The black bear took another step forward, now just over a meter away from Qiao Jiajin. This time, Qiao Jiajin dared not move forward no matter what. The black bear's arm span was very long; moving any closer would put him within its attack range, which was undoubtedly suicide.
So, he could only slowly take a step back. Seeing this, a hint of nervousness appeared on Qi Xia's face. The rules of a standoff between animals were very simple.
If one side retreated, it meant it was scared. And if it was scared, it would become prey. When the black bear saw Qiao Jiajin take a step back, its hesitant demeanor gradually turned ferocious.
Now, it was almost certain that the creature before it posed no threat. After a three-second pause, the black bear suddenly lunged forward, its thick forearm swinging down like a stone pillar. Qiao Jiajin stopped trying to act tough.
He ducked and dodged the blow, using the momentum to roll backward on the ground before immediately scrambling to his feet and running. The black bear roared and gave chase on all fours. The black bear now completely regarded Qiao Jiajin as its prey.
"Con man! Hurry the hell up!"
Qiao Jiajin shouted as he ran.
"I'm putting my worthless life in your hands!"
"Don't put too much faith in me!"
Qi Xia said, a little nervous himself.
"I don't even know what this iron plate is..."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
Qiao Jiajin cursed.
"Just go 'get the goods' already!"
Seeing the black bear run off, Qi Xia immediately ran toward the iron plate on the ground. Logically, none of the "games" he had seen before were dead ends; there was always a "path to life." In this room with a clear view, the path to life must have something to do with this iron plate.
Running closer to take a look, he saw the surface of the iron plate was mottled and had many rusty spots.
"This is..."
Qi Xia reached out and felt it, only to discover it was just a very ordinary round iron plate. There were no mechanisms on it, let alone any written clues.
"What the hell..."
Qi Xia felt like he had been played. This iron plate looked just like a piece of garbage you could find anywhere. Qiao Jiajin ran for about a dozen steps and saw that the black bear was right on his heels.
He immediately stopped running, suddenly turned around, and roared, "You idiot!!" The black bear was startled by Qiao Jiajin and immediately took a large step back, standing on its hind legs again. Qiao Jiajin sneered, pointing a finger viciously at the black bear.
"Startled, were you? You stupid oaf, you think I'm afraid of you? You listen to me..."
The black bear stared blankly at Qiao Jiajin, as if it was actually waiting for him to speak. Everyone present was also a bit baffled at this moment. They all looked at Qiao Jiajin, wondering what on earth he was going to say to a black bear.
But to everyone's surprise, seeing that he had steadied the black bear, Qiao Jiajin didn't hesitate for a second. He turned around and bolted. The black bear, realizing it had been tricked, let out an even more ferocious roar and chased after him.
At this time, Qi Xia, in the center of the area, had already flipped the iron plate over and was studying it carefully. The iron plate was very thick and heavy, without even a handle. It was impossible to even lift it to defend against the bear's attack.
Before Qi Xia could figure it out, he suddenly felt a pain in his back, as if something had crashed into him hard. He had been squatting on the ground, and such a powerful impact made it difficult to keep his balance, so he fell to the side.
Only then did he see that the one who had bumped into him was the middle-aged man from their team. The middle-aged man looked at Qi Xia, who had been knocked to the ground, and said in a low voice, "I'm sorry." Then he stood the iron plate up, bit down hard, and slowly pushed it along the ground.
In just a few steps, he reached a corner, then used the iron plate to block himself, shrinking into the corner and trembling. Qi Xia's brow furrowed. This isn't good, he thought.
He had thought of this method before. If he could block himself with the iron plate and hide in a corner of the room, his chances of survival would be greatly increased. But that way, only one person would survive, and the game would lose its meaning.
To bet a life for a "Dao," only to win a single "Dao." If Qi Xia had to choose, he would not choose this outcome.
"Con man, aren't you done yet?!"
Qiao Jiajin yelled again.
"Are you really not taking me seriously?!"
"Hold on, hold on..."
Qi Xia replied hesitantly.
"Give me a little more time..."
His mind was racing. He knew that even if he snatched the iron plate back now, it wouldn't be much use. After all, he had to save at least himself and Qiao Jiajin.
But the iron plate had a limited surface area; it could barely shield one person. What was he to do? For now, thanks to Qiao Jiajin, the remaining eight participants were temporarily safe.
But only a minute or so had passed. To survive for ten minutes, they couldn't possibly rely on Qiao Jiajin alone. At this moment, a girl who looked slightly plump ran toward the middle-aged man and said in a trembling voice, "Can... can you let me hide in there...?
Please...
I don't want to die..."
"No way, no way!" the middle-aged man shouted from behind the round iron plate.
"There's only room for one person to hide... If you come in, we'll both die!"
"No, we won't!"
The girl's voice kept trembling, and her feet seemed to stop working.
"We can hide on either side, we definitely won't die..."
As the two were talking, the man with glasses who had been on the same team as the middle-aged man ran over in a panic. Without asking for the middle-aged man's permission, he directly lifted the iron plate and squeezed into the corner.
"Hey! Little glasses!"
The middle-aged man became flustered.
"What are you doing?"
Little glasses bit his lip and replied, "Old Lu, you can't just think about saving yourself!" The iron plate, which could have been propped against the wall, was now teetering because of little glasses's arrival. After all, Old Lu was overweight, and the iron plate couldn't possibly shield both of them.
Seeing this, the slightly plump woman stopped trying to reason with Old Lu, lifted the other side of the iron plate, and squeezed into the corner as well. The other four people stopped running around and also began to approach the iron plate. After all, it was their last path to life.
"Fools..."
Qi Xia also slowly approached the crowd. In just a few seconds, everyone was already fighting over the iron plate.
"Old Lu! Don't be so selfish! Give up the iron plate, we'll figure something out!!"
"Little glasses! You're still young, you can run from the bear, but I can't!"
"Quick, go grab the iron plate!"
"Get lost! There's no room behind the plate!"
From the look of them, you'd think any one of them had the guts to take on the bear single-handedly. But at this critical juncture, they'd rather viciously grab each other by the neck and hair, fighting until their mouths were bloody, than take a single step closer to the bear.
The iron plate, as if neglected, lay forlornly on the ground. On the other side, Qiao Jiajin was cornered by the black bear. Seeing no way out, he could only resort to his old trick and let out another loud roar as he turned around.
This time, although the black bear was startled, it clearly had no intention of backing down. It stretched out its foreleg and lunged forward. Qiao Jiajin dodged to the side, and the bear's hard claws left deep gouges in the wall.
"Damn it!"
Qiao Jiajin stared fixedly at the black bear before him.
"You're taking this a bit too far..."
Qi Xia knew that if he didn't do something, Qiao Jiajin would surely die. And if Qiao Jiajin died, the rest of them would be slaughtered one by one. After all, Qiao Jiajin was the only one who dared to confront the black bear head-on.
He alone had to not only resist the bear's attacks but also protect everyone from harm. Wasn't that just absurd?