One person: Starting with the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, his grandmaster uncle emerges from seclusion.

He turned around and looked at Cecilia, who was sitting on the ground silently shedding tears, and Allen, who was trembling all over.

The pride and fighting spirit that these two young men had when they first arrived on the island were gone from their eyes.

All that remained was deep fear.

This European captain has always prioritized reason and interests.

At that moment, he suddenly closed his eyes.

He pulled out the communicator that represented the captain's authority from his pocket and casually tossed it on the ground.

"...That's enough."

Sherko's voice was terribly hoarse, carrying a sense of utter despair and resolute despair:

"The price... is too heavy."

"I'm not going to argue with this so-called longevity elixir."

......

In the heart of Paradise Island, on the vast white jade plaza in front of the Takamagahara Shrine.

At this moment, the atmosphere here can be described as quite tense.

To witness the birth of the champion as soon as possible.

The leaders of the delegations from various countries, their support staff, and the invited major sponsors were all seated in temporary open-air seating areas set up on both sides of the square by the organizing committee.

Originally, more than a dozen huge holographic projection screens were erected in the center of the square, claiming to broadcast the treasure hunt inside the temple from every angle.

result.

Since the last four teams stepped through that heavy bronze gate.

The content on the large screen was completely illegible.

Forget about seeing what was inside the door; there wasn't even a single scene.

It was completely gray and hazy.

"Fuck! What on earth is going on?!"

Jack, the team leader from Behemoth, slammed the cigar he had just lit into the ashtray with a grim face.

This cold-blooded politician, pointing at the screen filled with gray and white, launched a scathing attack on the organizers' area:

"Lord Takeda! I would like to remind you that we, Behemoth, have paid a huge exclusive sponsorship fee for this exchange tournament!"

"Is what you Japanese call cutting-edge broadcasting technology a product of the last century?"

"What are you asking us to do sitting here and watching at this crucial moment of battle?"

It wasn't just Jack who was unhappy.

The Earl of Spinwell, the representative of the Jade Society of Great Britain, sitting on the other side, also lost his usual composure at this moment.

The British nobleman, dressed in a suit and leaning on a silver-handled cane, had a slight frown.

He tapped the ground lightly with his cane, his tone less aggressive than Jack's, but every word was like a knife:

"Mr. Takeda, the Jade Society needs a reasonable explanation."

"Are we supposed to let the team leaders from different countries sit here like fools and wait blindly? If our young players encounter unfair treatment or unfair competition traps, who will testify?"

"This kind of 'absolutely black box' broadcasting accident is simply a desecration of international sports events."

Faced with the collective condemnation from these foreign bigwigs.

Standing in front of the control panel, Takeda, who was in charge of overall coordination, showed no panic whatsoever, but instead calmly explained.

"Distinguished guests, please be patient."

Takeda stood with his hands behind his back, his tone carrying a hint of affected arrogance:

"This is not a malfunction of our broadcasting equipment, but the will of the temple itself."

"The Takamagahara Shrine is a sacred site that has been passed down through the ages by the Great Japanese Empire. It is a small world of its own, filled with the power of rules that isolates it from the present world."

"Even the most skilled sorcerers cannot penetrate even an inch of their probing divine sense."

Takeda looked around at everyone and finally revealed the core of a competition format that sounded extremely cruel:

"That's the rule of the temple—absolute unknown."

"What dangers or opportunities lie inside depends entirely on their own fate. The only thing we can do is sit here and wait patiently."

"Wait for that door to open again, and see if a new king emerges carrying the [Longevity Elixir], or just a jumble of incomplete remains."

"This is a plan that was jointly decided upon after discussions among the top leaders of various countries!!"

These words created an incredible sense of suspense, elevating the temple's prestige to its peak.

The foreigners who had been shouting just moments before fell silent after hearing this explanation, exchanging bewildered glances.

The decisions made at the highest level are not something they can question or refute.

The unknown is often the most frightening thing.

No one knows what kind of hellish situation their team went through inside.

however.

Just then, the atmosphere in the square was so heavy, with everyone holding their breath, thanks to Takeda's efforts.

"Beep beep! Thump thump thump thump~"

A burst of cheerful, even slightly catchy, music suddenly emanated from the Chinese delegation's rest area.

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound.

Chapter 377 The British team's disastrous withdrawal from the competition!

Zhang Tianyi was lying sprawled out on his back.

He had his legs crossed, holding a game console in his hands, his thumbs clicking away.

"Oh dear, there are a lot of mushroom monsters in this level."

Zhang Tianyi kept jumping around in Super Mario while making sarcastic remarks without even looking up.

He didn't even glance at Takeda, merely giving him a lazy smirk:

"Hey, Xiao Tian, ​​if you don't have money to pay your internet bill, just say so. What are you talking about, some kind of miraculous land or the power of rules?"

"If you're really short on budget, just ask to borrow some."

Zhang Tianyi freed one hand, picked up a grape from the fruit plate next to him, and popped it into his mouth:

“When our company’s employees go out on a case, at least they know to strap a stabilized action camera to their foreheads. Your stinginess is just taking advantage of these foreigners’ lack of worldly experience.”

"puff--"

Feng Xingtong, who was standing next to her, couldn't hold back any longer and quickly covered her mouth with her hand, her shoulders shaking like a sieve.

Black Pipe also grinned and smiled silently, thinking to himself that God's ability to sabotage things was truly amazing.

Takeda's face, which had been trying to appear profound, instantly turned a deep liver color.

He gritted his teeth, but mindful of the man's formidable reputation, he swallowed his rebuttal and could only awkwardly turn away to pretend to adjust the equipment.

The anxious waiting returned to the square.

One hour.

two hours.

The two bronze doors, covered in moss, remained tightly shut.

There was no sound or movement.

This completely unknown experience made even the team leaders from various countries, who were originally full of confidence in their own teams, start to feel uneasy.

Count Spencer's fingers tightened around his cane as he stared at the lifeless screen, muttering to himself:

"It's been too long... With Sherko and the others' strength, even if they encountered danger, they should have shown signs of breakthrough by now."

Just when everyone's patience was almost exhausted, and some even began to doubt whether the team inside had been completely wiped out.

"Boom—!!"

A deep, muffled roar, as if it came from the depths of the earth.

Even the white jade floor tiles beneath their feet trembled slightly.

"There's movement!"

"The door is about to open!!"

Jack was the first to jump up from the sofa.

Representatives from other countries also flocked to the cordon closest to the temple gate, craning their necks and not daring to blink.

Feng Xingtong clenched his fists nervously and muttered to himself:

"It must be Brother Chu Lan and his group who won first place! With Daoist Wang and the others there, there's definitely no problem!"

In sight.

The two heavy bronze doors of the temple slowly opened a wide gap to the sides, accompanied by swirling dust.

Followed by.

Three figures, with faltering steps, slowly emerged from the dark shadows through the crack in the door.

When the lights in the square shone on their faces.

The entire waiting area fell into an even more deathly silence than before.

"Clang."

Count Spinwell's cane slid straight to the ground, but he was completely unaware.

The team that emerged was neither the Chinese team nor the American team.

It was the team from the Jade Society of Great Britain.