Survival of the Nation: My luck was a tiny bit worse.

On the corner of the table sat a pot of unidentified purple plant with thick leaves whose edges shimmered with a faint fluorescent light.

Just as he was about to get up, a hairy head suddenly popped out of the doorway.

It wasn't a lynx, nor was it the big cat from before.

It's a... monkey.

The monkey squatted on the threshold, tilting its head to look at him, holding a half-eaten wild fruit in its hand.

"Uh... hello?"

The monkey ignored him, of course, and just turned around and squeaked twice towards the door.

Soon, four or five monkeys appeared all at once, squatted at the door, and stared at him like they were watching animals in a zoo.

Mike: ...

Wait, wait, this is a forest, so it's normal to have all kinds of animals here!

Just as he was about to say something, a series of heavy footsteps suddenly came from outside the door.

The footsteps were so heavy that they didn't sound like anything a human could make—each step was accompanied by a muffled thud.

Then a huge figure appeared in the doorway.

It was a giant, completely black tortoise?!

The tortoise shell is at least ten meters in diameter, and when it stands at the door, it completely blocks the entire door frame.

The giant tortoise lowered its head, looked at Mike in the room with its beady eyes, then opened its mouth and made a low gurgling sound.

Glug glug!

Judging from her tone, she seems quite unhappy.

After all, they didn't see any familiar faces upon entering, but instead encountered a completely unfamiliar two-legged creature—a giant tortoise. Their single-minded, mismatched strength led them to simply assume that two-legged creatures were like them, that they were all one family.

But Mike was terrified.

"...?!"

What the hell is this thing?!

Mike froze on the spot.

He felt he had never been so nervous in his life.

Is this some kind of amazing zoo?

Monkeys are one thing! But where did such a huge turtle come from?!

Oh, and there was that huge lynx from before...!

Good heavens, is the Chinese contestant some kind of Pokémon Master?!?

The giant tortoise looked at him with its tiny, bean-sized eyes, then at the glowing purple plant on the table.

I gestured towards it with my lip.

"Gurgle!"

Hey, hand me that bowl of stuff.

—If Mike could understand.

Of course, Mike couldn't understand it; he was forced to just watch it.

"..."

But as Mike looked at it, he suddenly realized that he seemed to have seen this kind of turtle somewhere before.

Before he was selected as a contestant in the forbidden zone, the country compiled statistics on all the mutated animals that had appeared in the forbidden zones based on all the forbidden zone live broadcasts, and even classified them into levels.

This giant turtle is listed in the intelligence files as an S-level threat species, codenamed "Black Reef". The only recorded sighting was when this turtle devoured a team of six people from two countries in thirty seconds.

And right now, this S-class mutated behemoth is staring at him like he's a thief.

Mike suddenly realized that their previous plan might have been a bit too naive—no, not just the whole plan, but themselves. The moment they had this ridiculous idea, and even now, it's been so incredibly ridiculous!

What exactly is this camp?

Hey, is this hell?!

But the funny thing is...

He had to force himself to stay focused—

Damn it, is he participating in a "If you can't hold it in, you die" game competition?!

*

Mike, leaning on his trekking pole, wanted to go to the toilet.

I had only gone halfway when a black bird, as big as a small lump of coal, blocked my way.

Look at this little thing, it's about the size of a palm, fluffy, and kind of cute.

Mike thought to himself, "Good heavens, has he finally seen a normal animal?!"

I instinctively wanted to caress it with my hand.

But before his hand could even get close, the little coal ball's eyes suddenly crackled with electric light, instantly numbing his hand.

"Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp!!"

You think you're so great? You think you're so tough?!

—Even though Mike could understand what he was saying.

Mike was surprised again.

Not only do they have magical items, but they also have magical pets?!

Good heavens! What kind of hellhole is this?!

Mike took a step to the left.

The little coal ball hopped one step to the left.

Mike, move to the right.

The little coal ball is to the right.

"Chirp!!"

Mike took a deep breath. "I just need to go to the bathroom..."

The little coal ball remained unmoved.

Finally, Ou Yun, who happened to be passing by, came to his rescue—he casually tossed a piece of jerky to Little Coal Ball, who, with the jerky in its mouth, glared at him with an expression completely out of character for its size and appearance, and then flew away arrogantly.

Mike looked blank. "Th-thank you..."

Ou Yun gloated, "It's okay, you'll get used to it."

*

Mike wanted to go to the kitchen to get some water.

This time, it was mung beans that stopped him.

Green Bean lay on its back at the kitchen doorway, belly up, limbs outstretched, sleeping like a dead pig.

Mike carefully stepped over Green Bean—but as soon as he lifted his foot, Green Bean suddenly opened his eyes and stared at him with an expression as if he were trash.

"……sorry."

Mike silently withdrew his foot.

Green Bean continued to sleep with its eyes closed.

Mike swallowed hard, preparing to take a detour—but as he turned around, he bumped into Nanbei.

Nanbei squatted on the stone steps at the kitchen entrance, looking down at him.

Nanbei was several sizes larger than Ludou, and its fur gleamed silver-gray in the firelight. Its golden eyes were expressionless.

He had already experienced the power of this big cat; even its expressionless face was enough to send chills down his spine.

Mike stood frozen in place.

Nanbei seemed to suddenly become curious, slowly lowered her head, moved closer to him, and sniffed him.

Then I sneezed.

Mike sneezed and his face was covered in saliva.

Then Nanbei flicked its tail, turned around, and left.

Mike wiped the drool from his face—

For some reason, he suddenly felt that he might not survive the night.

But he couldn't give up.

Sarah and James were still waiting outside for his signal.

Their plan was clear—he would infiltrate the Dragon Kingdom camp disguised as a wounded and isolated survivor, find out the enemy's defensive layout and personnel configuration, and then find an opportunity to create chaos from within.

While the Chinese players were in a flurry of activity, James broke through from the outside, with Sarah providing support and finishing off the attackers.

They have been scouting locations for almost a week for this project.

The outer defenses of the Dragon Kingdom camp were indeed very thorough—low walls, early warning lines, watchtowers, patrol routes, and everything else were well-organized.

Sarah analyzed that a direct breakthrough would offer almost no chance of victory.

The only way is to disintegrate it from within.

Mike, being the most skilled in close combat and psychological warfare among the three, was naturally the best candidate to carry out this mission.

He even cut his own right leg just to make the wounded soldier's identity seem more credible.

But what he never expected was...

The absurdity of the interior of this camp far exceeded all their previous estimates...

This is absolutely not a place for a human to live!