The situation of another assisting member wasn't any better. Due to this assisting member's impatience, they exerted too much force during the jump, almost reaching the height of the floating platform where the Countess stood with a single leap. Of course, "almost reaching" meant they didn't reach it. Just as this assisting member vertically leaped to a considerable height, their head seemed to hit an invisible wall, causing them to faint instantly from the tremendous impact. After they fainted, like a lump of mud, they fell headfirst towards the vine wall below. Needless to say, this assisting member fell directly into the thorny vine wall from directly above. Then, their entire body was punctured into a bloody mess by the sharp thorns.
The tragic deaths of the two assisting members made Haoyun and the others gasp in horror. However, at the same time, Daddy Cat and the others couldn't spare any attention for their two deceased teammates because they knew that after the Countess's countdown ended, their super jump ability would disappear. So, instead of feeling sorry for their teammates' tragic deaths, Daddy Cat and the others should figure out how to make use of this jumping ability.
However, the deaths of those two assisting members also provided some ideas for Daddy Cat and the others. Since they couldn't forcibly complete the maze challenge using the high jump ability, what if they used this super jump ability to search for the maze exit in the air? Thinking of this, Daddy Cat gathered his courage, jumped into the air with the right amount of force, and started quickly surveying the maze terrain below using the advantage of height. Seeing Daddy Cat not being punished after two consecutive jumps, Dream Jia and the last assisting member followed suit and inspected the maze below while in the air.
"I see it! Behind us, southwest, there's a bright light!" After jumping twice in a row, Dream Jia suddenly exclaimed excitedly. At the same time, the assisting member who landed after her also pointed towards the southwest direction of the maze, muttering excitedly with "Woo, yeah" sounds.
So Daddy Cat quickly turned to jump towards the direction indicated by Dream Jia and the assisting member and indeed saw the bright light they mentioned. As for Haoyun, upon hearing that Daddy Cat and the others had found the maze exit, he looked excited but also somewhat lost as he tried to look in the southwest direction. However, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't see the light mentioned by Daddy Cat and the others. Seeing this, the Countess explained that Haoyun couldn't see the maze exit because the program team deliberately blocked the maze exit from the height of the floating platform. The purpose of this was twofold: to prevent Haoyun from knowing the maze exit in advance and giving hints to his teammates below, and to prevent the maze exit from being revealed to the live audience, so as not to affect the audience's viewing experience.
"So the exit is behind us! Fortunately, we got this jumping ability, otherwise, if we continue to explore in the opposite direction, who knows how long it will take us to get out of this maze!" Daddy Cat said thankfully after seeing the maze exit. Then, before the Countess's countdown finished, he jumped up again with everyone to look for the path to the light, trying to find the best route to the light in this complex maze as quickly as possible.
Seeing the three members of the Challenger Team switch to a neighboring path and quickly head towards the exit after the high jump ability expired, the Countess couldn't help but worryingly say to the Hunting Team, "Oops, it seems like the Challenger Team has found the way to escape from the vine maze! Cough, cough, cough! Hunting Team, you guys have to work harder! If you let the Challenger Team complete the maze challenge so easily, it will put you at a more disadvantageous position in the next challenges!"
The threatening words from the Countess seemed to make the Hunting Team feel a certain pressure, so Little Tiger also became more serious in the chess battle, resulting in both sides having their ups and downs in the subsequent matches. However, due to Little Tiger's high losses in the opening stage, he still ended up losing to Haoyun with a slight disadvantage after the completion of the 25-chess match. As a result, the Challenger Team escaped the punishment of an additional three wipeouts due to the failure of the entire match, and they also gained the right to immediately enter the next safe spot. Of course, although Haoyun eventually won in the second round of chess battle, winning a lot of time to advance without any hindrance for the Challenger Team, Daddy Cat and Dream Jia's spirits and bodies were still exhausted and almost collapsed after being tormented by more than twenty obstacles.
"Huff! I wonder how long it will take us to find that exit." Dream Jia asked anxiously. Although she and Daddy Cat were imprisoned in their own consciousness, it didn't prevent them from synchronously experiencing all the pains their bodies went through in the challenge. So at this moment, Dream Jia and Daddy Cat's mental state wouldn't be much better than Dream Jia and Daddy Cat's.
"Alas! According to their walking speed, without encountering any obstacles and with the chosen path completely correct, we should be able to reach the maze exit in about fifteen minutes." Daddy Cat calculated based on what he had observed through Daddy Cat's perspective earlier.
"Huff! I hope everything goes smoothly from now on! Haoyun, how's the situation on your end?" Dream Jia sighed and asked.
"Haoyun won again! This guy's luck has completely turned around now. At this rate, he should be able to win the third round of chess battle soon!" Haoyun replied.
Just now, Haoyun used a chess piece with a flashlight to repel the chess piece turned over by the assisting member of the Hunting Team, which had a mole on it. As a result, the Challenger Team in the maze obtained a powerful flashlight that could be used for a limited time and could use the strong light emitted from this flashlight to see a hidden path guidance line in the maze. According to the Countess, with the help of this guidance line, the Challenger Team could at least accurately approach the maze exit by a large distance.
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Afterwards, spurred on by the assisting combatants representing the Hunting Squad, the squad made a comeback on the chessboard, causing trouble for the Challenger Team once again by acquiring a hungry wolf pack through a victorious battle. Eventually, the Challenger Team had no choice but to leave behind two severely injured assisting combatants to become the wolves' meal, allowing them to escape from the midst of the feasting pack.
In order to evade the danger of the wolf pack, the remaining three members of the Challenger Team ran around in the maze for quite a while, getting lost once again in their hurried escape. Thus, relying on their vague memories, they proceeded towards what seemed to be the southwest direction. After successfully evading a small-scale sniper attack launched by the Hunting Squad, they awkwardly turned into a very inconspicuous corner ahead.
As a result, after turning into this corner, their eyes couldn't help but light up. Dream Jia, especially excited, pointed ahead and exclaimed, "Heavens! We found it! We found it!"
As Dream Jia pointed, it was a yet-to-be-activated safe point in the direction she indicated. However, that wasn't the reason for her excitement. What truly made her jubilant was that just beyond the corner, where they had spotted from the air, was the exit of the maze. The bright spot they had seen earlier was actually a neon light board assembled from colorful neon lights. On this neon light board, not only was there an arrow pointing downwards, but also four large characters written in a very conspicuous font — "Maze Exit."
"It's not easy! The Challenger Team has finally found the exit of the maze!" At this moment, the voice of the Countess resounded once again, and the audience at the scene cheered loudly once more. Hearing the Countess's words also eased the tense and anxious mood of the Challenger Team because the Countess's words officially confirmed that the exit ahead was not a trap but a genuine maze exit.
"The exit is right in front of us, and the maze challenge has entered its final stage. The Challenger Team is only two hundred meters away from successfully completing the second stage of the challenge! What kind of obstacles will they face in this final sprint? Let's wait and see!" The Countess clapped her hands excitedly. The audience also couldn't help but cheer for the Challenger Team loudly after seeing them finally find the maze exit.
Unlike the enthusiastic mood of the audience, the members of the Challenger Team became increasingly serious after confirming the maze exit. Because they were very clear, and could also imagine, that with the exit right in front of them, the production team would not let them easily pass through the two hundred-meter long vine corridor in this final sprint phase.
"Phew! In any case, the exit is right in front of us. We just have to rush into that damn exit to leave this maze. Victory is within reach. Let's concentrate and charge forward!" Uncle Mold adjusted his emotions and said to everyone. Although they knew there was some kind of danger ahead, now they had to grit their teeth and charge forward to end this nightmare in the maze!
"Alright, let the game continue!" As the Countess continued the chess battle, Uncle Mold also led Dream Jia and the surviving assisting combatants to dash forward.
"Muscle Devil versus Mosquito, Mosquito wins!" After confirming the chess cards opened by both sides, the Countess announced, while once again expressing admiration for Ah Yun's good luck.
Upon hearing this judgment, the assisting combatant from the Hunting Squad showed obvious dissatisfaction and began to protest with a whimper, seemingly questioning the Countess why Ah Yun's mosquito could defeat the Muscle Devil? The Muscle Devil could easily swat the mosquito to death, couldn't it?
"Cough, cough, cough! Although that's true, if the mosquito climbs onto the Muscle Devil's back, it can safely suck blood! Because the Muscle Devil's muscles are too large, so large that he can't even reach his own back. So, even though the Muscle Devil can easily defeat the mosquito, he still can't do anything to the mosquito."
"Good lord! Where did you come up with such a theory?! Your judgment angle is too tricky, isn't it?!" Although Ah Yun was the victor, he couldn't help but comment after hearing the Countess's explanation.
Hao Yun had long been accustomed to the eccentric ideas of the Countess and could understand why she made such a bizarre explanation. Anyway, as long as the result of the victory was favorable to their side, the reason for the victory didn't really matter. Moreover, according to the nature of this production team, after Ah Yun's victory, the most they would do is to release some mosquitoes in the maze to hinder the Challenger Team's progress, which was much better than letting the Hunting Squad win and then introducing a Muscle Devil into the maze. After all, just hearing the name "Muscle Devil," one could tell that this fellow wouldn't be friendly. Who knows how they would have put this guy into the maze, and the Challenger Team would have to face what kind of torture again?
In fact, Hao Yun's speculation was not wrong. However, he still underestimated the degree of absurdity of the "Destiny and Challenge" production team. Because, just after the Countess threw down the chess piece with mosquitoes drawn on it, that chess piece turned into several gradually expanding clusters of light spots. And after scattering on the roads along the maze exit, they gradually transformed into giant mosquitoes with blood-red eyes, at least one meter tall, covered in blue and yellow spots.
The appearance of these giant mosquitoes truly startled the members of the Challenger Team. However, since their first target while running was the nearby safe point, they hadn't waited for these giant mosquitoes to launch an attack before they first took refuge in the safe point. As for those giant mosquitoes, after losing their targets, they all crawled onto the vine walls on both sides of the safe point to rest.
Although the members of the Challenger Team were not currently under attack by these mosquitoes, the terrifying sight of these giant mosquitoes with long mouthparts filled with sharp teeth, constantly rotating their blood-red compound eyes to search for prey to hunt, still scared them to the point where their faces turned pale and they dared not even take a breath. Because everyone was well aware that once these mosquitoes bit someone, it wouldn't be as simple as just sucking a little blood. Judging from the powerful mouthparts of these mosquitoes, they undoubtedly had the ability to suck a person dry, bones and all, leaving behind only a skin in an instant.
"Flashlights! We can only use flashlights to attract the mosquitoes away. Then we can avoid them and take advantage of the time difference when they react to chase us, and make a full sprint towards the maze exit!" Just then, Uncle Mold suddenly remembered the high-intensity flashlights they had obtained earlier, which had not malfunctioned yet, so he quickly suggested.