The mechanical voice began its cold, relentless countdown once more.
Ma Guoxu gritted his teeth, "I'm the first adventurer. You, little brother, will be the gatekeeper. You're smarter and more knowledgeable than me, so you'll react faster if anything happens. Liu Juan and Shuangshuang, carefully observe the game rules and try to achieve zero casualties!"
Because it cannot be replaced, the position of the gatekeeper may be under considerable pressure, but the first adventurer is in even greater danger. Who knows if the so-called save file replacement is due to the previous adventurer being seriously injured or killed, or for some other reason.
No one objected to Ma Guoxu's arrangement. In contrast to their peaceful and harmonious situation, the drawbacks of other temporary team formations became apparent, with many people arguing fiercely over allocation issues.
But they didn't have much time to argue; the game began.
When Cheng Shuang came to her senses, Ma Guoxu had already disappeared. Du Jun stood with his eyes closed, his handsome and aloof face showing a solemn expression for the first time...
Liu Juan frowned uneasily, tears welling up in her eyes again, but she held back her noise, probably afraid of disturbing Du Jun.
Cheng Shuang pursed her lips, tugged at Liu Juan's hand, and silently pointed to the fairytale town directly ahead. At this moment, the paper figures in the town remained still, and a phantom figure appeared in front of the lighthouse on the outskirts of the town.
The dark figure, whose features were obscured, was dressed in an exaggerated clown costume. It stretched its arms and legs strangely in place before starting to run.
He ran and jumped, speeding along the main road of the town without stopping, and seemed to be moving quite smoothly.
The other four towns were quite far from Cheng Shuang, and he could vaguely see the dark figures stumbling around among them. Especially the group next to him, the clown-like figure seemed to have been injured without his knowledge, and blood splattered on the main road, spreading out a conspicuous red line.
The paper figures, which had been motionless, suddenly swarmed over and stuck to the shadowy figure...
The shadowy figure, instantly surrounded, visibly slowed down. It seemed unaware of its perilous situation, stumbling forward with heavy steps, like a pantomime actor, violently waving its arms and pushing something in the air—finally collapsing to the ground, leaving only a blood-red humanoid mark.
Cheng Shuang quickly looked at the members of that group. The three of them were all pale-faced and were urgently discussing something, arguing almost fiercely until their faces were red.
But there was a deathly silence around them, clearly because the owner of the mechanical voice was preventing other teams from analyzing the truth of the matter from the arguments of other teams.
The little girl's breath hitched, because the first adventurer in that group hadn't returned even after the second participant disappeared. The remaining two had flickering eyes, filled with guilt and panic, their expressions complex and difficult to decipher.
She turned around, not telling Liu Juan about this chilling discovery, her eyes fixed on the dark figure jumping and leaping in the small town in front of her, praying in her heart: I hope Uncle Ma won't get hurt, won't get hurt!
Waiting can sometimes be a form of torment.
Liu Juan silently shed tears.
The little girl didn't comfort her; the tears were more of a catharsis. As long as it didn't interfere with her business, crying could actually relieve the pressure.
One team had already completed the task; it was the group with the most members. Because the two groups were separated by several positions, Cheng Shuang couldn't see the change in their numbers, but she noticed that a few people seemed to be cheering and hugging.
'Ding!'
A mechanical voice interrupted Cheng Shuang's thoughts. Her heart sank, and she abruptly turned to look in the direction of the town where her group was located.
The entire fairytale-like town gradually became eerie, the shadows of trees and houses magnified, a clown's shadowy figure clutched his waist, and drops of blood trickled out and fell to the ground, while the still paper figures around him seemed to stir restlessly.
'The adventurer is critically injured. The gatekeeper has chosen to borrow your life. The two adventurers have half a minute to choose who will receive your life. If more than half a minute has passed, you will automatically forfeit.'
"Brother Ma is injured!" Liu Juan screamed, then nearly collapsed and hugged Cheng Shuang's thin body tightly, her sobs growing louder as she slurred, "I'm so scared, Shuangshuang, I'm so scared! I don't want to die, I really don't want to die. My only family left is my grandma, she's waiting for me to come back and take care of her!"
Seeing that the other party was already in a state of despair, Cheng Shuang bit her lip. Half a minute was too short, and she could not hesitate any longer!
Just as she was about to accept the offer of life, Liu Juan's sharp and piercing voice continued to ring out.
"Borrow my life! Take my life! I know I'm useless, but I'm not a bad person! Why are you torturing me like this? I've never done anything outrageous since I was a child. At most, I cheated on exams, tricked old customers into buying more things, or forgot to hand over money I found to the police. Waaah... Shuangshuang, your sister is really a good person!"
The notification that the life-borrowing had been successful, accompanied by the woman's devastating wailing, made the little girl breathe a sigh of relief. She stood on tiptoe and tried her best to support the woman who was crying so hard she almost fell over.
"It's alright, it's all over!" She mimicked her parents' actions when comforting her, gently patting Liu Juan's back and responding in a soft, sweet voice, "It's alright, Sister Liu Juan, it's all over, you're a good person, look, you're still alive!"
After repeating it several times, Liu Juan finally came to her senses. She remembered how she had broken down and cried in a child's arms, and immediately wiped away her tears with embarrassment. Fortunately, Du Jun was determined and was not disturbed by the crying.
"Sister Liu Juan, you're amazing, really amazing!" The little girl understood Liu Juan's sudden outburst and admired her courage.
She believes that not everyone can make the choice to borrow a life. Just look at the missing members in other groups to see that they chose to give up when it came to borrowing lives.
The shadowy figure's injury healed without medicine after the notification sound ended, the paper doll fell silent, and Liu Juan's pass underwent a new change.
One of the four red peaches was marked with a glaring cross. Liu Juan held it and began to cry tears of joy, respectfully thanking Heaven. She thanked every famous deity!
In the next few minutes, the two of them each took another life, until the shadowy figure stopped and a mechanical voice sounded.
'Ding! Do you want to save your game? You have one minute to consider!'
The sound stopped, and Du Jun opened his eyes. His first words were, "There's only one small level left. I suggest we save and switch characters. Brother Ma has already passed two small levels in a row; his physical and mental strength is exhausted."
"My turn!" Liu Juan volunteered eagerly. She wiped away her tears, her eyes still tinged with panic, but her expression was unusually firm. "I'm physically stronger than Shuangshuang. If... at least Shuangshuang is calmer, our little team still has a chance!"
Du Jun's face was pale, and his voice was weak. "The last one is actually more dangerous because my mind is already starting to tire."
Cheng Shuang keenly sensed something, glanced at Liu Juan who looked puzzled, and said sincerely, "I support saving the game. Sister Liu Juan, I want to be the last one to go on this adventure."
The young girl wasn't acting impulsively; her physical condition was indeed a serious problem, so the shorter the remaining distance in the challenge, the better. Perhaps it was youthful fearlessness, but compared to Liu Juan, who was on the verge of collapse, her emotions were relatively stable. If Liu Juan were left alone to wait for the results, she probably wouldn't be able to handle it before being replaced.
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