BXBX NOVEL Chapter 327: 326: Ferris Wheel!
Chapter 327: 326: Ferris Wheel!
Zhang Xinyi wails with a hint of sorrow in her voice.
Du Gang steals a glance over, judging by this exclamation, these two must have known each other previously.
“Du Gang!”
At this moment, Kou Yingwu couldn’t help it, subconsciously shouting Du Gang’s name.
Yu Qian had just died without him being prepared for it. She died right before his eyes.
The problem was, he was also sitting in the cabin, right behind where Yu Qian had been.
On the side, Tao Xuanzhu was also a little nervous. She didn’t understand why Yu Qian had died like this.
On the contrary, Zhang Xinyi was still immersed in her grief and was not worried about her own life at all.
Du Gang looked at Kou Yingwu and said, “Stay seated, you’re safe this round!”
“Are you sure?”
Kou Yingwu wasn’t skeptical, but he had just moved to Yu Qian’s spot, he was now a little flustered.
“Relax, it’s alright!”
As Du Gang spoke, he slowly opened the door of his cabin. As soon as the axle of his cabin got into a horizontal position, he quickly stepped out.
The axle was wide, about thirty to forty centimeters thick. Although his body had become ordinary, his control was still there. He easily moved from the outer axle of the cabin to the center of the inner axle.
“Du Gang?”
Kou Yingwu couldn’t help but call out. After all, Du Gang’s current position seemed a bit risky.
In front of him, there were sharp steel rods. These rods belonged to the same category as the one that fatally pierced Yu Qian.
“Stay put!”
After Du Gang shouted, when the axle tilted upwards, he tightly held onto it while also stepping on top of the sharp steel.
While the sharp end was actually about a centimeter thick, it could easily pierce anyone if pulled with a great force. But as long as he was stepping on it, nothing would happen.
Zhang Xinyi inside the cabin forced the overwhelming sorrow down and started observing Du Gang.
Once someone dies, they are gone. The living still have to keep living.
She couldn’t risk her life because of Yu Qian’s death.
At this moment, she, like everyone else, was watching Du Gang’s move while at the same time glancing at Kou Yingwu.
I’m almost there…
Kou Yingwu closed his eyes as he was approaching the highest point.
He didn’t dare to look. At a time like this, he had no clue as to the cause of the death. He could only believe in Du Gang!
A second passed, then two, three…
“Am I still alive?!”
He opened his eyes and saw that he’d already passed the highest point and let out a sigh of relief.
At the same time, he shouted, “Du Gang, what the hell is going on?”
At this moment, Du Gang’s body was hugging the axle, slowly rising from the horizontal position like a compass.
“The rules of the game ask us to sit for five rounds. This is a hint telling us that there’s a lethal trap in every round and five rounds equate to five people!”
“Also, there’s something wrong with this axle. It has some kind of intricate mechanism. Besides, our cabins have mechanisms too that use weight to trigger…”
“What?”
All three people in the cabin were stunned, and subconsciously tried to get up, attempting to walk along the axle like Du Gang.
“Don’t move!”
Du Gang quickly said, “The five rounds not only serve as a hint, they contain traps as well. A different cabin must reach the highest point every round. This is a must-trigger, missing one could lead to some terrible event…”
Going by his conjecture, if one is missing, it is likely everyone would die.
“What about you now?”
At the moment, although Du Gang was shouting, his head was towards the axle, his eyes unwaveringly fixed on it.
“I’m currently observing the mechanism. Every cabin corresponds to another cabin. This correspondence is not in terms of position but the mechanisms that lock into each other.…”
This point was something he figured out from observing the Ferris wheel.
He had ridden Ferris wheels on Earth; the position of the axle was straightforward, every bar corresponds to a cabin, all fixed.
But here it’s different. There were too many rods and mechanisms in the axle position. Others couldn’t tell, but he could.
That’s why he’d been observing the axle.
At first, he didn’t know what the problem was. It was only until the mechanism of the axle center loosened when Yu Qian died, that he finally understood the principle.
Every cabin they were in had a weight detection mechanism. Each round required a cabin with the weight of a human body to reach the top and then activate the mechanism.
And each cabin corresponded to another cabin, just like a Zhuge lock; every step had to fit.
If a cabin was empty, it would not activate the mechanism. Only with a person inside could it activate it, and if you want a cabin not to trigger the death trap, you must put the same weight in the corresponding cabin.
That way, when a person’s turn for the death trap arrives, it won’t fall off.
It’s equivalent to the yin and yang cabins, where the yang side undertakes death, and the yin side undertakes life. Every person’s cabin has to experience the highest point once, which is the yang death machine.
What’s more, the mechanism, like the Zhuge Lock, was something only he could understand. This meant that even if others wanted to try, they wouldn’t know how.
Soon, Zhang Xinyi’s cabin passed the highest point, followed by Du Gang, and then Tao Xuanzhu.Only when everyone’s cabins had passed the highest point, did they finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Truth be told, prior to reaching there, they all had the urge to jump out of the cabin, especially since Yu Qian had died so inexplicably.
Luckily they chose to trust Du Gang.
“Du Gang, if I wasn’t in the cabin just now, would I be dead by now?”
Kou Yingwu asked again.
At the moment, Kou Yingwu’s cabin had reached the ten o’clock direction, forming a horizontal plane with Du Gang’s location.
Du Gang shook his head, “No, the death trap of the first round was at Yu Qian’s, only this round it’s your turn!”
“What?”
Kou Yingwu was horrified. He thought he’d survived, but according to Du Gang, was it his turn this round?
At the top, Tao Xuan Zhu and Zhang Xinyi both looked at the axle’s position simultaneously, trying to discover some secret.
After all, this was about survival; they also wanted to seize this opportunity.
Unfortunately, the mechanisms here are extremely intricate; unless one pays attention from the very beginning, it would be challenging for someone to understand halfway into it.
At this moment, Du Gang began to spin his body to transition from leaning on the inside of the wheel axis to laying on the outside.
And as the axle slowly spun, his body gradually shifted from a prone state to standing up slowly.
Eventually, when his wheel axis was nearly horizontal, he swiftly got up and walked along the axis rod toward the other wheel axles.
“Thud, thud, thud!”
With a few leaps, Du Gang smoothly landed at the target wheel axis’ location.
This was an axle corresponding to Kou Yingwu’s, whose position was just about 180 degrees aside.
It was a trap; even if an ordinary person grasped the correspondence between the two compartments and saw the latch mechanism, they wouldn’t realize this correspondence isn’t symmetrical.
So, if one were to choose the wrong compartment, by the time it was the turn of the person on the sun-side, it would still result in death.
After locating the fixed position, Du Gang shot a glance at the angle between his own wheel axis and Kou Yingwu’s; it was around 175 degrees. This implied he had ample time to proceed to the life-bearing shadow-side compartment when Kou Yingwu’s compartment reached the sun-side.
Soon, with the rotation of the wheel axis, his body tilted again. This time, his head was facing the rows of spikes.
However, he wasn’t worried in the least. He used his head to prop against a steel column directly, then tightly hugged the wheel axis with both his hands.
“Gurgling.”
From Kou Yingwu and the others’ perspective, Du Gang was flirting with death. After all, Yu Qian just died at the central position, and that section of the wheel axis was drenched in fresh blood.
Du Gang, who nestled against the steel column that had impaled Yu Qian, simply scared people stiff.
That guy is too self-assured.
The three had some sighs.
They wondered; wasn’t Du Gang even the slightest bit afraid that his assumptions might be wrong?
If he was wrong, it would definitely cost him his life!
Shortly, Tao Xuanzhu also shook her head. If Du Gang didn’t act this way, probably all of them would end up dead here…
Thus, amidst the messy thoughts of the crowd, Du Gang’s body tilted again.
He too started to flip his body, trying to lie on top of the wheel axis as much as possible rather than hanging above it.
After all, he now had a normal person’s body; it would be better to save as much physical strength as possible.
Soon, his wheel axis also began to gradually level. Seeing this, he quickly got up and ran towards the cabin on the wheel axis and successfully reached the cabin in a few steps. He opened the door and jumped in immediately.
Simultaneously, to avoid any weight discrepancies, he made sure to close the cabin door securely.
“Du Gang, are you sure this is okay?”
Kou Yingwu was a bit panicked; he was the second one to enter the cabin, and at this moment, he had reached the 3 o’clock direction, almost at the highest point.
“Relax, it’s going to be okay!”
Du Gang sat inside the cabin and replied casually. Still, his gaze remained fixed on the center axle.
Although the challenge level of this ferris wheel was hard, he had already mastered all of the ins and outs.
However, he didn’t rule out the possibility of an increased difficulty level and changes in rules, so he still needed to pay close attention to the mechanisms at the axle center.
But for Zhang Xinyi, who was in the cabin behind Kou Yingwu, she just exhaled.
At this point, if she still couldn’t hear the connections between the other three people, then she would be too naive.
Following Du Gang’s description, the one facing the stalemate now was Kou Yingwu, she would be next, so what should she do then?
Although she didn’t understand the specifics, she grasped what Du Gang was saying; those in these cabins cannot leave them once it’s their turn. Instead, they must have someone corresponding on the shadow-side.
Would that guy help me?
She wasn’t sure.
If he doesn’t help, then she’s done for!
Each second passed by slowly.
Finally, Kou Yingwu’s cabin arrived at the 12 o’clock position.
His eyes were squeezed shut, his entire body tense, as if he would die the very next second.
Everyone else felt the same, this was the verification of Du Gang’s assertion.
Unlike the tension of the other three, Du Gang appeared calm with his gaze still focused on the axle center, not making any other moves.
“Kou Yingwu!!”
Just as Kou Yingwu was growing increasingly uneasy, the sound of Du Gang’s voice reached him.
He quickly opened his eyes to find himself already past the highest 12 o’clock point, immediately he breathed a sigh of relief.
After confirming his safety, he quickly fell onto the glass to look at Du Gang’s location.
Noticing his gaze, Du Gang quickly instructed, “You should leave the cabin now, and go to the cabin where I was initially!”
“Okay!”
In such a situation, Kou Yingwu trusted Du Gang entirely. Without any second thoughts, he directly opened his cabin door, focused on the outside wheel axis, and waited for the right moment to move when it became horizontal.
Although he hasn’t traversed this path, he had witnessed Du Gang in action, so he was aware of how to maneuver.
Similarly, Du Gang also started to prepare to leave his cabin, awaiting the right moment.
In the meantime, Zhang Xinyi, who was at a high point now, couldn’t help herself.
“Young Master Du, it will soon be my turn to face the stalemate, can you save my life?”
Without waiting for Du Gang’s reply, she continued, “I am willing to exchange my life with a treasure!”
In fact, even if she hadn’t offered, Du Gang planned to save her. After all, he had completely mastered the intricacies of this game; survival was no longer a problem.
But hearing her this way, he wasn’t in a hurry anymore.
He inquired, “What treasure are you referring to? And how will you give it to me?”
Everyone was currently in the task world, not only were their gods not by their side, but even their bodies weren’t their original ones.
Their pocket realms couldn’t be opened, nor could their equipment be accessed, so how could they execute a transaction?
Zhang Xinyi loudly declared, “I am from the Southern Wilderness Jiuyang Villa, my father is the villa master, I can give you anything you want!”
Such a big talker!
Du Gang sneered, casually asking, “Do you have anything similar to the Gloomy Sun Grass?”
The only thing he was currently lacking was his cultivation level; but even if he consumed any medicinal herbs in the real world to improve, there would be a risk of herbal toxicity.
However, the Gloomy Sun Grass, a treasure capable of breaking the limit of one’s cultivation level and allowing one to master higher-level techniques, was indeed very precious.
Zhang Xinyi frowned at first but soon realized.
Compared to her life, these external things didn’t matter in the slightest.
She raised her brows into a relaxed position, saying quickly, “I have a Green Qinyin Stone at home. If you save me, I’ll give it to you!”
Green Qinyin Stone?
The three people present are all shocked. This is a treasure capable of exceeding the limits of one’s skills. Its value is over ten times that of the Gloomy Sun Grass, it’s a near-impossible find.
“Are you sure you have it?” Du Gang is somewhat skeptical, suspecting the woman of trying to trick him.
Zhang Xinyi pauses, quickly realizing that this is the task space of the Heavenly Court, and the other party doesn’t know her.
She hastily says loudly, “My name is Zhang Xinyi, ranked 765th on the Human Ranking. I’m from Jiuyang Villa in Yangchuan County, Southern Wilderness. My father is the villa’s master, in the God King Realm. The Green Qinyin Stone was acquired for me by my father, there were two in total. I’ve consumed one and the other one is in the villa treasure vault…”
Yangchuan County? What a coincidence?
Du Gang is surprised, not expecting the woman in front of him to come from the place he is planning to visit.
She is a Human Ranking strongman. He had only looked at the last few and some of the top people on the Human Ranking. He didn’t really know about the strongmen in the middle ranks, so he turned to Tao Xuanzhu, asking.
“Rank 765 on the Human Ranking, there is indeed a person named Zhang Xinyi. The information matches what she said, but I’m not convinced they are the same person!”
In fact, Tao Xuanzhu could ascertain by Zhang Xinyi’s initial appearance and demeanor that the woman was telling the truth. However, Du Gang is ultimately the one to handle the transaction and he has to make the decision.
At this moment, Du Gang’s position was already at 3 o’clock. He didn’t speak in haste, but rapidly moved along the axle to the center position, securing his body before continuing to lay low.
On the other side, Kou Yingwu also arrived at the same horizontal position, copied the way Du Gang stepped out of the cabin, ran to the central position, and secured his body in the same way.
At this moment, Zhang Xinyi’s cabin was directly opposite Du Gang’s horizontal position. Du Gang looked at her with a faint smile, asking, “I believe in your identity, but how can I believe that you will give the stone to me?”
Zhang Xinyi frowned, biting her red lips, looking at the confident guy in front of her, she said, “We are in the same task world, and I am unable to give it to you right now. The only guarantee I can give is a verbal promise between us. If you trust me, regardless of the distance, I will definitely deliver it to your hands. If you don’t trust me, there’s nothing I can do!”
Du Gang began to laugh after hearing her response, the woman knew to not dawdle or talk about any kind of oath. She was clever.
In fact, he had planned to save Zhang Xinyi from the beginning. After all, he wasn’t sure what would happen if another person died, or if this woman would pull other people down with her before dying.
The reason why he bargained with her was because she was the one who wanted to buy herself a lifeline so he casually said a thing or two.
Whether she has the Green Qinyin stone or not doesn’t matter to him. If she does, it’s a profit, if not, no harm done.
“Alright, since it’s like this, then I believe you. After leaving this task world, I’ll come looking for you…”
What?
His quick agreement left Zhang Xinyi somewhat taken aback.
In her view, since her life was in someone else’s hands, it was very possible to be heavily bled or even asked for unreasonable demands.
But now, he just agreed casually?
She was thinking that he might covet her beauty and propose some improper requirements, who knew…
I think too much!
“Thank you for your trust, Young Master Du. If I get out alive, I will definitely keep my promise and personally deliver the Green Qinyin Stone to you!”
Du Gang didn’t respond. This was just an interlude to him. Whether he would get his hands on it still required to see if they could get out of this situation—there’s no use in talking about it now.
Since he stopped talking, Zhang Xinyi naturally had nothing more to say.
Now, she was feeling somewhat special. There was an urgency to prove that everything she said was true—she would definitely keep her word.
But she knew that within this task world, no matter how much one said, it is of no use. They still need to wait until they get out to deliver on their promises.
Just like that, the place became quiet for a good while. Only when Du Gang returned to the 9 o’clock position, did he start moving again.
At the same time, there was Kou Yingwu, who was always eyeing Du Gang’s movements, afraid he would run too fast and cause some problems.
He didn’t really understand Du Gang’s explanation about the mechanism and only felt that there are traps everywhere. The slightest carelessness could lead to utter ruin, so he didn’t dare to make any unnecessary movements.
Just like that, one person at the 9 o’clock position and one person at the 3 o’clock position, they both arrived at their target cabins smoothly.
At this moment, Zhang Xinyi’s cabin had arrived at the 1 o’clock position, just a step away from the 12 o’clock position.
Seeing Du Gang get into the bottom cabin, she couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.
She understood what Du Gang had said – her cabin was the “dead machine” in this situation, and where Du Gang was now was the “life machine”.
If Du Gang didn’t enter the cabin of the life machine before she reached the 12 o’clock position, then she would also be dead…
Wait, could he be entering a cabin of life machine that isn’t mine?
Nearing the crucial moment, Zhang Xinyi began to worry.
She was worried because Du Gang had agreed too quickly; so quickly that she somewhat couldn’t believe that human nature could be so good.
She was afraid that Du Gang was tricking her, and that the so-called life machine wasn’t her cabin.
“Click clack, click clack~~~”
At this moment, Zhang Xinyi’s teeth began to chatter involuntarily.
She had been through six task worlds, but none of those worlds had ever sealed off her powers.
With her highly formidable strength, she had easily made it through six worlds.
It was the first time she had experienced a Soul Arrival Mode in this seventh world, and who would have known, she’d encounter such a dead-end situation.
This was her first real encounter with a dead-end situation since she was born, and it was the first time she felt death so close to her.
So close that she had to depend on others’ favours, observe the moods of others, and gamble on others’ character and human nature.
Like this, she sat there with great apprehension, half alive and half dead, allowing the cabin to pass through the 12 o’clock position.
She survived!
She let out a sigh of relief. At this moment, she only felt that Du Gang was incredibly noble, shining with brilliance.
His character was really reassuring!
Of course, this also had something to do with the current absence of life-and-death stakes.
What if…
Zhang Xinyi looked at Tao Xuanzhu’s cabin.
Tao Xuanzhu’s face didn’t carry the worries that she herself had. She seemed indifferent, indicating that she trusted Du Gang significantly.
If she and I were facing a dead-end at the same time, then Du Gang would surely save her, right?!
Zhang Xinyi was trying to find a glimmer of hope for survival.
Looks?
She was on par with her.
Demeanor?
She was inferior to her!
Skills?
She knew nothing, while the other woman, who knows if she understood or not…
What about the background? In this task world, the most useless thing was your background!
Thinking like this, Zhang Xinyi felt a bit deflated. Her usually proud appearance now seemed useless.
Indeed, in front of talent, all good looks were nothing but a facade!
Tao Xuanzhu hadn’t thought much about it. All her attention was now on the axis.
She had always tried to understand Du Gang’s thoughts, trying to keep up with his thinking.
She had never given up on learning, rather than trust others, she wanted herself to become a person like him.
That was one of the reasons why she chose to team with Du Gang.
She wanted to learn Du Gang’s way of thinking!
Just a little more…
Tao Xuanzhu looked as usual, but her mind was full of thoughts.
She saw the buckle represented by the cabin, a small mechanism, just as Du Gang said, the heavy cockpit reaching the highest point would trigger a deadlock. In between, another cockpit had the ability to stop it.
Just as Du Gang said, Zhang Xinyi’s cockpit was in the middle of the deadlock, originally her cabin was going to fall, but the cockpit where Du Gang was in had just pushed down, activating the buckle, so Zhang Xinyi’s cockpit didn’t fall.
She already knew the principle of the Yin-Yang surface of the cabin!
A hint of a smile appeared at the corner of Tao Xuanzhu’s mouth. She knew that she was far from Du Gang, but what she needed to do now was to learn. At least she needed to understand his thought process to learn his way of thinking.
Knowing the Yin-Yang principle is only the first step, can’t be arrogant, still far from Du Gang!
Tao Xuanzhu secretly cooled herself down and began to contemplate the second problem.
Why didn’t Du Gang let everyone freely change their positions?
According to her thoughts, the existing conditions can indicate that sitting in the cockpit is risky, so why doesn’t everyone, like Du Gang, lie on the axis and wait for the Ferris wheel to complete five rotations?
Where did the crisis he spoke of come from?
The rules? Or the Ferris wheel?
She couldn’t understand why Du Gang was so confident in his assumptions.
Wasn’t he afraid of guessing wrong?
Time passed slowly.
The Ferris Wheel spun round and round.
Soon, five rounds passed.
With everyone’s anticipation, the enclosed area below slowly opened up, meaning they could go down.
Even though nothing had happened in the last few rounds, Zhang Xinyi still felt her legs weaken. The moment her cockpit reached the exit, she instantly jumped down.
Following her was Kou Yingwu.
However, there was no movement at Tao Xuanzhu’s.
“Hey, we’re here!!”
Zhang Xinyi quickly reminded her.
Tao Xuanzhu seemed to wake up from her thoughts and hurriedly pushed open the cabin door and jumped down.
This person…
Zhang Xinyi felt a bit uncomfortable. This woman had been daydreaming all the way, wasn’t she?
Could people like her actually survive?
While Yu Qian had died inside…
Was it because of Du Gang?
Looking at the person still on the Ferris wheel, she had some realizations.
Was it because she trusted Du Gang, so she completely entrusted her life to him?
Was this the legendary, that kind of truly life-and-death friend?
Her father had such friends, but she didn’t.
The friends around her were either for attachment or for interests. There were none who were really life-and-death friends!
Everyone had their own little thoughts, to entrust oneself to others like this.
It’s too…
She couldn’t think of an appropriate word, she originally wanted to say it’s too stupid, but she was somewhat envious.
It was a relationship more precious than that of a couple, right?
How could the love between a couple compare to this.
Except for her father!
Zhang Xinyi curled her lips. In this world, besides her father who didn’t remarry because he loved her deceased mother, which other man didn’t have multiple wives and concubines?
Not to mention men, some dominant women even reversed the norms, marrying men under the identity of a daughter.
With such relationships, where talk of love was a farce?
At this moment, she felt as if she had witnessed an emotion rarer than love.
She had thought that this might be because the two of them were in love, that this was a kind of love.
But she didn’t see the kind of infatuation in Du Gang’s eyes that should exist between lovers.
All she saw was clarity, purity, and innocence between them!
Sigh!
At this moment, she unexpectedly hoped the two were not pure.
So envious!
“Hey, let’s go!”
At this moment, a voice came from behind.
Zhang Xinyi suddenly came to her senses, her gaze returned to the present, and she realized that there was no one around her. Turning her head, she saw that Du Gang and the others had long left the path.
Seeing this, she hurried to follow.
At the same time, she quietly told herself, what was she thinking so much about? There were still four games to go through, overthinking was pointless, the priority was to survive!
Soon, the four of them returned to the project billboard.
“What game are we going to play next?”
This time, Kou Yingwu didn’t pretend anymore and directly looked at Du Gang and asked.
The other two women did the same, turning their eyes to Du Gang.
Du Gang looked at the projects on the billboard and observed the corresponding amusement facilities in the distance, slowly said, “Pirate ship!”