Chapter 325: Iron Hedgehog

Zhong Zhen's room.

At this moment, the room looked completely different from before, with scattered bloodstains everywhere.

The chair inside had been smashed to pieces, and Zhong Zhen held a broken chair leg in his hand, his cheeks flushed red with blood.

Not long ago, he had used that broken chair leg to pierce his own ears.

It was the only way left.

Even if he didn't answer the woman's call, he would still be controlled by her "huíxiǎng." This strange and powerful "huíxiǎng" seemed to only be broken by completely losing his hearing.

He held the phone and repeated his earlier words over and over, enduring waves of dizziness until his throat was parched.

He truly hoped the people behind would hear it. He calculated that the iron ball had landed on "-1," while the white-clad girl's position was "-7."

After two rounds, it should be hanging right above her head.

This was likely the last chance before the game ended.

After hanging up, he picked up the phone again and held it in front of him.

Since he had completely lost his hearing, he absolutely couldn't let the phone stay disconnected. Otherwise, if it went unanswered for too long, the white-clad girl would call the next person. The best way was to keep the line busy.

Zhong Zhen let out a sigh of relief, wiped the fresh blood from his cheeks with both hands, and then used his bloodied hands to smooth his disheveled hair back on top of his head.

This worked better than hair gel.

"What a shame... my dear neighbor, I've found the way to break it, but I can't personally strangle you." Zhong Zhen said with annoyance, "In this vast crowd... if we brush past each other, where should I go to kill you next time?"

At that moment, the white-clad girl looked up at the ceiling, her expression slightly puzzled.

The iron ball was smashing randomly—what rule was causing this?

And from just now, the sounds from the ceiling had been strange...

In the thirty-third round, the iron ball landed on "-5."

Xu Qian and the white-clad girl both heard the disturbance at "-5," since they were only one room away from it.

If he remembered correctly, that man was still alive, but now he was probably dead.

It seemed only four people were left in the scene.

"0," Yun Yao.

"-3," Xu Qian.

"-7," the white-clad girl.

"-8," Zhong Zhen.

These four were linked in a chain, passing questions to each other, but Zhong Zhen could no longer hear anything.

Additionally, there should be two invisible people in the game.

"-2," Di She.

"Unknown," Chen Junnan.

These two were the ones gambling their lives, yet they had both hidden themselves, refusing to communicate with anyone else.

Yun Yao knew Chen Junnan must have used some trick, and his method was incredibly clever—it allowed the iron ball to completely ignore its original path and precisely kill the living players.

Even "huíxiǎng" couldn't be this powerful.

The iron ball was now hanging over "-5," ready to drop on Xu Qian and the white-clad girl's heads at any moment.

"In that case..." Yun Yao frowned, deep in thought, when the phone suddenly rang.

She knew the only person who would call her was Zhong Zhen, so without thinking, she picked up the phone and was about to hang up.

She couldn't trust Zhong Zhen.

But before she could pull it away, a sleazy voice drifted out.

"Hello there, big star!"

Yun Yao froze, then slowly brought the phone to her ear. "Chen... Chen Junnan?"

"Hey! Long time no see!" Chen Junnan said, panting. "Just wait a second while I sit down. This hurts a bit too much."

"Hurts...?" Yun Yao asked anxiously. "What exactly happened? What did you do?"

"Ah, never mind that. First, praise me a little." Chen Junnan took a deep breath, then laughed. "Am I amazing? See that? I've gone on a killing spree."

Yun Yao thought for a few seconds and asked, "What... is your 'huíxiǎng'?"

"'Substitute Guilt.'" Chen Junnan said. "In this arena, as long as I want it, the unlucky one will be me."

"Substitute... guilt?" Yun Yao quickly realized. "This 'huíxiǎng' only makes the iron ball land on your head..."

"Yeah." Chen Junnan nodded. "To be honest, every time the iron ball fell, it landed on my head."

"What...?"

"Big star, let me test you with a few questions." Chen Junnan hissed a few breaths through his teeth, then continued, "You tell me... when that huge ball drops, will it smash everything in the room to pieces?"

"Of course it would." Yun Yao said. "Just from the sound of it hitting the ground, you can tell."

"But there's a puzzle here." Chen Junnan said. "Di She's room has been hit by the iron ball, so why can he still answer calls... and answer questions?"

"This..."

Yun Yao paused for a moment, then slowly widened her eyes.

Yes, the iron ball hadn't smashed the phone or the monitor—how was that possible?

"I've been thinking about this for a long time." Chen Junnan said. "The phone is easy to explain—it's in the corner, and since our rooms are square and everyone guesses the iron ball is round, the corner should be safe. Honestly, as long as you hide in the corner, there's a good chance of dodging it..."

"Yes." Yun Yao nodded. "I've thought about that too. Anyone with a slim build should be able to hide in the corner."

"But everyone still died." Chen Junnan said. "Why? If everyone knows hiding in the corner means survival, why didn't anyone survive? This simple logic can't be something only I figured out, right?"

"I still don't understand..." Yun Yao said. "According to you, everyone should have survived."

"That's because we've been misled." Chen Junnan changed his tone and laughed. "The thing above our heads isn't an iron ball at all."

"N-not an iron ball?"

"Since anyone who's seen it is dead, no one can pass on the message." Chen Junnan sighed.

"What is it...?"

"Big star... this thing is covered in iron spikes—it's like a giant hedgehog. Unless you're hanging as high as the phone in the corner, you'll die no matter where you hide."

"What?"

"You should also know that if it were just a regular iron ball, we wouldn't smell blood." Chen Junnan rubbed his nose and said. "The blood we smell is because it's covered in spikes hung with bits of flesh."

"So that's it..." Yun Yao was slightly stunned. "That means a lot of people tried to run to the corners before dying... but they weren't flattened—they were torn apart."

"Exactly, that's what I mean." Chen Junnan suppressed his voice and groaned softly, then said, "Am I smart... figuring all this out?"

Yun Yao sensed that Chen Junnan's condition wasn't right and asked with slight concern, "Are you okay? Do you want to rest for a bit?"

"I'm fine, don't interrupt me..." Chen Junnan chuckled, then asked, "Big star, guess how I survived?"

"I can't guess." Yun Yao shook her head.

"That old snake is so stingy and cunning." Chen Junnan laughed happily. "He was afraid the huge iron ball would smash the monitor in the room, so he made a bad decision."