I lost all my bets—a thousand coins—within half an hour.

[The person upstairs is really bold. I'm betting on number 3 to be eliminated within half an hour, 100 coins.]

I'm also betting on a complete wipeout within half an hour.

I feel like I'm about to strike it rich!

Well, Li Lechen also wanted to gamble on losing everything in half an hour. And he acted on his idea immediately, betting one million. If he won, it would be five hundred million.

In the blink of an eye, Meng Ziran's total bet amounted to over a million, up from tens of thousands, and the number was still rising rapidly.

Half an hour?

These ten people were all carefully selected. Although they had never been to the contaminated area, their combat strength was definitely not weak.

To boost morale, Meng Ziran immediately decided to give ten people a raise, starting from half an hour. Anyone who fought in the contaminated area for more than half an hour would be paid 10,000 Sunshine Coins.

When the group officially started, the total amount of bets exceeded five million, of which 80% were eliminated within half an hour of placing the bet.

Meng Ziran was overjoyed. He had confidence in these ten people. He wouldn't say that all ten could last half an hour, but seven or eight would definitely be fine.

This was Li Lechen's first time watching a so-called diamond mining team's live stream—or rather, it had now evolved into a simple survival game stream in a contaminated area. The multi-view experience was far superior to simply watching a streamer from a single contaminated area.

Ten team members were transported to the boundary between the quarantine zone and the contaminated zone in portable safety pods, and then entered the contaminated zone after passing through a special barrier.

There's no need for a safety cabin in the contaminated area. All ten people wore safety suits, but not to protect against ultraviolet radiation, as the ultraviolet radiation in the contaminated area is not strong. Wearing the safety suits could offer some protection against attacks from small animals.

This is clearly one of the ways Meng Zaoran ensures his team members can survive for at least half an hour.

A mutated earthworm, as large as a giant python, suddenly burst out of the soil and lunged at Number 3. Number 3, unable to dodge in time, was bitten on the head by the earthworm.

The audience gasped in surprise.

While it's inhumane to wish someone dead, if this guy dies, many people can get a 30% payout. That's not a small amount of money.

Despite being bitten by the mutated earthworm, Number 3 did not surrender. Thanks to the protection of his safety suit, although his head was bitten, he was not suffocating. Number 3 picked up his laser gun, touched the earthworm's abdomen, and fired.

When the laser from the laser gun hit the earthworm's body, it made a "sizzling" sound. The earthworm felt the pain and quickly released its grip.

The freed Number 3 didn't immediately flee. After all, encountering an animal like a mutated earthworm in the contaminated zone was quite rare. There was no major danger, and the laser gun was more than enough to deal with it. Besides, earthworms were hard to kill, and the whole process was quite entertaining. If he performed well, he might even get a generous tip from a wealthy patron.

That's right. Although they are all employed by Meng Ziran now, each of them is also doing their own live streams.

As a resident of the quarantine zone, I can't charge for live streaming, but the content I broadcast is about fighting against polluting beasts in the contaminated area. Who knows, a rich person might be so happy that they'll give me a reward.

So number 3 was really putting in a lot of effort, fighting hard against the giant earthworm.

"brush--"

[Level-1 user "Chasing the Wind Boy" tipped the streamer with Sunshine Coins]

The notification sounded, and Number 3 glanced at it, his eyes widening in shock: Ones, Tens, Hundreds, Thousands, Ten Thousands, Hundred Thousands, Millions! A whopping one million Sunshine Coins in donations!

He's a tycoon! He's finally met the legendary tycoon!

In his excitement, Number 3 jumped over the giant earthworm he had cut in two and rushed toward the nearest safe pod.

He had to go back! With a million in donations, he'd already received 300,000. Did he still need to care about Meng Ziran's 10,000? Staying for half an hour, who knew what kind of deadly polluting beast would appear later?

The donations were displayed directly in the live stream room on the 3rd, so the viewers in Meng Ziran's live stream room didn't know it at the moment. All they could see was that the 3rd had abandoned the giant earthworm that wasn't completely dead and deserted.

[Did they just run away like that on the 3rd?]

[The giant earthworm isn't dead yet! What's the point of it running away like this?]

[Could it be that they've discovered mutated ants? They can't outrun mutated ants, can they?]

Does running away count as being eliminated?

[Yeah, does running away count as being out?]

[They're no longer in the contaminated zone, so why are they still counting people?]

[Damn! Have I already won?]

[If this doesn't count as elimination, then there's no need to continue. As long as we agree to run together and hide at the border of the quarantine zone, we're guaranteed to survive.]

[It is necessary to calculate who is out of the game]

Unfortunately, I didn't choose number 3; I chose number 5 instead.

Meng Ziran never expected that this No. 3 would inexplicably run away when he was perfectly capable of continuing to fight.

As agreed, if he didn't last more than half an hour, he wouldn't get his 10,000-coin reward. 10,000 coins! If this guy had money, why would he risk his life? They're all people who can't even afford tomorrow's cabin fare.

Looking at the betting situation, it turned out that 90,000 coins were placed on betting on number 3, which resulted in elimination within half an hour. At a payout of 1 to 10, Meng Ziran would immediately need to pay out 900,000.

The odds shouldn't have been set like that!

Normally, with so many people betting and getting eliminated within half an hour, the odds would likely be only a little over one to one. However, Meng Zaoran was too confident in his plan, believing that 10,000 coins for half an hour would definitely keep this group going. Moreover, to survive, everyone would be giving it their all.

Who would have thought that such a situation would occur where they could clearly continue fighting but instead simply ran away?

Following the example of Number 3, Li Lechen quickly gave Number 7, who was hiding, a reward of one million.

From the very beginning, No. 7's idea was to get Meng Ziran's 10,000 coins, even if it meant constantly hiding.

He also participated in the diamond mining team last time, when the reward was not so high. He earned 10,000 coins by hiding for two hours.

This time, hiding for half an hour will be a breeze.

While he was climbing a big tree and observing carefully, a notification popped up in the live stream that he had received a donation of 1 million coins from "Chasing the Wind Boy".

"Uh-oh!"

In his excitement, number 7 fell straight down from the tree.

[Number 7 is going to die! He's going to die!]

I bought size 7!

[Hanging my ass! You can't hang there if you jump down, didn't you see what's up in the tree?]

[Holy crap! How can frogs climb trees?]

That's a giant tree frog, no doubt about it.

Are giant tree frogs poisonous? Is it true that contact with their venom is fatal?

[It seems the protective suit provided by the streamer has no problem dealing with the tree frog's venom; there's really no need for Number 7 to be so nervous.]

[The person upstairs definitely bet that number 7 would die within half an hour; it's obvious that this giant tree frog could swallow number 7 whole.]

[If you swallow it, does that mean you're out?]

"You're out only if you die or forfeit," Meng Zaoran quickly explained. "You're just swallowed up; many people still have a chance to get out."