Following my declaration, the room fell into a deathly silence. An Yue's gaze shifted abruptly; her small, once-mechanical face darkened, turning as somber as a storm-laden sky.
Crack! Crack!
The sound of tearing flesh rang out, gruesome and raw. Once again, pitch-black tentacles erupted through the skin on her back, stretching into the air like the limbs of a giant octopus from hell. They writhed and coiled, blotting out what little dim light remained in the barren room.
My heart constricted; my limbs went stiff as stone. A desperate, suffocating thought flashed through my mind: Did I get it wrong? Am I going to die just like that man?
I closed my eyes, bracing for a fatal lash or the agonizing sensation of my bones being pulverized.
However, the pain I imagined never came. Instead, there was only the soft whistling of wind. When I carefully peeked my eyes open, I was stunned by the sight before me. Those blood-stained, thorn-covered tentacles hadn't lunged to attack. Instead, they were curving and interlacing in mid-air, forming a massive heart-shaped arch - a grotesque symbol of affection standing in the center of a slaughterhouse.
An Yue looked up at me, her emerald eyes glowing brightly once more. She flashed a radiant smile and held the stuffed horse high toward me:
-"CONGRATULATIONS! You guessed RIGHT!"
Those words acted like a miracle, resurrecting us all from the brink of absolute despair. Instantly, the thick atmosphere of dread exploded into cheers and gasps of profound relief.
-"We actually made it... We're alive!"
-"Jesus Christ, he did it!"
Sobs of pure ecstasy broke out everywhere. I felt my shoulders slump as the crushing tension finally dissipated, yet the hard-learned caution of someone who had just escaped the jaws of death kept me from fully relaxing.
At that moment, the stuffed horse in An Yue's hands vibrated slightly. It was no longer a mere inanimate object. Its crimson eyes slowly opened - not with the murderous glare from before, but with a look that was... affectionate. It blinked at me, as if recognizing the person who had uncovered its true identity.
Watching a plush toy that was supposed to be cute "lovingly" eye me with blood-red orbs stained with remnants of human gore made my skin crawl. The "affection" of a demon felt, in many ways, far more terrifying than a direct threat.
-"As promised..." An Yue chirped, her voice as clear as an autumn lake.
BOOM!
An earth-shattering tremor shook the floor violently. From the blackened ceiling, a massive stone portal etched with ancient, eerie patterns suddenly manifested, slamming down into the center of the room. The terrified crowd scrambled aside as heavy dust billowed into the air.
-"This is the exit. It will take you away from here," the girl's voice rang out melodiously. Her small hand remained resting on the stuffed horse, which had now closed its eyes again.
Joy erupted like a whirlwind. The players behind me could no longer contain themselves, staring at that stone gate as if it were the light of salvation.
Chu Hao Cheng approached slowly and gave me a heavy, appreciative slap on the shoulder, his voice thick with admiration:
-"Brother, you've got serious guts. If it weren't for you, we'd all be mincemeat by now."
-"It was just luck..." I replied. My voice was calm, but my mind was elsewhere.
I stole a glance at the girl with the heterochromatic eyes. As if by habit, she was already looking at me. The corner of her mouth quirked into a suggestive smile, and she playfully winked.
That wink made me shudder more than the gaze of any monster.
In truth, from the moment the riddle began, I had been silently observing her. She was far more intelligent and perceptive than her fragile appearance suggested. Perhaps, from the very second An Yue uttered the riddle, she had realized the anomaly of the stuffed horse just as I had. But she wasn't foolish enough to step up as the sacrificial lamb.
Instead, she had sought me out, using encouraging words to turn me into the focal point, forcing me to put my head on the chopping block. If I were right, she lived. If I were wrong and got torn to shreds, she still bought herself time to adjust her own deduction. It was a flawless move to test a deadly hypothesis without shedding a single drop of her own blood. Using someone else's life as a litmus test for one's own survival? Impressive, in a twisted way.
It turns out that inside the Hell Gate, one must guard against their own kind just as much as the monsters - a cold truth that chilled me to the very bone.