Time seemed to stop for Li Ling as he looked at Zhihao''s suicidal action.


    The man really just took the Imbis and yeeted himself into that creature''s mouth!


    If this wasn''t something stupid, Li Ling had no idea what a ''stupid action'' was even supposed to mean.


    His feet froze and by the time he reacted, it was already too late.


    Li Ling jumped after Zhihao, his hand reaching out to grab the other, but just when Zhihao''s leg was a few feet close to his hands, the earthworm sprang forward and closed its mouth on Zhihao, gulping him down in the process.


    Li Ling''s eyes seemed to look as if they would pop out from their socket at any given moment now. He stopped breathing for a split second and felt the world around go numb and silent, the only thing that he could see was the creature''s closed mouth.


    It took him a whole minute to finally cry out, "Noooo!!!!"


    Wang Guiying frowned as he looked at Li Ling who seemed to look a lot like a poor wife that had lost her husband.


    "Snap out of it! It''s just a game!" Wang GuiYing clicked his tongue as he kinda cringed at the melodramatic atmosphere.


    Sure, it was just a game, but this game was being played inside the T.I.A.D. sensory room!


    Zhihao who was confident that he would not die suddenly felt pain. Immense pain that made his head spin like crazy. The sharp and spiky metal inside the earthworm''s mouth successfully caught a good hold of him. It dug into his skin and he felt as if he was being ground into a dumpling filling. His skin immediately started bleeding and he couldn''t even tell what part of his body hurt more.


    "Everything hurts!!"


    "Aaaaah!!"


    "IT HURTS!!"


    He screamed and cried out, but nobody could hear him. The pain made him want to curl up into a ball, but every small moment made him hurt even more.


    "It hurts! It hurts! It hurts!" Tears started rolling down his eyes as he continued to scream for help.


    It need not be said that this was the first time he had to go through such pain.


    He hated it. He felt as if death was better than this.


    He couldn''t even remember what his plan was. He was no longer in the right mind or state to remember anything about the Imbis.


    All he could feel was pain and this pain had completely overtaken his brain.


    His voice broke as he screamed out. He felt as if he just wanted to end it all. He looked down to see his legs being slowly ground together as if it was nothing more than scrap metal.


    The suit he was wearing was somehow protecting him and at the same time, the more the metal shoes he was wearing were crunched together, the more it broke and poked into his skin.


    His leg was completely stuck and he almost wanted to unequip his suit, however, the little bit of sanity left in his mind forced him not to make such a reckless decision. If the suit was unequipped, there would be nothing left to protect him. The grinding machinery inside the earthworm''s mouth would directly mince him into a fine paste of meat.


    He started taking shorter breaths and wanted to kill himself to end the pain.


    The metal suit got tighter and tighter, the broken sharp shards dug deeper and deeper, the bleeding continued and Zhihao was no longer in any condition to be fighting.


    All he could do was wait for his death and for a few minutes, that was exactly what he did.


    He waited for the pain to be over. He waited for death to arrive soon, but just then, he heard Li Ling''s voice calling out to him.


    "A-Zhi, wake up! It''s a game! Don''t let it control you! Nothing is real!!"


    The voice was screaming and it wasn''t exactly coming from his headphone, it was coming from Li Ling how was screaming on top of his lungs in the T.I.A.D. sensory room.


    Just like he could hear Li Ling over the headphone, Li Ling could also hear Zhihao''s heart-wrenching screams.


    "A-Zhi, you can do it! Stand up! Come on!"


    Although the voice was faint, it was still clear that Li Ling was yelling, however, Zhihao could only hear his voice like a sweet melody that instantly gave him a boost to stand and fight.


    "I hate this..." Zhihao muttered as he took a sharp breath in and tried his best to collect himself.


    Right at this moment, he felt one of his legs completely being torn off, the pain was something that he would never be able to explain in simple words, however, he kept repeating Li Ling''s words in his mind.


    This was a game.


    It was just a game!


    Don''t let it control you!


    Zhihao choked on his own saliva as he tried to hold back his screams and cries.


    He took the Imbis in his hand and immediately, with much difficulty, detonated it.


    The explosion from the Imbis was controlled to affect the earthworm''s whole body and nothing more, however, since Zhihao was also inside its body, he would naturally be affected.


    The timer was set for just three seconds and Zhihao immediately closed his eyes as he gripped tightly onto the Imbis and prayed to God for it not to hurt too much.


    [3]


    [2]


    [1]


    BOOM


    It was so loud that as soon as the countdown was over, all Zhihao could hear was a monotonous ringing sound. Everything went white and unexpectedly, it didn''t hurt.


    The pain he was already going through also seemed to have faded away with that one blast.


    For a few seconds, he couldn''t see anything even when he opened his eyes and his whole body felt as if it was just... Numb. His ears were ringing and made him think that he had gone deaf.


    Ding~


    [Skill: Master of survival has caused you to glitch!]


    [Skill: Master of survival has been exhausted!]


    Zhihao sighed in relief as he heard the notification.


    Thankfully he was still alive. Probably...


    His vision started changing once again as he finally saw the colors fill the white void.


    He was falling down. His whole body felt light and weak but his hand still reached up to grab onto something, however, there was nothing he could grab onto. Zhihao closed his eyes slowly as he let himself come to terms with his condition.


    He was probably going to hit the ground and die as soon as he was saved by his ''Master of Survival'' skill.


    Damn it...


    He had been stupid.


    The Imbis has caused his skill to be completely drained out.


    His lips curled up in a weak smile as he wondered how he was going to apologize to Li Ling who had warned him not to be stupid.


    He sighed as he waited for the impact to come but it never came and instead, he felt something grab his hand and his whole body jerked upwards.


    Zhihao immediately opened his eyes wide as he looked at the metal arm that had caught a hold of him and pulled him up.


    "Gege...!"


    Li Ling had his helmet off as he glared at Zhihao whom he had just saved, "Are you f*cking dumb?!" He didn''t waste any time before scolding the man who had done the dumbest thing he had ever seen.


    Zhihao gulped but said nothing to that. For a minute, he was genuinely scared to look at Li Ling''s face that seemed to have become the definition of anger.


    He was definitely fuming.


    Zhihao had really done it this time.


    Zhihao gulped as he grinned, "I''m sorry...?"


    Li Ling pulled him up and slowly landed on the ground with him, but as soon as Zhihao''s feet touched the ground, he was immediately knocked off his feet by Li Ling who directly punched his face.


    Zhihao was left stunned as he felt the pain numb half of his face. Li Ling really didn''t hold back in that punch.


    Zhihao chuckled as he grabbed his cheek and looked at Li Ling before commenting, "It must have been hard for you. I''m sorry. You can punch me again if you feel like-"


    His words were cut short by Li Ling who grabbed him by the collar and pulled him up before aggressively kissing his lips.


    It seemed like he wanted to punch him again, but he couldn''t display his anger like that so instead of a punch, he decided to show his anger in a more nonabusive manner.


    Zhihao was shocked once again as he dare not move. He felt his lip sting and it took him a whole minute to realize that Li Ling had harshly bit into his lips.


    Before he could respond, Li Ling pushed him back and cried out, "I''m still angry!"


    Zhihao gulped as he watched Li Ling display anger in such a confusing manner and walk away as if nothing had ever happened.


    It surprised and confused Zhihao so much that for a really long time, he simply stood there and watched Li Ling''s back slowly walk away from him.