253: Chapter 253 Gu Zeyan: I've lost out! But not completely!

"Not awake, can kiss."

Jiang Rumu raised her right hand. She pressed her index finger and thumb together, aimed at that smooth forehead, gathered strength, and flicked.

"Snap!"

The crisp sound of flesh being struck exploded inside the cramped shipping container.

Li Li sat up straight, clutching his forehead, and casually pulled off the sports jacket covering the main surveillance camera.

"You're trying to murder your husband." He rubbed the reddened patch of skin, his words slurred.

Jiang Rumu withdrew her hand and tapped her fingertips twice against the seam of her pants.

"Don't go showing off the fact that anesthetics don't work on you," she lowered her voice, speaking only in a breathy whisper. "The organizers aren't stupid."

Li Li shrugged and rolled out of bed.

At the same time, the global internet was in a complete frenzy.

Official media and social platforms across all countries were flooded with the final rankings for the first round of the Oil Hegemony Competition.

The internet in the East was a red ocean of carnival.

[First and second place are both ours! What do you call this? This is called dimensional reduction strike!]

[Dean Li and Queen Jiang are the GOAT! Those Americans can't even eat our exhaust fumes!]

[I could watch Former Middleweight Boxing Champion's headbutt a hundred times! It's so satisfying!]

Twitter and YouTube in the US were filled with wailing and stubborn denials.

[Fuck! The Easterners are cheating! That Number 001 definitely has hacks on!]

[What are Marcus and Taylor doing? Being toyed with by a skinny guy?]

[Don't worry! This is only the first round! Hunter and Mia are still in the top ten; we'll tear the Easterners apart in the next game!]

In the live streams of various European countries, questions were about to flood the screens.

[Where is our French romantic parkour? Why was Lyon eliminated?!]

[Where did the British aristocratic spirit go? Arthur was actually drinking dirty water in the mud!]

[German precision calculation lost to an Eastern internet celebrity? Felix, please commit seppuku to apologize!]

The live streams of the "Three Kingdoms of East Asia" were the most brutal. Netizens from Japan, South Korea, and North Korea were tearing each other apart on international forums.

[Shibal! If it weren't for that North Korean bumpkin holding onto Park Ji-hoon's leg, our Republic of Korea would definitely be first!]

[Baka! It was clearly you Koreans who picked Sato Kenji's nose first!]

[Aish! You capitalist running dogs are all trash!]

The style on the Russian forums was completely different, with the whole screen being spammed with vodka toast memes.

[Ura! Thanks to Comrade Li from the East! Anya getting third place is all thanks to him letting her pass!]

The live streams of the wealthy Middle East countries were peaceful and quiet.

[This game looks quite fun. Butler, build one in the backyard exactly like this.]

Only the dark web forums of Israel were filled with fanatical, bloodthirsty declarations.

[David did a great job! That last lunge dragged that Li Li into the water!]

[What "all-around soldier king," he was still rubbed into the ground by our Israeli warriors!]

Inside the shipping container, the iron door was knocked upon.

A red-clad NPC wearing a square mask pushed a three-tiered metal food cart inside.

The cart cover was lifted.

Steaming Beef Wellington, black truffle pasta, Boston lobster, a large bowl of fresh fruit salad, and two cups of iced cola.

Jiang Rumu froze.

Li Li raised an eyebrow.

Compared to the refugees outside gnawing on compressed biscuits, this food standard was practically the difference between a five-star hotel and the Syrian battlefield.

"This is the exclusive supply for the champion team of the first round." The NPC's synthesized electronic voice rang out, "Rewards for subsequent rounds will decrease based on ranking. Please enjoy."

The NPC turned and left, and the iron door locked.

Jiang Rumu looked at the table full of hearty dishes and picked up a fork to poke at the lobster meat.

"Can't finish it." She gave an accurate assessment.

Li Li picked up a can of cola and popped the tab with one hand.

"If you can't finish it, call people over." He tilted his head back and took a large gulp, the bubbles exploding in his throat, "Let's go, call the guys over to eat."

At this moment, in shipping container 113.

Gu Zeyan sat on the cold, hard bed, holding a dry piece of whole wheat bread in his hand, with a box of unsweetened room-temperature milk placed beside him.

He hadn't finished the race; he had been taken down by a tranquilizer gun, and this was the minimum ration provided by the organizers for the eliminated contestants.

On the bed opposite, Yin Ruoying, wearing sneakers, pried open a plastic lunch box with her bright red nails.

Roasted chicken leg, rice, boiled broccoli.

Although it couldn't compare to the luxurious feast of the first-place winners, it still counted as having meat and vegetables.

Gu Zeyan swallowed his saliva.

His carefully styled Korean-style messy hair was now collapsed into a bird's nest, and most of his pant legs were stained with gray cement dust.

"Sister Ruoying." Gu Zeyan squeezed out a sunny smile, "Actually, to keep in shape, I usually don't eat carbs at night. This bread is perfect."

"Gurgle—"

Gu Zeyan's stomach let out a long rumble.

Yin Ruoying scoffed coldly, tore off a piece of chicken meat, shoved it into her mouth, and chewed very loudly.

"Want some?" She parted her red lips slightly and spat out a bone, "Come over here and massage my legs. My calves are cramping from running today."

Gu Zeyan froze.

He was a top-tier celebrity in the domestic entertainment industry, an idol with tens of millions of fans, and he had to massage the legs of a woman who acted in short dramas?!

"Gurgle—" His stomach protested again.

Gu Zeyan moved his feet and, in humiliation, squatted by the side of Yin Ruoying's bed.

He placed both hands on the lower leg wrapped in sweatpants and began to knead.

The domestic live stream chat was completely exploding.

[Holy crap! I respect Top-tier Gu for being able to bend and stretch like this!]

[Are these two filming a Dating Reality Show? Master and servant play?]

[Shen Jue: Director! I'm familiar with this plot! Pay me more!]

Yin Ruoying leaned against the wall, squinting comfortably.

"A bit to the left, use more force, didn't you eat?!" She commanded very naturally.

Of course he didn't eat!

Gu Zeyan gritted his back teeth, increased the force in his hands, and stared fixedly at the remaining half of the chicken leg.

"Bang, bang, bang."

The iron door was pounded on.

Li Li's words penetrated through the iron door: "Time to eat, Room 001, just bring your mouth."

Gu Zeyan's hands shook.

He stood up abruptly, rushed to the door, and yanked it open.

In the hallway, Li Li was already walking towards the next room.

Gu Zeyan turned back, looked at the chicken leg in Yin Ruoying's hand, and then looked at his own hands.

He had a mental breakdown.

"If I had known there was a big feast, I wouldn't have massaged her foot, damn it!" Gu Zeyan scratched his head in frustration, and the cement dust on his hair fell down in flurries.

Yin Ruoying wiped her hands in a leisurely manner.

"Stay hungry tomorrow," she said, walking out in her shoes. "Don't expect me to share another bite with you."

Ten minutes later, shipping container 001 was packed with people.

Former Middleweight Boxing Champion, Lei Zhen, Chu Lingfeng, Lin Shuyin, Gu Ya, Lu Ye, plus Gu Zeyan and Yin Ruoying.

The ten Eastern contestants surrounded the food cart, devouring the food like a storm.

Lei Zhen, this human crane, transformed into a "male mom," holding a plate and cutting up the largest piece of steak, handing it respectively to Lin Shuyin and Chu Lingfeng.

"Eat more, build muscle." Lei Zhen smiled honestly.

Former Middleweight Boxing Champion grabbed a lobster claw, crushed it with a crack, and stuffed it into his mouth, meat and shell alike.

"Refreshing! Ten thousand times better than gnawing on compressed biscuits!" Former Middleweight Boxing Champion roared while chewing.

Lin Shuyin pushed up her rimless glasses, holding a small notebook in her hand, and spoke rapidly.

"Don't get happy too soon." She bit the end of her pen, her lenses reflecting light, "I just reviewed the entire recording. There are a few high-risk targets we must pay attention to."

Everyone stopped what they were doing.

"Hunter from Team USA, a wilderness survival fanatic, his stamina is bottomless; Anya from Russia, a rock climbing freak, the more complex the terrain, the stronger she gets; Lyon from France, a parkour magician, his movement is extremely bizarre."

Lin Shuyin recited a string of names like she was listing dishes on a menu.

Gu Ya, gnawing on a rib, interjected vaguely: "What about those three Japanese, Korean, and North Korean internet celebrities who froze into sculptures? Do they count as high-risk?"

"Yes." Lin Shuyin gave a definitive answer.

"The three of them locked onto each other in the Liquid Nitrogen Zone and managed to hold on until the last few minutes of the countdown before being eliminated. This kind of cold resistance and muscle control is definitely not just for show."

Lin Shuyin closed her notebook and looked around at everyone.

"The next game is an unknown. There is only one core strategy: try to minimize physical exertion these next two days, and absolutely, absolutely do not get injured."

She held up a finger and tapped the table heavily.

"In this damn game, getting injured is equivalent to a death sentence."

Lu Ye leaned in the corner, nodding silently, fiddling with a wooden stick he had swiped from the mud area.

The meal ended, and everyone returned to their respective rooms to rest.

Li Li opened the iron door to see the guests out.

Just as he stepped into the hallway, the iron door diagonally opposite also happened to open.

Marcus and Taylor from Team USA walked out of Hunter's room, still covered in ice shards that hadn't fully melted.

They met on a narrow road.

Marcus's face instantly turned the color of a pig's liver.

The giant, weighing over two hundred jin, had veins popping out on his neck, and his fists clenched, making cracking sounds.

Being kicked out of the red line like a ball, and then butted back into the Liquid Nitrogen Zone, this great humiliation made him want to rip this Eastern man in front of him to shreds.

Taylor was equally enraged, like an angry bull, staring fixedly at Li Li.

The air in the hallway instantly dropped to freezing point.

Former Middleweight Boxing Champion stepped out, blocking the front, his neck twisting with cracking sounds, ready to fight at any moment.

Li Li stood in place.

He didn't even lift an eyelid, completely ignoring the two mountains of flesh in front of him that were ready to explode at any moment.

His gaze passed over the broad shoulders of Team USA and was cast directly toward the circular corridor of the second-floor shipping containers.

At the door of Room 178.

David from Israel leaned against the rusty metal railing.

Aaron, Sha'er, and Liya stood behind him, looking down at the bottom floor from a high vantage point.

David met Li Li's gaze.

This senior intelligence officer pulled at his skin, revealing a hypocritical smile.

He raised his right hand.

He extended his thumb and laid it across his own neck.

Slowly and forcefully, he drew it across.

An extremely arrogant throat-slitting gesture.

Li Li shoved one hand into his sweatpants pocket.

He tilted his head, his gaze fixing on David's face for two seconds.

Afterward, Li Li raised his right hand, pressed his index and middle fingers together, and casually drew a cross in the air.

His lips moved silently.

"Amen."

The curve of David's mouth froze.

Li Li withdrew his hand, took half a step back, and slammed the iron door shut.

"Bang!"

A dull metallic clanging sound echoed in the hallway, roughly cutting off all the scheming and hostility outside.