Upon hearing this, Dream Jia immediately turned on the high-intensity flashlight and cautiously waved it, trying to lure the mosquitoes from the narrow corridor leading from the safe point to the exit ahead to the corridor behind the safe point.
Sure enough, these mosquitoes were quickly attracted by the flashlight and buzzed towards the direction of the light. However, these few large mosquitoes seemed a bit hesitant, which led to them being attracted by Dream Jia's flashlight to the airspace above the safe point but unwilling to continue moving further away from the safe point.
"Darn it! If that's the case, once the protection of this safe point fails, they will quickly be attracted by our blood and come crashing down from above to attack us!" Dream Jia said anxiously after several unsuccessful attempts to lure the large mosquitoes hovering about ten meters above their heads.
Just as Uncle Mold and Dream Jia felt at a loss on how to lure away the hovering mosquitoes, the assisting member who had survived alongside them suddenly let out a cry. Then, to everyone's surprise, this assisting member, after shouting out, suddenly got up and kicked another assisting member who had just been teleported into the safe point and hadn't figured out the situation yet. Subsequently, the relatively smaller assisting member was inevitably kicked out of the safe point by the other assisting member. Seizing the moment while Dream Jia was still in shock, the assisting member who had survived snatched the high-intensity flashlight from her hand and shone it directly on the assisting member who had been kicked out of the safe point and was feeling dizzy.
"Ah!" With a cry of surprise from the audience, the giant mosquitoes fluttering near the beams of light suddenly seemed to receive a command and immediately turned around, diving towards the assisting member illuminated by the flashlight. At this moment, the unfortunate assisting member also realized what was happening and, in a panic, began to flee towards the corridor indicated by the flashlight.
Seeing the mosquitoes chasing the assisting member towards the other end of the corridor, the surviving assisting member wasted no time and rushed out of the safe point, heading towards the exit of the maze in the distance. Uncle Mold and the others, seeing this, had no time to question the assisting member's act of betraying their teammate but immediately followed suit and dashed towards the maze exit with the assisting member. They knew that since the fate of the assisting member who had been betrayed was sealed, now was the time to take advantage of the opportunity when all the mosquitoes had been attracted away by him and the flashlight, and quickly enter the open maze gate ahead.
The audience applauded the Challenger Team's sudden improvisation, praising their excellent diversionary tactic. The Countess, however, frowned slightly upon seeing the Challenger Team's actions before applauding and saying, "Wow! I didn't expect the Challenger Team to avoid the attack of the mosquitoes so reasonably by using props. It's wonderful, really wonderful!"
Then, the Countess changed her tone and said somewhat awkwardly, "But—achieving the challenge by betraying a teammate is not what 'Fate and Challenge' hopes to see. Because the original intention of our program is to hope that everyone can work together and cooperate to complete the challenge. So, although the Challenger Team successfully avoided the giant mosquitoes, they must accept a little punishment."
After speaking, the Countess snapped her fingers in the direction of the Challenger Team. Then, a terrifying sound of "crunch, crunch" came from the corridor. Immediately afterward, the vines woven into high walls on both sides of the corridor began to wriggle restlessly, as if frightened.
"Oh no! Run!" Seeing the vine walls beside them suddenly wriggling, Uncle Mold hurriedly urged loudly. They were now only a hundred meters away from the maze exit. As long as they sped up, it would only take them about ten seconds to rush into the maze gate that was already wide open ahead!
"Run! Don't look back! Run forward!" Both Aron and Haoyun shouted loudly in unison. From their high vantage point, they could see that the vine wall at the other end of the corridor was once again splitting into vine tendrils amidst its restlessness. Subsequently, these vine tendrils, originally located on both sides of the corridor, chased after the Challenger Team, completely sealing off the corridor behind them.
At this moment, the assisting member who was running in the opposite direction also noticed that the vine wall ahead was continuously merging. Knowing that if he continued to run forward, he would definitely be crushed to pieces by the merging vine wall. Therefore, he had to subconsciously slow down his pace, which directly led to him quickly being caught up by the giant mosquitoes. Then, with a "splut" sound, the assisting member's chest was pierced by the thick mouthparts thrust from behind. Subsequently, amidst the pitiful cries, the assisting member was knocked to the ground by the giant mosquitoes. The mosquitoes then pinned the assisting member to the ground and immediately began to feast on his flesh and blood. Soon, two more mosquitoes joined the feast, and the assisting member, under the attack of the three mosquitoes, instantly fell silent.
It was evident that these few mosquitoes were very hungry at the moment, so much so that in order to enjoy the flesh and blood of the assisting member, they even ignored the approaching vine wall. The consequences were also evident. These three mosquitoes were squeezed into a large mass of blood mist during the process of the vine walls on both sides merging again. The remaining mosquitoes, unable to get a chance to feed and seeing both their teammates and prey being devoured by the vine walls, felt threatened and immediately turned around, fleeing towards the maze exit.
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The speed at which these giant mosquitoes pursued the challengers was astonishingly fast, taking less than three seconds to catch up with the team. Upon catching up with the challengers, the mosquitoes once again revealed their primal instinct for bloodlust, unhesitatingly opting to feed rather than continue their pursuit. The assistant who had been trailing behind the team inevitably became the sacrifice to shield Master Gu and Elina.
Witnessing the assistant being suddenly overrun by several mosquitoes at the rear of the team, Master Gu and Elina dared only to pause briefly and glance back before hastily turning around to continue toward the maze's exit. They knew that if they didn't escape quickly, they would become the next prey for these bloodthirsty insects. Moreover, they noticed that the vines on the walls behind them were accelerating in their pursuit. Thus, if they didn't run with all their might, they risked being crushed into pulp by the vines.
In fact, the whole process of Master Gu and Elina pausing to look back at the attacked assistant and the swiftly approaching vine wall behind them took less than two seconds. However, to their surprise, it was this two-second delay that caused them to lag behind the leading assistant and allowed them to narrowly evade the sudden attack of the vines from the front.
But the assistant who betrayed the team wasn't as fortunate. As the vine wall converged from behind, the vines on both sides of the corridor ahead seemed to become agitated, causing individual vines to detach from the wall and thrash wildly. In the midst of their frantic run, the assistant was caught off guard by the vines' attack, getting entangled and flung into the air by a vine wrapping around their thigh. Then, more vines disintegrating from the wall ahead seemed to be drawn to the scene, all reaching out for the unfortunate assistant.
Master Gu and Elina couldn't help but inhale sharply at the sight. If they hadn't delayed for a moment to check the situation behind them, they would likely have suffered the same fate as those assistants, assaulted by the suddenly awakened vines ahead! However, Master Gu and Elina dared not linger any longer. Although they were pursued from behind and obstructed in front, it was evident that the agitated vine tendrils ahead were entirely focused on the assistant being flung into the air. This gave Master Gu and Elina the opportunity to continue moving forward beneath these vine tendrils. They naturally seized this chance, holding their breath and swiftly crawling through the passage under the tendrils, while remaining vigilant against the vine tendrils that might emerge from the walls on either side, continuing to run towards the maze's exit without looking back.
"Run! Run! Time is money, speed is life! Cough, cough, cough!" exclaimed the Countess, dancing wildly in an oddly uncoordinated manner while excitedly urging them on.
"Charge! Charge! Charge! Charge!" The audience in the arena began rhythmically chanting to cheer on the challengers.
The exit of the maze was within reach, with the agitated vine walls needing only five seconds to completely seal off the remaining section of the corridor. The desperate cries of the giant mosquitoes squeezed to death by the vines, the sound of the assistant being torn apart by the vine tendrils, and the merging sound of the vine wall getting closer and closer, all continuously entered Master Gu and Elina's ears from behind. But they didn't dare to look back, the intense feeling of fear and the looming threat of death forcing them to focus solely on sprinting forward with all their might.
Three meters, two meters, one meter!
With a snap, the agitated vine completely sealed off the last section of the corridor, and the exit of the maze was immediately blocked by the vine wall. The audience all gasped and stood up, stretching their necks to look at the sealed maze exit. However, at this moment, all they could see on the originally narrow passage was a denser and more impenetrable wall of vines, occasionally with blood seeping out from within, but no sign of any surviving members of the challenger team.
Soon, the floating platform used for chess battles disappeared. Then, the assistant responsible for the chess battles quickly returned to the hunting team's floating platform, while Algon appeared on another platform that appeared out of thin air. Also appearing on the production floating platform were Master Gu and Elina, the two challenger guests.
"Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! I declare the success of the second challenge of the challenger team! Let us cheer for the incredibly exciting challenges of the challenger team!" exclaimed the Countess excitedly as the three guests of the challenger team reappeared.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!" Fireworks lit up the sky, and the entire audience stood up, applauding and cheering for the challenger team.
At this moment, Algon and his companions finally confirmed that they had indeed completed the second challenge and therefore sat on the ground, completely ignoring the cheers of the audience, staring blankly ahead, breathing in the fresh air as much as possible, trying to calm their still shaken nerves.
The situation of Daddy Cat and his companions trapped inside their bodies was not much better at this time. Because when they felt their tense bodies completely relax in an instant after completing the challenge, they immediately wanted to seize the opportunity of Algon and his companions entering the sage mode to concentrate their consciousness and try to regain control of their bodies. However, the result once again disappointed them. Daddy Cat and his companions still couldn't reestablish contact with their bodies. This couldn't help but make the three of them feel a little anxious and frustrated, while also casting doubt on their methods of regaining control of their bodies that they had envisioned.
After swiftly finishing a cigarette, the Countess, satisfied, blew out a series of stylish smoke rings, her mood relaxed as she said, "To all the audience here and in front of their TV screens, rest time is always brief, but joyous moments will come again. Now, let us welcome the third and final challenge of this episode of 'Fate and Challenge'!"
"Hurrah!" The live audience eagerly responded to the Countess's words.
With a pleased nod to the audience, the Countess announced, "The final challenge of this episode of 'Fate and Challenge' is—The Last Supper! Let the players from both sides come on stage!"