"Ah Yun, Jia Mei'er! Believe in yourselves! We will definitely succeed in escaping from here!" Uncle Mold encouraged Ah Yun and Jia Mei'er loudly again as their emotions sank into anxiety once more. Then he plunged headfirst into a Mexican pie half a meter tall, about thirty inches in size, frantically searching for the whereabouts of the last two keys.
"The Last Supper, the Last Supper! In the end, who will become the zombies' supper, the Challenge Team or the Hunt Team? Dear friends, let's wait and see!" The Countess incited the atmosphere loudly, while the audience couldn't contain their excitement, rising to cheer for both sides. Thus, the third challenge entered its most intense phase.
"Beep, beep, beep!" Suddenly, a piercing alarm sounded in the sky. The spotlights shining into the transparent rooms also turned into flashing red lights.
"Oh my goodness! The barricade gate blocking the zombies is about to give way! You really need to hurry!" The Countess pretended to be frightened, pointing to the space above about two rooms, each with less than five percent of their blood gauges remaining. The zombies, seemingly stimulated by the flashing red lights, became even more irritable at this moment, pounding on the barricade gate with increased frequency and force.
The sudden alarm increased the pressure on both the Challenge Team and the Hunt Team, causing chaos in the entire challenge area. At this point, both teams' members wished they had more mouths to chew more food at once.
Finally, thanks to the advantage established at the beginning of the challenge, the Hunt Team had no suspense in being the first to devour all the food in their room. This also meant that among the last seven keys held by the Hunt Team, there must be one that could unlock their last lock. Meanwhile, the Challenge Team was still desperately searching for the keys to unlock the final lock from the last five servings of food.
"Oh no!" Haoyun's team and Ah Yun's team couldn't help but gasp in shock. If victory, which seemed within easy reach, slipped away in such a close manner, it would be a huge psychological blow to them.
"It seems we have to prepare for a final struggle! If the Challenge Team fails later, Ah Yun and his team will definitely not be a match for those zombies. We must try to expel their consciousness from their bodies as much as possible when they are under severe attack by the zombies and their willpower is greatly weakened. If we can regain control of our bodies in a critical moment, perhaps we will have a chance to defeat those zombies. Or at least give us more opportunities to win in the next round of challenges." As the current situation indicated the inevitable failure of this round of challenges, Dao Lao immediately suggested, with Haoyun and Dream Jia responding, indicating their readiness to regain control of their bodies during the chaos.
However, just as Haoyun's team prepared for the next steps and Ah Yun's team prepared for the failure of this round of challenges, the worst-case scenario they anticipated did not happen as expected. Because, after calmly inserting all seven keys into the locks, the Hunt Team was surprised to find that none of the seven keys could open the final lock.
"How is this possible?! Why can't these keys open the final lock? Could it be that there's an error in this game?" White Tiger and the others said in disbelief, quickly trying the last seven keys again, but still unable to open the final lock. So they looked at the Countess in the air with great confusion.
The Countess innocently spread her hands and said, "Um, I can assure you, there are no errors in the challenge designed by the production team. If you eat all the food, you will inevitably find all the keys hidden in the food. As long as you find all the keys, you will definitely be able to unlock all eighty-one locks on the door."
"Could it be that—we missed some food? Or did we not thoroughly chew each piece of food? Quick! Everyone, hurry and check separately to see if we missed any food!" After hearing the Countess's explanation, Little Tiger exclaimed anxiously.
Since the back door on their side had not been opened by the Hunt Team, the Challenge Team felt relieved, as this unexpected event might indicate a change in the situation on the field. The Challenge Team seemed to have a chance to turn the tables! With this in mind, Ah Yun and his team immediately resumed their frantic consumption of the remaining few plates of food and quickly found another key from a plate of "urine-soaked meatballs." Of course, the "urine-soaked meatballs" here were not made of beef.
"Click!" Ah Yun successfully used this key to open another lock. Now, the Challenge Team only had one lock left before they could leave the room filled with indescribable food residue!
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On the other side, the Hunt Team quickly searched through all the food in the room again, but still couldn't find any keys. What on earth was going on?! The members of the Hunt Team felt frustrated as they frantically rechecked the food scattered throughout the room, unable to find the last key that could unlock the final lock.
"Wait a minute! Miss Temper, did you just throw a key to the other side?" Little Tiger suddenly realized something and immediately looked at Miss Temper with unusually fierce eyes.
With Little Tiger's reminder, everyone remembered that just now, when Miss Temper argued with Ah Yun, she had indeed, in a fit of anger and shame, thrown two halves of a ham at Ah Yun. And Ah Yun did indeed find a key from one of the hams and even tried to use that key to open their own door lock.
Realizing this, Little Tiger and White Tiger couldn't help but slap their foreheads. Because they were too engrossed in eating the food earlier, they had forgotten about this incident! So, the three of them immediately looked at Ah Yun, only to see him holding a key and shaking it at them with a smug look, saying in a sarcastic tone, "Right! How could I forget about this key? Judging from the current situation, the key Miss Temper threw over should be the key to unlocking the last lock on your door, right?"
"Give it to me! That's our key! Give it back to us!" Xiao Hu rushed to the transparent barrier separating the two rooms, angrily shaking the barrier and accusing Ah Yun of privately taking their key. But the Countess, after consulting a book titled "Compendium of Fate and Challenge Rules," firmly stated again that Ah Yun's action did not violate the challenge rules.
"You beast! Give us back the key! You beast! How dare you use such despicable means! You are truly despicable and shameless! You, you will die a miserable death!" Seeing their protest was ineffective, the three members of the Hunting Team could only roar impotently across the barrier at Ah Yun, occasionally picking up some food from the ground and throwing it at him to vent their frustration.
Meanwhile, everyone else present was incredulous. Despite all calculations, no one expected Ah Yun's nonsensical remarks to actually contribute to the Challenge Team's success.
Once it was confirmed that Ah Yun had not violated the challenge rules and that the key in Ah Yun's hand was indeed the crucial key to unlock the last lock of the Hunting Team's main door and their own room's back door, the Challenge Team's morale soared. They ignored the insults from the Hunting Team and focused on searching for keys in the remaining two plates of food with renewed vigor.
This time, the Challenge Team encountered no accidents and successfully found the last two keys in the remaining food. Uncle Mold and Sister Jia each took a key and hurried to the door, inserting them without hesitation. With a crisp click, the last lock on the door was opened by Sister Jia's key.
"Oh! Ladies and gentlemen on-site and those watching at home! The Challenge Team has finally overcome all obstacles and opened the door leading to the exit! Did you guess it right? Now, the Challenge Team just needs to reach the exit at the end of the corridor before the zombies catch up to successfully complete this challenge! Let's wish them success together! Cough cough cough!" Seeing the Challenge Team successfully open their room's door, the Countess immediately announced. Many viewers cheered and clapped excitedly. Meanwhile, some viewers, who had just been disappointed by the failure of their bets, were now excitedly cheering for the zombies.
According to the rules of the "Last Supper" challenge, by opening their own room's door, the Challenge Team also opened the barrier door behind the Hunting Team's room. The zombies, now allies, immediately rushed into the Hunting Team's room. After overwhelming them, the zombies quickly piled them up like a human pyramid, leaving only the sound of their screams echoing in the room.
Ah Yun's group glanced briefly at the Hunting Team being overwhelmed by the zombies, then hastily ran out of their room and sprinted towards the exit at the end of the corridor as fast as they could. Because, as soon as the door opened, the Countess kindly reminded them that the zombies would not give up chasing them. If they were killed by the zombies before reaching the exit, it would still count as a challenge failure, which seemed incredibly unfair. However, knowing that the zombies behind them would not relent, they could only curse and run forward with all their might, hoping to reach the distant exit before the zombies caught up.
"I never said that after you opened the door, those transformed into zombies wouldn't continue to chase you! Your assumptions were purely wishful thinking! Cough cough cough! Besides, who wouldn't be angry after seeing their bodies turned into food? Moreover, the zombies have to watch you eat their bodies. So, why would they easily give up on chasing you? Cough cough cough!" The Countess, seeing Ah Yun's group's angry expressions, hastily explained in a somewhat petulant tone.
Fortunately, after the Challenge Team opened the door, they immediately rushed out, creating a distance of over ten meters from the zombies that broke through the barrier later. Combined with the fact that the zombies' movement speed was not as fast as imagined, Ah Yun's group ultimately used the distance advantage established earlier to enter the exit at the end of the corridor before the zombies could catch up.
"Thud!"
After Ah Yun's group successfully rushed into the dark exit, there was immediately a muffled sound of the door closing behind them. Then, the roar of the zombies behind them, the noisy shouts of the on-site audience, were all instantly blocked outside the door. At the same time, the empty room Ah Yun's group entered gradually became shrouded in darkness.