"I sure can. Guns are like part of my body," Ling Ling said shyly, raising her hand.
"I'm fine too," Snake Spirit replied calmly.
Jing Shu nodded. She obviously had no problem either. With her life-saving trump card and no cameras around to expose her secrets, she could finally go all out. As for assembling guns, she wasn't interested. She planned to take a different route. "I'm good," she said.
"Hey, I object! Guys, I really can't survive this, I'll die for sure! If I die, you'll all be screwed!" Xiao Hei wailed, literally crying.
"Alright then, we'll take the challenge. Once it starts, everyone goes all out, no holding back. We'll go over the plan in a minute. Xiao Hei, once you're in, either hide or stick close to someone here. Anyone here's strong enough to protect you."
Xiao Hei still looked terrified.
Tank patted him on the shoulder. "We're not joking. Everyone here's powerful. Forget six people, even sixty wouldn't be a problem. You already forgot what happened yesterday?"
That finally calmed him down. He quickly decided which thigh to cling to and figured following Tank was probably the safest bet.
But no one expected Tank's crow mouth to actually hit the mark. A few days later, they really did end up fighting that many people. The scene... damn.
The Asian team had no hesitation about joining the competition, and challengers immediately flooded in. Maybe Tank looked strong, sure, but after that last match, everyone could tell this team basically relied on him alone. The crying coward was useless, and the two scrawny Asian guys didn't look like much either. And two women in a mercenary fight? Please, that's suicide.
The arena was boiling with excitement!
Among the many challengers, Peggy finally chose a team that had just been promoted to A-rank. The team was mostly made up of former special forces soldiers, pros at assembling and handling all kinds of weapons. They even had a sniper and a heavy-hitter demolition specialist. The lineup was balanced and deadly.
Jing Shu's group was made to change into striped uniforms that looked like prison clothes, making them stand out even more. Their bodies were searched over and over again—no weapons allowed, not even hidden in private spots. If the guards hadn't been women, someone would've been sent straight to heaven by now. The loud commotion outside suggested someone had just been caught sneaking something in.
Their pets were tied together in one place. Jing Shu glanced at Ah Huang, who stuck out its tongue obediently, as if saying, Go on, master, I'll behave.
For some reason, she felt a bit uneasy. She whispered for Xiao Dou not to bully Ah Huang, then slung her silly-looking backpack over her shoulders and stepped into the arena.
It was her first time taking off her thick cotton coat. Without it, she suddenly felt exposed, even cold. The underground black market was warm, but not that warm.
Once she ditched the bulky coat and pants and put on the thin uniform, Jing Shu looked completely different, like a duckling turning into a swan. Her transformation caught everyone's eyes. With her hair casually tied up, her pale neck showing, and her refined, delicate features, she looked like a Snow White dressed in prison clothes—breathtakingly beautiful.
Even in identical uniforms, some people just radiated a different kind of presence, pure and striking like a white lotus blooming from the mud. But Jing Shu's beauty was less innocent, more dangerously alluring.
Her teammates stared at her in disbelief.
"Wait, this was that old lady before? No way!"
"So this is what she really looks like?"
Whistles rang out from the crowd. Xiao Hei scrambled to translate, afraid Tank might abandon him if he didn't: "Oh my God, there's such a hottie in that team!" "Don't kill her too fast, let me have some fun first!"
Meanwhile, Ling Ling's usual appeal in her short skirt was gone, her long legs hidden under the uniform, making her look a lot more ordinary.
After half an hour of preparation and strategy discussion, the staff finished resetting the stage. The survival challenge was about to begin. Each participant had a black hood pulled over their head before being sent into the sticky "map," completely scattered from one another.
The arena mimicked the desert map from PUBG—actual sand, tin huts, even maze-like areas.
A thick layer of bulletproof glass separated the upper audience level from the underground area, probably to prevent riots. After all, this was the only passage connecting to the first floor.
"Dear mercenaries, good news! Anyone who managed to sneak in a weapon without getting caught—you've passed. You're allowed to use it in this match!"
Peggy had even arranged translators, which saved Xiao Hei from extra work.
Monkey cursed under his breath. His weapon was too big to sneak through.
Snake Spirit smirked. His poison was hidden right in his mouth.
The opposing team, however, looked furious. Their weapons had been too bulky to hide.
Jing Shu felt even more confident. Honestly, she didn't need a gun to win. Besides, how could anyone pull out a huge rifle from under their clothes anyway?
Her confidence came from another source. While everyone else was blindfolded and stumbling, she could sense what was around them. Not by seeing, but by controlling her insects.
The man-eating bugs she'd been breeding for years finally came in handy. She'd discovered those vicious creatures back when she was trapped underground at Xishan, and after years of careful cultivation, their numbers had grown terrifyingly high. She released them beneath the sand, unseen but everywhere, forming a web she could feel like a spider sensing its prey.
She could sense where everything was, even the positions of all twelve players.
This round, Jing Shu was basically playing with cheats.
"What a shame I can't bet on myself," she muttered.
A fight like this without body armor or helmets was insanely dangerous—it was a game with real lives on the line. Jing Shu hated taking unnecessary risks. So she decided to end it fast.
Cut clean, cut quick.
The "map" was big enough to spread everyone far apart, giving players a chance to find weapons first. No one wanted an instant box drop right after landing; that'd be boring.
People loved watching real humans fight to the death. And for the ones in the arena, the thrill was very, very real.
When Peggy shouted that the match had begun, the whole place exploded with excitement.
The twelve players ripped off their hoods almost simultaneously and sprinted toward the nearest weapon points.
The killing game had officially begun.