Labyrinths, steady hearts, and fingertip ties.
Four horizontal locks wedged the top of the aquarium securely in place, and even if they had wanted to, they didn't have the tools, they didn't have the footing - all four boxes were secured in the corners of the room - and they didn't have the guts to break into them.
Gan Tang's previous experience is still in front of them, how can they still dare to act without authorization, so they can only concentrate on studying the steel ball disk, from which they can get a chance of survival.
As Gan Yu removes his glasses, sits down cross-legged, and uses his fingertips to trace a plastic partition to simulate the optimal trajectory of a steel ball to its end point, Yuan Benshan tries to take out another steel ball disk.
He is a surgical student, his hands are much more stable than normal people, but when he saw the "bombs" as dense as a beehive, his scalp went numb, his sweat poured out, and his fingertips couldn't control the trembling.
Chi Xiaochi recognizes himself as a black hole in the game, Gan Tang falls into a coma, and Xu Jiayi, like Chi Xiaochi, takes one look at the game and says, "I can't do it," retreating on his own.
Meng Qian Qian lifted the box, the face will be gray and yellow as earth: "What is this thing? How can it pass?"
"It's you who can't get through." Gan Yu's muzzle is strong but his words are polite enough, "If you can't solve it, step aside."
After saying that, he turned his head, "Mr. Yuan, you don't need to open all the four dark locks, but you can save the people if you break three of them. I'll break two, and you solve one. Okay."
Yuan Benshan gritted his teeth, "Okay."
Qiao Yun, tears streaming down his face, tries in vain to plug the spout: "Hurry up, you guys, hurry up!"
Gan Yu didn't pay any attention to her and said to Chi Xiaochi, "You sit far away."
Chi Xiaochi ignored him too.
Seeing that he didn't move, Gan Yu's tone was finally a bit more eager, "...... Listen."
Chi Xiaochi asked, "Are you afraid it's going to blow up?"
Gan Yu said, "Uh-huh."
Chi Xiaochi said, "It's good to be afraid."
He continued to sit comfortably at Gan Yu's side: "One bomb for two, you watch."
Gan Yu already had a bright sweat on his forehead, and no longer had the strength to drive Chi Xiaochi away, shaking his head and saying, "You."
He shook it gently, and the steel ball rolled down from its starting point, hitting the nearest partition with a faint "ding".
Meng Qian found it boring to just stand there, so she followed Chi Xiaochi's example and went to watch Yuan Benshan solve the steel ball maze.
Yuan Benshan was encountering the first "bomb" that blocked his way. The small steel balls were bouncing back and forth around the "bomb", making a whirring sound, and with each sound he felt the pressure, as if his back were a big mountain weighing him down, making him almost breathless.
"Stay back." He stared at the disk with eyes not beaded, and scolded gruffly, "Don't interfere with me!"
Meng Qian was not amused and went back to Xu Jiayi's side, secretly saying, "Who wants to look at you? You're a cold-blooded murderer, no wonder you're covered in aura of death.
Xu Jiayi sat against the wall, glancing sideways at Yuan Benshan for a long time before retracting his gaze, resting the back of his head against the wall and waiting with his eyes closed.
Chi Xiaochi is also watching the others.
Xu Jiayi's performance caused him to raise a slight eyebrow, but then he withdrew his gaze and watched as Gan Yu carefully delivered the small steel ball to the finish line.
For a moment, the room was dead silent.
Not long afterward, however, Qiao Yun, whose life was hanging by a thread, became agitated again.
The water had filled the bottom of the aquarium and was not over the backs of her feet.
Qiao Yun rolled over onto his knees, clenched his fists, and thumped the aquarium wall, "Alright yet? You guys are too slow."
Gan Yu's frown didn't budge as he deftly maneuvered the small steel ball to brush against the "bomb" and demanded succinctly and clearly: "Tissue."
Chi Xiaochi agreed, took one and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
He said, "Thanks."
After a moment, he added, "Paper towels."
Chi Xiaochi noticed that he was sweating a little too much, beads running down his face, but thought nothing of it and used up another tissue, assuming that the atmosphere was tense.
By the time the tissue left his face, it was all wet.
Chi Xiaochi got up and went to check on Yuan Benshan, and saw that he, too, was in a cold sweat.
He made a move to wipe it off for him, to avoid getting sweat in his eyes and interfering with the cracking of the steel ball maze.
Chi Xiaochi checked on Gan Tang again and was slightly relieved to see that her vital signs were still present and relatively stable.
When he turned back, but found Gan Yu holding the steel ball tray is not moving, eyes closed tightly, full forehead are shaking fine sweat light, eyelashes fluttering gently, fragile a little call for panic.
Chi Xiaochi was startled, "What happened to you?"
Gan Yu closed his eyes and said, "Tissue."
Chi Xiaochi is running out of the pack of tissues in her hand.
He shoved the tissue back into his pocket, took off his jacket, pulled up his sleeves, and half-kneeled to wipe Gan Yu's sweat.
Gan Yu remained polite and smiled, "Thank you."
Chi Xiaochi asked, "What's going on?"
Gan Yu: "Shh."
He turned his head and looked like Chi Xiaochi was shocked.
The color of his lips, which were already on the pale side, turned completely pale, and the tips of his eyebrows were knitted lightly, his features, which were on the voluptuous side, were tinted with a palpitating color of weakness.
Chi Xiaochi pursed her lips, "It goes on?"
Gan Yu is still the same: "I'll try."
Chi Xiaochi : "...... If only Tong was still around."
Gan Yu's words were unusually short and strong: "There's me. Enough."
He closed his eyes again and refocused them, flicking his wrist up to adjust the angle.
Bone on bone, bone on bone.
The rolling of the small steel ball became a death knell, each whispered glide like a roll over the heart.
Although Chi Xiaochi kept wiping Gan Yu's sweat, she could no longer keep up with the speed at which he was sweating.
Without noticing, a drop of sweat fell on the transparent plastic plate, making an unusually loud "pop" and causing the small steel beads in the plate to jump.
The small steel ball in the disk is at a corner, and the entrance to the one-way street it's going to turn into is lined with "bombs" up and down.
And the little steel ball was about to pass through that narrow gap of a few millimeters.
For a moment, Chi Xiaochi's breath froze.
Sweat rolled on the disk, and even wiping it might affect the operation of the small steel balls inside, so no one dared to do anything to wipe it.
Gan Yu was holding his breath as he adjusted the orientation of the small steel ball, when Qiao Yun behind him started clanging on the aquarium again, his voice was already crying, "Why aren't you guys ready yet?!"
The water was up to her knees, and she had to stand up and knock around, trying to find a way out of the building.
...... and the Qiao Yun who had just resolutely sent Jia Siyuan to his death, were simply like two people.
The frequent knocks made Gan Yu frown a little.
He leaned forward slightly and said to Chi Xiaochi, "Keep her quiet."
Chi Xiaochi took the order, walked over to the aquarium and knocked back three times.
He said, "Want to die a few seconds later, I'll give you a suggestion."
He pointed a finger at the still rising water level, "Drink. Drink as much as you can."
Gan Yu laughed and thought, "This is really Chi Xiaochi's style.
With this in mind, he gently shook his hand, and the small steel ball accurately avoided the two sandwiched "bombs" and rolled into the few millimeters of the safe channel.
Only now did he pull back his forward leaning body.
...... Luckily Chi Xiaochi went away.
Gan Yu doesn't know the true power of the "bomb", and in case of a mishap, the only thing he can do is to shield the "bomb" underneath himself, and he doesn't know if it will affect people further away.
Thankfully, a safe transition.
As Yuan Benshan let the small steel ball travel most of the way through the labyrinth, he heard a heavy sigh from the direction of Gan Yu.
At the same time, there was a small "click" in the direction of the aquarium.
Qiao Yun, who had been drinking water with his head down, reached out and desperately tried to push the top cover.
However only one lock was opened and the top cover could not be removed at all.
Gan Yu swings the steel ball tray firmly back into the box, closes the lid, and braces his hands on it as he tries to get up.
...... However, after getting up only a little, he fell into a sitting position, three or five drops of sweat snapping onto the floor, and luckily Chi Xiaochi was able to support his waist just in time.
In his defense, he said, "The legs are numb."
Chi Xiaochi looked to his right leg, which he didn't dare to land on, "Uh-huh."
Gan Yu said, "Send me to the next box."
Chi Xiaochi: "Uh-huh."
At this point, half the time had passed.
Despite Qiao Yun's desperate attempts to drink, her stomach pouch was limited, and the water had flooded to the base of her thighs and was about to reach her waistline.
Qiao Yun leaned her back against the wall of the aquarium and covered her mouth, not daring to cry for fear that her tears would cause the water level to rise.
As he walks to the next box in the corner, Gan Yu lowers his head and rests the side of his face on Chi Xiaochi's shoulder.
His eyelashes condensed a mist of water, his cheeks turned from paper-like pallor to a faint reddish color, and the breath that came out of his nose was piping hot.
...... He has started a fever.
Chi Xiaochi helped him sit down in front of the box and whispered in his ear, "Legs hurt?"
"Uh-huh." Gan Yu said, "I have a sense with my sister."
Chi Xiaochi said, "I've only heard of twins being telepathic, I've never heard of one that can also sense the physical body."
Gan Yu pursed his lips and smiled, lifting the lid with his hands, steadily removing the steel ball disk, and using his fingertips to predetermine the direction of the steel ball: "The world is so big, there are still a lot of things you don't know and can't think of."
The walking beads in the disk began to slowly follow his pre-determined trajectory again.
When the water was already over Qiao Yun's chest, who was standing on the wigwam, Yuan Benshan cursed under his breath, "Fuck."
"Click."
The second secret lock also opened.
This time, not waiting for Qiao Yun to push the top cover, Meng Qian and Xu Jiayi both jumped up and worked together to pull the edge of the top cover, finally lifting it up a little bit.
Meng Qian leaned over the edge and said urgently, "Qiao Yun, hand over the key!"
Qiao Yun lifts his arm, trying to shove the key out along the little gap, but pulls his hand back halfway up.
Meng Qian : "...... What are you doing? Give it to me!"
Qiao Yun clutched the brass key between his palms, "Wait until you open the third lock!"
Meng Qian tried to coax her, "Qiao Yun, we'll open the third lock. Look, isn't Mr. Gan already opening the lock."
"Do you guys think I'm stupid?" Qiao Yun scornfully said, "If I gave you guys the key, would you still risk the 'bomb' going off to save me? You guys will definitely leave me here!"
Meng Qian: "Qiao Yun!"
Qiao Yun also drew up his pitch, "I'm warning you, if you don't save me, I'll swallow the key in my stomach, or worse, the fish will die, and no one will go out!"
Meng Qian, seeing that Qiao Yun is serious, can't help but be furious and curse.
Yuan Benshan, disturbed by their clamor, angrily shouted, "Quiet, all of you! Shut your mouths!"
In the midst of all this hustle and bustle, Gan Yu's demeanor remains steady and calm.
But the naked eye can see, high fever has been on his body functions have a great impact, he cracked the labyrinth speed is much slower, there are several times, the small steel ball is just barely grazed the "bomb" side of the past, see Chi Xiaochi heartbeat has been floating up and down in a hundred per minute.
Gradually, Qiao Yun only had one head left on the water, the tears of fear could no longer be stopped, rolling and rushing down, but could only swallow the howls over and over again, Meng Qian was so nervous that she vomited again and again.
No one dared to disturb him, but all eyes were focused on Gan Yu's back.
Gan Yu's body is as immovable as a mountain, and his hands are even more steady, only shaking slightly when he reaches a temporary safe zone.
The water level rose higher and higher, reaching his neck and mouth, Qiao Yun only relied on the desire to survive, using the buoyancy to tilt his face up and let out a desperate "ah ah ah" sound in his throat.
Gan Yu's side is nearing the end of the race, with just one more "bomb formation" to go before reaching the finish line.
This "bomb formation" is the way to the finish line and is arranged in two rows, forming a complete pathway about five centimeters long and a few millimeters wide.
The little steel balls must not touch the two walls at all to get past.
It's hard enough to make one's body tingle just by looking at it.
Chi Xiaochi turned back, saw that the water was already about to fill the aquarium, and with a heartbeat, he barked at Qiao Yun, "Take a deep breath! Dive!"
At this point in time, Qiao Yun had no choice but to do as he was told.
She snatched a mouthful of oxygen between the few remaining crevices, letting it fill her lungs, and then sank to the bottom of the water, her eyes closed tightly.
Off to the side, Gan Yu spoke up, "...... becomes two."
Chi Xiaochi didn't understand what Gan Yu meant at first, but when he thought about it, cold sweat dripped down his spine.
Oops!
He's getting double vision in front of his eyes!
Gan Yu frowned, staring at the "bomb" path that had changed from two to four, racking his brain to figure out how to get through.
At this point it was too late for Yuan Benshan to take over, and Chi Xiaochi forced himself to remain calm and reached out with his right index finger, pointing as gently as he could up the raw path and drawing a line, "Go here."
Gan Yu raised his right hand similarly and lightly pressed his index finger against Chi Xiaochi's fingertip, "Here?"
Chi Xiaochi already guessed what he wanted to do, "...... Can you?"
Gan Yu replied dryly, "Yes."
Chi Xiaochi chose to believe him.
He pressed his index finger against the entrance of the "bomb array" and pulled the tip of Gan Yu's index finger to draw a line as smooth as possible along the few millimeters of life.
Gan Yu operates the disk with one hand, tilts the disk and sends the small steel ball rolling all the way into the "bomb formation".
In Gan Yu's eyes, Chi Xiaochi's hand also has a shadow, and so does the "bomb".
And between the overlapping shadows, only the temperature of Chi Xiaochi's fingertips is amazingly clear.
With that fingertip guidance, he let the steel ball roll smoothly onto the black and white grid that symbolized the finish line.
"Click."
Third lock, open.
Gan Yu had just put the disk of steel balls back in the box when his body went limp and he collapsed right on top of Chi Xiaochi, gasping for breath.
Xu Jiayi and Meng Qian, who had been waiting for the aquarium, climbed into the tank and fumbled to push up the lid.
Qiao Yun had already choked on the water, but when he felt the light above him, he tried his best to go upward with the slightest instinct for survival.
Meng Qian dragged her upper body out of the water, grabbed her hands, broke her clenched fists, and pulled the brass key out, tossing it to Xu Jiayi : "Open the door now!"
He was about to pull Qiao Yun out when he suddenly saw a display light up on the surface of the case where the four bombs had been hidden, and a ticking countdown began.
"30, 29, 28 ......"
Seeing this scene, who doesn't know what's going to happen next?
Meng Qian cursed "Fuck", shook off Qiao Yun's hand, and ran all the way to the door, staring at Xu Jiayi as he opened it: "Are you ready?
Xu Jiayi also heard the sound of the countdown, and could only try to remain calm and insert the key into the lock, but the lock was really old, and after poking it in, it could not be twisted open for a while!
Meng Qian was so anxious that he stomped his feet, snatched the key from Xu Jiayi's hand and opened the door by himself, instead of dropping off Qiao Yun, who was drowning and lying on the top of the box, vomiting water uncontrollably, to the side.
Xu Jiayi turned around and glanced at Qiao Yun, a clear look of disgust appeared on his face, not only did he not pay any attention to her, instead he took the initiative to carry the unconscious Gan Tang on his back.
Chi Xiaochi, trying to hold up Gan Yu's body and unable to do so, turned to Yuan Benshan and yelled, "Pull her out!"
He hates Qiao Yun, who sells out his teammates at critical moments, yet he worries that the next room may have levels that require teamwork.
Gan Yu and Gan Tang could no longer hold out, Jia Siyuan was dead, and if Qiao Yun was dead, there were only four men left.
Yuan Benshan hesitated.
Quickly, he thought of the Joker's words.
Wasn't Qiao Yun placed in the aquarium because she was the "best performing player"?
His own behavior in the last level was already out of character, if he saw another death, would he be chosen by the Joker as the next target to play with?
With this in mind, Yuan Benshan ran quickly and pulled Qiao Yun from the aquarium.
Qiao Yun fell to the ground, his arms and legs too weak to stand on their own, and looked up at him drowsily, still not understanding what was happening now.
There were seven seconds left in the countdown before the door managed to open.
Meng Qian was the first to jump in, Chi Xiaochi picked up Gan Yu and was the second to jump in, followed by Gan Tang and Xu Jiayi.
Yuan Benshan has not yet had time to carry the person up, see the time limit will come, think it is too late, simply dragged her arm, dragging the sack like pulling her towards the door of life run.
He had just entered the middle of the life door with his back foot when the four bombs exploded at the same time.
Miraculously, the bomb's power was confined to the small concrete room, and the aquarium filled with water exploded, sending glass shells everywhere, but not a single bit of the room was affected.
Yuan Benshan hadn't even breathed a sigh of relief when he realized something was wrong.
He doesn't seem ...... to be able to pull Qiao Yun in.
But Qiao Yun's right wrist was still in his palm.
The faces of all the people in front of him were all pale and green, and when he stiffened and turned back, what he saw, was Qiao Yun, who had been blown up to the point where only half of his body remained.
Qiao Yun opens and closes his mouth in agony, but can no longer speak.
Yuan Benshan, as if holding a handful of hot coals, scrambled to lift what was left of her upper body into the roaring fire behind her.
The door to life then closed abruptly.
The elevator mechanism starts up again, teleporting the stunned crowd away from the thrilling bomb hut and into the unknown somewhere.
Published at: 09/09/2024 07:00