Chapter 62: Trinity

Three figures, resembling three disgusting green wooden stakes soaked in dye, were nailed to the center of the martial training field.

All eyes in the arena were fixed upon them. There was mockery, pity, but above all, a gloating sense of schadenfreude, as if watching a good show.

The three standing "coffins" served as three silent warnings, making everyone feel that the request made by Wu Neng's team was nothing short of courting death.

"Begin!"

Wang Ba's voice carried not the slightest ripple.

Wu Neng moved.

There was no command.

He merely lifted his left foot, moving forward half a step.

The iron chain tightened gently. A subtle yet unmistakably clear force traveled through the cold metal straight to the ankles of Li Si and Zhang Goudan.

Li Si's body moved subconsciously in response.

Zhang Goudan moved as well.

Their movements remained clumsy and uncoordinated. The three of them looked like a drunken crab, moving sideways and crookedly, stumbling, and nearly falling once again.

"Damn it!" someone among a team of survivors muttered under their breath. "Are they actually still going for it? Truly refusing to shed a tear until they see their own coffin!"

Wu Neng ignored them.

He steadied his stance and stepped forward once more.

This time, his movements became slower and steadier.

When his sole touched the ground, he did not immediately lift his other foot; instead, he paused for half a breath, allowing that force to transmit fully and clearly through the iron chain.

Once.

And again.

Like an infant learning to walk, exploring the mystery of balance with their entire body.

Li Si's mind was completely blank.

The darkness before his eyes forced all his senses to concentrate entirely on the cold iron chain around his ankle.

He could feel every exertion of force by Wu Neng, every single pause.

That was no longer a crude, violent yank.

It was... guidance.

An unquestionable, silent guidance.

He began to try not to think, simply to feel.

To feel the tension of the iron chain, to feel the direction of the force.

Zhang Goudan was the same.

His brain, which had nearly shut down from sheer terror, was finally freed from the torment of "listening to commands" and "making reactions."

He did not need to listen.

He only needed to follow the movement.

When the iron chain pulled him, he walked.

When the iron chain stopped, he stopped.

The three of them remained entirely silent.

On the training field, only their eerie footsteps, accompanied by the friction of metal, could be heard.

They walked very slowly, as slow as snails.

Yet, they no longer stumbled.

They were advancing in a way that no one could comprehend.

Ahead lay the first obstacle.

A dozen uneven wooden stakes were scattered across the ground like a miniature forest of death.

Wu Neng stopped.

The iron chain tightened slightly.

Li Si and Zhang Goudan stopped along with him.

Wu Neng raised his right foot.

He lifted it high.

The iron chain around his ankle was pulled upward, forming a taut arc.

Li Si felt that upward force.

He lifted his foot as well.

Zhang Goudan did the same.

The three of them, like a trio of manipulated puppets, crossed a wooden stake using the exact same posture.

Put it down.

Lift it again.

Cross over again.

Their movements remained ridiculously clumsy.

Yet, they made it through.

Not a single one of them tripped.

The mocking laughter in the training field gradually died away.

Everyone stared wide-eyed at these three green monsters, watching them traverse that array of stakes with an almost eerie tacit understanding.

On the reviewing platform, Qin Cang's mouth dropped open once more.

Zhang Wei subconsciously rubbed his eyes.

Xiao Zhan remained expressionless.

Only the hand holding his teacup froze mid-air.

Wu Neng's team arrived before the narrow passageway, wide enough for only a single person to pass through.

This was the most crucial part.

This was where the traitor had made his choice.

This was also the origin from which the three coffins had been born.

Wu Neng stopped.

The iron chain slackened.

Li Si's heart leaped instantly into his throat!

He could not see, but he could imagine.

Wu Neng was untying that slipknot.

Then, Wu Neng would walk through alone.

Then, Wu Neng would abandon them, just like that traitor, and flee by himself.

Fear grasped his heart like a cold hand!

Zhang Goudan's body began to shake uncontrollably once again.

However!

The anticipated "click" of the slipknot being untied never sounded.

The iron chain tightened once more!

Yet it was not pulling forward!

Instead, it was a lateral force!

Wu Neng had not untied the slipknot!

He merely turned his body sideways!

Using his shoulder against the wall of the narrow passageway, he forcefully squeezed himself in!

Then, he pulled on the iron chain!

Li Si and Zhang Goudan were dragged sideways by this force as well!

The three of them, like a string of skewered crabs, in an extremely awkward and agonizingly slow posture, inched their way bit by bit into that narrow corridor!

"Clatter—clatter—"

The iron chains scraped a harsh sound against the rough walls.

Their bodies pressed tightly against one another.

Li Si could smell the nauseating stench emanating from Zhang Goudan, a mixture of horse manure, sweat, and terror.

Yet, he did not dodge.

Because he could clearly feel that damned iron chain still firmly locking the three of them together.

Wu Neng had not abandoned them.

This madman had used the most foolish and yet most genius method imaginable—one no one could have ever foreseen—to crack the death trap regarding "trust" that Xiao Zhan had laid out!

He refused to make a choice!

Dead silence hung over the training field.

Everyone was utterly shocked by this scene!

They watched those three green figures, like a deformed conjoined monster, struggling yet with absolute determination wriggling forward inside the narrow passage.

"What the... even that works?!"

A soldier muttered to himself.

Incredibility was written all over his face.

Xiao Zhan slowly put down the teacup in his hand.

For the first time, the corners of his mouth twitched upward into a microscopic, almost imperceptible arc.

"Rather interesting," he said softly.

At last, Wu Neng's team squeezed their way out of that accursed passage.

The obstacles that followed grew simpler.

Their movements grew increasingly coordinated.

The iron chain seemed to have grown into their flesh, becoming an integral part of their bodies.

The moment the three of them, battered and bruised yet still chained together, crossed the finish line—

The entire training field remained locked in absolute silence.

Wu Neng stopped in his tracks, panting heavily.

Li Si slowly pulled off the black cloth blindfolding his eyes.

He looked at Zhang Goudan beside him, who was likewise covered in filth, and then looked at the expressionless Wu Neng.

Suddenly, he smiled.

As he smiled, tears streamed down his face.

It was an emotion born of surviving a catastrophe, mixed with humiliation, fear, and a strange, indescribable sentiment.

Zhang Goudan also ripped off his blindfold.

He looked at Li Si, the "teammate" he had wanted nothing more than to kill just yesterday.