245: Chapter 245 The Leap of Faith Between Two People

Jiang Rumu was squatting on Li Li's shoulders, her fingers tugging at his messy hair freezing in place.

Ten meters ahead, the patch of black mire was bubbling with foul-smelling gas, making a "gurgle-gurgle" sound.

"The hibiscus... has bloomed..."

The cheerful nursery rhyme once again echoed through the loess pit.

The mechanical doll's head "clicked" as it turned back to the front.

Marcus from Team USA was the first to move.

This humanoid tyrannosaurus violently kicked the loess beneath his feet and leaped, carving a powerful parabola through the air.

"Splat!"

His two-hundred-plus pounds of muscle slammed into the swamp, the black mud instantly submerging his thighs.

Marcus roared, trying to pull his legs free, but the suction of the silt held him fast; the more he struggled, the deeper he sank.

Nearby, Ivan from Russia and a few tough guys from NATO followed suit and jumped in.

Without exception, they all became turtles in the mud pit, flailing about covered in black sludge, unable to move an inch.

Li Li squatted on the half-meter-wide glass barrier, unmoving.

"Did you see that?" Li Li tilted his head.

"The swamp has suction, and with the threat of high-energy solidifying agents, touching the mud means death," Jiang Rumu lowered her voice.

"How do you want to handle this?"

"The mud pit is ten meters wide.

With my current explosive limit, I can jump at most seven or eight meters; I'm bound to fall in," Li Li spoke rapidly.

"Our landing points are similar, but you're on my shoulders.

The moment I reach my peak and start falling, you use me as a springboard for a second jump."

Jiang Rumu realized what he meant instantly.

Back when they were resting at Mount Qingcheng, they had done this before to steal the wild persimmons outside the courtyard wall.

Li Li provided the base, and she used his shoulders to launch herself.

"That was for picking fruit; this is risking our lives," Jiang Rumu scoffed.

"If you fall into the mud, you'll be sprayed into a mud statue."

"That's why we have to push to the absolute limit," Li Li patted his thigh muscles.

"Get ready.

As soon as the music stops, we fly."

At the same time, at the South Korean SBS TV station, the global live broadcast branch venue.

In the studio, the host, Jun Hyun-moo, with his greasy hair and powdered face, was pontificating about the swamp on the screen.

"Citizens! Do you see this! This is the exquisite design of the event organizers!" Jun Hyun-moo was so excited he kept slapping the table, spittle flying.

"This kind of clay swamp is something only our Republic of Korea contestants are familiar with!

Remember how many mud pit specials we did on 'Running Man'?

This is practically a custom-made shortcut for our Park Ji-hoon!"

The director cut the feed.

On the screen, over a hundred contestants from various countries were falling into the mud pit like dumplings.

Screams and curses filled the air.

Jun Hyun-moo laughed until he was leaning back and forth: "Oh my, look at these Western barbarians; they don't understand the principles of mud resistance at all!

To move fast in the mud, you must..."

"The hibiscus... has bloomed..."

The music cut off abruptly.

The whole scene went still.

The next second, the nursery rhyme started again!

"Run!" Li Li growled.

On the big screen in Jun Hyun-moo's studio, the director suddenly cut to the exclusive feed for contestant 001.

In the footage, Li Li was squatting on the edge of the glass, with Jiang Rumu squatting on his shoulders.

The two of them in a human pyramid pose looked extremely bizarre in the tense Battle Royale setting.

"Hahahaha!" Jun Hyun-moo pointed at the screen and laughed wildly.

"Look at that 001 from Dongda!

Does he think he's performing acrobatics?

Carrying a woman and striking such a pose—is he planning to jump straight across?

It's simply a fool's..."

The word "dream" hadn't even left his mouth before Li Li moved.

His extreme physical capabilities exploded!

His thigh muscles instantly expanded, stretching the fabric of his cargo pants until they nearly tore.

His feet crushed down hard on the edge of the half-meter-wide glass, creating a teeth-grinding friction sound.

"Bang!" The glass barrier trembled violently.

Li Li was, for all intents and purposes, a large-caliber cannonball, launching himself into the air!

Carrying the 110-pound Jiang Rumu, he ferociously carved a terrifying parabola through the air!

Three meters! Five meters! Seven meters!

Newton's apple began to take effect; Li Li's body reached its apex in the air and inevitably began to plummet toward the black mire below.

"Jump!" Li Li roared.

Jiang Rumu, standing on Li Li's shoulders, unleashed the terrifying core strength that had broken the women's weighted cross-country record.

She didn't hesitate to use Li Li's shoulders as a springboard, thrusting her legs down violently!

"Boom!" The massive reaction force accelerated Li Li downward into the swamp.

Meanwhile, Jiang Rumu used this violent thrust to transform into a cruise missile, completing an unreasonable secondary acceleration in mid-air!

Crossing the final three meters!

As Jiang Rumu cleared the edge of the mud pit, the moment her toes touched the loess, she rolled forward to dissipate the force and stood up cleanly and decisively.

At the same millisecond, "Splat!" Li Li slammed into the swamp, just three meters from the opposite bank.

"The hibiscus... has bloomed..."

The nursery rhyme came to an abrupt halt.

The mechanical doll's head snapped around.

Jiang Rumu stood frozen in place, not even a single strand of her hair swaying.

She was pristine, without a single drop of black mud on her!

The domestic TikTok live stream exploded.

[Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap!!!]

[Awesome!!! A two-person Leap of Faith!!! Is this even an operation a human can pull off?!]

[Newton's coffin lid can't be held down! Using your left foot to step on your right foot to fly is real!!!]

[Dean Li's leg explosive power, Queen Jiang's core control! A perfect match! Locked in!]

Shen Jue jumped three feet high on the sofa, spilling his cola all over the projection screen: "Brother Li! Sister-in-law! A match made in heaven!

This is what you call a real powerhouse!

Gu Zeyan, you need to learn from them!"

In the split-screen in the bottom right corner, Gu Zeyan had just run to the bottom of the barrier and was frowning at the three-meter-high wall, his heart rate monitor already soaring to 195.

In the South Korean SBS studio, Jun Hyun-moo's smile froze on his face, his mouth wide enough to fit a lightbulb.

The control room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

"Ahem... ahem!" Jun Hyun-moo coughed frantically to cover his embarrassment, wiping cold sweat from his forehead.

"Well... the Dongda contestant's luck is certainly good.

But for the true king of the mud pit, we have to look at our Republic of Korea's Park Ji-hoon!

Director! Cut to Ji-hoon's feed!

Let the whole world see what a textbook-level mud pit walk looks like!"

The screen flashed.

It cut to the very center of the mud pit.

Jun Hyun-moo's face instantly twisted.

In the mire, the three top-tier monsters of the East Asian room had gotten stuck in an extremely abstract formation.

Park Ji-hoon from South Korea, Kim Chol from North Korea, and Sato Kenji from Japan—the three of them had been brawling on the sand earlier, and even after falling into the mud pit, they were still refusing to let go.

Park Ji-hoon's Korean-style messy hair was caked in black mud, and his hands were clutching Kim Chol's thighs for dear life.

The red star medal on Kim Chol's chest was gone, and he was using a standard armbar to lock Sato Kenji's neck.

Sato Kenji was flushed red, his hands pinching Park Ji-hoon's waist in reverse.

The three of them were tangled into a giant mud ball, slowly sinking into the swamp.

"Shibal! Let go!" Park Ji-hoon roared, his voice cracking.

"Juche ideology never retreats!" Kim Chol gritted his teeth.

"My lord... forgive me!" Sato Kenji pinched the flesh frantically.

The entire internet audience was stunned.

[This is the king of the mud pit? This is more like a mud pit turtle!]

[Romance of the Three East Asian Kingdoms, Mud Pit Special Edition! Too hardcore!]

[Jun Hyun-moo, say something! Where did that arrogance from just a moment ago go!]

Jun Hyun-moo covered his face, wishing he could crawl under the table.

But at this moment, except for the die-hard fans of these three countries, the attention of the three billion global viewers was not on this mud ball at all.

Everyone was frantically switching perspectives, searching for that man wearing the number 001 badge.

In Jiang Rumu's perspective, having just crossed the mud pit, there was no one.

In the perspective of Chloe from Team USA nearby, there was no one.

In the perspective of Anya from Russia, there was also no one.

Li Li was gone.

Just in the second when the nursery rhyme stopped, in the blind spot of dozens of cameras, the man in the sportswear had evaporated from the screen out of thin air.

Shen Jue clutched his hair, his entire body pressed against the screen.

"Where is he?! Where did my massive Brother Li go?!"