After dozens of rounds of confrontation, the players on the sandy beach were nearly exhausted.
Leonardo’s head was bleeding profusely, his eyes and cheeks swollen from being hit, his right hand’s skin scraped off to reveal the mechanical limb underneath. He had no choice but to lean on the mechanical arm attached to a TV screen to rest, gasping for air.
Will was covered in blood, his enhanced glands within his body tirelessly releasing healing factors, causing the wounds to scab over.
The resilience of both sides far exceeded the other team’s expectations, and now they were in a position where backing down was difficult.
’This next one is the final ball.’
The still lowest-voted Will silently thought, his swollen and painful eyes scanning the electronic scoreboard and TV screen on the wall.
The scores were tied 1-1, with a minor score of 16:15 in the third match, and only forty seconds left until the end of this reality show round.
The situation was actually orchestrated by both parties—whichever side won would theoretically continue to face the observing, fully prepared Ant in the Little Red Riding Hood outfits.
Thus, players like Will on the field prolonged the match after realizing they could not resolve their opponents quickly, dragging it out until this round was nearly over.
In this way, even if Ant harbored malicious intentions, they couldn’t use the beach volleyball segment’s rule allowing "players to openly attack each other" to eliminate competitors.
Leonardo straightened up, glancing at Annie behind him, who was similarly battered with the sand under her feet soaked in blood.
"I won’t die." With a large patch of scalp missing and a disfigured face, Annie spat a mouthful of bloody saliva onto the ground, her eyes fierce and venomous.
"At first, I thought you were just a woman who was nothing but selfish. I was wrong. If we make it out of here alive, can I buy you a drink?"
Trying to make light of the situation, Leonardo laughed: "Or maybe have a meal, watch a movie?"
"Stop talking nonsense," Annie pursed her lips, feeling an inexplicable stir in her heart.
Due to the high mortality rate and immense pressure to survive, many players enhance themselves while finding time to indulge in desires, with some small guilds even holding gatherings similar to the ’Black Robe Patrol Team’ series for hero exchanges.
Of course, true love also exists among players, struggling to survive the killing field’s Death Spiral together and finding comfort in each other’s arms. These are just much rarer, akin to protected species.
"You two actually match well. One shamelessly thick-skinned, the other sinister and cunning."
Will spoke mockingly, taking a deep breath as various glands in his body activated simultaneously.
Central analgesic, inject.
Sympathomimetic amine drugs, infuse.
Behind him, Jin Huixing also released a skill to enhance his physical abilities, making his erratic heartbeat robust and powerful, roaring like a car engine.
Will picked up the volleyball, spiking it with all his strength.
The strike was so powerful that Will’s right arm’s skin burst open, exposing pale bones. The volleyball itself shot toward Leonardo like a cannonball.
With no escape and no retreat possible, Leonardo’s lips quirked slightly as he released a skill.
[Skill Name: Shift Position]
[Type: Spiritual Energy]
[Release Method: Active]
[Special Effect: Ally Position Swap. After a one second delay, swap positions with an allied target who has fresh blood from the Skill caster on them, reducing the damage they receive in the subsequent three seconds. The allied target must be a living organism, must have an Affinity of friendly or higher, and their weight must be within ±20% of the caster’s.]
[Consumption: At least 200 Spiritual Energy points. It depends on the teleportation distance, both parties’ weight, both parties’ affinity, and both parties’ current Spiritual Power.]
[Cooling Time: 10 minutes]
[Note: Ally in trouble, immovable as a mountain. Enemy approaches, move like the wind]
This Skill is Leonardo’s most important life-saving skill. Earlier, he had secretly sprinkled his own blood on the ground, which was conveniently stepped in by Annie.
Later, using conversation and helping to heal wounds, he built up enough Affinity to use this Skill on "Ally" Annie.
A breeze blew, and Leonardo and Annie instantly swapped positions.
Seeing the volleyball growing larger in her vision, Annie couldn’t react in time.
The volleyball solidly smashed into her chest, caving it in and breaking her ribs with a sound like popping beans.
Annie spit out a mouthful of blood, her face severely contorted and twisted. She flew backward and crashed onto the ground. Thanks to the damage reduction effect of Shift Position, she didn’t die immediately. Instead, she stared at Leonardo with eyes filled with resentment and unwillingness.
This sudden turn of events bewildered Will on the other side.
Leonardo reacted swiftly, pulling the hot, flesh-covered volleyball from Annie’s chest cavity,
then scooping up Annie and carrying her away from the court, crying out, "Annie, my Annie, why did you do this?! Why sacrifice yourself to protect me?! The match was almost over, just two more minutes left!"
"What two minutes, isn’t this round already over..." ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ NoveI(F)ire.net
Little Red Riding Hood was clueless, but Li Cheng saw through it, walking up to the television screen and peeling off a thin, flexible screen from the corner.
This flexible screen was subtly placed by Leonardo under the guise of resting earlier, displaying numbers that just replaced the countdown on the screen without blocking the live comments.
With technological advancements acquired from the killing field, European Heavy Industry’s tech level could match the Demon Scientist Alliance; a thin screen is nothing more than a toy to them.
Of course, to prevent the time discrepancy from being too noticeable, Leonardo only sped up the countdown slightly.
Two minutes was ample time for the well-rested, spiritually and physically potent Ant and Little Red Riding Hood to thoroughly overwhelm the exhausted Will and Jin Huixing.
Leonardo, while crying over Annie, pretended to wipe away tears but actually, at an angle out of the camera’s view, he was urgently signaling Li Cheng with his eyes.
He wasn’t worried at all that Ant would hesitate to act; this was a guaranteed profitable deal for them.
Annie was severely injured and near death. If they could also kill Will and Jin Huixing, it would essentially signal the end of the game.
As for himself, the viewers didn’t know it was his Skill, Shift Position, and thought Annie sacrificed herself to protect her loved one by voluntarily swapping places. Later, this would earn him even more sympathy votes.
Leonardo mournfully bowed his head, covering his face with one hand and crying; his mouth unconsciously curled into a smile, everything was going according to his plan.
Will, quick-witted, guessed what was going on the instant he saw the flexible screen. He laughed out of sheer anger, glaring at Leonardo and said, "Brilliant! Calculating against enemies, teammates, even including yourself in the scheme. I suppose that’s how you earned your title, ’Bloody Diamond,’ right?"
"I don’t understand what you’re saying." Leonardo shook his head while desperately signaling Li Cheng with his eyes to take action immediately.