Everyone fell silent once again.
As newcomers, how could they have thought of this? When asked to deliver the bag to the target location, they naturally assumed the ingredients inside were the important part, and the outer bag was dispensable.
But since the Veteran player Zero had said so, was it really as Zero described?
Cold Frost fell into deep recollection. She had properly memorized the speech of the Host, the Mask Man, at the beginning. It was just that she hadn't analyzed that specific sentence in detail. Thanks to Lin Ye's reminder, she now recalled it.
"Zero, actually, we can abandon the ingredients inside?"
Cold Frost spoke, her voice becoming somewhat weak towards the end.
"Correct. My judgment is exactly that. The weighted bag and the ingredients inside are actually a trap set by this 'Brisk Walking' project,"
Lin Ye said slowly. "When all of us players focus on the weight of the heavy objects in the bag, we subconsciously ignore the option that we can choose to abandon the ingredients inside."
"Of course, I suggest carrying a tiny bit of the ingredients. After all, I judge that the organizer didn't remember which bag we were carrying at all."
"The bags have the same appearance and color. At the time of acquisition, each group of players chose randomly. The possibility of the organizer remembering is very small, or it can even be said to be zero."
If this was the case, for the four members of the newcomer Group 11, this would be huge good news.
They could abandon the unknown overweight ingredients in the bag and keep only a tiny bit.
While the four felt relaxed, they also felt that they had done a lot of useless work before.
If not for Lin Ye's reminder, they likely would have dragged this heavy ingredient to the terminal station until the very end. And the most probable final result would be being dragged to death by exhaustion on this road.
"If I had thought of it earlier, I would have discarded it directly. Wasted so much strength."
"Damn it, damn it, how did I not think there would be this kind of trap!"
"I'll throw away the ingredients inside before we leave in a bit. I actually want to see what this ingredient that weighs so heavy actually is."
...
Looking at the unknown ingredients inside that large gunny sack by the pushcart, several newcomers complained.
When they were in the rain curtain zone, in order to take it away, they had expended a burst of effort. The four of them went into battle together to lift it, yet they didn't advance much distance.
The result was that they could abandon it, that they could disregard the ingredients inside. What thoughts did this give the four of them at this moment?
Full of resentment; the initial relaxation had already disappeared cleanly.
It wasn't that they hadn't suspected Lin Ye's analysis might be wrong. But continuing to advance carrying such a heavy object versus abandoning the vast majority of ingredients and carrying the bag to the finish line—these were not on the same level.
Of course, they wanted to arrive at the finish line with the complete bag and the ingredients inside, but could they do it?
Even if the pushcart was given to them to use, they feared they still wouldn't be able to make it. So, what they could do now was to take a gamble.
At this time, Lin Ye had already chopped off the head of this chicken with a single slash.
In merely a few minutes, this chicken's body size had expanded another circle, and it had become even more aggressive.
Lin Ye realized that if he let this ingredient chicken continue, it would likely grow into a monster-level chicken. At that time, the ones becoming ingredients would likely be them.
"Cluck cluck cluck..."
The head fell, but the chicken was still flapping its wings. Lin Ye used a cup to catch the blood. After the blood was collected, he began to quickly process the internal organs. Subsequently, he clamped the chicken and placed it on the fire pile to roast. However, he kept one chicken leg to serve as the ingredient to take to the finish line.
Cooked food could also serve as an ingredient, but for the purpose of insurance, Lin Ye decided to choose the raw chicken leg.
And at this time, the two women were paralyzed on the ground. Hunger had already seriously affected their states.
"Wait a little longer."
The two gave a hum, but it was weak and feeble; even the sound was thin and silent.
"What is inside your bag?" Lin Ye inquired. He saw the things inside, but relying solely on the white appearance of that ingredient, he really couldn't analyze what it was.
"Don't, don't know... I'll open it immediately."
One person immediately got up and opened the black bag.
Very quickly, items looking like snowflakes entered their field of vision. It was just that at this time, the snowflake items were soaked with a large amount of rainwater, having adsorbed a massive amount of water onto themselves.
Lin Ye walked closer, poked it, rubbed it with his fingers, smelled it, and then tasted it.
"Zero, Brother Zero, this is..."
"Sugar."
"Ah!"
"It should be a specialty sugar of this instance world, probably called cotton candy! Usually, the volume is very large but it is very light. However, once it touches water, it becomes extremely heavy."
These rainwaters were dead-locked and adsorbed onto the sugar threads composed of snowflakes. Even if one squeezed forcefully, not much water could be squeezed out.
"This..."
If forceful squeezing couldn't get it out, then what to do?
"Try sun exposure and fire roasting. I'll take a portion."
"As you wish, you take whatever you want."
They completely didn't have any objections. Lin Ye used his dagger to cut off a portion, then hung it by the fire.
At the same time, Lin Ye noticed that the boiled chicken blood had already solidified and was edible.
"Come, you two, eat a little chicken blood first to fill your stomachs."
Lin Ye first helped Cold Frost up and handed a piece of chicken blood in front of Cold Frost.
"Hot..."
Lin Ye froze, then blew on it. Only then did Cold Frost eat it down.
After feeding Cold Frost, Lin Ye went to feed Erina Nakiri. The current Erina Nakiri was already hungry to the extreme. Seeing the chicken blood, she wished she could swallow it whole, but at this time, she didn't even have the strength to open her mouth.
Lin Ye had no choice but to help the blond Eldest Miss open her mouth and send the chicken blood in.
"I can be considered to be giving you guys 'chicken blood' now."
With a teasing remark, Lin Ye smiled as he looked at the two girls.
As the food entered their stomachs, the two's feelings gradually became a bit better, and their strength also recovered somewhat.
"It is... related to not eating,"
In general situations of hunger, eating immediately wouldn't possibly take effect immediately. Now, not much time after the chicken blood entered the body, the body clearly recovered. This obviously involved the rules. The rules of this 'Brisk Walking'.
One would fall into the trap if not careful.
"What it targets are the players who didn't eat ingredients in the first round. They avoided danger without mishap in the first round, but they will suffer a blow in the second round."
It mainly targeted the Veteran players who had the strength to force other teammates to eat, and those newcomer players who shamelessly refused to eat.
The first round was passed successfully, but they would suffer targeting in the second round. This counted as a dynamic balance.
These thirty kilometers were really not calm at all, not simple at all.
Group 11 had already poured out the cotton candy. They cut off a portion to roast and sun-dry. Now that they had determined to abandon the vast majority of the cotton candy, their drive and fighting spirit were stimulated, possessing ample confidence in reaching the finish line.
"By the way, I suggest you guys also eat something. You can eat some of your cotton candy to replenish Stamina."
Compared to his food intake, the newcomers definitely didn't eat as much as him.
According to Lin Ye's thinking, the more they walked the next section of the road, the more they would consume the food they had eaten. And could the food these newcomers ate maintain them running to the end?
Lin Ye didn't know, but eating more was never wrong.
"Thanks, thank you Brother Zero."
They realized that Lin Ye truly didn't intend to pit them. At least Lin Ye didn't have any malice toward them. When he could help, he would actively propose assistance.
To encounter such a player was also their luck.
The cotton candy dehydrated relatively quickly. It couldn't be squeezed to remove water, but through sun exposure and roasting, the moisture separated very fast.
Like the newcomers, Lin Ye, Cold Frost, and Erina Nakiri all ate some cotton candy.
"Zero, Brother Zero, we..."
"Go! We will catch up very quickly."
With this sentence from Lin Ye, they were also at ease. They were just worried about being seen as ungrateful people, afraid that Lin Ye would target them later. Now, they didn't need to worry about this issue at all.
Group 11 set off. They set off carrying the gunny sack. This time they were in a relatively better state. Walking up, they had much drive.
Crackle crackle...
The fire pile continued to burn.
The chicken meat had already produced a fragrance. The outside was already sizzling, but the inside was still in a half-raw, half-cooked state.
"No time to continue delaying. Let's eat first!" Cold Frost said. "Raw food counts as nothing to us. We can eat it too."
Erina Nakiri also had the same answer.
She didn't want to become a drag either. Now having a little strength, she reached out to express her determination.
"I'll do it!"
Lin Ye quickly cut the chicken meat and distributed the cooked parts to the two, while he ate the lesser amount himself.
This taste—oh boy, half-raw chicken meat.
Cold Frost felt the discomfort on her tongue but said nothing. As for Erina Nakiri, having experienced the taste of octopus tentacles and raw beef ingredients before, she had no situation where she couldn't accept this half-raw chicken meat.
"However, this chicken meat isn't as delicious as the octopus and beef."
The difference wasn't just a tiny bit.
But being able to fill the stomach was already considered good.
How could Erina Nakiri have thought that this round would also test eating?
Clearly it was Brisk Walking, clearly it was walking, why were there so many latent rules!
This was the Strange Game. Rules with unknown meanings existed everywhere, requiring players to explore and determine them by themselves.
Sigh!
Erina Nakiri felt more and more that wanting to survive in this dangerous game relying solely on herself was basically impossible.
She looked at Lin Ye and Cold Frost. "You two are very amazing."
Erina Nakiri sighed a sentence out of nowhere, which made both of them stare blankly for a moment.
"Miss Nakiri, you are also very amazing. In the culinary field, not many people can compare with you. Every profession has its specialization; what you are good at is this aspect."
What Lin Ye said was all fact, but Erina Nakiri knew this was more of Lin Ye's comfort to her.
Up to now, she hadn't helped much or exerted any effort.
"For the cooking segment afterwards, I will go all out."
That was the time for her best performance, and also one of the few opportunities where she could make a huge contribution.
"Looking forward to your performance."
Next,
The three quickly finished processing the remaining chicken meat, got up, and continued on their journey.
There were still ten kilometers to the finish line.
They still needed to travel the long final stretch of the road.
...
More and more players entered the rain curtain zone and also felt the heavy burden brought by the rainwater. The bags they carried became heavier.
"Got heavy."
"Ours actually didn't get heavy."
"Quick, push hard."
"It will be fine as soon as we leave here quickly."
...
With two pushcarts as the core, five teams risked their lives striving to move forward, and finally left the rain curtain zone.
"It was about five kilometers or so."
"Exhausted to death. The ingredients indeed get heavy."
"Pitfall Strange Game."
"Good thing we had the carts, otherwise we simply couldn't walk this fast."
At least they walked much, much faster now than the situation without carts.
Otherwise, just that round just now would have made them consume at least double the time, or perhaps even that wouldn't be enough.
Exiting the rain curtain zone, resting for a while, the group set off again.
Items by the roadside attracted their attention.
"Chicken bones."
"Fire pile, hasn't completely extinguished yet."
"This is cotton candy, sweet and silky. Where did this come from?"
...
The group was dumbfounded.
Where did the chicken come from?
There were chickens to catch here? The players ahead still had the mind to roast chicken?
Stop joking.
Could it be that the players ahead took the things inside the bag out to eat, and even discarded so much?
Was this not wanting to clear the level anymore?
Thump thump thump...
Very quickly, strange sounds rang out.
It was as if something extra was inside the gunny sacks, vibrating constantly and emitting collision sounds.
"What situation? When were there living things?"
...
After opening,
A duck flew out.
"Duck."
"Live duck..."
"Catch it."
Several players were in a flurry, but in the end, they still successfully caught it.
They also discovered that this duck was getting bigger. And apart from this duck, the other gunny sacks also produced a snake. The growth speed of this snake was quite fast.
"This ingredient can grow rapidly. If it continues to grow, what should we do?"
Kill!
But after killing, this corpse still had to be taken to the finish line. This was the ingredient.
However, after walking for a short while, a Veteran player thought of the traces left by the players ahead that they encountered before.
Ahead of them was a Veteran player, Zero.
Were those things left by him?
"Discard. We only keep a little bit of ingredients. Either eat or discard the majority of the remaining ingredients. We need to lighten the load to proceed to the finish line."
"But didn't the organizer say precious ingredients cannot have problems?"
"Does the organizer know what the ingredients inside are?"
"Of course they know, these were all prepared by them."
But after answering, this player immediately thought of something.
"They cannot determine."
"Correct. The chicken bones and fire pile left before must be Zero. He must have thought of this point, so he lightened the load to advance."
Why didn't they think of it earlier!
What a loss!
"Accelerate advance."
The other groups hesitated, but after thinking about it, they still gave up the excess ingredients that had become heavy. If they forcefully moved forward carrying the ingredients that had become heavy, it would only spend more time.
It was time to go all out.
One hour and 11 minutes remaining until the end.
Lin Ye, Cold Frost, and Erina Nakiri's Group 26 finally reached the target finish line.
...
...
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