Chapter 44: Zhang Shan

The originally neat team instantly fell apart, with everyone scattering in different directions, but the black bear only pursued Xiao Yanjing.

“It's over, it's over, it's over...” Xiao Yanjing muttered desperately as he stumbled around the room.“Mom... I'm really going to die this time...”

In less than ten steps, the black bear had Xiao Yanjing cornered against the wall.

His legs completely gave out, leaving him slumped on the ground, unable to move an inch.

Leaning against the wall, he glanced back, and his vision was filled with an extremely terrifying black face.

Ugly, ferocious, and foul-smelling.

The black bear extended its nose and sniffed Xiao Yanjing's face.

Xiao Yanjing's face turned pale, his gaze fixed blankly ahead, not daring to move even as the black bear brought its mouth close to his neck.

“Mom...” Xiao Yanjing murmured, “I can't go back... Mom... don't wait for me anymore...”

Just as the black bear opened its mouth, emitting a rotten stench, and was about to bite down, Qiao Jiajin, lying on the ground, suddenly shouted.

“Hey!! Time's up!! Damn it!! Are you going to cheat? Stop killing! It's over!!”

Everyone turned to look, and sure enough, the electronic clock on the wall had finished counting down and stopped at “0”.

In the next second, the distant iron door suddenly opened, and the black bear froze.

Then, a powerful force burst from the door, pulling the black bear like a piece of paper swaying in the wind. It let out a painful howl before being swiftly dragged into the door by an invisible force.

The game ended.

Everyone survived.

“It's... it's over...” After several minutes, a girl said shakily, “The black bear is gone...”

The girls slowly stood up, hugging each other and crying tears of joy.

Xiao Yanjing seemed to be in shock, sitting on the ground and gasping for air.

“Damn...” Qiao Jiajin moved his sore body and clutched his abdomen, looking exhausted as he said, “That was tough. Qi Xia, we owe it all to your ‘Ying Zhua Ji’ strategy.”

Qi Xia stood up without saying a word, his expression tinged with worry.

“What's wrong?” Qiao Jiajin asked.

“You think...” Qi Xia began, “Did the two of them make it out alive?”

“They...”

Qiao Jiajin knew Qi Xia meant Tian Tian and Lin Qing, but he didn't dare speculate wildly.

No one knew what had happened in the other room.

Were they in the same situation, being chased by a black bear?

Could their team have banded together and come up with a “Ying Zhua Ji” strategy?

The group turned around and saw the staircase they had come from appearing behind them.

“Don't think about it—let's go check,” Qiao Jiajin said, patting Qi Xia on the shoulder. “Come on.”

Lao Lü helped Xiao Yanjing to his feet, and the group supported one another as they slowly climbed the stairs back to the room with the chairs.

Di Niu stood quietly there, waiting for their “victorious return.”

“Nine survivors?” Di Niu paused slightly. “Not bad.”

“Damn it all...” Qiao Jiajin muttered under his breath, “One day, I'll beat the crap out of these guys.”

“Please wait a moment; the people from the other room haven't returned yet.” Di Niu waved at them, signaling they should sit.

The group didn't stand on ceremony and sat down on the chairs. For those who had escaped death, nothing here could be more frightening than the black bear.

After about two minutes, Qiao Jiajin grew impatient.

“Hey, Lao Niu, hasn't their game ended yet?”

“You both started at the same time, so it should have ended by now, but they haven't returned here.”

“What...” Qi Xia frowned, feeling a headache coming on. He quickly held his forehead and asked the bull-headed figure, “If the game ended but no one came back, doesn't that mean they all died...?”

“I don't know.” The bull-headed figure shook its head. “Please wait patiently.”

It was easier said than done—who could stay calm?

The teams had been randomly shuffled, meaning almost everyone here had teammates in the other group.

Qi Xia turned his head and saw Xiao Yanjing sitting not far in front, whispering something to the middle-aged man beside him.

“Ah?! How could that be?!” the middle-aged man exclaimed.

Xiao Yanjing quickly waved at him and explained quietly.

“No, no, I won't agree!” The middle-aged man shook his head like a rattle. “Absolutely not.”

As he finished, he turned and met Qi Xia's gaze, but immediately looked away as if he hadn't seen anything. He continued in a low voice, “If that's the case, I'll have to let Zhang Shan decide for me!”

“Hmph.” Qi Xia smirked, having a good idea of what they were discussing.

After waiting a full five or six minutes, the group heard heavy footsteps emerging from the nearby door.

“They're coming...”

Following those steps came a flurry of additional footsteps.

It sounded like their team had quite a few survivors.

From the dark door emerged a burly man with a stern face. He quickly scanned the crowd, and a smile slowly formed. “Damn... you all made it?”

“Zhang Shan! Zhang Shan!” Xiao Yanjing rushed forward excitedly. “Thank god you're okay... Holy shit!!!”

Xiao Yanjing yelled and quickly stepped back.

The scene before him was utterly horrifying.

The man named Zhang Shan had been partially hidden in the darkness earlier, so they hadn't seen the full extent.

But as he stepped into the light, his gruesome wounds became visible.

His whole body was covered in blood, with three deep claw marks on his chest. His right arm was clamped around two dark objects, like thick tree branches.

Tian Tian and Lin Qing gradually emerged from the door as well.

“Girls!” Qiao Jiajin looked them over. “Are you two alright?”

“We're fine...” Tian Tian gave a bitter smile. “What about you all?”

“Same as usual.” Qiao Jiajin shook his head helplessly. “We pulled through thanks to Qi Xia's idea.”

“Ah?” Tian Tian glanced at Qi Xia in disbelief. “You mean Qi Xia got you through this game too?”

Lin Qing found it equally unbelievable. “Qiao Jiajin, didn't you say you'd handle the ‘Niu Lei’ game on your own?”

“Damn it, don't remind me...” Qiao Jiajin grumbled. “If it had been a person, fine, but it was a black bear! Who in the world can fight a black bear?”

Tian Tian and Lin Qing exchanged glances, looking a bit troubled as they said, “Well... maybe someone really could kill a bear...”

Hearing this, Qi Xia and Qiao Jiajin turned to the man named Zhang Shan.

Did he... kill the bear?

More teammates emerged behind him, and they counted exactly ten people.

Clearly, no one in their team had died.

Zhang Shan dropped the two objects from under his arm onto the ground and sat down on a chair, exhausted. “Damn... Lao Niu, you're not holding back at all. You even prepared a ‘Xiong’ like that?”

Everyone looked down and saw that what he had thrown wasn't branches at all, but two bloody black bear forearms.