Chapter 9: Five Million in Prize Money (9)

While she waited for the Silver-Masked Woman to cast her vote, a burning pain spread through Chi Wei’s left arm.

She raised it for a look, then suddenly clenched her back teeth and picked open a clot beneath a fresh scab.

The fresh clot came away beneath her nail. The wound tore open again, and new blood seeped out. Chi Wei’s shoulder tightened against the pain.

She had no choice. Only then did the unfocused look in her eyes slowly sharpen.

Something was wrong. There was something wrong with this game!

Chi Wei seized on the sense of unease that had flashed through her mind, but by then the Silver-Masked Woman had already emerged from the inner chamber.

This time, she’d spent very little time voting—about as long as Chi Wei had.

“Your turn,” the Silver-Masked Woman reminded her.

“Right.” Chi Wei clutched her arm and stumbled through the door.

The familiar voting room and its screen came into view. In an instant, Chi Wei finally caught the source of the unease.

The screen showed:

[Player ‘Deathweed’ has 0 Inspection Rights remaining]

[Player ‘Resurrection Plant’ has 1 Inspection Right remaining]

If her original reasoning was correct, the player who went first could simply control the five-round cutoff. There was no need to use an Inspection Right at all!

She’d thought the Inspection Right was more like a safety net for whoever went second.

But now, she had to use hers.

She needed to know if the person whose mind had been fogged by the poison gas was actually her.

“…”

[Player ‘Resurrection Plant’ used an Inspection Right.]

At last, as they left through the victory gate of the Secret Ballot game, the Silver-Masked Woman patted Chi Wei on the shoulder, praising her as if she were a well-behaved little dog.

“That was a pleasure doing business with you.”

Chi Wei let out a tired laugh. “I don’t blame you. But don’t do that to anyone else.”

The woman’s fingers only brushed past her chin. She gave a derisive laugh and walked away.

Crazy. Chi Wei watched her go.

The two of them returned safely to the conference table. The others watched them with complicated expressions. The programmer looked at Chi Wei with a sneer tugging at his mouth.

His contempt might as well have been written across his face: She was practically an idiot, and you still couldn’t take her down? She gave you the chance and you blew it. What a useless kid.

Chi Wei glanced his way. “Hey, Uncle. Got a twitch in your jaw?”

The programmer, caught off guard, scowled and looked away.

At last, Chi Wei’s luck improved. None of the later games picked her.

But as the Traveler drew closer to the finish, the number of players around the table dwindled without mercy.

The student, the One-Eyed Man, and the Dyed-Haired Man entered the next three-player game. Only the student came back alive.

The number of surviving players fell to five.

The conference table suddenly felt deserted.

Once again, the student and the Silver-Masked Woman were chosen for a two-player game.

In the previous team game, the student had at least shown a little initiative and common sense. This time, though, everyone watched as she nearly knelt to swear her loyalty to the Silver-Masked Woman.

The woman had her completely under control—a feeling only Chi Wei could truly understand.

She was unhinged, coolheaded, and dangerous. How could the student possibly stand a chance against her?

For the second half of the game, fear filled the student’s face. She looked like a house pet that had been thoroughly tamed, nodding along to everything the Silver-Masked Woman said.

Fortunately, the Silver-Masked Woman didn’t harm her. She brought the student back alive.

But in the final few steps, with the Traveler almost at the finish, the programmer and the student were chosen for the last two solo games they encountered.

Both entered games rated Tiger difficulty. Only the programmer returned victorious.

With a vicious grin of relief, he cast an eager Abandon vote against the student, who had lost the game that came after his.

He received half of the student’s personal prize money.

The other half went to the Fat Auntie.

The only two players at the table who didn’t vote to abandon the student were Chi Wei and the Silver-Masked Woman.

What a fool. After absorbing the Dyed-Haired Man’s and the One-Eyed Man’s winnings, the student’s personal prize money had reached a staggering 15.91 million yuan!

Chi Wei’s reason was simple: she only needed five million.

She couldn’t understand why the Silver-Masked Woman would turn down the money. Or maybe she simply couldn’t read the woman’s mercurial moods. In any case, Chi Wei had no desire to ask.

The game was almost over. Only two spaces remained, and the Traveler was about to reach the end of the Pilgrimage Journey.

Getting their prize money seemed all but certain.

The four players still at the table—Chi Wei, the Silver-Masked Woman, the Fat Auntie, and the programmer—fixed their eyes on the rolling dice.

The closer they got to victory, the more uneasy everyone became.

At last, the dice came to rest with three facing up.

The Traveler crossed the final two spaces and stepped onto the finish. Nothing went wrong.

The screen in the room flashed a message in large letters:

[Game Complete!]

A new screen appeared.

[All victorious players, come forward to claim your personal prize money.]

[Personal Prize Money Summary:]

[Kids Are My Retirement Plan: 17.95 million yuan]

[Bug King: 14.62 million yuan]

[Deathweed: 5.71 million yuan]

[Resurrection Plant: 5 million yuan]

There were no more traps. The game was really over.

Of the ten players, only four had survived.

It was a sobering thought, but at least Chi Wei could finally let go of the breath she’d been holding.

“Hahahahahaha! I got the most!”

The Fat Auntie’s hearty laughter rang through the room. She couldn’t wait a second longer and sprinted toward the four cash boxes that had appeared ahead.

The programmer shoved back his chair and hurried after her, unwilling to fall behind.

Chi Wei and the Silver-Masked Woman had only just risen when the Fat Auntie reached the boxes. A stone wall suddenly shot up, cutting her off from the cash she was about to claim.

She’d been only a step away. Forced to retreat, the Fat Auntie swore furiously. “What’s going on? We won, but we don’t get paid? Hey! Is the game trying to welch on us?!”

“You can’t do this! You said we’d get the money when we reached the finish!”

She was still grumbling when stone walls swiftly rose on the other three sides as well.

The new enclosed space was half the size of the original room. The conference table had vanished, and the dead players’ bodies were shut outside the walls. Only the four survivors remained inside.

And the black head embedded in the stone.

Its mysterious, green eyes stared at them without emotion. The animal slowly opened its mouth, and the end of a round tube emerged.

“Stop talking!” Chi Wei suddenly shouted at the chattering Fat Auntie.

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean, young—” The Fat Auntie’s sharp retort cut off halfway as she fell silent too.

There was a sound inside the walls. The gurgle of some liquid rolling, crawling, rising. It was a bubbling, blistering sound that made them imagine heat and explosions.

W-Was that lava?!

In the dead silence, the four of them soon spotted a red line creeping along the lowest row of stone blocks.

The Fat Auntie walked over, her face gone pale, and held a hand near the line to test it. She hadn’t even touched it when she shrieked and jerked away.

“Ow! It’s scorching!”

At the same time, ten rows of password slots appeared on the wall blocking the cash boxes. They had sprouted there while no one was looking.

Chi Wei stared at them in disbelief. A distant voice suddenly rang through the room.

“All surviving players, the prize money is where you saw it before. Enter your individual passwords to open the partition wall and leave the room.”

“The game’s over. Why do we need passwords?” The programmer looked up at the ceiling.

What a stupid question, Chi Wei thought.

“The prize money belongs to you. Take it with you when you leave.”

See? They’d promised to pay out when they finished the game. The money was right there now—but no one had promised they could simply pick it up and walk out.

Damn. They’d been played again.

Money was never easy to earn.

She crouched by the password wall and looked at the ten rows of slots.

Wait.

Chi Wei’s pupils contracted. She counted again.

There were ten rows!

“All players should be advised: the volume of magma behind the wall is increasing. Once it reaches the top, it will spray from the mouth of Heka God. The magma will be hot enough to melt every bone in your body.”

“Please enter your passwords as soon as possible. Good luck.”

“Wait!” Chi Wei jerked her head up. “Hey, um… God? Lord? Is there a hint for the passwords?”

“Supreme God?” she tried again.

No voice answered. Instead, a line of gold appeared on the stone wall:

[The passwords are in your hands.]

Chi Wei stared at the words. A horrifying guess was slowly being confirmed, and half her heart went cold.

Behind her, the Fat Auntie cried out in delight. “So the password was right here all along! I found mine!”

She rolled up her cardigan sleeve. The password was on her right arm!

“Quick, quick! I’ll enter it.” She rushed over and shoved Chi Wei aside.

“Two… zero… two… zero…” The Fat Auntie finished entering it, then froze. She looked at the rows below. “Why are there nine more?”

And the slots in the rows beneath hers kept getting longer. They clearly couldn’t all match the numbers on her arm.

She hurriedly searched the rest of her body, but found nothing. At last, she lifted her shirt and called to Chi Wei.

“Can you check my back? Is there anything there?”

Chi Wei was too tired to even answer.

She rolled up her own right sleeve. A row of numbers marked her arm too.

“There are ten passwords, one for each of the ten players. Don’t bother looking. You’ll only have one.”

The Fat Auntie turned to her, stunned.

A moment later, after checking the same spot on the Silver-Masked Woman’s and the programmer’s right arms, she had no choice but to believe her.

The Fat Auntie seemed to understand at last. She sank to the floor, her eyes vacant.

But the other six were already gone…