Chapter 280 - The One Who Won

Li Ling knew that he wasn't going to win but he also knew that he was going to try his best to win and by doing that, he was going to win something far more important than just a game. 

By trying his best, although he was going to lose the game, he was going to win Zhihao's trust and at this moment, that was all he really cared about. 

Li Ling ran out and tried to understand what the system didn't want him to understand. 

Li Ling was the gamemaster, and it was only natural that because of this, he was the one who knew the system the best. 

If the other players could find the golden key, it was not very impossible to think that Li Ling could find one as well. 

The man knew that the system would never give them a mission that was impossible to complete. The system had already given all the hints but it never said that the players had seen all the hints. This meant that there was something that they had been missing. 

The mission was simple but at the same time, it was not as simple as it sounded. They were given all the hints but at the same time, all the hints had not been analyzed by them yet. 

It didn't take long for Li Ling to realize that the structure on the floor that he had noticed wasn't just the shape and map of the maze, but it was much more than that. 

Li Ling seemed to have realized something that both Zhihao and his brother had missed. It was something that even Li Ying hadn't noticed even after having thoroughly examined the floor.

Li Ling's lips curled up in a small smirk as he tapped around the ground and tried to find something. 

To be more exact, he tried to find a tile that was not as sturdy as the other ones and after a few minutes of searching, he was indeed able to find that tile that was not fixed properly. 

Li Ling felt excited as he used all his strength to pull the tile out of the ground. At first, it looked to be completely useless but after a few more minutes of trying, he was really able to lift the tile. 

The man took a sharp breath in as he looked at the piece of rolled-up paper that was hidden under the tile. 

His eyes immediately lit up as if he had already expected to see this paper. 

The reason why he knew that there was going to be a paper under there was because the structure on the floor depicted a small round motif that one might think was placed there just for decoration purposes, but of course, Li Ling knew better. 

In the game inventory, this small motif was actually used to denote a secret map that players would rarely find when they were playing T.I.A.D. 

Because of this single motif, Li Ling was able to find a map that was going to be quite useful for him. 

The man gulped as he opened up the piece of paper and took a good look at it. 

It was a map depicting not only the image and layout of the overall maze, but it was also a map that depicted the right path that a player needed to take in order to get to the center. To be more exact, a path that had no traps waiting for the players. 

Li Ling surely found it a bit shocking to know that there was such an easy path that was free from any traps, but even though he was shocked, he was not hesitant as he immediately took to his feet. 

The man was still not all that confident that he was going to win this game in the end, but by finding this map, he felt as if he had improved his chances. 

If the other two players, Huang Zhen and Zhihao hadn't found this map then Li Ling certainly had an advantage to his side that might just end up making him win this competition. 

This was the final race and the more advantages a player had, the better their chances of winning were going to be. 

Zhihao and Huang Zhen already had a time advantage over Li Ling, and Li Ling now had a special directional map advantage over the other two players. This simply made the game more intense and unpredictable. 

The viewership of all the gaming news channels that were currently covering this big final level naturally grew with every single passing second. 

Huang Zhen and Zhihao were fast as they moved, avoided, and tricked the system to let them get out of the traps. There were some traps that were simply unavoidable and in those ones, they tried their best to finish it as soon as possible so that they could keep moving. 

All three were competitive and they knew the importance of time at the moment. 

After another twenty minutes of moving inside the maze, the players finally started getting closer to the center of the maze, and unsurprisingly enough, it was Huang Zhen who was in the lead and he was followed by Li Ling which made Zhihao the last person in this race. 

However, the race wasn't over yet and even though Zhihao was not doing very good being at the back of the race, since there was still time, everyone believed that anything could happen in the next few minutes. 

For Zhihao to win, it was still not completely impossible. 

Of course, there were also fans that switched from Zhihao to Li Ling and started supporting and hoping for the man to win after seeing that he was doing all of this for Mastermo. 

If Zhihao couldn't win then they wanted his boyfriend to win. 

After another ten minutes, the game was almost about to be over, but thankfully enough, before the timer ran out, one of the players was able to get to the center of the maze and it was no other than Huang Zhen who looked to be confused and shocked as he looked around in search of another player. 

The boy clearly couldn't believe that he was the one who had won and this was only natural considering the fact that the boy had a very low self-confidence level. 

Li Ling also arrived at the center shortly after and his eyes looked to be a little relieved and dejected at the same time as he saw that there was already someone here. 

Li Ling sighed as he looked at Huang Zhen, "You're fast, boy." 

Huang Zhen snapped his head back to look at Li Ling as he heard this and the boy looked as if he still had a hard time believing it. 

"Li Ling Gege," Huang Zhen called out to the man, "What's happening?" 

"Hmm?" Li Ling tilted his head with a  bit of confusion in response as he heard this question. 

"Where is Mastermo?" Huang Zhen questioned with a complicated expression plastered on his face and Li Ling opened his mouth to answer the man but before the answer could roll out of his tongue, the two heard the familiar voice of a third person who had arrived. 

"I am here," Zhihao chuckled as he stated and finally entered the center room of the maze that was already preoccupied with Li Ling and Huang Zhen. 

Huang Zhen's eyes lit up as he heard the voice but once he looked over at Zhihao, the man couldn't help but frown as his face cringed up in disgust and he questioned impolitely, "What the hell happened to you." 

Zhihao, at this moment, looked as if he came straight out of a horror movie with blood all over his body. 

Zhihao pursed his lips as he heard this question and looked down at himself only to see that he was completely red from top to bottom. 

With a sigh, the man responded, "Don't ask. It's better if you don't know." 

Zhihao felt reluctant to confess that the reason why he was late and only came looking like this was because the system decided to pour a rain of blood all over him inside a particular trap, and as if that wasn't bad enough, the rain of blood seemed to be poisonous and had managed to even burn his skin. 

If it weren't for that one new trap that he had never seen before then Zhihao would have surely been able to reach here sooner. 

Li Ling chuckled as he looked at Zhihao and heard him vaguely brush off the situation.

"A-Zhi, you lost." 

"..."

"I won and I completed my promise as well," Li Ling added with a bright smile plastered on his face, making him look much alike a kid that was waiting to be appreciated for being good. 

Zhihao couldn't help but chuckle as a response after hearing this. 

"Do you want me to give you some treats for being obedient?' Zhihao asked jokingly, but Li Ling didn't seem to be joking as he bobbed his head up and down. 

"Treats would be appreciated! But I would prefer it if my treat was called A-Zhi." 

"..." Zhihao's ears blushed red for some reason as he heard this.