The three of them stood among the returning crowd, gazing at the people before them with a mix of emotion.
There were only ten minutes left before the deadline. Anyone who returned after that, regardless of their score, would be eliminated.
But the square...
Of the 5,103 people who had set out, only a little over 2,000 had returned.
More than half the newcomers hadn't made it back for one reason or another. Perhaps they would remain forever in that place of death.
Mu Qian had thought his earlier estimate was already grim enough, but he hadn't expected to have underestimated the horror of Death Canyon.
He realized he couldn't use his own group's circumstances to guess what others had gone through. Few people had the kind of strength they did.
And not everyone had the chance to wait for an examiner to come to their rescue.
The most frightening thing about danger was its unpredictability. No one knew when the threat of death would descend.
Even so, though everyone knew the elimination rate was terrifyingly high, they still flocked to Spirit City.
Ordinary people had few ways to change their fate, and no one wanted to give up this once-a-year opportunity.
Mu Qian looked around. Not a single parent had come to meet the newcomers.
Perhaps they didn't want to hear the tragic news of their children's deaths, either.
They had sent their children here for the sake of their future, only to hear that they had died...
It was simply too cruel.
In this atmosphere, Zhu Zhuqing couldn't help but tighten her arms around Mu Qian's. There was sadness in her expression, too.
Mu Qian gently drew the girl into his arms. He said nothing more; all he could do now was stay by her side.
Zhu Zhuqing