Everyone finished their discussion. The golden ball slowly emerged from the mud. Its cute, childish voice was filled with mischievous delight.
"The current game failed. There are 13 surviving players. Now entering the fourth round, 'The Frog's Golden Ball'. Players, please get ready! The one-minute countdown begins, 59, 58, 57…"
After several rounds of excitement and fear, they had unknowingly reached the fourth round.
The survivors had also dwindled from 33 to 13.
Shen Mo picked up Bai Youwei, preparing to hide her back in the shell. Bai Youwei gently tugged at the corner of his clothes and whispered in his ear, "Let's go over there."
She pointed in a direction.
Shen Mo raised an eyebrow slightly. "Why?"
"I want to stay away from him." Bai Youwei said, "That Zhang Hua, he might go crazy."
Hearing this, Shen Mo looked back. The mud was crowded with snails, making it impossible to tell where Zhang Hua was hiding. However, based on his understanding of Bai Youwei, she wasn't one to speak without thinking.
It was better to change locations.
Moving further away took more time. By the time Shen Mo placed Bai Youwei back into the snail shell, the countdown was nearing its end.
He calmly stood still, looking at the golden ball high above.
He had his own thoughts.
The condition for clearing the game was to find the golden ball. There were two difficulties now: 1. Time was too short; 2. The search range was difficult to confirm.
He had already narrowed down the range as much as possible based on the location of the water splashes. As for the issue of time, it could only be solved by killing the frog.
Judging from the previous attack, killing the frog was not impossible. Its skin was thin and easy to cut, but the knife was too small to inflict a deeper wound.
Did frogs have any weaknesses?… Eyes? Belly?
As he pondered, the countdown ended, and the golden ball began to bounce around the cave "energetically" once again.
Everyone else dodged the ball. Only Shen Mo chased after it. When the ball finally stopped, Tan Xiao, Brother Hui, and the others followed closely behind Shen Mo, searching for any trace of the golden ball in the soft mud.
The golden ball was cunning. Each time, it would create sixty to seventy mud holes to confuse them. Even though Shen Mo had narrowed down the search area, it still took a lot of effort to search through more than a dozen holes!
Teacher Cheng dragged his old arms and legs out of the snail shell and joined the search.
While searching, he called for others to come out and help.
The more people there were, the faster they could find it. A few more people crawled out of their snail shells and joined the search.
However, time was still not enough. Only 20 seconds, a mere 20 seconds! After 20 seconds, the mud pit would start to tremble – the frog was coming back!
The only fortunate thing was that Zhang Hua had guessed correctly! This time, the frog wasn't as fast as the previous round. It slowly rolled and crawled out of the mud—
Shen Mo's pupils suddenly constricted.
He saw that the frog's back was smooth, shiny, and completely unharmed!
"Holy crap!" Tan Xiao also saw it and cursed, "How did it heal?!"
Everyone started cursing and ran for their lives.
However, at this moment, another change occurred!
A gunshot rang out! – Yes, a gunshot! It echoed through the cave. Those who had just reached the edge of their snail shells suddenly found themselves unable to stop. They missed their "shelter" and continued running forward!
Instantly, the ground was filled with cries and curses. The panicked people had no idea what had happened. Even if they fell, they couldn't control their shaking legs!
Mud splashed everywhere. The frog was having a feast!
Shen Mo was the first to stop. He rolled over and took cover behind a large snail shell, his five fingers digging into the edge of the shell, forcing down the urge to run in his mind!
Then he turned to look at Bai Youwei!
Bai Youwei had also heard the gunshot. However, she was disabled. No matter how much she wanted to run, she couldn't move a single step.
At this moment, she slid out of the snail shell and sat by the edge, wanting to see what was happening outside. She immediately noticed Shen Mo staring at her.
She shook her head at him and placed the toy gun on her chest. The meaning was clear: I wasn't the one who fired the gun.