“I’m waiting for you to come back… I’m waiting for you to come back…”
Xin Meng cautiously took one step after another, surrounded by an impenetrable darkness, a void where he couldn’t even reach out to touch anything, only the gray path beneath his feet and the red light at the end, guiding his direction.
As he was about to reach the end of the path, a burst of intermittent music entered his ears, and he instinctively stopped, tilting his head to listen.
“Waiting for you to come back and let me be happy…”
The singing was not very clear, carrying a special texture, slightly distorted, as if it were played from a record from the eighties or nineties. The languid female voice was filled with a sense of boredom and seduction, instantly transporting one back to the nightclubs of old Shanghai.
But Xin Meng could swear that hearing such a voice at this moment only sent chills down his spine, making his hair stand on end; it was impossible to evoke any feelings of nostalgia or warmth.
He hesitated, what was going on? Should he continue forward?
The singing continued.
“The swallows on the beam have returned… The spring flowers in the courtyard bloom for you…”
Xin Meng couldn’t quite describe the feeling; suddenly, a scene appeared before his eyes: a beautiful woman with curly hair stood on a high stage, dressed in a glamorous long gown and high heels, wearing silk gloves that reached her elbows. One hand held a cigarette, while the other brought the microphone close to her blood-red lips, her alluring eyes arrogantly looking down at the men below. Her red lips parted slightly, humming a careless tune, causing the entranced men to display all sorts of ridiculous behaviors, howling, shouting, thrusting their hips, pulling down their pants to expose themselves. The woman looked down from her elevated position, her singing both cold and disdainful, yet filled with a soul-stirring, bone-gnawing seduction, driving the crowd even more insane, the air thick with lewdness.
At that moment, the beauty seemed to notice Xin Meng, the odd one out, as he stood there dumbfounded, his body unresponsive. The woman, in disbelief, widened her phoenix eyes, thought for a moment, and then pouted her red lips, blowing him a kiss!
Xin Meng shivered all over, but the scene instantly vanished like a wisp of smoke, the beauty disappeared, and the familiar darkness surrounded him again, the red glow still flickering not far away.
Was it an illusion?
Thinking of that woman’s kiss, Xin Meng felt an inexplicable chill.
“Why don’t you come back… why don’t you come back…”
However, Xin Meng quickly realized that the singing in his ears was still going on!
He steadied his mind and looked towards the red light from which the sound was coming. He knew that was the exit, but… in such a bizarre situation, should he continue forward?
Just the singing alone could induce hallucinations. Xin Meng suddenly had a bad premonition; he felt he already knew which demon general was involved here.
It seemed a bit unfortunate.
But on the other hand, Qi Xiaokui’s wish had come true; she hadn’t encountered this one, so she was much luckier than him.
—This one clearly had no idea what Qi Xiaokui had faced.
“I want to wait for you to come back… I want to wait for you to come back…”
The lingering, cold yet affectionate singing continued to echo. Xin Meng heard this line repeated four times without any intention of moving on to the next line, and he vaguely sensed: he had to go over; otherwise, he would be trapped here.
He had no choice but to step forward cautiously, a bit worried that the singing would trigger another hallucination, but he couldn’t cover his ears; otherwise, he would be at a disadvantage if something unexpected happened. Fortunately, the hallucination did not reappear, nothing happened, and the singing continued:
“Still not back, the spring light is gone…”
“Still not back, tears fill my cheeks…”
The moment Xin Meng stepped into the red room, the singing abruptly stopped.
…
Day after day, Xiong Jiabao lost all sense of time. He was trapped in front of a table full of delicacies, mechanically stuffing food into his mouth. His arms had swollen to the size of his thighs, his thighs bulged to the thickness of his waist, and his cheeks protruded, resembling a balloon filled with too much air, feeling as if his skin could burst at any moment.
But it didn’t; he just got fat.
Under the influence of the game, the level of obesity that would normally take at least a month to achieve was exceeded in no time.
His buttocks had turned into two solid lumps of flesh, moving even a little was laborious. The stool had a round hole in the middle, leading to a large iron bucket swarming with flies below. When he needed to relieve himself, he couldn’t leave his seat and had to do it right there on the stool, not even knowing where his pants had gone.
A foul stench wafted up, green-headed flies buzzed around his ears, even landing on his nose, rubbing their front legs, cleaning up after meals. Xiong Jiabao, however, stared blankly, his mouth mechanically opening and closing, completely unaware of whether what he was eating was fragrant or foul, or even what he was consuming, let alone driving the flies away.
He had gotten fat, and the people around him were also getting fat. Among a crowd of fat people, he was not particularly noticeable.
A fat guard walked back and forth with a spear. When he reached the front, he turned to face the gluttonous crowd, thrusting the spear into the ground beside him, standing there like a mountain, and declared loudly, “There’s only one week left until the elimination round ends. Only the most plump will win the favor of the lord and join the Gluttonous Legion. Others will be executed on the spot. Understand? One week left!”
Xiong Jiabao was stunned, wha… what?
Was it not just about surviving, but also about getting fat?
Only the fattest could survive, and everyone else would be killed?
He looked down at himself in disbelief, then raised his head to scan the surrounding people, all of whom were fatter than him. His fingers trembled, and in the next moment, just like everyone else who heard this news, he could no longer afford to chew slowly and savor his food. Instead, he grabbed everything in front of him and stuffed it into his mouth frantically.
His eyes were about to burst, the whites of his eyes covered in spiderweb-like red veins. Xiong Jiabao was forced to abandon his leisurely way of eating; to survive, to see his parents again, he had to become the fattest one!
There was no other choice!
However, this determination lasted less than a day before being crushed by the harsh reality.
Not only was Xiong Jiabao desperately eating, but those who had arrived much earlier than him were also eating non-stop. No matter how hard Xiong Jiabao tried, he had no advantage; among a crowd of fat people, he was still the one who wasn’t fat enough.
So much so that when the guard passed by him, the look in his eyes was already like he was looking at a dead man.
Xiong Jiabao’s heart trembled violently. He clenched his hands tightly, the bread crumbling under his grip, falling through his fingers. He looked around at the others, despair flooding his heart.
What to do, what to do…
His eyes darted around quickly, scanning the fat people, the mocking guards, the high ceiling, and the bare walls, not missing a single corner, trying to find a breakthrough. However, his mind was blank, and he couldn’t think of any way out.
Just as he lowered his head in frustration, he suddenly spotted his backpack on the ground.
The standardized backpack leaned quietly against the table leg, and after finally being noticed, its presence became even more pronounced.
In Xiong Jiabao’s mushy brain, he suddenly remembered the previous game on the bus, in front of Medusa’s vehicle, when everyone was at a loss, only Xin Meng began to rummage through his backpack. That action was somewhat abrupt, leaving a deep impression on him. Later, he found the crucial blindfold, which was at the very bottom of the backpack, pressed down by other items, easily overlooked, but Xin Meng found it. He even said something at that time, what was it…
“This is a game, not a dead end. The key to clearing the level will definitely appear. If it’s not around us, then it must be on us…”
Xiong Jiabao’s eyes lit up. He secretly glanced at the fat guard, who was walking back and forth in front of him, seemingly not paying much attention to those who arrived late. But Xiong Jiabao still cautiously continued to stuff food into his mouth with one hand while quietly pulling his backpack closer with the other, wedging it between his legs and unzipping it.
The top of the backpack was filled with food, but now Xiong Jiabao felt nauseous at the sight of food, completely uninterested. He tossed everything out onto the table, only picking up a piece of toast that originally looked particularly large, now about the same size as his swollen palm. He paused for a moment, recalling how he had argued with Qi Xiaokui about the importance of food, now it seemed like a huge irony.
Or perhaps karma.
Xiong Jiabao felt a mix of emotions, but time was pressing, and it wasn’t the time to think too much. He suppressed his thoughts, tossed the bread aside, and after throwing out all the food and mineral water from the backpack, he revealed a hidden piece of pink at the very bottom.
He hadn’t even dug down to the bottom before, so he had no idea there was actually something there.
He stared at it for a long time, unable to tell what it was. When he reached out to touch it, he was startled; the realistic skin texture felt as if there was a person hidden inside!
What the hell?!
The chicken leg in his hand almost dropped, catching the attention of the fat guard. Xiong Jiabao quickly grabbed another piece of bread and stuffed it into his mouth, cold sweat pouring down. In this room, the fat guard’s gaze was like the scythe of death, ready to sever his head at any moment.
Only when the sharp gaze moved away from him did Xiong Jiabao breathe a sigh of relief. He hesitated for a moment but still reached his hand back into the backpack, tentatively poking at the piece of skin, but there was no response. He steeled his courage and placed his palm on it.
The texture of the skin was incredibly realistic, but it was just a piece of skin. Xiong Jiabao applied a bit more force and actually pulled up a thin layer.
Knowing it wasn’t a real person, Xiong Jiabao’s courage grew. He tugged at the thing and pulled it out. Using the light, he saw that it was actually a layer of realistic human skin, looking and feeling very real, with only a small, inconspicuous corner revealing a small inflatable rubber valve.
He was filled with questions; what did this mean? An inflatable doll?
Was it suggesting that he should use this inflatable doll to take his place and die here while he escaped?
But once he escaped, he couldn’t join the Gluttonous Demon General’s ranks, the mission would fail, and he’d still be dead; what good would that do?
Just as he shifted from hope to despair, a piece of information flowed into his mind through the finger that was touching the realistic skin, precisely about this “inflatable doll.”
Xiong Jiabao looked closely and was instantly overjoyed; it turned out this was not just a simple inflatable doll, but an important tool that could be worn over his body and then inflated!
He immediately followed the instructions, rummaging for the facial part of the human skin, then lowered his head, puckering his lips to press against the mouth of the skin. In just three seconds, the sensation of their lips touching vanished, the human skin disappeared from his hands, and he felt a weight on his body, as if his entire skin had been wrapped in something, like he was wearing an extra layer of clothing. He looked down at his arms and saw that the layer of realistic skin had already adhered to him. When he poked it with his finger, the real skin underneath felt very dull, but the sensation of his fingertip was still quite real.
He looked up and saw that he hadn’t attracted the guard’s attention. He opened the backpack again, found a fist-sized pump at the very bottom, connected it to the inflation port, and pressed it with his finger. The skin felt a tightening pressure, and from the outside, his entire body seemed to have gained a bit more weight.
Now he had truly become inflatable.
Having found the correct key, a huge weight lifted off Xiong Jiabao’s heart.
But even though his chances of survival had increased, he couldn’t stop eating; otherwise, if the fat guard executed him, it wouldn’t matter how fat he got.
He leaned back over the table, feeling no pressure, and his eating speed became leisurely. However, a sudden thought popped into his mind.
Wouldn’t they choose whichever demon general at random?
Why… would the corresponding tools appear in the backpack so early?
