Blood dripped down the metal frame of the roller mechanism.
"You son of a b—ch!" Faced with cruel torture, the black man, Mike, reacted with agitated recklessness, like a bloodthirsty, belligerent beast. "I swear I'll kill you! I'll slice your flesh off piece by piece with a knife, then chop it into minced meat to feed to dogs…" These wild words were yelled at Caleb, meaning the guy still didn't understand the situation and thought Caleb was the kidnapper.
'Is he brainless?' Caleb frowned, seriously considering whether he should just let him die this time. Anyway, everyone on the death device would eventually be executed by the game designer, wouldn't they?
Click, click, click… After one heavy blow, the spiked baseball bat's chain, connected to its tip, was pulled by the gear assembly beneath the spring, slowly retracting. At the same time, the waterwheel-like roller also began to rotate slowly counter-clockwise. It seemed that by the time the bat was fully re-charged, the roller would have rotated Mike's left leg to the position opposite the bat. If action wasn't taken quickly to stop it, Mike's left leg would immediately follow the fate of his left arm. Then, in counter-clockwise order, it would be Mike's right leg, right arm, until finally, his skull was crushed.
The method to stop this killing device was clearly hidden in the 'exclamation mark' boxes on those platforms. But to approach those boxes, one had to first cross the 'single plank bridge' above the pit.
Caleb approached the edge of the pit and peered down. The bottom of the pit was paved with black steel plates welded with sharp spikes, beneath which was an enclosed space. If one were to fall from a height of about thirty meters, even if they weren't killed by the fall, they would immediately be impaled by those spikes like a hornet's nest, with no chance of survival.
'It's probably also impossible to pass by muddling through…' Caleb had noticed a surveillance camera hanging in the upper left corner of the space when he entered. 'The designer of this death trial is probably hiding behind the monitor, watching this place?' Although he already understood that the so-called trial was just a scam, and any effort by the players would be futile, it would still be better to follow the opponent's rules under the surveillance of that mastermind. Otherwise, if the opponent became enraged and directly sealed off this area, Caleb, without obtaining the second Winding Key, would also be doomed once the jaw ripper's countdown ended.
Therefore, he now had to walk across the 'single plank bridge' to get the items from those three 'exclamation mark' boxes, even if it was just for show.
Those 'single plank bridges' looked narrow and fragile, requiring careful balance, slow, and cautious movement to cross them. Caleb switched to his Cautious Stance. After the prompt sound, he felt his limbs lighten, his breathing became faint, and his vision became much clearer.
As his feet stepped onto the wooden planks, he felt a soft give underfoot, and the 'single plank bridge' surface curved significantly, giving the impression that a little more weight would cause it to snap. Furthermore, walking on it caused constant swaying, requiring constant attention to one's balance. A natural tension that comes from being at a height made Caleb's heart begin to race.
When his heart rate reached a normal person's resting heart rate, the large amount of adrenaline secreted activated his superhuman neural reflex speed.
— Unknown factor importing… Data error… Various attributes received a bonus.
His control over his body became more precise and subtle; every step he took, whether in distance or the force of his footfall, was as accurate as if it had been measured beforehand. After gaining momentum, he began to accelerate his movement like an acrobat most skilled at walking a tightrope at high altitudes, almost maintaining the fastest speed possible in a Cautious Stance to cross the first 'single plank bridge'.
— Perfect body balance increases your Cautious Stance proficiency by +50…
By this point, about 3 minutes had passed since the reset 10-minute countdown began. The spiked bat was already fully charged, and the death wheel had rotated to the position corresponding to Mike's left leg.
Just as Caleb stepped onto the first platform.
Bang! Crack!
The metal bat swung out again, striking Mike's left kneecap with pinpoint accuracy. Mike's thigh joint snapped, and his upper and lower leg folded into a strange, twisted shape.
"Ah ha ah ah! Damn it! You bastard…" Mike gnashed his teeth and roared, his screams and curses much weaker than before. His face was pale, covered in sweat from the pain. Sometimes, a swift death isn't terrifying; it's the true terror when you are tortured to the point of wishing for death, and then finally allowed to die!
Caleb bent down and picked up the wooden box on the ground, opening it to find a part similar to a 'Winding Key' inside.
Before walking onto the 'single plank bridge,' Caleb had carefully inspected the 'Cold-Blooded Headshot Maniac' device. He noticed that on the side of the 'bat' + 'gear' + 'spring' combination device, there were three holes corresponding to three sets of gears. Judging by the size of the 'Winding Key' in his hand, it should fit perfectly into those three holes.
'By my calculations, by the time I get all three Winding Keys and return, that guy will probably have had all his limbs broken, with only his head remaining, right?'
Caleb shook his head slightly; this kind of torture, similar to a 'human pig,' made one shudder just thinking about it. He didn't linger, continuing at his previous pace onto the second 'single plank bridge'.
However, the designer of this death game clearly didn't want Caleb to obtain all three Winding Keys so easily. Starting from the second 'single plank bridge,' not only did the walking distance become longer, and the 'single plank bridge' swayed more violently, but there were also iron wires intermittently stretched across the bridge surface, blocking the way. Fearing that he would shake the fragile 'single plank bridge' below, Caleb dared not jump over the iron wires and could only carefully crouch down and pass underneath them.
As his movement was hindered by obstacles, the time it took him to cross the second 'single plank bridge' was significantly longer than the last time.
By the time he stood on the second platform and obtained the second 'Winding Key,' he noticed that Mike, who was tied to the roller behind him, had already had his right leg broken, and the roller was carrying him to continue rotating counter-clockwise, slowly moving his right arm into the attack range of that deadly weapon, which was covered in fragmented flesh and blood.
The burly black man had already fainted from the pain, and the torn artery at his wound was continuously spurting blood, creating a small pool of blood on the ground beneath the roller. Caleb knew this guy was beyond saving. Even if his skull wasn't smashed by the spiked bat, massive blood loss would be enough to claim his life.