Walking silently to the front row, Jiang Shang heard a blond guy next to him betting with a simpleton on who would reach the finish line first, with the loser owing the winner a million Han Yuan.
“The black aura on your foreheads is almost overflowing; you two are probably the first ones to die,” Jiang Shang muttered softly, but neither of them heard him.
Perhaps it was because Jiang Shang had never activated The Indifferent, even though he was already half-blackened, he still liked to mock others. Maybe he had been holding it in for twenty-six years.
“Anyone who avoids the ghost’s detection and crosses the finish line within five minutes passes. The game begins.” The giant doll spoke again, announcing the start of the game.
“Red light, green light.”
Hearing the doll start to call out, Jiang Shang glanced at the blond guy and the other, only to see the blond guy pull the simpleton back and then charge forward.
Shaking his head, Jiang Shang thought the other party was just in a hurry to die, wanting to win at the starting line of the underworld.
By now, Jiang Shang was certain that the so-called elimination meant death. After all, knowing that the number of people would be halved today, Jiang Shang wouldn't believe that the black muzzles on the high walls all around were just for decoration.
Ignoring the blond guy, Jiang Shang walked leisurely forward with one hand in his pocket.
Jiang Shang was not in a hurry. The finish line was about fifty meters from the start. Assuming the doll turned around every five seconds, and its turning speed gradually increased until it reached two seconds per turn, Jiang Shang would still have almost a minute and a half to walk across, which was more than enough time to cover fifty meters.
As for why Jiang Shang was so sure that it would only increase to two seconds per turn at most, it was because, according to the feedback from “I see a black aura on your forehead, you will surely suffer a bloody disaster today,” nearly half of the people present would survive. Excluding the initial panic that caused some casualties, if the doll really turned around frantically at the end, not giving players a chance to advance, then it would be remarkable if even ten people survived the entire game. Moreover, this was only the first round. After judging that Squid Game might be a film or television work, Jiang Shang was certain that the first round could not be inhumanly difficult. To put it bluntly, if everyone died in the first round, what would the audience watch for the next five rounds?
In short, Jiang Shang was not only not in a hurry, but he also deliberately kept his distance from those two simpletons, so as not to get blood splattered on him when they died.
Sure enough, “No. 324, eliminated.” With a cold mechanical voice and an equally cold gunshot, No. 324, the blond guy, sprinted vigorously across the finish line of his life.
“Damn, he really was No. 1.” This surprised Jiang Shang a little. How did a casual remark actually come true?
“But this doll lady’s eyes should be some kind of motion capture device, right? So, as long as you hide behind obstacles like people, you won’t be captured?” Although it was a question, Jiang Shang already had the answer in his heart.
“Red light, green light.”
Despite his slight surprise, hearing the doll lady call out again, Jiang Shang took steps and continued to walk forward.
Meanwhile, the simpleton on the other side seemed to not yet understand the situation. He took two steps forward and mocked the blond guy lying on the ground. The blond guy was so enraged that he spat out a mouthful of blood. Unexpectedly, the simpleton had hemophobia, and was instantly scared, taking two steps back. When the doll lady saw him, he was so ashamed of being scared by blood that he even tried to run away.
(Actually, he saw the blond guy die, felt fear, and was scared into retreating.)
So he was overjoyed, and even his surging blood splattered onto the face of the bystander woman behind him.
The woman couldn't endure his surging blood and immediately screamed, slapping her face, resulting in her head being vigorously blown open.
This series of events directly broke everyone’s nerves. Apart from those who were too scared to move or those who managed to stabilize themselves by sheer rationality, the rest screamed in terror and rushed towards the gate.
Without exception, they were all shot dead, not a single one spared.
With great difficulty, the scene finally settled down again.
Finally, after the doll lady repeated the game rules, the game started again.
“Damn, I miscalculated. I didn’t expect a useless teammate to waste so much time.” Jiang Shang’s expression was not good as he looked at the countdown, which now had just over three minutes left. This meant he had to walk the remaining nearly forty-five meters in one minute or less, which meant he couldn’t be as leisurely as before; he had to speed up a bit.
Perhaps due to his half-blackened state, when Jiang Shang saw so many people lose their lives within a minute, what he felt was not fear or sympathy, but a subtle sense of excitement.
However, due to the early exit of the blond guy and the simpleton, Jiang Shang was now at the very front.
“Red light, green light.” The doll lady spoke again.
Everyone was terrified by what had happened before and dared not move forward. Only Jiang Shang and an old man took steps and advanced.
“Red light, green light.”
The crowd still dared not take even a single step forward, but at this point, Jiang Shang was less than forty meters from the finish line, with the blond guy who had been eliminated first lying at his feet. The old man had also surpassed the original second place and was now about five meters behind Jiang Shang.
“Red light, green light.”
This time, someone finally dared to move forward, whether it was because they would die anyway if they didn't move, or because they were stimulated by the old man.
And then some clumsy smart alecks choked to death on peanuts.
“Red light, green light.” This time, the doll lady’s speaking speed was noticeably faster, so even more people choked to death on peanuts.
“Red light, green light.”
Jiang Shang was only about thirty meters from the finish line, and at this point, some people had started to catch up with him. After all, others were running while Jiang Shang was walking, so it was normal to be caught up to. Anyway, this game didn’t have a limit on the number of people; as long as you reached the finish line within the time limit, it was fine.
“Red light, green light.”
People constantly overtook Jiang Shang, and people constantly fell in front of him, but Jiang Shang always maintained a consistent speed, and he could always stop at precisely the right moment when he needed to.
Time flowed by, and in a blink, only about twenty seconds remained. The first batch of people had reached the finish line, but Jiang Shang was still fifteen meters away from it. It wasn't that Jiang Shang couldn't reach the finish line within half a minute; it was because he had slowed down again midway!
It wasn't because he was stupid enough to risk his life to show off; it was entirely because he had understood something as time passed. He understood why he could endure his adoptive parents' abuse for ten years before finally exploding. This matter seemed unrelated to the game, but it wasn't.
Jiang Shang discovered that he loved death, or more accurately, he loved the feeling of being on the brink of death. During those ten years, every time his adoptive parents abused him, he felt like he was going to die, and the fear that death brought was the only emotion he, who had lost his emotional fluctuations, could feel.