two would leave one person. This person wouldn't get a teammate in the first round and could only substitute in during the second round when someone from another group died.
In other words, this person could get through the first round without experiencing any danger.
Xu Huo detoured around these people.
But in just two or three seconds, a faint tearing sound came from behind. He turned around and saw the man who had gotten the bye with blood spurting from his neck. He didn't even have time to raise his hand to cover the wound before he fell dead.
As soon as he hit the ground, the people gathered around him quickly scattered, warily looking for the attacker. Less than ten meters away from them, a white square on the square floor suddenly dropped, and a player, along with several ordinary people standing beside him, fell down!
If it were a normal fall, the player could handle it, but after the floor opened, there seemed to be a gravitational force underground. Not only did it suck in everyone directly above, but it also pulled down a person at the edge who slipped and had one foot dangling.
After the people fell, the floor closed again. Starting from the incident site, the white squares on the square floor began to turn transparent one by one, allowing everyone to see the situation below.
It turned out that directly beneath the square was an ocean. The ordinary people who fell in didn't even have time to struggle before they were surrounded and torn apart by a swarm of piranhas. As blood spread, only the player managed to escape. He distanced himself from the piranha school and tried to break through the floor to return to the surface, but even after switching several items, he only left a few cracks on the floor.
"It's been so long since I hosted this show that I forgot to remind all guests of an important matter." The host appeared with a smile. "Everyone here has the potential to become friends. As someone who wants to gain friendship, how could you kill your future friends?"
"Moreover, this goes against the spirit of shared friendship in Sea World."
"Those who don't respect friendship naturally won't receive friendship. Therefore, Friendship Garden will, on behalf of Sea World, expel those who will never gain friendship."
"Bang! Bang! Bang!" The player underwater was frantically pounding the floor. During a gap in his defense, piranhas had already bitten wounds on his body. The spreading blood and the vibrations from his pounding seemed to resonate with some creature underwater. Accompanied by a strange low hum, a shadow slowly rose from the depths.
Judging by its size, it was at least ten meters long, and it hadn't fully revealed its body yet.
The watching participants were startled into repeatedly stepping back. The player underwater, seeing the abnormality of the people above, also looked down, but the next second, he was slammed against the floor by a strange force, and his exposed skin instantly became covered with capillary-like fine red lines!
The square floor trembled along with the movement.
The shadow, which had simply swayed its body, sank again. The player floated against the floor, and a few seconds later, blood seeped from his mouth, nose, and ears, with faint blood mist drifting from his body.
The piranha swarm, having finished off the others, surged to the player and dragged the corpse into the deep water.
The floor's light shifted, and it returned to its previous milky white.
Xu Huo looked up at the host. The clear projection fully displayed the subtle expressions on the host's face. He sighed with pleasure, "What difference is there between living and dying for someone without friendship?"
Thunderous applause erupted from outside the venue.
Xu Huo squinted. This wasn't just "expelling" those who broke the rules—it was also "collective punishment" for those nearby. At least, he didn't see any sign that these so-called "friendship sharers" wanted to gain the friendship of "potential future friends."
"Can I ask a question?" The female player Zhuang Mengtian raised her hand.
"So it's a beautiful lady," the host made a gentlemanly bow. "Please, go ahead."
"If an expelled player manages to come back up alive, will they be expelled a second time?" Zhuang Mengtian asked.
"If you no longer destroy friendship, we certainly welcome you to stay." The host smiled.
Hearing this affirmative answer, many players showed a slight look of relief, and some secretly tested the hardness of the floor.
"We just lost six guests. Guests who have lost their teammates will be automatically matched." The host steered the topic back to the show. "Now, look at the central big screen. The system will randomly select the first group of guests!"
The numbers flashed and stopped at "164" and "73."
A few seconds later, two ordinary people walked out from the crowd, standing on the left and right sides of the big screen.
The big screen then turned milky white. Without the other party being able to see, three projection spheres—black, white, and yellow—appeared in front of each of them.
"As the first pair of guests who might give birth to friendship today, they have three minutes to choose whether to make the other their friend." The host's voice surrounded the square in 360 degrees. "So, will they choose the yellow sphere to share hardship with the other, or the white sphere to show goodwill to the other, or the black sphere to end this friendship while also ending the other's life?"
(Chapter End)