The black bear took another step forward, and the distance between Qiao Jiajian and the bear was now only a little more than a meter.
This time, Qiao Jiajian did not dare to move forward, as the black bear's long arms meant that moving forward would put him within its striking range, which would be suicidal.
So he could only slowly step back.
Seeing this, Qi Xia showed a hint of nervousness.
The rules of confrontation between animals are very simple; if one party retreats, it means they are afraid.
Afraid means becoming prey.
The black bear, seeing Qiao Jiajian step back, hesitated for a moment before its demeanor became more ferocious. Now it was almost certain that the creature in front of it posed no threat to it.
After a three-second pause, the black bear suddenly lunged forward, its thick forearm swinging down like a stone pillar.
Qiao Jiajian did not stand firm but shrank his body to dodge the attack, rolled backward on the ground, and then immediately started running.
The black bear roared and chased after him on all fours.
Now the black bear had completely regarded Qiao Jiajian as its prey.
"Cheater, hurry up!" Qiao Jiajian shouted while running, "I'm entrusting my worthless life to you!"
"Don't trust me too much either!" Qi Xia said nervously, "I don't even know what that iron plate is..."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Qiao Jiajian cursed, "Hurry up and go get the goods!"
Seeing the black bear run away, Qi Xia immediately ran towards the iron plate on the ground.
According to the rules of all the 'games' they had seen before, none were a dead end; there must be a 'way out.' In this room with a clear view, the way out must be related to the iron plate.
Upon closer inspection, the iron plate had some mottling on its surface and many rust spots.
"This..."
Qi Xia reached out and touched it, realizing it was just a very ordinary round iron plate with no mechanisms or text hints.
"What the hell..."
Qi Xia felt like he had been tricked; this iron plate seemed like a piece of garbage that could be found anywhere.
Qiao Jiajian ran about a dozen steps and found that the black bear was closing in on him. He immediately stopped running, suddenly turned around, and shouted, "You moron!"
The black bear was startled by Qiao Jiajian and took a big step back, standing on its hind legs again.
Qiao Jiajian sneered, pointed his finger at the black bear, and said fiercely, "Were you scared? You moron, do you think I'm afraid of you? Listen up..."
The black bear looked at Qiao Jiajian blankly, seemingly waiting for him to speak.
At this moment, everyone present was also at a loss, all looking at Qiao Jiajian, wondering what he was going to say to a black bear.
However, to everyone's surprise, Qiao Jiajian, seeing that he had stabilized the black bear, did not hesitate for a moment. He turned around and ran.
The black bear, realizing it had been made a fool of, roared furiously and chased after him again.
At this time, Qi Xia in the center of the venue had already flipped over the iron plate and was carefully studying it. The iron plate was very thick, with no handle, making it impossible to lift and defend against the bear's attack.
Before Qi Xia could figure it out, he suddenly felt a pain in his back, as if something had hit him hard.
He was already on the ground and, with such a strong impact, he found it difficult to maintain his balance and fell to the side.
He then saw that it was the middle-aged man from his team who had hit him.
The middle-aged man looked at Qi Xia, who was knocked over on the ground, and whispered an apology. Then he stood up the iron plate on the ground, gritted his teeth, and slowly pushed it along the ground. After a few steps, he reached the corner of the wall, used the iron plate to shield himself, and crouched in the corner, shivering.
Qi Xia frowned, feeling that this was not good.
This method had occurred to him before; as long as one used the iron plate to shield themselves and hid in the corner of the room, their chances of survival would greatly increase. However, this would mean that only one person would survive, and the game would lose its meaning.
Betting a 'Dao' to save one's life and winning only one 'Dao' in return.
If Qi Xia were to choose, he would not opt for this outcome.
"Cheater, aren't you done yet?" Qiao Jiajian shouted again, "You really don't take me seriously!"
"Hold on... just give me a bit more time..." Qi Xia replied hesitantly, his mind racing. He knew that even if he took the iron plate back now, it wouldn't be very useful since he had to save at least himself and Qiao Jiajian.
But the iron plate was limited in size and could barely shield one person.
What was he to do?
For the time being, thanks to Qiao Jiajian, the remaining eight participants were safe, but only a little more than a minute had passed. It was impossible to rely solely on Qiao Jiajian's actions to survive within the ten-minute timeframe.
At this moment, a slightly plump girl ran towards the direction of the middle-aged man, her voice trembling as she said, "Can I hide in there... please? I don't want to die..."
"No, no!" The middle-aged man shouted from behind the round iron plate, "It can only hide one person... if you come in, we will both die!"
"It won't be!" The girl's voice continued to tremble, and her legs became unsteady, "We can each hide on one side, we won't die... definitely."
As they were talking, the little man with glasses, who was on the same team as the middle-aged man before, ran over in a panic. Without asking the middle-aged man's opinion, he lifted the iron plate and squeezed into the corner.
"Hey! Little man with glasses!" The middle-aged man panicked, "What are you doing?"
The little man with glasses gritted his teeth and replied, "Lao Lu, you can't just think about your own life!"
The iron plate, which could previously be propped against the wall, became unstable with the addition of the little man with glasses. After all, Lao Lu was obese, and the iron plate could not completely shield their figures.
The slightly plump woman, seeing this, also stopped talking to Lao Lu and squeezed into the corner through the other side of the iron plate.
The other four people also stopped running around and approached the iron plate.
After all, it was their last hope for survival.
"Stupid..." Qi Xia also slowly approached the crowd. In just a few seconds, the people had started fighting over the iron plate.
"Lao Lu! You can't be so selfish! Give up the iron plate, and let's think of another solution!"
"Little man with glasses! You're young; you can run with the bear. I can't!"
"Go and grab the iron plate!"
"Get out of the way! There's no room behind the iron plate!"
Now, each of them seemed to have the momentum to single-handedly kill a bear, but at this critical moment, they would rather fiercely grab each other by the neck and hair, fighting until their mouths were bloody, than to move even half a step closer to the bear.
The iron plate also seemed to be neglected, lying alone on the ground.
On the other side, Qiao Jiajian was cornered by the black bear, with no way out. He could only resort to the same trick again, turning around and shouting loudly once more.
This time, although the black bear was also startled, it clearly had no intention of retreating. It extended its forelimb and lunged forward, which was dodged by Qiao Jiajian. The bear's hard claws left deep grooves on the wall.
"Damn it!" Qiao Jiajian stared at the black bear in front of him, "You're going too far..."
Qi Xia knew that if he didn't do something, Qiao Jiajian would surely die, and if Qiao Jiajian died, the rest of the people would also be brutally killed one by one.
After all, the only one who dared to confront the black bear directly was Qiao Jiajian. He had to not only resist the bear's attack but also protect everyone from harm, which was absurd.