Chapter 278 - A Competition Between Brothers

Huang Zhen gulped as he immediately turned around and started walking in the opposite direction, heading for the real center of the maze. 

At this moment, he couldn't help but feel as if he owed his life to Li Ying for actually sacrificing herself just to help him. 

This was something that he had never expected the girl to do for him, and surely enough, it surprised him, however, when the shock had settled in, he felt grateful to her. 

She was certainly a great friend that he had managed to make and the boy was sure that he won't be finding friends like her again in this life. 

It wasn't every day that you get to meet people who are more than ready to sacrifice themselves for a friendship. The one who has such a friend was surely favored by the Gods of luck.

The boy tried his best to avoid falling into more traps but it was eventually inevitable, however, Huang Zhen reacted fast enough and tricked the system into thinking that there was no player inside the trap which eventually led to the deactivation of the trap and Huang Zhen could continue on in his way. 

For the first time in the day, the boy felt as if he had a chance. He still refused to believe that he was ahead of the other players, however, at this moment, he had a feeling that he had an equal chance at winning. 

Although Huang Zhen was the only one with the golden key, the boy was not conceited enough to think that he was the only one who had realized this. He was more than sure that his brother would see this as well. After all, there was nothing that could escape Mastermo's eyes. 

It was only a matter of time before Zhihao also finds the golden key and Huang Zhen seemed to have been correct in thinking like this since it really only took a few more minutes for Zhihao to realize that the pattern on the floor was weird. 

Zhihao gulped as he crouched down to the ground and took a closer look at the pattern that looked somewhat like a spider but there were also cracks inside that spider, almost making it look as if... It was a map... Inside of a spider! 

Zhihao's eyes widened as he took a minute to process this information through his brain and when he was done doing that, he couldn't help but want to laugh and cry at the same time. 

He had been reckless once again. He had acted before thinking and now that he was thinking, he felt as if he had been stupid. 

Zhihao took a sharp breath in as he turned around and got ready to head to the real center before stopping after just a few steps as he thought about Li Ling. 

He and Li Ling were supposed to be competing with each other on a fair basis, so it was clearly Li Ling's fault if he still hadn't realized that he was headed the wrong way, however, this didn't stop Zhihao from worrying about the man. 

He wanted to help Li Ling but he didn't even know where the man was so it was only natural that Zhihao could do nothing to help Li Ling at this moment. 

At the end of the day, even with a heart that wanted to run and find Li Ling, Zhihao was still able to hold back and ran through the maze as he headed for the center. 

The man thought that he was probably the only one who had noticed the pattern on the floor and even if someone were to tell him that his brother had also found it, Zhihao would surely find it a bit hard to believe. 

With Yingli out of the game, there were only three players and one gamemaster remaining. 

Out of the four people, only Huang Zhen and Zhihao had managed to find the golden key and were headed for the real center. 

Tian Xifeng was quite shocked when she heard Li Ying being eliminated and she also instantly realized that she was one of the remaining three that were supposed to beat the gamemaster. 

This was a bit shocking considering the fact that the woman had never expected to come this far, and she hadn't seriously tried to win this game either. 

Tian Xifeng and Li Ling, who were both unaware of the golden key kept walking towards the fake center which would eventually lead them to not only waste their time but also make them have a higher chance of being eliminated. 

Now the tides of the game shifted and it became a competition not only between two players but also between two brothers who were both amazing in their own ways. 

Most of the audience that watched this stream were screaming and cheering for Zhihao as they rooted for him, whereas, Huang Zhen clearly didn't have that many fans. 

Everyone knew him because he was one of the top ten players who was also in Li Ying's team, but since he was rather new in the industry, there weren't many people willing to cheer for him. 

Li Ying was perhaps the only person who woke up and without wasting time, went over towards the main hall to watch the live stream as she actively cheered on for the boy with a complicated expression plastered on her face as her eyes managed to catch a glimpse of Zhihao who had also realized the trick that the system had tried to use on them. 

"Come on... You better not lose this, Zhen," Li Ying muttered under her breath but Huang Zhen would naturally not be able to hear her. 

Huang Zhen fell into a lot of traps but he managed to escape through every single one of them while Zhihao only fell into a couple of traps and managed to escape them with ease as he used the cheat trick to fool the system. 

This really turned into an intense race and nobody was able to confidently predict the end outcome of this race. 

More than a few minutes passed and Li Ling reached the fake center with a bright smile on his face. 

The man looked around to see whether he was the first one or not and he was immediately able to tell that none of the other players had managed to come here just yet, however, even after knowing that he was the first, Li Ling's smile still went down and turned into a frown as he waited for the system to announce his win. 

But since he hadn't won, it was only natural that the system didn't announce anything. 

The man waited for a bit more and Tian Xifeng was the next player that showed up. 

Li Ling's eyebrows creased together in suspicion as he saw the woman but he said nothing out loud. 

"Li Ling Gege? You're already here?" Tian Xifeng questioned in surprise as she looked at the man wide-eyed before sighing as she muttered, "I knew I wouldn't be first. It would have been a miracle if I was able to beat you all." 

Li Ling frowned as he heard this and something in his mind seemed to have clicked after hearing the woman. 

"Hey, you also didn't hear it, did you?" Li Ling asked as he looked at the woman. 

Tian Xifeng frowned as she heard this random question and asked back, "What are you talking about?" 

"The system announcing the winner," Li Ling gulped as he replied. 

"Huh?" 

"It didn't announce either of us as the winner and A-Zhi is still not here yet," Li Ling frowned as he stated, "There is something wrong." 

"Maybe you're overthinking it?" Tian Xifeng tilted her head as she responded, "The system is probably calculating. It's normal for it to lag a bit." 

"No," Li Ling shook his head as he refused to agree to her, "That's definitely not it. I built the system so I would naturally know." 

Tian Xifeng's eyebrows creased together as she heard this and she nodded her head before she questioned, "Then what is it, Gege?" 

Li Ling took a deep breath in as he tried to think up the different situations that could possibly cause this. 

It was clear to him that this was not caused by a system defect. If the system was not lagging then it meant no player had won yet. 

But seeing as how this part of the maze was circular in size, Li Ling was sure that this was the center of the maze and since he was here, he should have already won the game, but he didn't and he wanted to know why he didn't. 

Tian Xifeng looked around as if she was trying to search for something and Li Ling frowned as he asked the woman, "What are you looking for?" 

"Maybe there is some kind of secret trick to solving the mission. Maybe we need to find something in the center of the maze." 

Li Ling repeated the woman's words in his head and it seemed that something the woman said had managed to shock him.

"A secret trick..." The man muttered under his breath as realization slowly hit him.