Chapter 126: The Final Straw That Breaks the Camel's Back

Half a meter by half a meter.

Chen Yu’s pupils constricted sharply.

He fixed his gaze on the pitifully small gray piece of cardboard beneath his feet.

This damn thing…

Two people crammed into a place like this?

And we have to stand here for five minutes?

I bought a watch last year!

“How do we stand?” Li Qing looked at the cardboard, barely larger than a washbasin, her face pale.

The surrounding survivors erupted in uproar.

“This is impossible! How can two people stand on this?”

“Are you kidding us? This simply can’t hold us!”

“Madman! This madman!”

Curses and wails rose in waves.

But no one dared to rush forward to confront Shen Feng, because the barrels of those pink-clad musclemen’s guns were already ominously aimed at the crowd.

“Shh—”

Shen Feng put a finger to the lips of his smiling mask, signaling silence.

“Five-minute countdown starts now. If you can’t find a way to stand on it, that counts as an automatic forfeit.”

An automatic forfeit meant death.

“Damn it.”

Chen Yu cursed under his breath, his mind racing.

A man's foot is normally at least twenty-five centimeters long.

Half a meter is fifty centimeters.

Two pairs of feet, four feet side by side, barely enough width.

But what about the posture?

Chen Yu grabbed Li Qing without a word.

“We stand side by side, facing the same direction.”

“And then?” Li Qing was confused.

“Then, hold me tight,” Chen Yu said succinctly.

“Huh?”

“What ‘huh’?” Chen Yu urged impatiently. “If you want to survive, listen to me. Hurry up, no time to waste!”

Li Qing bit her lip and stopped hesitating.

Carefully, the two of them squeezed their four feet side by side onto that tiny piece of cardboard.

Foot against foot, every bit of space was maximized.

But their stance was extremely unstable; any slight wobble would send them tumbling off.

“Hold me, with all your strength.”

Chen Yu growled.

Li Qing’s cheeks instantly flushed red, but her survival instinct overpowered everything.

She stretched out her arms and wrapped them tightly around Chen Yu’s waist from the side.

Chen Yu also reached out one hand to hold her shoulder, securing her body firmly against his chest.

Like conjoined twins, they pressed together in a ridiculous and strange posture.

Li Qing’s cheek was forced against Chen Yu’s chest.

The man’s breath, mixed with sweat, invaded her nostrils dominantly, quickening her heartbeat and leaving her flustered.

Chen Yu wasn’t having an easy time either.

The softness and curves of the young woman’s body, through the thin fabric, transmitted clearly to him.

Damn.

Was this risking their lives or seducing?

Who could handle this?

Chen Yu felt he was about to achieve enlightenment on the spot.

“Timing starts!”

Shen Feng’s delighted voice sounded, and the countdown on the wall began ticking.

[00:05:00]

---

The others clearly saw Chen Yu and Li Qing’s stance.

After all, Chen Yu and Li Qing had led the previous round to victory, earning some degree of trust from the crowd.

So this bizarre “conjoined” stance began to spread across the warehouse.

Pairs of survivors, male and female alike, embraced each other with all their might, squeezing their bodies onto the tiny piece of cardboard.

For a moment, the scene in the warehouse became utterly surreal.

An outsider might have thought this was some kind of large-scale matchmaking hug event.

The timer ticked second by second.

People quickly realized these five minutes were far longer than expected.

This stance consumed tremendous energy.

To maintain balance, everyone had to tense every muscle, especially their waist, abdomen, and legs.

After only one minute, some were already trembling, sweat beading on their foreheads.

They only knew the saying about the last straw breaking the camel’s back, unaware that every straw contributed to the burden.

As healthy people struggled to hold this strange posture, some began to falter.

Chen Yu’s gaze landed not far away.

It was the group he had noticed before — two men with leg injuries.

They were at their limit.

One man’s face twisted grotesquely, muscles contorted, drenched in sweat like he’d just been pulled from water.

His body trembled, teeth clenched tightly.

His companion was in equally bad shape, one leg shaking uncontrollably.

“Hold… on…” he gasped through clenched teeth.

But the body’s limits do not yield to willpower.

“Ah—!”

The grimacing man let out a desperate roar, losing balance as he staggered and toppled backward.

His companion fell with him.

One foot slipped beyond the cardboard's edge.

Every heart in the warehouse leapt to their throat.

“Bang! Bang!”

With almost no delay,

The two nearest pink-clad musclemen raised their guns, aimed, and pulled the triggers.

Their movements were fluid, as if rehearsed a thousand times.

Bullets struck their heads with deadly precision.

Their skulls shattered like smashed watermelons, red and white fragments splattering everywhere.

“Ah!”

Screams pierced the stillness of the warehouse.

Fear spread faster than wildfire.

Witnessing one group fail and be executed, a nearby group composed of injured survivors instantly crumbled.

One woman’s legs gave way; she collapsed to the ground.

Her companion fell with her.

“No! No!”

She screamed in terror, scrambling desperately to get back onto the cardboard.

But it was too late.

“Bang! Bang!”

Two more gunshots rang out.

Their screams were abruptly cut off.

Yet, it was not over.

The four pink-clad musclemen who had just fired made a chilling move.

With unnerving skill, they turned the smoking barrels of their guns toward their own throats.

Without hesitation.

“Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!”

Four consecutive shots.

Bullets tore through their necks, spurting blood in four arcs.

---

Four tall bodies collapsed stiffly.

The entire sequence was executed in one continuous, eerie ritual.

Cold-blooded, efficient, utterly inhuman.

The warehouse fell into a deathly silence.

The remaining survivors, staring at the eight corpses on the floor, felt a chill rise up their spines.

These five minutes were no mere balance game.

This was a purge.

A bloody purge specifically targeting the injured!

Shen Feng, this psychopath, had used the simplest method to weed out the “weak” from the team.

“Don’t lose focus!”

Chen Yu felt Li Qing trembling in his arms; he barked sharply and tightened his grip.

“Look at me! Don’t look at them!”

Li Qing lifted her head, her beautiful eyes filled with fear.

“These people… they’re demons…”

“I know,” Chen Yu’s eyes were as cold as ice. “That’s why we have to survive. Only by surviving can we kill these bastards.”

His voice was low but carried an undeniable conviction.

Li Qing looked at his profile; her trembling gradually subsided.

She stopped looking at the corpses and concentrated all her attention on maintaining their balance.

Time passed, second by second, amidst bloodshed and terror.

Several more groups failed, collapsing from exhaustion or mental breakdown.

Each failure was followed by gunshots and death.

The gunfire became the only soundtrack to these five minutes.

When the countdown finally reached zero, nineteen groups remained in the arena.

Thirty-eight survivors.

“Phew—”

Relieved breaths echoed throughout the warehouse.

Chen Yu and Li Qing, upon seeing the time end, almost simultaneously released each other and collapsed onto the floor.

Their leg muscles ached as if filled with lead.

Chen Yu grinned.

“Didn’t expect you could hold out so well.”

Li Qing rolled her eyes, weakly saying, “Say another word and I’ll break your legs.”

Though meant as a threat, her tone was soft and lacked any real menace.

Just as everyone thought the torment was finally over,

“Clap, clap, clap…”

Shen Feng’s deliberate applause rang out again.

He walked to the center of the arena, surveying the survivors who had escaped death.

His voice beneath the smiling mask was filled with praise.

“You’re amazing!”

“Really, amazing! Your performance exceeded my expectations!”

“But…”

His tone shifted.

“I think you can be… even better!”

Chen Yu’s heart sank.

Sure enough.

Shen Feng snapped his fingers.

The pink-clad musclemen moved again.

They bent down before the survivors, picking up the pieces of cardboard one by one.

Then, one drew out the sharp box cutter once more.

“Swish—”

The blade sliced through the cardboard again.