134: Chapter 134 A Temporary Truce

The wind on the Black Rock Plaza died down.

But everyone's breathing was more strained than the wind.

Blake sat behind a broken pillar, wrapping the wound on his right shoulder with animal hide.

His gaze shifted from Lin Ye's Dark Weaver to Zhao Mengmeng's crossbow, finally fixing on the parcel of meat behind them.

He didn't try to hide his gaze.

Zhao Mengmeng felt her temper flare as she watched him, and she slightly raised the muzzle of her crossbow: "Brother Lin, if he keeps looking, I'll really find his eyeballs a new home."

Lin Ye pressed down on her crossbow arm: "He's calculating."

"Calculating how to rob us?"

"Calculating whether he can survive after robbing us."

Zhao Mengmeng sneered: "Then his math isn't very good."

On the other side, Ivan leaned against a black rock, gulping down snow water.

He stared at the main gate of the Giant Tower, his thick knuckles locked tightly around the heavy pickaxe in his hand.

The lame Challenger from France wrapped his rope back around his waist, his short knife never leaving his palm.

The two from United Kingdom huddled together, their gazes constantly, intentionally or unintentionally, sweeping over the path Lin Ye had taken.

Everyone wanted to enter the gate.

The area around the plaza was so quiet that only the sound of ice fragments being crushed under boot soles remained.

In the USA livestream, the chat was scrolling frantically.

[Blake, kill the Great Xia person!]

[His equipment can help you pass the mechanisms inside the tower!]

[Don't wait, if everyone goes in later, it won't be easy to rob them!]

[Team up with United Kingdom first, they'll definitely be willing!]

The Great Xia Live Stream was filled with angry rants.

[Anxious again? The other side saw Brother Eye coming over, almost fell to their deaths, and wanted to rob the moment they landed?]

[USA is sticking to their old routine—if they can't rob, they kill.]

[Don't forget how Hans died; even their professional killer captain was dismantled by Brother Eye.]

[It's not worth fighting now; those two statues at the door look suspicious to me.]

Lin Ye was examining the gate.

The plaza in front of the main gate of the Giant Tower was much smoother than the outer circle.

The dark green stone bricks were perfectly seamless, extending all the way to the base of the massive metal gate.

The ice-sealed statues of exotic beasts on either side of the gate stood over ten meters tall.

Their heads were bowed, limbs pressed to the ground, and bone spurs along their backs were arranged in a menacing row along their spines.

Thick ice sealed their entire bodies, but through the icy shells, one could clearly see dark metal tendons.

Blake stood up.

He carried a bone spear in one hand, bypassed the broken pillar, and walked straight toward the main gate.

His companion instinctively reached out to pull him back but was stopped by his raised hand.

He wanted to test the reaction of the area in front of the gate to a living person.

He walked very slowly, his boot soles brushing against the edges of the dark green stone bricks.

The eyes of every Challenger on the plaza followed him.

Zhao Mengmeng whispered: "Does this guy really dare?"

"He has to."

"Why?"

"He just arrived and injured his shoulder, and he's already exposed his intention to rob us. If he does nothing, the others will devour him immediately."

Lin Ye watched Blake's retreating figure.

"The USA team needs deterrence, and the Giant Tower entrance needs intelligence. He's gambling with his life for chips."

Blake stopped about thirty meters from the giant gate.

The ice-sealed statues on both sides of the gate remained dead silent.

He took another step forward.

Click.

The faint sound of cracking ice exploded across the open plaza.

Blake froze in his tracks.

The ice layer on the surface of the exotic beast statue on the left cracked.

Cracks raced down its massive head, and large chunks of the icy shell crashed down, hitting the ground and kicking up a cloud of white powder.

A dull sound of mechanical friction emanated from within the statue.

The harsh, grinding sound of metal gears and dislocating bones pierced everyone's eardrums.

The front claw of the right statue slowly pressed downward.

The sharp metal claws crushed into the dark green stone bricks, gouging out four white furrows.

Deep within the thick ice, two dark red lights glowed faintly in the statue's eye sockets.

Blake retreated rapidly.

One step.

Two steps.

Three steps.

The statue's massive head jerked, and the ice on its neck peeled off frantically.

Blake's feet stepped back across that invisible boundary line.

The red light in the statue's eye sockets flickered twice and slowly extinguished.

The mechanical sounds ceased.

The broken ice stopped falling.

Blake stood in the safe zone, his grip on the bone spear so tight it creaked.

In that split second, death had brushed against his scalp.

The plaza was deathly silent.

The four deep gouges on the floor tiles were more striking than any rule.

Blake turned around, his gaze sweeping over every face behind the cover, before finally settling on Lin Ye.

He spoke in stiff Great Xia language.

"Force entry, die."

Zhao Mengmeng sneered: "Master of stating the obvious, isn't he?"

Blake held his bone spear, pointing the tip at the Challengers from the other countries in turn.

"Truce until we enter the tower."

"Anyone who attacks others, we all kill them."

"Get inside first, then settle our scores."

The two from United Kingdom exchanged a look.

The lame man from France lowered the tip of his knife slightly.

Ivan looked up at Blake and jammed his heavy pickaxe into the ice.

Zhao Mengmeng glanced at Lin Ye: "We're really calling a truce with him?"

Lin Ye watched the silent statues ahead.

"It's to keep them alive so they can trigger a few more traps for us."

A cold smile tugged at the corner of Zhao Mengmeng's mouth: "Got it. Unpaid pathfinders."

Lin Ye raised his uninjured left hand.

Palm facing outward, lifted upward.

Truce.

Blake nodded slightly.

Ivan raised his hand and tapped the handle of his pickaxe.

The French and United Kingdom Challengers also stepped out from behind the black rocks one after another.

Over a dozen top-ranked global Challengers, under the pressure of death, tacitly formed a pathfinding formation.

The Great Xia Live Stream was going wild.

[Brother Eye's gesture is so imposing; he can fight, but he's choosing not to right now.]

[Now that's rational. Once those two things at the door wake up, we're all going to be dumplings in a pot.]

[Let these foreigners trigger the traps first; we can still hack them later.]

[USA wants to use Brother Eye, but Brother Eye is using them as mine detectors!]

The overseas livestream was just as chaotic.

[The Great Xia person definitely knows something; keep an eye on him!]

[He wasn't even afraid of jumping off a cliff earlier; why didn't he just walk through the gate?]

[Look at his footprints! He must be able to find the way!]

Blake was the first to approach the warning line in front of the gate.

He circled to the left, attempting to find a blind spot from the side of the statue.

Ivan shouldered his pickaxe and walked to the right.

The two from United Kingdom stuck closely to the position behind the central axis, leaving themselves plenty of room to escape.

Lin Ye took Zhao Mengmeng out from the shadow of the stone tablet.

An absolute distance of thirty meters was maintained between all parties.

After entering the inner circle, the dark green stone bricks started to look wrong.

The brick surfaces were cracked, frost covered the gaps, and a few were even sunken inward, their edges coated with an unnatural gray powder.

No one took the first step.

Blake stabbed hard at a floor tile with his bone spear.

Nothing happened.

He stabbed to the right again.

Still nothing.

A Challenger from United Kingdom pried up a piece of ice rock and hurled it straight ahead.

The rock hit the floor tile and bounced twice.

Whoosh!

A dense cluster of ice needles suddenly sprayed out from the gaps between the bricks.

The ice needles pierced the air, grazing the rock and stabbing obliquely into a broken pillar over ten meters away, their tails vibrating frantically.

The back of that United Kingdom Challenger was instantly soaked in cold sweat.

The Frenchman cursed aloud.

Ivan put away his pickaxe immediately.

The next second, everyone's gaze snapped toward Lin Ye.

Since landing on the island, every path this Great Xia man had taken had been eerily precise.

Zhao Mengmeng felt her temper flare: "Why are you all looking at us? Haven't you seen a Great Xia person with legs before?"

No one spoke.

Lin Ye lowered his eyelids.

Left Eye activated instantly.

The world peeled away.

The false disguise of the area in front of the gate was torn asunder.

Vast stretches of dotted red light lurked beneath the brick surface.

Linear red light pierced through the stone gaps, locking tightly onto the underlying spray slots and trap axes.

The closer to the gate, the denser the crimson became.

The only colorless zone was a twisted, S-shaped gap.

Lin Ye closed his Left Eye.

His retinas ached.

He raised his right foot and stepped directly onto the first gray stone brick in front of him.

Zhao Mengmeng's breath hitched: "Are you sure?"

Lin Ye didn't look back, his second foot landing steadily.

"Step in my footprints."

"If you lead me into a trap, I'll plaster your face with spam ads even after I become a ghost."

"Just don't post them on the wrong door."