"Something's strange..." Qi Xia said quietly. "I thought an elimination game based on physical stamina would have a much more complicated arena. That way, they could keep eliminating participants."
"You're right." Qiao Jiajin nodded and looked around the square arena and at the iron plate in its center, confusion spreading across his face too. "How are they supposed to eliminate us here?"
No sooner had he spoken than the huge iron gate in front of them shuddered, then slowly rose.
"Huh?" The chubby middle-aged man looked puzzled when he saw the gate open. "What's this? Do we have to keep going?"
The moment the gate opened fully, the countdown on the wall began to tick.
It looked like the game had really begun.
"What's going on?"
Everyone exchanged glances, completely at a loss as to what was happening.
But a second later, a low, muffled growl came from beyond the gate.
That sound... wasn't human.
"Holy shit..." The hairs on Qiao Jiajin's body stood on end. "You've got to be kidding..."
An enormous, pitch-black animal emerged. It stood on two legs, its mouth slightly open and drool dripping steadily from its jaws. The look in its eyes suggested it hadn't eaten in three days.
Once it had stepped all the way through, the iron gate closed behind it.
"Is that... a bear?!" Qiao Jiajin couldn't help taking a step back. If his opponent were human, he would have been completely confident about putting up a fight. Instead, it was a bear taller than a grown man.
Qi Xia looked closely, and his expression darkened. It was a black bear, with a distinct white crescent on its neck, but this particular black bear was far too large.
Black bears generally stood between 1.6 and 1.8 meters tall, rarely taller than a human, but this one looked well over two meters tall. It was terrifying.
"Ah!"
One of the young women started to scream, then instinctively covered her mouth, but a little sound still escaped.
That abruptly cut-off cry made everyone flinch-and startled the black bear too.
After a brief pause, the black bear let out an even deeper growl. It seemed to have been angered.
"What the fuck kind of game is this?!" the middle-aged man wailed. He turned and ran, only to freeze after three steps.
He discovered that the stairs they had come down were gone.
Behind them was nothing but a high wall. There was no way back.
The middle-aged man seemed to lose his senses. He dropped onto his backside. "It's over... we're dead... we're all going to die..."
"Shit... what do we do?" Qiao Jiajin turned to Qi Xia. "This isn't something we can beat with stamina anymore."
"This is going to be difficult..." Qi Xia's expression began to grow grim too.
Why did their opponent have to be a bear?
At close range, a bear was even more lethal than a tiger or a lion, and this confined arena was the perfect hunting ground for it.
As the enormous black bear approached them step by step, the two young women closest to it were too frightened to move.
"Quick, play dead!" the middle-aged man sitting on the floor shouted. "You've still got a chance if you play dead when you encounter a bear!!"
His shout snapped the two women at the front out of their daze. They immediately lay down, trembling all over as they closed their eyes.
"No!" Qi Xia shouted too. "Get up! Run!"
But neither woman listened to him. They lay motionless on the floor.
Seeing them play dead, the others sprawled out on the floor too. Now the only people still standing were Qi Xia, Qiao Jiajin, and a slightly chubby young woman.
"Con man, is playing dead wrong?" Qiao Jiajin asked, his expression serious. "Aren't you supposed to play dead when you encounter a bear?"
"With a brown bear, playing dead might give you a chance, but not with a black bear!" Qi Xia shook his head earnestly. "Brown bears don't eat people. They only attack humans to defend their territory. Once they think a dead human poses no threat, they'll stop attacking. But black bears are different. A black bear will eat people if it's hungry enough!"
No sooner had he finished speaking than the enormous black bear approached one of the women playing dead and sniffed her face.
"Idiots..." Qi Xia knew things were going badly. Even running with all their might, humans had almost no chance of surviving an encounter with a black bear, let alone lying on the floor waiting to die.
Sure enough, after sniffing for a few seconds, the black bear suddenly opened its jaws and bit down on the woman's neck.
She screamed, but the sound abruptly stopped, trapped in her throat and unable to escape.
In a panic, she pounded the black bear with both hands, but it felt as though she were hitting a hard punching bag.
The black bear didn't release its jaws. Instead, it extended a forepaw and planted a firm blow on her chest.
Her chest visibly caved in. It looked as though every bone had shattered.
The woman spat out a great mouthful of blood, then went completely still.
At the sight, Qi Xia felt as though his heart had skipped a beat.
He had only ever seen reports of animal attacks on his phone, never with his own eyes. This was nothing short of a brutal slaughter.
Everyone, men and women alike, drew in a sharp breath.
Only now did they finally believe playing dead was useless. They scattered in every direction.
Humans might rule the Earth, but before these original inhabitants of the planet, they were utterly helpless.
Without tools or weapons, how were they supposed to fight this bear?
Wait... tools and weapons?
Qi Xia suddenly remembered the iron plate in the center of the arena, about the size of a table.
Who said there were no tools or weapons here? Hadn't the organizers left something here?
"Qiao Jiajin, we need to get that iron plate!" Qi Xia said. "I don't know what it is, but it looks like it could protect us."
"Shit... you really know how to pick them..." Qiao Jiajin looked at the iron plate, which was practically beneath the black bear's feet, and said awkwardly, "That item's currently out of stock, sir. Would you like to choose something else?"
"Cut the crap!" Qi Xia said. "If we don't use that iron plate to block the bear, it's only a matter of time before we're both dead."
"All right..." Qiao Jiajin seemed to make up his mind. "I'll lure the bear away. You get the plate."
"Lure it away...?" Qi Xia hesitated, but he knew it was their only option now. "A black bear can run at forty-eight kilometers an hour. You can't outrun it. Try to keep it circling around you."
"Got it." Qiao Jiajin nodded.
With their plan settled, the two split up.
Qiao Jiajin slowly approached the black bear, then suddenly shouted, "Hey! You idiot!"
The black bear paused and raised its head to look at him, its eyes full of wary, murderous intent.
It slowly took a step forward, as though testing him. Qiao Jiajin didn't back down. He took a step forward too.
That made the beast hesitate. It couldn't tell how formidable Qiao Jiajin was.
"You bloody idiot, want to go a couple of rounds with me?" Qiao Jiajin forced a faint smile and beckoned it toward him. "Come hit me."
Although the black bear couldn't understand human language, Qiao Jiajin's attitude had clearly provoked it.
It slowly straightened its upper body, standing on its hind legs to make itself look larger.
"Roar-"
The black bear roared, as though bolstering its own ferocity, and the stench of rot sprayed from its mouth.
The enormous roar echoed through the small arena, making everyone's hair stand on end.
A bead of cold sweat slowly trickled down Qiao Jiajin's skin. He felt as though he had provoked something truly monstrous.
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