In the distance, the Faceless Lady sat there, swaying her head to and fro.
Su Yan could even hear a faint song drifting from her side.
A very cheerful tune, reflecting the joy within its singer.
Starting off with someone dying was something the audience welcomed with delight.
“This is so satisfying, I like this opening.”
“This redhead is way too weak, isn’t he?”
“Speaking of which, this game should be a piece of cake for Ru God, right?”
“That’s for sure. After all, Ru God has that thing.”
“Don’t even think about it. Ru God definitely won’t help these useless players clear the stage.”
“All these big shots have one thing in common—they don’t help noobs.”
“Not helping noobs? That’s something I, Chu Shen, execute most thoroughly.”
Having learned from this precedent, everyone clearly became more cautious.
No one dared to sprint recklessly, fearing they’d suddenly stumble and fall.
Su Yan jogged forward when suddenly her foot was caught by something.
Looking down, she found it was a tentacle the same color as the track!
The tentacle rapidly grew bigger and thicker.
At the same time, Su Yan’s feet lifted off the ground, as if the tentacle was about to fling her into the air.
She absolutely could not be thrown into the sky!
Su Yan was certain of this.
Once airborne, the situation would be completely out of her control. But if she let go of the tentacle, she’d surely die.
She pressed down on the tentacle with both hands, quickly slipped off her shoe, and performed a clever “gold cicada sheds its shell” move to break free from the tentacle’s grip.
Then she leapt sideways onto Track 1.
The tentacle, having lost its target, retracted underground.
Su Yan hadn’t even had a moment to catch her breath before she noticed the track beneath her shifting again.
Not another freaky thing about to appear, was it?
Su Yan cursed silently and returned to Track 3.
Everything returned to calm.
Feeling something, Su Yan glanced back and saw the middle-aged man—“Ru Merchant”—still standing motionless in place.
Their eyes met, and he nodded at her but showed no signs of moving.
Su Yan had a hunch.
Just like in the last dungeon, “Chu River Han Realm,” he might be holding back because it was too easy to break through.
Or maybe there was another reason?
While she was being troubled, the other contestants weren’t idle either.
Their primary goal was to reach the Faceless Lady; they didn’t care if the others lived or died.
Fifty meters wasn’t really far. If there were no obstacles and they ran at full speed, it would take only a few seconds.
Male contestant No. 6 took the lead, burying his long legs and dashing forward wildly.
He seemed to have gotten some kind of luck buff, as nothing obstructed him.
Closer!
Closer!
He was about to reach the Faceless Lady!
No. 6’s pupils involuntarily dilated, and he was bursting with excitement.
He firmly believed his speed was fast enough to touch the Faceless Lady and then return ahead of her.
Though thrilled inside, No. 6 skillfully held his breath and treaded lightly, hoping to catch the Faceless Lady off guard.
He was already a veteran contestant, having played over ten games.
This trick was nothing new to him.
However, just as he was about to reach the Faceless Lady, the Host suddenly shouted sharply behind him: “Wooden doll, don’t move!” and swiftly turned around.
At that moment, No. 6’s hand was just in front of her eyes but could not move forward even a little bit.
How badly did he want to take one more step!
That would have counted as half the task completed.
But he couldn’t.
If he moved now, all his efforts would be in vain.
Having run so far, No. 6 really didn’t want to give up.
Although he had been running, he still noticed with his peripheral vision that the others had more or less encountered obstacles—only he hadn’t.
No. 6 wasn’t arrogant enough to think it was because he was too handsome for the production team to make things difficult for him.
He believed it was purely luck that he had gotten this far.
But having this kind of luck this time didn’t mean he could replicate it next time.
No. 6 knew he had to seize this chance; his opportunity to get so close to the Faceless Lady might be a once-in-a-lifetime chance.
He couldn’t guarantee he’d be so lucky next time.
And with the Faceless Lady becoming more alert, it would be much harder to approach her.
The Faceless Lady showed no sign of surprise at all.
She stood up and circled around him.
“Oh, such a fast speed! I’m so scared!”
Su Yan sat still, inwardly scoffing: I don’t hear a shred of fear in your voice.
No. 6 swallowed hard and dared not move, every muscle tense to the extreme.
One minute, he only needed to hold on for one minute!
The Faceless Lady came close, her featureless face unnervingly magnified right in front of him.
He could even feel her body heat, and whether imagined or real, the sensation of her breath.
“You look so nervous!”
The Faceless Lady’s voice was low and eerie.
“Don’t be afraid. How could I possibly hurt you?”
But just as she finished speaking, she suddenly spun around, stretched her waist, and appeared before female contestant No. 4.
“Still you! You moved, huh~”
The scene was terrifying.
Imagine someone who was originally fifty meters away suddenly appearing right in front of you like this—who wouldn’t be scared?
Even though she had experienced a similar situation before, No. 4 was still terrified.
She screamed and immediately fell to the ground, then scrambled back to the starting point, crying out, “I broke the rules! I’m going back! I’m going back!”
The Faceless Lady chuckled, narrowed her waist, and returned gracefully to No. 6’s side.
“You moved just now too~”
No. 6’s face turned sour. Indeed, he had involuntarily turned his head when the Faceless Lady made her move, but it was only a tiny, almost imperceptible turn.
Maybe… no one noticed?
“I… I didn’t! You’re framing me!” he said, clutching at hope.
Though feeling guilty inside, his expression was full of righteous anger, as if he truly was an innocent person wrongly accused.
“Hahaha, me lie? Me lie? Hahahahaha!”
The Faceless Lady laughed wildly, as if possessed.
After a long bout of laughter, she finally stopped, her tone still full of amusement.
Seeing No. 6’s horrified expression, she cheerfully said, “Since you chose to break the rules, you must accept the punishment~”
No. 6’s face darkened: “I didn’t break the rules! You can’t… ah!”
Before he finished, a massive spike suddenly pierced his body from bottom to top.
The huge spike split No. 6’s body in two, and his corpse collapsed onto the track.
Clapping her hands gleefully, the Faceless Lady circled around him.
“Naughty children must be punished!”
“Shh!”
Su Yan gasped inwardly.
Though she hadn’t experienced it herself, she could imagine how agonizing such a punishment would be.
This was basically splitting the body in half!
Of course, Su Yan remained rational.
She was certain No. 6 was probably lying; otherwise, the Host wouldn’t have dared to break the rules actively.
The punishment for failing the game would definitely be much lighter than breaking the rules.
No normal person would choose to die like this.
Especially since the entire game was broadcast live, with five hundred Nickstar People watching them.
If the Host made even the slightest violation, the audience would report her immediately—no need for the contestants to do anything.
Even if the Faceless Lady was bold, Su Yan didn’t believe she would lie.
There was another thing—Su Yan didn’t believe No. 6 could have gotten behind the Faceless Lady so easily without her signaling him.
Considering his pace was only a bit slower than the redhead’s, who was killed as soon as he stepped off the track, how could No. 6 get so far so easily?
Su Yan suspected it was all the Faceless Lady’s doing.
She deliberately wanted to toy with No. 6, which was why she gave him that chance.
Going from great joy to great sorrow is always an interesting sight, isn’t it?
Clearly, the audience thought so.
“Hahaha, No. 6’s death cracked me up!”
“How dare he lie in front of the Faceless Lady? He really isn’t afraid of dying!”
“The Faceless Lady’s every appearance is such a delight, really winning my heart!”
“Look at Ru God, he doesn’t even seem to want to move forward.”
“He’s probably just watching how these newbies mess up. Ru God’s way through won’t be that easy.”
“By the way, did you guys notice that ‘Yan Jing’ just now? She’s pretty cool.”
“Didn’t notice, I was too busy watching the guy in front make a fool of himself.”
“I did! Following! Handsome lady!”
No. 6 was already half-split in two—clearly dead beyond hope.
With the biggest threat eliminated, the Faceless Lady sat back down on her wooden stake and turned around.
Everyone could move again.
It hadn’t been long since the start, and the two fastest runners had died immediately.
This made everyone even more cautious; no one dared to move forward.
The Faceless Lady remained calm, never turning around.
Su Yan thought for a moment and started moving forward.
Coincidentally, no dangers appeared on her path.
The other lanes were similarly calm.
After a few steps, when she was almost close enough, Su Yan suddenly began stomping her feet wildly, pretending to be running.
No. 5 looked at her, eyes brightening, and began stomping furiously as well.
He clearly understood Su Yan’s intention.
Su Yan planned to use this trick to confuse the Faceless Lady, hoping she would turn around.
That would give Su Yan two seconds of free time to approach her.
From her current position, it was only a few steps to the Faceless Lady; two seconds would be enough to touch her and complete the task.
No. 5’s actions would help better mislead the Faceless Lady.
But surprisingly, the Faceless Lady stood still like a mountain, showing no sign of turning.
No matter how much Su Yan and No. 5 stomped, she remained unmoved.
When this plan failed, Su Yan came up with another.
She kept the same stomping rhythm but quickly approached the Faceless Lady.
If pretending to run wasn’t enough, then do it for real!
Since she refused to turn now, then she might never turn!
However, at the exact spot where No. 6 had met the same fate, just as Su Yan reached out her hand, history repeated itself.
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