"So… maybe… would you all consider… relieving yourselves in the corner? The human bladder normally holds about 300-400 milliliters of liquid. If each of you could release about 400 milliliters, we'd be pretty close to the target."
"Of course, if… going number two is necessary, well, it could save us from a tough spot…"
Lana could no longer hold back and snapped, her face flushed with anger, "House, don't push it!"
I raised my hands defensively, "Lana, Lana, I swear it's not me being weird. This whole challenge is just insane. I take it back—whoever designed this test is a creep, a grade-A pervert with no conscience. I don't want to be in this situation any more than you do."
Lana's chest heaved with frustration, and I mentally recited the Tough Guy Guide, doing my best to keep a sincere look on her angry face.
Beside me, Carl was sweating nervously but wisely kept his mouth shut, as the other guy in the room. 'Smart move, Carl. Looks like I'm taking the fall this time.'
After a few tense seconds, Janice weakly offered, "Um, Lana, I think House might have a point… He's not trying to embarrass us, but, well… this might be the only way. It would help everyone, including ourselves." She blushed even harder, but she didn't retreat behind Danny.
'Good job, kid! At least my good intentions aren't going to waste.'
After an awkward silence, Danny mumbled, "Lana… I think House isn't wrong. Janice is right—we're all in this together, and I can't think of a better solution."
Lana's face cycled through shades of red and green before she finally sighed, "You two… fine, let's do this one by one."
She shot me a deadly glare. "You two—go stand in the far corner, plug your ears, and don't even think about turning around until we say so. And you two, keep an eye on them."
'Hey, it was my idea to save the day. But I get it—probably best to keep my mouth shut at this point. Although… one last suggestion.'
"Oh, and remember to count how long you go for. It's important. Phones go here." Ignoring the dagger-like glares, I retreated to the corner.
Carl and I obediently moved away and plugged our ears. I had to admit, this guy seemed alright. As the biggest guy here, he'd been pretty cooperative, even letting me and Lana take the lead. While he could get discouraged, he hadn't shown any hostility over our situation, which was reassuring.
"Hey, House, you… you're something else, you know?" Carl whispered, breaking my thoughts. "You're bold, clever, and shameless. You're quite a character."
"Are you… complimenting me or not? Sigh… Brother Carl, it's not like I want to be the bad guy here. Desperate times…" Before I could defend myself, Danny's voice called, "Alright, you can turn around now."
I pulled myself together and turned, facing the girls, who were still blushing slightly. "How'd it go? How long did each of you last?"
Lana shot me a disgusted look but said nothing.
Carl had to turn away to stifle a laugh, pretending to cough. Finally, Danny, face still red, answered, "I… I went for 15 seconds, Janice for 16, and Lana… 20 seconds."
"Was the flow steady or interrupted?" I asked, eager to know. "Ow! Hey, stop hitting me! I'm asking for a reason."
Ducking from Lana's swats, I hurriedly explained, "The average female urinary flow rate is around 15-18 milliliters per second, so if each of you went for about 20 seconds, we should be on target."
Danny's face flushed, but she seemed to get used to my informative questions as she replied, "Um… the amount seemed about right… but how do you even know things like this?"
All four of them were giving me weird looks.
'Fair enough, it's not exactly common knowledge.' I tried to explain, "I have a friend in med school who loves sharing random anatomy facts. I have a pretty good memory, so it stuck. But hey, minor details aside, we're almost there." I quickly changed the subject, and everyone's focus returned to the task.
Lana's fingers moved as she calculated and nodded. "True. With our, uh, extra help, we should be close to the target."
Thinking it over, I added, "Right, we're probably good now… but I have one more small suggestion." Turning to Danny and Janice, I gave them a friendly smile. "Danny, Janice, feeling warm?"
The two girls looked at each other, puzzled. "We're fine, I guess?"
Lana, however, immediately caught on, scowling. "Not a chance!"
I took a few preemptive steps back, hands up. "Hear me out—they're wearing their No. 17 school uniforms. Pretty decent quality, right? It's loose and not exactly stylish, but they're both in autumn uniforms, so those jackets have some weight. Adding those might just get us over the line."
Lana took a step forward to argue, but Danny quickly shrugged off her jacket and handed it to me.
She wore a pink sleeveless T-shirt underneath, her youthful curves adding to her charm. I thanked her profusely and then glanced hopefully at Janice.
She'd already taken off her oversized jacket, revealing a fitted white T-shirt underneath. Her chest swayed slightly, clearly a bit larger than Danny's.
I didn't dare linger, quickly taking the jackets and pretending not to notice Lana's murderous glare. "Alright, Danny, you take this small ball, stand by Janice and Lana on the left platform. Carl, you handle the scale and the balls. I'll count to three, then we'll step onto the platforms together."
With a deep breath, I glanced at my teammates. Each of them gave a small nod.
"Alright… one, two, three." We stepped onto the platforms together.
Click!
The platform lowered slowly until it was level with the floor. 'Huh? Does this mean we passed, or are we still off? Should I have made them puke just to be safe?'
Suddenly, everything went black as the floor dropped beneath us. I heard the girls scream nearby and Carl shout beside me. I staggered forward, almost toppling over.
Steadying myself, I looked up to see the ceiling from the previous room shrinking further and further away. Within seconds, it was gone, replaced by pitch darkness.
"House, House, are you alright? Where are you?" Carl's voice called out.
"I'm here, Carl, don't worry. Looks like this is the elevator taking us to the next stage. We should be arriving soon." Carl relaxed upon hearing my voice. I counted silently to nineteen before feeling the platform shudder to a halt.
'With the average elevator speed being about 1.5-2 meters per second, the descent had been a bit abrupt, but not excessively fast. So, we'd likely dropped around thirty to forty meters—about ten floors. No clue whether we were still above ground or below.'
Moments later, the darkness split open, revealing a brightly lit white room.
Carl and I exchanged a look, gathered our items, and stepped forward.
The narrow room was empty except for a large door straight ahead.
"Courage… So, this door must be a test of bravery?" Carl muttered, tracing the word painted boldly on the door.
Setting down our pile of belongings, I replied, "Seems like it. Looks like this time, we don't have a choice. Courage, huh… wonder where the others are. If it was a straight descent, they shouldn't be too far."
I knocked on the left wall out of curiosity, 'Solid.'
Carl looked at the stuff on the floor. "What do we do with all this? Should we bring it?"
"Definitely," I replied firmly. "We're bringing everything. If I hadn't kept those water bottles, we'd have had a much harder time in the last room—might've even needed someone to, well, go further than just peeing."
Carl grimaced, "You don't think it would've come to that, do you?"
I laughed it off, gesturing at the items wrapped in Danny's jacket, including the scale and balls. "Hey, Carl, want to carry some of this? Together, it's heavier than a bag of rice."
Carl grinned and flexed his arms. "House, you have no idea. I'm a regular at the gym. Check out these biceps—you can see them through my shirt. If it wasn't for helping everyone out, I'd have chosen the Strength door for sure."
"Nice, Guess you don't need my help, then." 'Interesting, interesting'—looks like Carl's got a hidden strength.
"Alright, let's head in." Carl went in first, with me following close behind.
'But—wait, what the…?' We were suddenly outside. Instead of a confined room, we found ourselves in the middle of a dense forest.
All around were lush, vibrant green trees and tall grass. I could faintly hear the wind rustling through the leaves. The sky was dark, as if it were dusk, with thick, heavy clouds gathering and a cold wind whistling through. But the complete lack of animal sounds gave the place an eerie, unsettling feel. Not far ahead, the ground dropped off sharply, revealing a deep, seemingly endless cliff.
A single rope bridge swayed gently in the wind, connecting to a distant, rocky mountain ledge.
Squinting, I could just make out the faint outline of a wooden sign at the bridge's edge, but I couldn't read what it said.
"Whoa, Carl, what's going on here? And… where did you go?", Startled by the sudden change in scenery, I turned to speak to Carl, only to realize he'd vanished. Not only was Carl nowhere in sight, but the door we had just stepped through was gone too.
In every direction, all I could see was an expanse of endless green trees and rolling mountains, with a profound silence settling over the land.
'Calm down, calm down… This must be part of the test. It's likely intentional to split me and Carl up.'
Taking a few deep breaths, I steadied my racing heart and carefully examined my surroundings.
First, I approached the wooden sign to see what it had to say.
"Do not stop while crossing the bridge."
'What kind of warning is that? Why shouldn't I stop? Is it because the bridge is fragile, or is there some other danger?'
I chewed my thumb nervously. 'Damn, I hate these cryptic instructions that leave everything open to interpretation. But since this is the Path of Courage, it's going to test my nerves.'