As soon as the words fell, Tan Xiao let out a terrified shriek and threw himself at the snail shell, clinging tightly to it!

The golden ball whooshed past from behind him!

Bang bang boom boom!

A new round of “dodgeball” began!

Muddy water splattered everywhere, tremendous sounds shook the air. Bai Youwei silently curled up inside the snail shell, able to hear Tan Xiao’s intermittent embarrassed screams and curses from outside.

She couldn’t hear any movement from Shen Mo.

That man was truly unyielding. He actually didn’t need to fight this hard—wouldn’t hiding in the snail shell be better? Why did he have to take saving the world as his personal responsibility?

Bai Youwei felt dissatisfied in her heart, but she also knew she had no right to judge Shen Mo this way. Because if Shen Mo had been even slightly selfish, she wouldn’t have survived until now.

The crashing sounds outside finally stopped.

Next came the time to search for the golden ball.

The player preparation time had a countdown, but the 20 seconds for finding the golden ball didn’t, making it easy to lose track of time. After the crashing sounds stopped, Bai Youwei began silently counting seconds in her head, her elbows propped against the inner wall of the shell as she gradually backed out.

“1, 2, 3, 4…”

Her legs had no feeling, making her movements clumsy. By the time she slid out of the snail shell, she had counted to 13—meaning there were still 7 seconds before the frog would emerge.

Bai Youwei grabbed onto the shell and began climbing upward.

She first gripped the edge of the shell with both hands, then supported her upper body with her elbows, slowly inching forward.

But she was soaking wet, and the snail shell was covered in mud. Every time she climbed, she slid back down. She climbed again, and slid down again. She began to miss when Shen Mo had easily placed her on top of the snail.

After 20 seconds, the cave began to shake, and the snail toppled sideways. Bai Youwei took the opportunity to climb on top.

Once her position was elevated, her field of vision became clearer too.

She saw Shen Mo and Tan Xiao digging in the mud. In the previous round, there had been a few other able-bodied men helping, but this time it was just the two of them, heedless of danger, reckless of consequences, digging deeper and deeper until the tremendous vibrations threw their bodies backward. Only then did they retreat, finding nearby snails to use as cover.

Shen Mo saw Bai Youwei lying on top of the shell, his gaze flickering slightly. He was about to call out a warning when the frogs already came surging out in full force.

He had no choice but to fall silent, using his eyes to caution Bai Youwei to be careful.

Bai Youwei lay quietly on the snail, watching him for a while before slowly shifting her gaze elsewhere.

She observed the terrain, observed the frogs, and also observed the snails. There were only so many things in the cave—there had to be some mystery to it all.

She saw some snail shell openings revealing a pair of feet, people hiding motionlessly inside the shells, their mud-covered legs and feet trembling uncontrollably. Just as she had said before, when the frogs appeared, they would flip the snails buried in the mud up to the surface.

Thinking about it this way, rather than the frog’s existence being punishment for game failure, it was more like a game reset, so that in the next round, the golden ball would have enough snails to use as launching platforms.

So, was the key actually the snails?

Bai Youwei already had several theories in mind, but she wasn’t quite certain yet. She might need to make more attempts…

She looked again at that enormous frog not far away.

It squatted lazily in the mud, its flesh all soft and sagging, layered and piled up, oily green and glossy, forming a stark contrast with the dark gray muddy water.

Everyone was avoiding it, so now it had no “insects” to eat, appearing extremely bored.

Bai Youwei thought again: The breakthrough point of a game wouldn’t be singular—just like difficult problems on an exam, there were always multiple solution methods. If the frog kept failing to eat any insects, could the game still be cleared?

…No, rather than considering what would happen with the frog, it would be better to consider the game supervisor’s intent in designing the game. Otherwise, the mystery would remain a mystery forever.

Her brain churned with many random thoughts and various assumptions. Before she knew it, time had passed, and the frog that hadn’t eaten a single insect dug through the wet mud and burrowed back in.

The movement brought Bai Youwei back to her senses. She was in a daze for a moment.

Compared to her initial fear, she now seemed… truly immersed in the game.