“It’s a bit strange…” Qi Xia muttered under his breath, “I thought a ‘physical elimination game’ would have a more complex setup to continuously weed out participants.”
“True,” Qiao Jiajin nodded, also eyeing the square-shaped arena and the iron plate at its center with confusion. “How exactly are they planning to eliminate us here?”
No sooner had he spoken than the massive iron gate before them shuddered, then slowly began to rise.
“Huh?” The chubby middle-aged man frowned as the door opened. “What’s this? Do we have to keep going forward?”
The moment the door fully lifted, the countdown on the wall started ticking.
It seemed the game had truly begun.
“What the hell?”
Everyone exchanged bewildered glances, completely clueless about what was happening.
But the next second, a deep, guttural growl echoed from beyond the gate.
That sound… was not human.
“Dang it!” Qiao Jiajin’s hair stood on end. “You’ve got to be kidding me…”
A massive, pitch-black creature emerged, walking on its hind legs. Its jaws hung slightly open, saliva dripping incessantly, its eyes gleaming with the ravenous hunger of three days without food.
The moment it fully stepped out, the iron gate slammed shut behind it.
“Is that… a bear?!” Qiao Jiajin instinctively took a step back. Against a human opponent, he was confident in his fighting skills—but this was a bear towering over them.
Qi Xia narrowed his eyes, his expression darkening. The bear was a black bear, identifiable by the distinct white crescent mark on its chest—but its size was monstrous.
Normally, black bears rarely exceed human height, averaging between 1.6 to 1.8 meters. But this one stood at least over two meters tall. Terrifying.
“Ah—!”
A girl nearly screamed but clamped her hand over her mouth—though a tiny whimper still escaped.
The abrupt sound not only startled everyone but also alarmed the bear.
After a brief pause, the bear let out an even deeper growl, its aggression visibly escalating.
“What the hell kind of game is this?!” The middle-aged man wailed before turning to flee—only to freeze after three steps.
The staircase they had descended from was gone.
Behind them now stood only a towering wall, sealing off any retreat.
The man collapsed to the ground, muttering in despair, “It’s over… we’re dead… we’re done for…”
“Dang it… what do we do?” Qiao Jiajin turned to Qi Xia. “This isn’t something we can brute-force our way through.”
“Not good…” Qi Xia’s expression hardened.
Why did it have to be a bear?
A bear’s close-range lethality surpasses even that of tigers and lions—and this confined arena was its perfect hunting ground.
As the massive black bear lumbered closer, the two girls nearest to it stood paralyzed in fear.
“Quick! Play dead!” The middle-aged man on the ground shouted. “Playing dead might give us a chance!”
His yell jolted the two girls into action—they immediately dropped to the ground, trembling as they squeezed their eyes shut.
“No!” Qi Xia barked. “Get up! Run!”
But the girls ignored him, lying motionless.
Seeing this, the rest of the group followed suit, sprawling across the ground—leaving only Qi Xia, Qiao Jiajin, and a slightly plump girl still standing.
“Hey, trickster, isn’t playing dead the right move?” Qiao Jiajin asked seriously. “Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do with bears?”
“With brown bears, maybe—but not black bears!” Qi Xia shook his head urgently. “Brown bears attack to defend territory, not to eat humans. If they think you’re dead, they’ll leave. But black bears? If they’re starving, they’ll eat you!”
As if on cue, the massive black bear approached one of the “dead” girls, sniffing her face.
“Idiots…” Qi Xia’s stomach dropped. Even running at full speed, survival against a black bear was a slim chance—lying still was suicide.
Sure enough, after a few sniffs, the bear suddenly clamped its jaws around the girl’s neck.
A choked scream escaped before being abruptly cut off.
Her hands flailed wildly, pounding against the bear’s rock-solid body like punching a sandbag.
Instead of releasing her, the bear raised a massive paw and slammed it onto her chest.
Her ribcage visibly caved in—bones shattered.
A geyser of blood erupted from her mouth as her body went limp.
Qi Xia’s heart skipped a beat.
He’d only ever seen animal attacks in news reports—never witnessed one firsthand. This was sheer slaughter.
A collective gasp rippled through the group, men and women alike.
Now convinced that playing dead was futile, everyone scrambled in panic.
Humans might rule the planet, but against Earth’s original predators? They were utterly defenseless.
Without tools or weapons, how could they possibly fight this bear?
Wait… tools and weapons?
Qi Xia’s eyes snapped to the iron plate at the center of the arena—the one the size of a table.
Who said there were no tools here? The organizers had left them one thing.
“Jiajin, we need that iron plate!” Qi Xia said. “I don’t know what it is, but it might protect us.”
“Dang it… you really pick the worst time to shop,” Qiao Jiajin groaned, eyeing the plate practically at the bear’s feet. “Temporarily out of stock—care to pick something else?”
“Shut up and move!” Qi Xia snapped. “If we don’t block that bear, we’re dead anyway.”
“Fine…” Qiao Jiajin steeled himself. “I’ll distract it. You grab the plate.”
“Distract it…?” Qi Xia hesitated but knew it was their only shot. “Black bears can hit 48 km/h. You can’t outrun it—just buy time.”
“Got it.”
With their plan set, they split up.
Qiao Jiajin crept toward the bear, then suddenly shouted, “Hey! Dumbass!”
The bear jerked its head up, locking onto him with murderous intent.
It took a cautious step forward—Qiao Jiajin mirrored it.
The unexpected boldness gave the beast pause.
“You really wanna throw hands?” Qiao Jiajin forced a grin, beckoning it. “Come at me.”
Though it didn’t understand words, the bear recognized the challenge.
Rising onto its hind legs, it loomed even larger, puffing itself up.
“ROAR—!”
The deafening bellow reverberated through the confined space, its rancid breath washing over them.
Every hair on Qiao Jiajin’s body stood on end as cold sweat trickled down his back.
He’d just pissed off something far beyond his league.
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