Upon arriving in the hall, Bawopi and the other Nosks had directly riveted their attention on Ruby, Craig and Xiaoming, but seeing the other participants and Zhorions all sitting together without making a fuss, he had suddenly hesitated.
Finally, he had dropped a few words in the Nosk language and his comrades had picked out a few free chairs. Xiaoming had breathed an involuntary sigh of relief when the alien squad lost interest in him. Stifling a groan of pain, the soldier had limped to Ruby and Craig, leaving several pools of blood in his wake.
Jake, like everyone else, had witnessed the tension between these two groups and had chosen to remain neutral. Once the 37 contestants had been seated in their respective chairs, the metal forming the chair had suddenly deformed at the armrests and chair legs, forming shackles that pinned their feet and ankles to the seat. They were now trapped on their chairs.
