Chapter 121: Despair
Three fingers!
Chen Yu stared intently at the wriggling hole above his head. Now, it was only the width of three fingers pressed together.
Victory was within reach.
[Damn it, just a little more!]
He swore under his breath; the muscles in his arms were so sore they were nearly numb. In desperate situations, the weak often unleash a resilience far more terrifying than the strong. Because they have nowhere left to retreat, with a bottomless abyss at their backs, they have no choice but to fight for their lives.
Across the transparent wall, the muscular men of the Blue Team were currently being tormented by man-eating ants, howling in agony. Some were rolling on the ground, others were frantically tearing at their own clothes; their formation had long since collapsed into chaos.
In contrast, the Red Team, though also covered in man-eating ants and grimacing in pain, had been forged into a single unit by their sheer desire to survive. Under the leadership of Chen Yu and Li Qing, they displayed astonishing discipline, clawing their way back from a disadvantage.
The scales of victory were tilting wildly in their favor.
Yet, would that perverted game designer really let them win so easily?
Chen Yu did not feel even a moment of relief.
Sure enough, those idiots on the other side had finally found a leader amidst their confusion. A burly, bald man with a thick-necked face, enduring intense pain, began to imitate Chen Yu’s cadence.
"One! Two! Pull!"
The savage roar echoed through the Blue Team's cage. Although their rhythm was a mess, they used their absolute advantage in physical strength to halt their collapse.
The tension on the rope grew heavy once again.
The Red Team, having just seen a glimmer of hope, felt their hearts sink.
Just then, the waterfall of man-eating ants descending from above stopped once more. The entire space fell silent, save for the gasps and wails of the people and the sound of the insect swarm writhing beneath their feet.
But this time, no one was naive enough to think this was a merciful respite. Every heart hammered against their ribs as they stared at the hole above, which was on the verge of closing. They knew the next ten minutes would be the final, most terrifying stretch of this hellish game.
*Hum—!*
The "Crisis Warning" in Chen Yu’s mind let out the most violent buzzing it had ever produced!
[Damn it! The big one is coming!]
He didn't even have time to think.
*Tap... tap-tap... tap-tap-tap...*
A clear, rhythmic tapping sound came from the other side of the hole. The sound was not loud, but it carried a chilling, heart-stopping intensity. It did not sound like the wriggling of insects, but rather like some kind of arthropod using its hard claws to scuttle through a metal pipe.
Judging by the sound, whatever was about to fall was much larger than the maggots and ants from before.
On the wall, the scarlet numbers of the timer ticked down mercilessly.
[00:09:55]
The final ten minutes had begun.
The next second, the black "rainstorm" arrived on cue.
It was no longer white or yellow-red, but a deluge of ink-black things pouring down from the three-finger-wide gap like a waterfall! They were small, roughly the size of a palm, but each one possessed a pair of massive pincers and a raised, high-arching tail stinger that glinted with a cold light!
Scorpions!
They were pitch-black scorpions!
"Ah—!!!"
This time, the screaming did not distinguish between Red Team or Blue Team; it echoed throughout the entire underground space. A woman from the Red Team, overcome by terror, instinctively let go of the rope and collapsed to the ground, instantly covered by even more insects.
A scorpion landed squarely on her face. Without hesitation, its black tail stinger plunged deep into her cheek!
"Ah! My face! My face!"
The woman let out a heart-wrenching scream, her hands clawing frantically at her face, but the scorpion seemed rooted in her flesh, impossible to shake off.
Panic exploded across the entire area. These scorpions were completely different from the maggots and man-eating ants. They brought the purest form of terror—the fear of death!
Would you die if you were stung? No one knew, and the unknown was the most terrifying thing of all.
Chen Yu felt his scalp prickle. *Damn it! This has really gone off the rails!*
He instinctively turned to look at Li Qing beside him. At just one glance, his eyes turned bloodshot. Li Qing’s pure, beautiful face was now covered in blood and dirt, with a few man-eating ants still clinging to her hair. A black scorpion was crawling toward her fair collarbone!
In that instant, every string in Chen Yu’s mind snapped.
To hell with the game, to hell with the rules! He only knew that he could not let this woman die here!
He didn't even have time to think; his body reacted before his mind. He lunged out, grabbed the scorpion crawling toward Li Qing’s collarbone, and squeezed with all his might!
*Squelch!*
Black-green fluid, mixed with the sound of a chitinous shell shattering, exploded in his palm. A piercing, agonizing pain shot through his hand. The scorpion’s stinger had plunged deep into his palm the very second before he crushed it.
"Chen Yu!" Li Qing gasped, her eyes filled with worry and anxiety as she looked at his instantly swelling hand.
"Don't worry about me!" Chen Yu gasped in pain, but his eyes became exceptionally fierce. He looked at Li Qing’s blood-stained yet stubborn face, at her body trembling from the pain. An unprecedented fury and murderous intent surged from the depths of his soul.
He was going to end this! Right now! Immediately!
"Listen to me, all of you!"
Chen Yu’s voice was no longer a shout; it was low, a deep, guttural roar like a beast cornered.
"Now! We give it everything we've got!"
He leaned into the ears of the few who still maintained their sanity, whispering in a voice only they could hear.
"We are going to end this shitty game in the shortest time possible! Otherwise, everyone on both sides is going to be stung to death by these monsters!"
"Follow my command! Change the rhythm!"
His eyes burned with a manic light.
"We go: one, pull! Then: one, two, pull! Then: one, pull! One, two, three, pull!"
"Did you hear me clearly? Use the fastest reaction speed you’ve ever had in your lives to keep up with me!"
In such a chaotic environment, such a complex set of commands sounded like a pipe dream. But in that moment, everyone saw the hope of survival in Chen Yu’s blood-red eyes.
The scorpions had completely covered the ground. They didn't wriggle like maggots or climb like ants; they simply moved across the ground and over people, frantically stinging every living thing they touched. The pain was ten, a hundred times more intense than before!
That pervert Shen Feng clearly had malicious intentions. These scorpions obviously didn't carry a lethal neurotoxin, or they would have all collapsed already. That madman just wanted to watch them get stung, one by one, until they died in endless agony!
The Red Team members clung to this as if it were their last straw. They no longer had the strength to contemplate how complex the command was; they simply, mechanically, and instinctively placed all their trust in Chen Yu.
"One!" Chen Yu roared the first syllable with every ounce of his remaining strength.
"Pull—!!!"
The entire Red Team exerted force at the first node!
*Hum!*
The rope jerked violently toward them! The Blue Team next door stumbled from the sudden, explosive force. They were still stuck in the "one, two, pull" rhythm and were caught completely off guard.
"One!" "Two!" Chen Yu’s commands were as fast as a rap song. "Pull—!!!"
Another unified, explosive effort!
The Blue Team fell into total chaos. They were screaming from scorpion stings, and the Red Team’s unpredictable, breakneck rhythm left them dizzy and confused. Several of them slipped, falling directly onto that black "carpet" of scorpions. Immediately, even more harrowing screams followed.
"One! Pull!"
"One! Two! Three! Pull!"
Chen Yu’s commands became faster and more erratic, yet there was order within the chaos! Driven by the instinct for survival, the Red Team tapped into potential they never knew they had. Their actions were no longer dictated by conscious thought; they were driven purely by muscle memory.
Every time a command fell, they threw themselves forward!
Under this storm-like offensive, the hole above their heads, now only three fingers wide, began to close at a speed visible to the naked eye!
Victory was right in front of them!
Finally!
At the moment the timer on the wall ticked to [00:08:00]!
*CLANG—!!!*
A heavy, resounding metallic impact echoed throughout the entire space. The hole above the Red Team had completely closed!
Then came a sharp, crisp "click."
The hole was locked tight.
This meant...
The Blue Team had lost.