“Guest, please come in.”

The big-headed, slender-bodied Nail-Tooth Beast padded in, its footsteps thwacking on the floor. It walked all the way to Bai Youwei, sat down just as it had the last time, tilted its head back, and opened its mouth wide!

Whoosh!

Last time, its mouth had been full of densely packed fleshy suckers. This time, its mouth was bristling with iron nails — every single one standing upright, slicked to a gloss by the oily saliva, razor-sharp!

Bai Youwei frowned as she looked inside.

There were still several dozen fleshy suckers in the creature’s mouth that hadn’t been filled yet, pulsing incessantly — nauseating to look at.

Good thing Su Man had already filled more than half. If they had all been empty and crowded together, she probably would have died of a trypophobia attack on the spot.

The Nail-Tooth Beast held its great mouth wide open without moving — exactly like the children’s toy “Shark Teeth” — where one wrong move and the shark would bite your fingers off.

Bai Youwei took a nail and placed it into the Nail-Tooth Beast’s mouth. A sucker quickly clamped onto the iron nail, making it look completely natural.

Some suckers were especially small, and with their constant contracting, they were easy to miss.

She held her breath and focused, slowly placing nails while silently counting…

The 38 nails dwindled, fewer and fewer;

The Nail-Tooth Beast’s enormous mouth filled more and more.

Bai Youwei’s expression gradually shifted.

She kept checking back and forth between the beast’s mouth and the nails in her hand, her brow tightly furrowed, a fine sweat slowly beading on her forehead.

Shen Mo was the first to notice something was wrong with her. He asked: “Not enough nails?”

“…Not enough,” Bai Youwei continued to slow her movements, biting her lip. “There are still… 4 nails missing.”

The moment those words fell, everyone’s nerves snapped taut!

“How can there still be a shortage?!” Li Li couldn’t believe it. “We counted just now! The maximum shortage was 38 nails! We found exactly 38! How is that still not enough?!”

“It should be 42…” Bai Youwei said in a low, steady voice. “The outermost edge of the upper and lower jaws still has 4 small suckers… they’re very small. I only just noticed them.”

“Slow down!” Yan Qingwen said immediately. “Li Li, Zhu Shu! Check quickly — are there any more nails left to remove from the wheelchair!”

Everyone panicked!

Li Li and Zhu Shu scrambled to sort through the wheelchair’s components; Cheng Weicai and Pan Xiaoxin also joined in to search!

The crystal ball on the floor also hadn’t anticipated this turn of events, and startled — then burst into laughter!

“Didn’t expect this, did you! Didn’t expect this! Even dismantling the wheelchair wasn’t enough! From the moment you threw away that ship, you were doomed! Destined to die in autumn! That is the consequence of your arrogance!”

The crystal ball soared up into the air and sang out in triumph:

“Ignorance and stupidity are not the greatest barriers to survival — arrogance is! Just wait for death, you humans! Wahahahaha!…”

Bai Youwei clenched her lips tight.

The rumbling sound in the Nail-Tooth Beast’s throat continued without pause, as though deeply displeased by the pace at which she was filling its teeth.

Another nail was swallowed by a sucker.

She had only five nails left in her hand, and Yan Qingwen’s side had still turned up nothing.

Bai Youwei picked up the fourth-to-last nail and slowly placed it into the beast’s mouth.

Her heart hammered its way up into her throat.

Sweat fell in steady drops.

She squeezed her damp palm, and said to Shen Mo: “Tell them to stop looking. Go upstairs, find somewhere to hide…”

Shen Mo nodded and asked her: “Do you still have your puzzle pieces?”

“Yes,” she replied. “Don’t worry.”

She had the puzzle pieces to protect her life.

But what about Shen Mo?

He had used his puzzle pieces during the truth-or-dare game — they were long gone! And given his personality, he absolutely would not stoop to seizing someone else’s puzzle pieces!

Bai Youwei bit hard on her lip. Every cell in her brain was operating at full speed. She was searching for a way — a way to survive. A way to clear the game!

Where on earth were the missing nails?

Was the game really not going to give them even a thread of hope?!