Just then, another person stepped out of the crowd.
A pale, slender woman walked over to Lin Yu. Biting her lip, she glanced at the screen in the air, then closed her eyes. "I choose... A."
She hadn't eaten in three days either.
She had no other choice.
As a science student from one of the elite C9 universities, she understood what a hundred million American cockroaches meant.
If she wanted to live...
she could only gamble on option A.
Without even raising his head, Chen Sui said indifferently,
"We already have our first volunteer. The second still has to hand over supplies."
The slender woman gave no reaction and said nothing.
Three bags of bread...
Even if she handed over one, she would still have two...
Enough to stay alive...
A countdown appeared on the screen.
10.
9.
8.
Soon, two more men gritted their teeth and rushed to the right, joining Wang Dalong.
"I choose... B."
A man in his forties scratched his head and came to stand behind Lin Yu.
"I choose... A."
After that, no one else moved.
Most survivors were waiting for an extremely low-risk [Choice]. Whenever an obviously harmless one appeared, all hundred-odd survivors would rush forward at once...
When risk was involved, only a handful tended to act.
Now,
Wang Dalong shouted toward Chen Sui,
"Captain Chen, if I survive, can I keep all my supplies too? I was the first to choose B!"
Chen Sui replied evenly,
"If you survive... yes."
There was one thing Chen Sui left unsaid.
And that was...
Wang Dalong was already as good as dead.
The countdown ended!
A blinding flash swept past. Everyone in the clearing who had made a choice vanished, transported by the screen into a special space...
to face their [Choice]!
Lin Yu's vision went dark. The next instant, he was inside a biological laboratory suffused with azure light. The glass all around him was frosted, obscuring whatever lay beyond.
Directly in front of him sat a brown American cockroach, just three centimeters long.
"So this is Biological Laboratory No. 32 on Planet Kostan?"
Lin Yu looked at the cockroach, a trace of excitement in his eyes.
Sure enough!
Everything matched the analysis exactly!
With his Analysis Charges, every [Choice] in the world would become his treasure vault!
They would no longer pose any danger!
Lin Yu stepped forward and crushed the cockroach underfoot.
Its innards burst!
Squelch!
This special breed of apocalypse cockroach was even weaker than an ordinary American cockroach. It couldn't even fly and could only await slaughter.
Lin Yu didn't waste its corpse either. He picked it up and tucked it into his pocket.
In the apocalypse, everything had value.
If you were at the end of your rope and starving to death, even a cockroach could provide protein.
[Challenge successful.]
Three bags of cream-filled bread appeared before him.
Lin Yu snatched them up.
What a rush!
...
Meanwhile, in another sealed, pitch-black room,
Wang Dalong's pupils contracted the moment he arrived. His face went white!
Before him stretched an endless mass of American cockroaches, their wings vibrating as they stared straight at him.
Cockroaches filled his entire field of vision!
There was no end to them!
Everywhere he looked, there were cockroaches and more cockroaches.
Even the walls...
and the ceiling were covered in them!
Their tightly packed bodies piled atop one another like a gigantic black monster.
The next second, the cockroaches surged toward him in a frenzy!
They devoured the last patch of clear space around him.
The entire room...
had not a single gap left.
There was nothing but an endless sea of American cockroaches.
Wang Dalong ran with all his strength, flailing his arms like a madman, trying to break out of the swarm.
But only when his fingertips struck the cold wall did he understand...
One hundred million American cockroaches had already filled the room completely!
They engulfed Wang Dalong, biting into his body and plugging his nose and ears with their own. When the pain forced him to scream, swarms of them began pouring into his mouth...
Wang Dalong went mad. He threw himself to the floor and rolled violently, trying with everything he had to crush them all.
But...
one hundred million was too many!
As he rolled, he realized his body was rising higher and higher.
The dead cockroaches beneath him were piling up enough to lift him off the floor.
Despair consumed him...
He knew...
there was no saving him.
From the moment he chose the American cockroaches, his fate had been sealed.
The others who had chosen option B shared that same fate.
...
Wang Dalong's horrific ordeal was being projected on the screen.
Every time a [Choice] appeared, the screen randomly selected one or several survivors from each answer to broadcast live.
This time, it had chosen Lin Yu and Wang Dalong.
Lin Yu's effortless success stood in stark contrast to Wang Dalong's suffering!
The survivors couldn't stop trembling. Goosebumps rose all over their bodies.
There was no question...
Wang Dalong was dead...
And he had died in excruciating agony!
"My God. So that's how many a hundred million American cockroaches really is..."
"There isn't a single gap in that room! It's certain death!"
"Only a Beyonder with large-area attacks would have any chance of surviving in there."
"Thank goodness I held back... I nearly followed them and picked B..."
"Who would've thought the people who chose A would get that lucky? That special mutant cockroach was completely harmless!"
"I'm so jealous... Three pieces of bread..."
Just then, the screen flashed again.
Those who had entered the [Choice] were sent back.
On the left stood Lin Yu, the slender woman, and the man in his forties.
On the right lay six corpses. Or rather... six skeletons, every scrap of flesh gnawed clean by the American cockroaches.
The slender woman and the middle-aged man were overjoyed. They clutched their bread tightly, their eyes reddening.
They...
had won their gamble!
From the crowd, a small-time punk with tattooed arms and dyed blond hair sauntered over. He held his nose high and sneered. "You got pretty lucky. Hand it over!"
He was one of the Survival Squad's few Beyonders.
Naturally, he meant their share of the supplies.
Reluctant as they were, the slender woman and the middle-aged man each handed over a bag of bread.
Those were the squad's rules.
Then,
Huang Mao turned to Lin Yu, an amused smile curling his lips.
"And you?"
Lin Yu said nothing. He merely glanced at Chen Sui.
Huang Mao frowned, irritation flashing in his eyes. He was about to curse when Chen Sui's indifferent voice cut in. "Huang Mao. Don't break my rules."
At Chen Sui's words, Huang Mao scowled and snorted.
"Hmph. Lucky you..."
But the coldness in his eyes made it clear that he now held a grudge against Lin Yu.
Before he could leave,
Lin Yu picked up a bag of bread and offered it to him, his voice calm and level.
"I'm giving you this of my own free will. It has nothing to do with the rules."
Huang Mao grinned.
He patted Lin Yu on the shoulder.
"Well now, you know how things work."
"I'll take it. If you ever run into trouble, use my name!"
"It'll get you somewhere!"
With that,
Huang Mao took the bread and swaggered away, looking thoroughly pleased with himself.
Lin Yu had shown him respect, and that made him very happy!
Lin Yu watched him leave, his gaze calm, without saying a word.