From the eighth episode onwards the Killing Gauntlet Reality Show becomes a ruthless elimination race. The show does not use the traditional model with a stage and drawing lots, which is all too easy for the audience to suspect the results are being manipulated, and it’s also unoriginal. Instead, the competition takes place as random encounters in the wilderness. The show will generate all kinds of needed environments and scenarios for a duel so that the contestants will fight each other. The winners advance while the losers are eliminated or put into limbo.
As soon as the episode begins, most contestants that know each other immediately disperse in different directions. The more they separate spatially, the less the chance of encountering friendlies. Like the Wolves, who have always worked as a group since the start of the season, have split up with each wolf going in a separate direction, going solo. They have decided already that they will try to live to the end with the greatest number alive.
Of course, there are people doing the exact opposite, such as Grizzlybear Andy who have missed the chance to fight number 199 since he was seasick and bad with water. He has been bothered by it ever since so he actively invited Bright to group up this time. The latter looks at him in silence with an expression that is as if saying I’ve never seen someone so eager to die.
Grizzlybear chuckles and starts cracking his knuckles, the joints making a ‘katakata’ sound. His deep brown, almost black pair of eyes keep staring at number 199, seemingly determined to follow him closely this episode and have an exhilarating fight with him in the wild.
The show will of course have different responses for these strategies of theirs. If they let these contestants with their little tricks advance easily then they don’t even deserve their salaries.
Bright has predicted the whole thing won’t go so easily, as the show is seldom unsuccessful when trying to mess with someone. He is expressionless, visibly less imposing than in the seventh episode, but as he is highly unsatisfied with the rules of the competition and the atmosphere, he still looks very imposing.
Right now, he has a total of three cameras following him, taking care of the birds-eye, front and back angles. He is the only contestant to be treated so grandly.
Besides this, the theme for this episode is also disquieting——insectoids.
Big ones, small ones, flying ones, crawling ones, ones completed mutated, ones incompletely mutated, all varieties and all kinds. There is none that the show can’t find, but there are ones you can’t imagine.
What is visible is not that scary, at most you’d want to wash your eyes afterwards. Such as over a million army ants sloshing through like a wave, wherever they pass through is left barren and emptied. Or it suddenly raining worms when you pass by a giant tree because blood-sucking leeches have caught the scent of flesh.
What is most scary is the invisible ones.
Since entering the moist and swampy environment, Bright has refrained from eating or drinking at all, but he still got himself infected. The dust in his breath have insect eggs attached, which have entered his throat through his nose and has parasitised his insides.
This feels terrible.
The earliest signs that made him realise his body has a problem is his rising body temperature. He has a low fever, for the first time ever. He immediately realises it might have to do with the fog he just passed through. The fog was sudden and enveloped him in no time. Even though he sped up and passed through it as quickly as possible, he seems to have still got infected.
A rash has appeared on his arms, reddening and itching. After 10-odd minutes, his head starts to hurt. He can feel irritation bubbling in his mind more and more, gradually eating at his sanity.
Bright assumes he might have been infected with a special, genetically modified parasite. Normally, infections from insect eggs would have an incubation period before the body starts showing symptoms. There are even asymptomatic patients among people who have hypersensitive immune systems. The incubation period is normally longer than this, and what has parasitised him, from the start of the symptoms to it significantly affecting his body mechanisms is less than half an hour. Such a rapid development is abnormal.
In fact, it is as Bright expected. He has been infected by a special kind of roundworm. Roundworms are not worms, but are belonging to the biggest taxa in the animalia kingdom. To be parasitised by a roundworm will normally result in damaged tissues and changes to the compositions of parts of the body. In severe cases, it can even result in genetic modification, multiple organ failure and all kinds of complications that are lethal.
Bright discovers that the fog is appearing in different locations with increasing frequency. After a quick thought, he immediately runs towards the highest ground. Many among the contestants are thinking similarly, and he can sense that more than one person is heading in the same direction as him. It is just that the distance is further away and he cannot deduce their identity.
He reaches the peak with the fastest speed he can display in public. There is an unlocked box where two ice-blue liquids are sitting inside. An explanation is written next to it, saying that this is a test sample that has the functions of treating and vaccinating against infections.
While Bright is hesitating about using or not, he hears footsteps closing in and hides his spoils first before looking at who’s coming. There are two people forming a strange group, it’s Piers and Harry. They also see him now and are both shocked.
A box on the ground has two slots in it.
Two samples for three people. Since Bright got here first one of them is definitely his.
Thin Bamboo Harry has a contorted expression on his face, “this is the insider information you got?”
Piers laughs mockingly, “who could have known someone would be here.” He is confident that he is more important than Harry, and Harry only has average fighting power at best. The fact that he is still alive is mostly because of his partner——The big guy who is born with monstrous strength. This is one reason why Piers agreed to take him along when he met Harry on the way here. Though, watching Bright’s expressionless face is worrying him. He thinks it won’t be that simple.
Harry also knows that the situation is not good for himself. He starts negotiating with Bright, “I’ll trade with Big Retard. He’s my younger brother and I’m the only one he listens to since we were young. I’ll have him work for you. Whatever you want him to do he’ll listen obediently.”
Piers exposes him without pause, “how many times have you sold out your younger brother already? There’s at least a few times he’s been traded back and forth now. His previous owners all suffered terrible deaths, either from their enemies and laid dead on the street, or they get betrayed by their underlings and takes a bullet to the head.” Piers tries to convince Bright earnestly, “the two of them are super unlucky, and whoever they swear allegiance to suffer from bad luck. They are thrown into the show by the underground of each region.”
Splash.
A droplet of blood falls from the nose.
That droplet seems to have fallen both quickly and slowly. Time is stretched indefinitely and everyone’s attention is focused on it.
Something seems to have fundamentally changed. The air grows quiet. The atmosphere grows depressing, like the sky just before a storm.
The man slowly lifts his hand up to his nose. His body quivers for a second.
That man that has been strong, stable, unmoving like bamboo that has latched onto a rock since the first episode, has wavered!
This is the best chance to get rid of him!
The idea simultaneously surfaced in Piers’ and Harry’s minds. They look each other in the eye, bearing witness to something terrifying in the other’s expression. It is cold to the bone, but also so hot it seems to be boiling. They are hardened, thrilled, crazed by it.
Number 199 has not used the sample yet, and both would still be here, as long as he is killed…
They admire and respect people who are strong, while also being on guard and jealous of them. They would both wish to obey him and desire to topple him. It is contradictory and can change with the flow.
The infectious fog is spreading from the bottom up, like water in a tsunami, squeezing their living space bit by bit. They have forced the humans into a corner, testing them on their humanity, maddening their souls.
Just one look, and they have reached an agreement. The next moment, they both attack their former leader.
His head is hurting more and more, and afterimages are starting to appear in his vision. Bright knows his current state is bad, and his speed of dodging and his accuracy of attacking are both severely impacted. Despite this, he still quickly handled the two who are committing daylight robbery.
How strong…
Being thrown onto the ground like a broken burlap bag, rolling in the dirt, Piers coughs up blood, saying, “oh well, we would have regretted it if we didn’t even dare try.” He looks up at the gray smoggy sky, his mind calm, as if certain that Bright will not kill him.
Harry has been incapacitated, his nose is bruised and his face is swelling. He is recalling his short and insignificant life with a hopeless look. Nobody would believe that he would be one of the survivors among these three people.
He can catch a glimpse of the fog rolling towards them in the corner of his eye, and is asking his partner-in-suicide for a favour, “number 56, can you still move? I don’t want my head to hurt so much I smash it onto the ground until the pain subsides. Give me a quick death.”
So, was it just pain? Bright thinks.
The worms will not eat his brains and innards out, multiplying endlessly in his body, then burst out of his stomach when they completely stretch his body to the breaking point?
Bright has been seriously traumatised by his imagination and those movies about aliens and xenomorphs in his memories.
His head hurts so much it feels like it’s splitting apart. Bright is withstanding it and his expression is not that different from the start under the camera, only his brows are furrowing hard and his face is unnaturally reddening, with increased perspiration..
If it were not for an analyst who has reported that his battle statistics are clearly below his usual peak performance, no one would have guessed that he was parasitised by worms and is healthy.
“He does not look good.” George is sneaking glances at the Analyst who was put into their group without prior notice while saying so, trying to mask his concern in his tone.
The leader pulls out the camera of contestants who have unfortunately been infected by the same type of roundworms as Bright. That person has been infected for a shorter amount of time, yet his symptoms are already clear. He has lost his temper and sanity completely, recklessly trying to fight with any contestants he meets. Though unfortunately, he has crossed someone he shouldn’t touch under the influence of the parasite. He is defeated and his brain smashed in.
The camera zooms in onto his head. There is a big, black hole on the infected person’s back brain. Between all the white and red there a ping-pong ball sized white, almost transparent capsule-like object falls down. It has a small film on the outside, and inside is a bunch of parasites squirming next to each other. It is the thing that is pressuring the pain nerves that creates the sharp pain that makes people lose their minds. The moment it is exposed to the air, like ghosts in direct sunlight, the liquid quickly evaporates away and the capsule dries and shrinks into a piece of grey thin film. The roundworms are unmoving, having lost their lives.
“Pick one out of two, who will you choose?” George asks Bright in his mind.
Analyst seems to have heard his question, answering, “number 56 has a 78% chance of survival.” His voice is cold and inorganic, making George sick just by hearing it. He thinks even the voice from his smart chip sound more human than Analyst.
“Number 199 is on the move!” Leader reminds his coworkers to stay attentive and focus on work.
George hurriedly turns to the screen.
After knowing about the characteristics of this roundworm, Bright has made a decision.
He walks to Harry, crouching down, his shadow shadowing the thin body of Harry, making Harry think he could be eternally relieved by the man. He is thinking whether he should say something like a will, but he does not think he has anything he wants to leave behind to the world.
If he has to pick something, maybe just the word ‘fuck’?
Though, would the man misinterpret it as himself cussing at him and by doing so displeasing him…
Harry is thinking how strange it is that what he is most concerned about in this situation is not his life but all sorts of messy stuff.
The man’s voice pulls him back to reality, “just Big Retard is not enough. I want you brothers both.”
Harry looks completely stupefied. After briefly blanking out he realises the man is making a deal with him. He nods like crazy, and in this situation even if Bright wanted his whole family, including that stupid prostitute mother of his he would have agreed. From today on the two of them are Bright’s underlings! He hopes this boss will live longer.
He acquires a sample and quickly drinks it.
Piers can only look on as the ice-blue liquid that represents his hope of living enter Thin Bamboo’s mouth. His expression contorts momentarily and he finally loses that sense of calm he usually has. At the same time, a relief that feels painful starts ushering in from the bottom of his heart.
The son of the highest man in the Outer City, is finally going to die!
“Uuunnnhehehe… Hahaha…”
Piers is making a sound between a cry and a laugh that is frightening to hear. The crazed laughter finally ends in a series of severe coughs when Bright forcefully opens his mouth using his hand on his chin and pours in the other sample——He kept neither for himself.
“Cough cough! Are you mad?!” Piers is coughing so much he is tearing up.
Bright whispers something in his ears, and Piers is looking expressionless. He looks at him for a few seconds with a fixed gaze, before showing an extremely bright yet extremely twisted smile on his face.
“Deal!” They are in agreement!
Afterwards, he kisses the man on his lips ferociously.
Like the mythical devil that is from the crossroads of Hell, to seal a deal with a kiss and conduct business with men.
Almost everyone thinks, that devil would be number 56.
Only the two that are kissing know, number 199 is the devil that is manipulating with people’s hearts. He easily finds out and says what Piers want the most in his heart.
The devil whispers with a tone so soft and tender like a lover’s next to his ear, “let’s rebel together.”
Author’s notes: It has been mentioned that number 56 has connections. Now his identity is revealed~
The Top does not save people out of mercy. He is making the pieces of his scheme fall into place, using anyone he can to achieve his own goals.