Chapter 39

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

This time, Qiao Jiajin dared not move forward any further. The black bear had a long reach, and moving any closer would put him within its attack range, which would undoubtedly mean certain death.

So, he could only slowly take a step back.

Seeing this, Qi Xia's expression turned tense.

The rules of confrontation between animals are very simple: if one side retreats, it means they are afraid.

And if they are afraid, they become prey.

The black bear, seeing Qiao Jiajin take a step back, gradually became more aggressive. It was almost certain now that the creature in front of it posed no threat.

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

Qiao Jiajin no longer tried to be brave; he ducked to avoid the attack and immediately rolled backward on the ground, then started running.

The black bear let out a roar and pursued him on all fours.

Now, the black bear had completely regarded Qiao Jiajin as prey.

"Cheater! Hurry up!" Qiao Jiajin shouted as he ran, "I'm putting my life in your hands!"

"Don't put too much faith in me!" Qi Xia said, somewhat nervously, "I don't even know what that iron plate is..."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Qiao Jiajin cursed, "Go and 'get the goods' already!"

Seeing the black bear run away, Qi Xia immediately ran toward the iron plate on the ground.

In theory, none of the "games" he had seen before were dead ends; there was always a way out. In this open room, the way out must be related to the iron plate.

Upon closer inspection, the iron plate was somewhat worn and rusted in many places.

"This..." Qi Xia reached out to touch it and realized it was just a very ordinary circular iron plate with no mechanisms or text prompts.

"What the... hell..." Qi Xia felt like he had been tricked; the iron plate looked like a piece of trash.

Qiao Jiajin ran about ten steps and found the black bear was almost right behind him. He immediately stopped running, turned around, and shouted, "Idiot!!"

The black bear was startled by Qiao Jiajin and immediately took a big step back, standing on its hind legs again.

Qiao Jiajin sneered, pointed at the black bear, and said, "Scared, huh? You stupid thing, do you think I'm afraid of you? Listen up..."

The black bear stared at Qiao Jiajin, seemingly waiting for him to speak.

The other participants were also stunned, all looking at Qiao Jiajin, unsure what he was going to say to the black bear.

But to everyone's surprise, Qiao Jiajin, seeing that he had stabilized the black bear, turned around without hesitation and ran away.

The black bear, realizing it had been fooled, roared even more fiercely and pursued him again.

At this moment, Qi Xia, in the center of the room, had already flipped the iron plate over and was carefully examining it. The iron plate was very heavy, with no handle, making it impossible to lift it to defend against the bear's attack.

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

He was already squatting on the ground, and the force of the impact made it difficult for him to maintain his balance, causing him to fall to the side.

He then saw that the middle-aged man from the team had hit him.

The middle-aged man looked at Qi Xia, who had been knocked down, and whispered, "Sorry," before standing up the iron plate and slowly pushing it along the ground. After a few steps, he reached the corner of the room, used the iron plate to shield himself, and cowered in the corner, trembling.

Qi Xia frowned, thinking this was not good.

He had considered this method before; by using the iron plate to shield himself and hiding in the corner of the room, the chances of survival would greatly increase. However, this would mean only one person would survive, and the game would lose its meaning.

To bet his life on a "way" and win a "way" in the end.

If it were up to Qi Xia, he would not choose this outcome.

"Cheater, not done yet?!" Qiao Jiajin shouted 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, knowing that even if he took the iron plate back now, it wouldn't help much, as he needed to save both his and Qiao Jiajin's lives.

But the iron plate's surface was limited, barely enough to shield one person.

What could he do?

Thanks to Qiao Jiajin, the remaining eight participants were temporarily safe, but only a minute had passed. To survive within ten minutes, they couldn't rely solely on Qiao Jiajin.

At this moment, a slightly overweight girl ran toward the middle-aged man and said, trembling, "Can I hide in there...? Please... I don't want to die..."

"No, no!" the middle-aged man shouted from behind the circular iron plate, "This can only hide one person... If you come in, we'll both die!"

"It won't be like that!" the girl's voice trembled, and her legs felt weak, "We can each hide on one side, we won't die..."

As they were talking, the small glasses-wearing man from the middle-aged man's team ran over in a panic. Without asking the middle-aged man, he lifted the iron plate and squeezed into the corner.

"Hey! Small glasses!" the middle-aged man panicked, "What are you doing?"

Small glasses, gritting his teeth, replied, "Old Lu, you can't just think about saving yourself!"

The iron plate, which had been propped against the wall, wobbled due to the addition of small glasses. After all, Old Lu was overweight, and the iron plate couldn't support both of them.

Seeing this, the overweight woman no longer tried to talk to Old Lu; she lifted the other side of the iron plate and squeezed into the corner.

The other four participants also stopped running around and moved closer to the iron plate.

After all, it was their last chance for survival.

"Stupid..." Qi Xia slowly approached the crowd. In just a few seconds, everyone was already fighting over the iron plate.

"Old Lu! You can't be so selfish! Give up the iron plate, let's think of another way!!"

"Small glasses! You're young, you can run from the bear, but I can't!"

"Quick, go and grab the iron plate!"

"Get lost! There's no more space behind the iron plate!"

Now, each of them looked like they could single-handedly kill a bear, but in this critical moment, they preferred to grab each other's necks and hair, fighting until their mouths were bloody, rather than take a step toward the bear.

The iron plate, seemingly neglected, lay alone on the ground.

On the other side, Qiao Jiajin was cornered by the black bear. With no way out, he could only use the same trick again, turning around and shouting.

This time, although the black bear was startled, it clearly had no intention of retreating. It extended its front arm and lunged forward, which Qiao Jiajin dodged by moving to the side. The bear's claws left deep grooves in the wall.

"Damn!" Qiao Jiajin glared at the black bear, "You're going too far..."

Qi Xia knew that if he didn't do something, Qiao Jiajin would surely die, and if Qiao Jiajin died, the remaining people would be slaughtered one by one.

After all, Qiao Jiajin was the only one brave enough to confront the black bear. He not only had to resist the bear's attacks but also protect everyone from harm, which was absurd.