248: Chapter 248 First Place: 930!

Former Middleweight Boxing Champion roared until he was oxygen-deprived, his voice slamming against the grayish-yellow pit, creating an echo.

Several athletes from smaller nations, who had just pulled their legs out of the mud, were startled into covering their ears, their feet slipping uncontrollably.

The panoramic camera cut to the front.

Li Li and Jiang Rumu had already pushed to the 250-meter mark.

On the giant black screen in the center of the arena, a blood-red countdown was ticking wildly.

[12:00].

Time is halfway over.

"Click—"

The loess ground one hundred meters ahead cracked open without warning.

Dense metal compartments rose up.

"Hiss!"

High-pressure valves popped open, and pale cold air sprayed out violently, instantly swallowing the entire area ahead.

Hidden doors on the edges of the cliffs on both sides slid open, and two rows of mechanical NPCs dressed in red pushed gurneys into position. They weren't carrying weapons, making it clear that this level was a lethal trap, waiting solely to collect corpses.

Jiang Rumu's thigh muscles tensed abruptly, her sneakers plowing two deep furrows into the loess as she slammed on the brakes.

She raised her hand to wave away the white mist drifting in front of her face.

"Liquid nitrogen," Jiang Rumu said quickly, her breath forming a puff of frost. "Negative 180 degrees. An ordinary person would freeze into an ice sculpture in under ten seconds. This area is at least a hundred meters wide."

She turned her head to look at Li Li.

Li Li had just crawled out of that pool of murky water, soaked from head to toe. His sportswear was saturated with water, heavy and dripping steadily, with droplets sliding down his chin onto the tops of his feet.

"With all that water on you, you'll be flash-frozen fresh meat if you go in there." Jiang Rumu pointed at his clothes. "Can you make it?"

Li Li raised his hand to wipe the water from his face.

"Hot or cold, it makes no difference." He shook the water droplets from his hair.

Both of them mentally retraced the route they had just taken.

Swimming underwater, the few meters where they pulled themselves out of the water by grabbing the metal ladder—there was powerful hot air blasting upward from the floor drains.

The hot air was at an extremely high temperature, feeling scorching against their soaked pant legs.

No matter how diabolical the event organizers were, they had to leave a way out; that was a hidden mechanism to dry the clothes of athletes who fell into the water.

"You run first." Li Li reached out and pushed Jiang Rumu's shoulder.

Jiang Rumu didn't waste words. She wasn't covered in mud or water; she was clean.

Assuming Li Li was going to head back to find the hot air vent to dry his clothes, she immediately strode out with her long legs and plunged into the rolling white mist of liquid nitrogen.

Li Li didn't retreat.

He turned around, facing the direction they had come from.

Two hundred meters away, the main group was still acting like turtles in the mud and spray zones.

Former Middleweight Boxing Champion stood by the edge of the pool, the veins in his neck throbbing, his knuckles cracking as he clenched his fists. The battle fanatic was preparing to roll up his sleeves, wade across the pool, and settle the score with Sarah from Team USA, who had pushed people.

Li Li drew air into his dantian and roared toward Former Middleweight Boxing Champion.

"Former Middleweight Boxing Champion! Get in the water! Climb out and step on the floor drain; there's hot air underneath! Dry off and then get over here! Stop acting crazy!"

Pure Chinese.

Crisp and clear, with powerful penetration.

All the athletes who understood Chinese were energized.

Lin Shuyin pushed up her mud-spattered rimless glasses, her brain racing.

"Swim underwater to avoid motion capture, then use the hidden hot air mechanism to dry off upon exiting." This genius girl from Tsinghua University decisively changed her route, abandoning the slippery rollers and heading straight for the pool. "A logical closed loop. This isn't a physical fitness test at all; it's a game of information asymmetry."

Lei Zhen, carrying a large bag, slapped his thigh honestly: "Got it! Listening to Dean Li is always the right choice!"

Former Middleweight Boxing Champion was snapped back to his senses by that roar. He glared fiercely at Sarah on the opposite bank, then turned abruptly and plunged into the murky pool.

Underwater, Former Middleweight Boxing Champion held his breath and paddled frantically.

After swimming fifteen meters, he grabbed the metal ladder with one hand and emerged.

As soon as he surfaced, the floor drain beneath his feet indeed blasted out a powerful stream of high-temperature hot air.

The hot air rushed up his pant legs, and in less than twenty seconds, his soaked clothes were half-dried.

Former Middleweight Boxing Champion grinned, revealing his stark white teeth.

"You Yanks, wash your necks and wait for me!"

Marcus from Team USA had just chipped away the clumps of mud on his thighs, accidentally ripping out a patch of leg hair, and hissed in pain.

He heard Li Li's roar and was completely confused.

"What is that Number 001 howling about?" Marcus shouted to Sarah, who was not far away.

Sarah shrugged, indifferent.

"Who cares." Marcus bared his white teeth. "Probably telling that big guy to stop blocking the people behind. People from East University only have this much courage; they don't dare to retaliate directly."

After roaring, Li Li turned around directly.

He strode into the liquid nitrogen zone.

The ultra-low-temperature white mist of negative 180 degrees instantly enveloped his entire body.

His soaked sportswear encountered the extreme cold and froze in a second.

"Crack, crack, crack—"

Hard ice crystals spread across the fabric; Li Li had literally become a moving ice sculpture.

The ice shell pressed against his skin, the cold drilling right into the gaps between his bones.

If it were any normal person, their heart would have stopped by now.

Inside Li Li, [Extreme Physical Fitness] took full control.

His cold resistance threshold was maxed out.

His cellular activity not only didn't drop in the extreme cold but instead erupted with terrifying adaptability.

Li Li didn't even shiver.

He even felt that Jiang Rumu, running ahead in her thin sportswear and stomping her feet from the cold, was much colder than he was.

Jiang Rumu was shivering as she ran ahead, her breath turning into frost. She glanced back and her eyes nearly popped out.

Li Li was trudging forward with long strides, topped with a thick shell of ice.

With every step, the ice on his body emitted a teeth-gritting cracking sound.

"Are you reincarnated as a polar bear?!" Jiang Rumu cursed, then quickly turned back and sprinted away.

The domestic TikTok livestream was absolutely exploding.

[Holy f*ck, holy f*ck, holy f*ck!!!]

[Negative 180 degrees, went in soaked, and didn't even flinch?!]

[Dean Li's physique—if you threw him in Antarctica, he could fight penguins for territory!]

[Shen Jue: My Brother Li is a cold-blooded animal, confirmed!]

[This Chinese encrypted communication is amazing! The foreigners are all stunned, they have no idea what he's shouting!]

[Former Middleweight Boxing Champion's hot temper—only Li Li could stop him with a single roar!]

Shen Jue was rolling frantically on the leather sofa, having already torn the throw pillow.

"Brothers! Did you see that! This is intelligence suppression! This is a language barrier!" Shen Jue sprayed saliva at the camera. "That idiot Marcus thinks my Brother Li is scared! Once Former Middleweight Boxing Champion dries his clothes and gets over there, those Yanks are going to get hammered!"

The end of the pit.

The 400-meter red line was within reach.

Jiang Rumu leaped with her long legs, steadily stepping over the red line.

Li Li followed closely behind, half a body length slower, rushing across the line with a coating of ice shards.

The two had just run out of the liquid nitrogen zone when the main group behind finally reached the edge of the liquid nitrogen zone.

Ivan from Russia had finally managed to chip off the cement shell on his body, shivering violently from the cold. He looked at the rolling white mist ahead and plunged right in.

Less than three seconds later.

"Awoo—"

A miserable scream erupted from Ivan's throat.

This polar powerhouse who could wrestle bears with his bare hands was frozen stiff on the spot, unable to move his legs.

There was no deliberate concession.

Jiang Rumu started early and, without water on her, was faster. Li Li had slowed down purely to prevent slipping, avoiding face-planting with his ice-coated body.

The moment they crossed the line.

The giant loudspeaker overhead made no sound; there was no announcement to the whole arena.

An NPC wearing a red jumpsuit and a square mask pushed a metal cart out from a side door.

On the cart were electrolyte drinks and bananas.

The NPC walked up to them and handed over the supplies.

"Congratulations to First Place Number 930 and Second Place Number 001," the NPC said in a monotone voice. "You may wait here for the game to end, or proceed to the lounge via the rear passage."

Jiang Rumu took the water, unscrewed the cap, and took a big gulp.

She turned to look at Li Li, examining his clothes, which were still shedding ice shards.

Li Li didn't take the water.

He pulled off a banana, peeled it, and took a big bite.

He swallowed.

He stared straight at the black mask painted with a square.

"I have already secured second place," Li Li said, extending his index finger and tapping the 001 badge on his chest.

The NPC stood still.

"If I return to the competition field right now," Li Li said, holding the banana peel, his speaking pace slowing down, "will my second-place result be canceled and recalculated?"

Jiang Rumu's drinking motion paused.

She turned her head abruptly to stare at Li Li.

The comments in the domestic livestream cleared instantly, then exploded with a screen full of question marks.

[????]

[What is Dean Li's thought process again?!]

[He's already cleared the level, and he still wants to go back?!]

[He finally made it out, and he's going back to feed kills?!]

The NPC stood in place.

The internal AI program beneath the mask frantically searched the underlying rule codes of the Oil Hegemony Competition and the Squid Game.

The bionic robot, jointly developed by China and the US, had astonishing computing power.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

The NPC provided a verdict.

"No. The result is locked. Re-entering the field carries no penalty other than the risk of being shot by tranquilizer guns."

Li Li stuffed the remaining half of the banana into his mouth.

His cheeks bulged as he chewed it up quickly.

He raised his hand and tugged hard at the collar of his sportswear, which had frozen into a hard shell, causing ice chunks to shatter and hit the loess.

He spat out two words.

"Very good."