Chapter 237: Life-or-Death Maze (15)
"Lick her."
She said she likes it when I lick her.
Qin Yanshu, who had delivered the line with a massive pause, single-handedly earned ten death glares and a heap of eye-rolls.
He looked down, studying Ji Ning's changing expression. If he hadn't done it for her own good, he would have just left it at that half-sentence.
Indeed, once she heard the full sentence, Ji Ning breathed a sigh of relief.
She felt Qin Yanshu was still a good person. If it had been anyone else, they would never have added the second half, and she would have been in deep trouble.
Among these men, apart from Song Weiyang who was easy to coax, the others were no pushovers. Coaxing them was difficult, and they would gladly make her suffer a little during the act. The consequences would be too terrible to imagine.
Jiang Ting gave Qin Yanshu a deep, knowing look, before his expression returned to normal. He announced, "Right now, we've reached a fork in the road. I suggest we split into three teams to scout ahead. Each team will use a specific symbol to mark the passages they've entered. If you hit a dead end, turn back and mark it again, then head into an unmarked passage, or a correctly marked passage that isn't flagged as an error, until you reach the next fork, and repeat."
The maze had multiple passages. Apart from the correct path forward, all the others would eventually lead to dead ends.
Once inside, there was no clever trick to finding the right path. You could only proceed by trial and error, with a little luck.
If they could split into multiple teams, they'd reduce the time needed for trial and error, clearing the maze faster.
Jiang Ting added, "Stick to teams of two. There's a risk of danger if you run into someone, so stay sharp."
Ji Ning asked, "So I'll go with one of the teams? How are you guys splitting up?"
It was an excellent question. A subtle yet strange atmosphere immediately crackled between the six men.
Who pairs with whom? Which team gets the right to guard the Princess? This was not something that could be decided casually.
"Jiang Ting and Yanshu, Xiao Song and Churan, and me with Yan Qiao," Xing Ye immediately assigned.
With him speaking up, everyone accepted the arrangement without objection.
Then, the whole group fell into a brief silence.
After the silence, Yan Qiao was the first to speak this time, looking at Ji Ning. "Which team do you want to join?"
He was asking for Ji Ning's opinion, that was true, but that look in his eyes... if she didn't say she was going with him, it was as if he was about to eat her alive.
But before Ji Ning could reply, Song Weiyang cut in, "Why force Ning-Ning to choose? If she volunteers to go with a team, fine. If she doesn't say anything, don't force her."
That was one layer. There was another, a selfish thought hidden in Song Weiyang's heart.
Everyone here knew Xing Ye held the heaviest weight in Ji Ning's heart. If Ji Ning chose Xing Ye, wouldn't Yan Qiao just be piggybacking on that?
"How about we do rock-paper-scissors? Whoever wins gets to go with Ning-Ning," Sheng Churan proposed, folding his arms.
The others shot him disapproving looks, with Jiang Ting and Qin Yanshu's stares being the most venomous.
After the stunt he had pulled earlier, representing Ji Ning for the task draw, everyone knew Sheng Churan had monstrous luck. Rock-paper-scissors has almost no technical skill involved. Whose brain would have to break to compete with him in luck?
Jiang Ting said in a low voice, "The ones protecting Ning-Ning should be the team with the highest combat power. Otherwise, let's settle this with a group arm-wrestling tournament. The winning team takes her."
Hearing this, everyone understood immediately. Jiang Ting and Qin Yanshu, that pair of brothers, would definitely be the best at arm wrestling.
Thus, no one agreed.
The situation fell into a deadlock once more.
Ji Ning: Dared not make a peep.
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