Zhong Zhen’s room.
The room was now completely different from before, dotted with splashes of blood.
The chair inside had been smashed to pieces. Zhong Zhen held a broken chair leg in his hand, his cheeks flushed crimson.
Not long ago, he had used that broken chair leg to pierce his own ears.
There was simply no other way.
Even if he didn’t answer that woman’s call, it wouldn’t matter—he would still be under the control of her “echo.” This bizarre and overpowering “echo” could only be broken by completely losing his hearing.
He held the phone, repeating his earlier words over and over, enduring waves of dizziness until his throat was parched.
He desperately hoped the person on the other end could hear him. He did the math—the iron ball had just landed on “-1,” while the woman in white was at “-7.”
After two rounds, it should now be hovering right above her head.
This was very likely the last chance before the game ended.
After hanging up the call, he raised the phone again and held it in front of him.
Now that he had completely lost his hearing, he couldn’t let the phone stay disconnected. If no one answered for too long, the woman in white would call the next person. The best solution was to keep the line busy.
Zhong Zhen exhaled, wiping the blood from his cheeks with his hands before slicking back his disheveled hair with the blood on his palms.
This worked much better than hair gel.
“What a shame… my dear neighbor. You found the way to break free, yet you couldn’t strangle me with your own hands.” Zhong Zhen muttered in frustration. “In this vast sea of people… if we pass each other by, where should I go to kill you next?”
At that moment, the girl in white looked up at the ceiling, her expression slightly puzzled.
The iron ball was smashing around randomly—what rule caused this?
And from the start, the sounds from the ceiling had been strange…
Round 33. The iron ball landed on “-5.”
Both Xu Qian and the girl in white heard the commotion from “-5,” since they were only one room apart from it.
If they remembered correctly, the man there had still been alive—but now he was dead.
It seemed only four people remained.
“0”—Yun Yao.
“-3″—Xu Qian.
“-7″—The girl in white.
“-8″—Zhong Zhen.
These four were now linked in a chain, passing questions back and forth—but Zhong Zhen could no longer hear anything.
Additionally… there should still be two invisible players on the field.
“-2″—Di She.
“Unknown”—Chen Junnan.
These two were the ones who had originally bet their lives, yet now they were both hiding, refusing to communicate with anyone else.
Yun Yao knew Chen Junnan must have pulled some trick—but his method was so masterful that it made the iron ball completely ignore its original path, precisely killing the remaining players.
Not even an “echo” could be this powerful.
The iron ball now hovered over “-5,” ready to drop onto Xu Qian or the girl in white at any moment.
“If that’s the case…” Yun Yao frowned, deep in thought, when the phone suddenly rang.
She knew the only person who could call her was Zhong Zhen, so without hesitation, she picked it up—only to immediately prepare to hang up.
She couldn’t trust Zhong Zhen.
But before she could pull the phone away, a cheeky voice drifted out.
“Hey there, superstar!”
Yun Yao stiffened, then slowly brought the phone to her ear. “Ch-Chen Junnan?”
“Hey! Long time no see!” Chen Junnan panted. “Hold on, let me sit down first—this hurts like hell.”
“Hurts…?” Yun Yao asked anxiously. “What’s going on? What did you do?”
“Ah, don’t worry about it. Just praise me first.” Chen Junnan took a deep breath and laughed. “Am I amazing or what? Look at me, I’m slaughtering the competition.”
Yun Yao thought for a few seconds. “What… kind of ‘echo’ do you have?”
“‘Scapegoat.'” Chen Junnan said. “In this game, if I want, the unlucky one will always be me.”
“Un… lucky?” Yun Yao suddenly realized something. “This ‘echo’ sounds like it only makes the iron ball land on you…”
“Yep.” Chen Junnan nodded. “To be honest, the last few iron balls all landed right on my head.”
“What…?”
“Superstar, let me ask you something.” Chen Junnan hissed through his teeth before continuing. “Tell me… when that big metal ball falls, does it smash everything in the room to bits?”
“Of course.” Yun Yao said. “Just from the sound of it, you can tell.”
“But here’s the weird part.” Chen Junnan said. “Di She’s room got hit by the iron ball—so why can he still answer the phone… and respond to questions?”
“…”
Yun Yao froze for a moment, then slowly widened her eyes.
That’s right. The iron ball hadn’t destroyed the phone or the display screen. How?
“I had to think about this for a long time.” Chen Junnan said. “The phone’s easy to explain—it’s in the corner. Since our rooms are square and the iron ball is probably round, the corner is safe. Honestly, if you just hide in the corner, you’ve got a good chance of surviving…”
“Right.” Yun Yao nodded. “I thought about that too. Anyone who’s thin enough could probably hide there.”
“But people still died.” Chen Junnan said. “If everyone knew hiding in the corner would save them, why hasn’t anyone survived? There’s no way I’m the only one who figured this out.”
“I still don’t get it…” Yun Yao said. “By your logic, everyone should’ve survived.”
“That’s because we were tricked.” Chen Junnan chuckled, changing the subject. “The thing above us isn’t an iron ball at all.”
“N-not an iron ball?”
“Since everyone who’s seen it is dead, no one could spread the truth.” Chen Junnan sighed.
“Then what is it…?”
“Superstar… it’s covered in spikes. It’s an iron porcupine. Unless you’re clinging to the corner like the phone, you’ll die no matter where you hide.”
“What?”
“You should’ve realized—if it were just a normal iron ball, we wouldn’t smell blood.” Chen Junnan rubbed his nose. “The reason we smell it is because its spikes are covered in shredded flesh.”
“So that’s it…” Yun Yao paused briefly. “Meaning, many people tried running to the corner before they died… but instead of being crushed, they were torn apart.”
“Exactly.” Chen Junnan suppressed a groan before continuing. “Aren’t I smart? Figuring all this out?”
Yun Yao felt something was off about his condition and asked worriedly, “Are you okay? Do you need to rest?”
“I’m fine, don’t interrupt me…” Chen Junnan chuckled before asking, “Superstar, guess how I survived?”
“I can’t.” Yun Yao shook her head.
“That old snake—cheap and cunning.” Chen Junnan laughed cheerfully. “He was so afraid the iron ball would smash the display screen that he made a fatal mistake.”
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