Chapter 39: Iron Plate

The black bear took another step forward, now standing about a meter away from Qiao Jiajin.

This time, Qiao Jiajin didn't dare advance. The bear's arms were long, and another step would put him squarely in its attack range, which would be a death wish.

So, he slowly backed away.

Seeing this, Qi Xia's expression showed a hint of tension.

The rules of confrontation among animals are simple: if one party retreats, it's seen as showing fear.

And if you're afraid, you become the prey.

The black bear watched Qiao Jiajin retreat, its hesitant demeanor gradually replaced by ferocity. Now, it was almost certain that the creature before it posed no threat.

After a three-second pause, the black bear suddenly lunged forward, swinging its thick forelimb like a stone pillar.

Qiao Jiajin gave up on trying to stand his ground, quickly ducked to avoid the strike, and rolled backward on the ground before springing to his feet and running.

The black bear roared and charged after him on all fours.

By now, it had fully identified Qiao Jiajin as its prey.

"Deceiver! Hurry up and buy some time!" Qiao Jiajin yelled while running. "I'm leaving my useless life in your hands!"

"Don't place too much faith in me!" Qi Xia replied, sounding strained. "I don't even know what that iron plate is..."

"What in the world are you babbling about?" Qiao Jiajin cursed. "Go get that 'cargo' now!"

With the black bear chasing after Qiao Jiajin, Qi Xia immediately sprinted toward the iron plate on the ground.

Logically speaking, all the "games" they had encountered before hadn't been dead ends; there had to be a way out. In this empty room, that way out had to be related to the iron plate.

Getting closer, Qi Xia saw that the plate's surface was weathered and covered in rust in many places.

"This..."

He reached out and felt it, realizing it was just a simple round iron plate. There were no mechanisms or any textual clues on it.

"What the...?" Qi Xia felt like he'd been tricked—it was essentially just a piece of scrap.

Qiao Jiajin had run about a dozen steps when he realized the black bear was right on his heels. He stopped abruptly, spun around, and roared, "You idiot!"

The black bear was startled and quickly took a step back, rising onto its hind legs again.

Qiao Jiajin sneered, pointed a finger aggressively at the black bear, and said, "Scared you, didn't I? You big fool, did you think I was afraid of you? Listen up..."

The black bear stared at Qiao Jiajin blankly, as if waiting for him to continue.

The onlookers were all stunned, turning to Qiao Jiajin in confusion, wondering what he could possibly say to a black bear.

But to everyone's surprise, as soon as Qiao Jiajin saw he had steadied the bear, he didn't hesitate for a second—he turned and bolted.

The black bear realized it had been fooled and let out an even more furious roar as it chased after him.

Meanwhile, in the center of the room, Qi Xia had already flipped the iron plate over and was examining it closely. The plate was extremely heavy, with no handle, making it impossible to lift to use for defense against the bear.

Before Qi Xia could figure it out, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his back, as if something had slammed into him hard.

Already crouched on the ground, he couldn't maintain his balance and toppled over.

That's when he saw it was the middle-aged man from their group who had collided with him.

The middle-aged man glanced at Qi Xia, now knocked down, and muttered, "Sorry about that," before propping the iron plate upright, gritting his teeth, and slowly pushing it across the floor. In a few steps, he reached the corner and used it to shield himself, cowering and trembling.

Qi Xia frowned, sensing trouble.

He had thought of this idea himself earlier: hiding behind the iron plate in the corner would greatly increase the chances of survival. But that way, only one person could make it, which defeated the purpose of the game.

It was like gambling for a "path" to life, only to win another "path."

If it were up to Qi Xia, he wouldn't choose that outcome.

"Deceiver, not ready yet?!" Qiao Jiajin yelled again. "Are you seriously not taking me seriously?"

"Hold on, hold on..." Qi Xia replied hesitantly. "Give me a bit more time..."

His mind raced. Even if he took the iron plate back now, it wouldn't help much—he needed to save at least himself and Qiao Jiajin.

But the plate was too small; it could barely cover one person.

What was he going to do?

Thanks to Qiao Jiajin, the remaining eight participants were safe for the moment, but only about a minute had passed. Surviving the full ten minutes couldn't rely on Qiao Jiajin alone.

Just then, a slightly plump woman ran toward the middle-aged man, her voice shaking as she said, "Can I hide in there...? Please... I don't want to die..."

"No, no!" the middle-aged man shouted from behind the round iron plate. "There's only room for one... If you come in, we'll both die!"

"It won't be like that!" The woman's voice trembled, her legs barely able to move. "We can each take a side—we'll definitely survive..."

As they argued, the young man with glasses from the middle-aged man's group rushed over in a panic. Without asking, he lifted the edge of the iron plate and squeezed into the corner.

"Hey! Glasses!" the middle-aged man exclaimed in alarm. "What are you doing?"

Glasses gritted his teeth and replied, "Lao Lü, you can't just think about saving yourself!"

With Glasses joining in, the iron plate that had been propped against the wall became unstable and wobbled. After all, Lao Lü was on the heavier side, and the plate couldn't cover two people properly.

Seeing this, the plump woman stopped talking to Lao Lü and lifted the other side of the plate, squeezing into the corner as well.

The other four didn't run around anymore and started heading toward the iron plate.

It was their last hope, after all.

"Foolish..." Qi Xia muttered, slowly approaching the group. In just a few seconds, everyone was scrambling and fighting over the iron plate.

"Lao Lü! You can't be so selfish! Hand over the plate—we'll think of something else!"

"Glasses! You're young—you can outrun the bear. I can't!"

"Go grab the plate!"

"Get out of here! There's no space behind the plate!"

Now, each of them looked fierce enough to take on a bear alone, but in this crisis, they'd rather grab each other's necks and hair, drawing blood, than get any closer to the bear.

The iron plate lay forgotten on the ground, abandoned in the chaos.

Meanwhile, at the other end, Qiao Jiajin was backed into a corner by the black bear with no way out, so he tried his old trick again—roaring and turning to face it.

This time, the black bear was startled but didn't back away. It lunged with its forelimb, which Qiao Jiajin dodged by sidestepping. The bear's sharp claws left deep gouges in the wall.

"Damn it!" Qiao Jiajin stared intently at the black bear. "You're going too far..."

Qi Xia knew that if he didn't act soon, Qiao Jiajin was done for. And if Qiao Jiajin died, the rest would be picked off one by one.

After all, Qiao Jiajin was the only one bold enough to face the black bear head-on. It was absurd to expect one person to fend off the bear while protecting everyone else.