"Letâs forfeit! Iâm not like that 1868, if you forfeit Iâll definitely forfeit too, really!" At this moment, on the second tier from the top of the Pyramid, a contestant was waving his hands animatedly at another contestant.
It was 1003 talking to 1766.
The two of them were in the same group, the second group to appear.
According to the previous individual rankings, the one ranked higher in the group became the Judge.
And since 1766 ranked ahead of 1003, in this group 1766 was the Judge, and he had to first designate 1003âs game attraction.
After seeing the carnage on the roller coaster, 1003 didnât dare go near any of those attractions, and hurried to negotiate with the Judge, hoping they could forfeit together.
But 1766 had also been frightened by the carnage on the roller coaster; the previous cautionary tale of forfeiting was still right there in front of him. How would he dare to repeat the last Judgeâs mistake.
His face turned ashen, and no matter how 1003 begged, he refused.
The Judge was actually the safest position; as long as he forfeited and didnât hand over the right to choose the attraction to someone else, he would remain undefeated.
Of course, the Executor might possibly pass the attraction chosen by the Judge, but that possibility was very, very small.
With that in mind, 1766 turned his gaze back to the distant roller coaster; the mangled human shapes on it only steeled his resolve, and he firmly ignored the person beside him desperately begging him to forfeit.
"Ah, looks like the trust between everyone has collapsed, huh? The last group was just so harmonious and friendly, deciding to forfeit together..." Teacher Slaughter said in a malicious tone. "Well then, letâs invite our second groupâ1761 and 1003âto the stage."
"Forfeit, please, Iâm begging you." Even as they climbed up toward the tip of the Pyramid, 1003 was still pleading bitterly with 1761, but 1761 was unmoved.
From the moment the contestants were split into two identities, an unbridgeable chasm had opened up between them.
The Judge stood high above, and the Executor was utterly humble.
Mr. Green watched the second group climbing to the top of the Pyramid while worrying about his own future: "With this promotion rule, the number of promoted people will probably be full before itâs even our turn. I donât know what theyâll do with those of us who never get to go on stage once the promotion quota is filled."
He was afraid that once the promotion quota was full, the ones who hadnât gone on stage would all be sent to those attractions to entertain the Upper Class People.
in the audience seats was worried about this too.
If Gu Mian and Mr. Green had been grouped earlier, the two of them could have simply forfeited together and both advanced.
She certainly wasnât worried about Gu Mian and Mr. Green repeating the first groupâs mistake. Mr. Green practically wished he could graft himself onto Gu Mian right now; he still needed Gu Mian to take him out of this place. If Gu Mian died now, Mr. Green would definitely cry harder than Fatty.
And Gu Mian was even less likely to pick an attraction for Mr. Green. If he wanted Mr. Greenâs life, he could just pull out his Saw and saw through the manâs neck; there was no need to go through all this trouble.
Unfortunately, their group was scheduled last; they wouldnât get their turn until everyone in front had gone on stage.
But according to the promotion rules, the top ten slots had already been locked in by the first ten groups.
"If things follow the normal course, Gu Mian has absolutely no chance of advancing to the next stage. If heâs eliminated without ever going on stage, can he still stay here?" Because the Upper Class Person beside her was a bit strange, 007 lowered her voice when she spoke to Chu Changge, not wanting to draw that personâs attention.
"We donât know where Lu Yi is right now." Chu Changge looked at the pyramid-shaped stage in front. "If Lu Yi were on site, Gu Mian could use the key right now and take us all away."
They were sitting in the front row of the audience, very close to Gu Mian; the range of Key No.108 easily covered them.
"If he is here, thatâs the only place you could hide someone." 007 also looked toward the Pyramid stage.
There seemed to be a large space under the stage. Lu Yi might directly rise up from beneath it later.
"So to confirm whether Lu Yi is inside or not, this host definitely knows." 007 watched Teacher Slaughter on stage, his face alight with excitement as he hosted the show.
"1761, your rank is higher, so youâre the Judge for this group. What attraction are you going to choose for your dear companion next? Or perhaps... a friendly forfeit?"
When he said the words "friendly forfeit," Teacher Slaughter glanced meaningfully at 1868 in the audience.
had really brought a dramatic twist to this show, but there wouldnât be a second 1868. The Judges were on guard now; they werenât going to forfeit and throw themselves into danger again.
Under 1003âs pleading gaze, 1761 made his choice.
"The Ferris wheel, I choose that Ferris wheel soaking in water." When he made his choice, he didnât dare look at the person opposite him. He kept his head turned toward the nine-grid board beside Teacher Slaughter. In fact, he couldnât read the words on it; heâd just picked something from the floor that was lethal but looked relatively mild.
The lower half of that Ferris wheel was submerged in water, and it turned extremely slowly. Once one sideâs cabin sank into the water, it would take over ten minutes to rise up from the other side.
That meant the person inside would be unable to breathe for at least ten minutes, which was absolutely fatal.
But at least it was milder than the roller coaster, he told himself.
On hearing 1761âs choice, the light in 1003âs eyes went completely dark.
Just like the last guy, he didnât want to leave here, so the staff repeated their old trick: they brought a rope loop, slipped it around his neck, and dragged him away.
was smarter than the last person whoâd been dragged off.
He knew resistance was pointless; better to save his strength for the Ferris wheel.
He could try to take a few extra breaths when the cabin first went under... The water wouldnât rush in that fast; thereâd be a little space for him to breathe right after it sank...
Once the rope tightened around his neck, he stopped struggling. He forced himself to calm down, obediently followed the staff down, and kept silently psyching himself up inside.
Seeing that he wasnât panicking much, Teacher Slaughter was a little surprised. This kind of calm expression was not what the audience wanted to see.
But the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. He must be deluding himself now, thinking he can survive that Ferris wheel. Who knows how wonderful the expression on his face will be when death actually comes.
Teacher Slaughter felt it was a pityâa pity he wouldnât get to see 1003âs struggles at the moment of death. If you died underwater, no matter how you thrashed down there, the audience above couldnât see a thing.
The follow cams couldnât go underwater either; theyâd malfunction if they got wet.
"What a pity, what a pity. This Ferris wheel is very creative, but the audience canât see whatâs happening underwater. If we get the chance in future, maybe we can modify itâadd a water-sealed glass cover to each cabin so the follow cams can go in, or just build an underwater gallery so the audience can watch through the glass."
Thinking of this, Teacher Slaughter nodded in satisfaction.
standing beside him, however, was feeling uneasy. He watched 1003 calmly walking with the staff toward the Ferris wheel, a bit worried inside.
But he wasnât worried about his dear companionâs safety.
Why did he look that calm? Did he have some way to last ten minutes underwater? Among all the attractions, this flooded Ferris wheel seemed to be the easiest to pass. What if the cabin he chose was too well sealed and the water couldnât get in?
The more 1761 thought about it, the more he regretted it. He shouldnât have let his guilty conscience push him into picking such a mild attraction; he shouldâve chosen something that guaranteed death. The roller coaster the last guy took was greatâany way you looked at it, you couldnât survive that.
With that thought, he looked up at Teacher Slaughter, hesitating, wanting to retract his earlier choice and pick a more lethal project for 1003âbut he didnât dare to speak up and go back on his word. Faced with the Upper Class People, he didnât even have the courage to initiate a conversation.
By this time, 1003 had already been brought to the Ferris wheelâs boarding platform.
The boarding platform was built on the edge of an artificial lake, raised some distance above the water.
On a normal Ferris wheel, after entering, the cabins always went up, but here the boarding platform was built on the downward side.
Because the audience didnât have the patience to watch a lower-class person ride half a circle on the Ferris wheel before going into the water; it was best if the person sank as soon as they entered the cabin.
"Pick one, see which cabin you want to sit in." The rope-handling staff member stood off to one side impatiently, telling 1003 to hurry up and choose.
Li San was also beside him. He looked down at the Ferris wheel cabins rolling downward one by one. Once you boarded here, youâd sink with the cabin, and in less than ten seconds youâd be submerged in the lake below.
The water looked bottomless, like the gaping maw of some man-eating beast. He nervously backed up a couple steps, wanting to get further away from it.
forced himself to stay calm and carefully examined each cabin door at the boarding platform, trying to find one that was well sealed, one that could block out the water as much as possible.
But only up close did he see that each cabin had windows covered with wire mesh. Once it went under, the water would flow in through every mesh hole, flooding into his mouth and nose.
"Hurry up, stop dawdling and wasting time." The staff beside him was already extremely impatient.