Chapter 120: The Man-Eating Ants
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Chen Yu’s roar was like a shot of adrenaline, driving straight into the heart of every member of the Red Team.
But reality was cruel.
The time that followed devolved completely into a tug-of-war between willpower and physical strength.
Sweat, screams, and that nauseating sensation of squirming things formed the entirety of this hell.
On the other side of the transparent wall, the hulking men of the Blue Team relied on their brute, natural strength. Every time they exerted themselves, someone on the Red Team would stagger beneath their feet.
The force on the rope was as heavy as though they were dragging an entire mountain.
“Damn it, the difference in strength is still far too great.”
Chen Yu clenched his teeth, feeling the muscles in his arms beginning to buckle under the strain.
He glanced up at the opening overhead.
Although they were fighting with everything they had, that pitch-black hole was still widening inch by inch, at an excruciatingly slow pace.
Losing was only a matter of time.
Worse still was what lay beneath their feet.
The endless mass of white maggots had already risen above their calves.
With every step, their feet sank deep into that sticky, writhing “carpet.” The revolting sensation was enough to drive any ordinary person into a mental breakdown.
And yet, the creatures had also brought an unexpected “benefit.”
As the maggots piled higher and higher, the disparity between the two teams was no longer as overwhelming as it had been at the beginning.
The hulking men opposite them could no longer exert themselves properly with the ground beneath their feet so unstable, and even walking had become difficult.
Even so, the Red Team remained at a disadvantage.
Chen Yu glanced at the timer on the wall.
[00:20:01]
Only twenty minutes remained.
If this continued, they were certain to lose.
Then, an eerie change occurred.
Rustle... rustle...
The horrifying sound of things pouring down from above suddenly stopped.
The unending rain of maggots came to an abrupt halt.
Everyone instinctively breathed a sigh of relief, their taut nerves granted a brief moment of respite.
But Chen Yu’s heart gave a violent jolt.
Bzzzt—!
The Crisis Warning in his mind not only failed to fade; it seemed to have been infused with high-voltage current, erupting into a scream more frenzied than any before.
Something was wrong!
Terribly wrong!
Everyone else was still immersed in the brief relief brought by the maggots’ sudden halt. Only Chen Yu’s expression had turned deathly grim.
He stared fixedly at the black hole overhead.
As expected!
Barely five seconds later, an even denser, sharper rustling sound emerged from deep within the opening.
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The noise was like thousands upon thousands of steel needles scraping across their eardrums.
Everyone’s heart rose into their throats.
The next second—
A yellow-and-red “waterfall” poured from the opening without warning!
The moment they saw it clearly, their scalps went numb.
These were no longer white maggots, but creatures the size of fingernails, their bodies gleaming with an oily sheen...
Ants!
Yellow-and-red ants with enormous mandibles!
Man-eating ants!
“Argh—!”
This time, the first to scream was one of the hulking men from the neighboring Blue Team.
He was the tallest, and happened to be standing directly beneath the opening, making him the first unlucky victim.
Countless man-eating ants landed on his head and face, immediately beginning to gnaw at him in a frenzy.
He slapped at them like a madman, but the ants seemed to have hooks. They clung desperately to his flesh, biting deep into it.
But that was only the beginning.
No one was spared.
The yellow-and-red swarm poured down like a storm, covering the entire space.
They crawled through people’s hair and collars, burrowing into every crevice and biting down viciously with their razor-sharp mandibles!
“Ah! They’re biting me! They’re biting me!”
“Fuck! It hurts! Get off me!”
“My legs! They’re all over my legs!”
A sharp, stabbing pain instantly spread throughout everyone’s body.
This was completely different from the pure disgust caused by the maggots. This was real pain—searing agony that sank straight into the bone.
Chen Yu felt his scalp prickle. Dozens of burning, needle-sharp pains erupted across his neck and arms.
As he frantically slapped at the ants crawling over him, he roared again.
“If you don’t want to be bitten to death, then pull with everything you’ve got!”
Chaos was an opportunity!
Even amid the agony, Chen Yu’s mind raced.
“Listen to my command this time! Change the rhythm!”
“When I shout ‘one,’ pull on the second beat! Ignore the other side!”
He had to disrupt their rhythm!
Those fools on the Blue Team were accustomed to pulling on every third beat. Now that the man-eating ants had thrown them into disarray, this was the perfect chance to catch them off guard!
“Get ready! Pull!”
Li Qing, standing beside him, instantly understood his intention and shouted at the top of her lungs.
“One!”
Chen Yu’s roar overpowered every other scream.
“Pull—!”
On the Red Team’s side, the pain-tormented contestants had their instinct to survive fully awakened.
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Following Chen Yu’s command, they hurled themselves forward on the second beat!
Hummm!
The taut rope immediately dipped sharply toward the Red Team!
It worked!
Chen Yu looked up and saw that the Blue Team had completely lost its footing.
The agony inflicted by the man-eating ants was far more devastating than the disgust caused by the maggots.
Those hulking men who usually swaggered about were now rolling across the ground, shrieking like damned souls. They had no attention left for the tug-of-war.
Several had already released the rope, clawing frantically at their bodies with both hands. Bloody scratches quickly appeared across their skin.
Their rhythm had been utterly destroyed!
“Keep going!”
“One! Pull!”
“One! Pull!”
Under Chen Yu and Li Qing’s leadership, the Red Team’s rhythm grew faster and more unified.
With every exertion, they could clearly feel the pulling force from the other end of the rope weakening.
The scales of victory began to tip wildly in their favor!
The ever-widening hole overhead stopped growing. Then, for the first time, it began shrinking at astonishing speed.
Everyone saw the light of hope!
The agony continued, but the hope of survival allowed them to forget the pain for the moment.
Mechanically and frantically, they followed Chen Yu’s commands.
Soon, the opening overhead had shrunk to the size of four fingers held tightly together.
With one more push, they could seal the cursed hole completely!
Yet Chen Yu felt no relief whatsoever.
He glanced down.
The white maggots mixed with the yellow-and-red man-eating ants had already engulfed him up to the knees.
Every movement brought the sensation of countless repulsive things writhing, crawling, and gnawing across his legs.
The entire space reeked of a strange mixture of blood and decay.
Roaring the commands, Chen Yu kept his eyes fixed on the timer mounted on the wall.
[00:10:03]
[00:10:02]
[00:10:01]
Soon, only the final ten minutes would remain.
Knowing the habits of that madman, Chen Yu understood that the game’s difficulty would increase at regular intervals.
He knew that during the next ten minutes, something even more terrifying would probably fall from that opening just before it closed.
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