As soon as the countdown began, Tan Xiao couldn’t help but curse.

Zhang Hua looked thoughtfully at Shen Mo and Tan Xiao, said nothing, and bent down to crawl back into the snail shell.

Nineteen people. Not a single person had died in the second round.

Now, about to begin the third round, only Shen Mo and Tan Xiao were willing to risk their lives fighting, while everyone else without exception cowered inside the snail shells—

Everyone clearly knew in their hearts that as long as they couldn’t find the golden ball, even if they weren’t eaten by the frog, they would be trapped here forever.

Everyone knew it.

Yet not a single person dared to come out!

The gray-haired old man rolled out of his shell, his thin body tumbling into the mud slurry, filling his mouth with foul mud!

He coughed urgently, once again appealing to everyone: “Everyone, don’t give up! Cough cough cough!… We have 19 people. As long as each person searches one hole, that’s 19 holes. The probability of finding the golden ball is very high! Cough, cough cough cough!…”

Tan Xiao cursed at him: “Old man, you’re looking for death again! Get back in there!”

Teacher Cheng’s voice was hoarse: “One more person means one more source of strength! We can’t be frightened, can’t be defeated! As long as we unite as one, we’ll definitely see hope!!!”

Tan Xiao’s eyebrows shot up. He strode over and irritably shoved Teacher Cheng toward the snail!

“What’s with you, old man? Stop causing trouble, will you? Get in there! In, in, in!…”

Cheng Weicai refused, holding onto the shell and earnestly saying to Tan Xiao: “Little Tan, everyone must die eventually. I’m old—my death wouldn’t be a pity. But I can’t just watch everyone sit here waiting for death! While we still have many people and still have the advantage, we must act quickly. Otherwise, once everyone soaks in here for too long and gets tired, hungry, sleepy, and loses strength, it’ll be even harder to get out!”

Though old, the old man’s thinking was very clear.

Tan Xiao was so annoyed he felt like his head would split in two!

He wasn’t afraid of fighting or arguing, but he was uniquely afraid of people lecturing him with reason. Especially when the other party was a teacher—they had bucket after bucket of reasoning! Leaving him unable to talk back!

Teacher Cheng continued: “The environment here is damp, hot, and foul-smelling. Staying here too long will definitely cause problems! Do you know how many parasites live on snails?! Do you know how many diseases parasites can cause?! Do you know how troublesome it is once someone contracts parasites?! We can’t hide in snails waiting to die!”

Whether they were truly persuaded by Cheng Weicai or frightened by this talk of parasites, people gradually crawled out of the snails—men and women, old and young, including several thugs led by Hui Ge.

One of them said: “It’s not that we want to wait for death, it’s that the ball flies too fast and creates so many holes. We simply can’t search properly.”

Explaining that they weren’t truly cowards greedy for life and afraid of death, also making everyone’s faces look a bit better.

Shen Mo said calmly: “I’ll do my best to find the ball’s final landing spot. Everyone search in that vicinity—the probability will be higher. After 20 seconds, whether you find it or not, everyone hide in the snails.”

This could be called foolproof.

If they found the ball, everyone would clear the game together.

If they didn’t find the ball, hiding in the snails would still preserve their lives.

As long as they waited for the frog to leave, they’d still have hope in the next round.

Everyone exchanged glances, all tacitly accepting Shen Mo’s arrangement.

The golden ball high above didn’t seem to care about these people’s conversations and discussions below. It continued the countdown with great interest: “…5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Haha~ The game begins!”

Bai Youwei had already been placed inside the snail by Shen Mo.

She quietly curled up inside the shell, her palm gently stroking the inner wall, feeling the tremors again and again, her heart growing increasingly calm…

She was only hesitating about whether or not to tell him.