Chapter 1305
Robin reacted way faster than Eleanor, and when he realized he couldn’t help the others, he immediately pulled her up, “Don’t look down, choose now!”
His voice was loud, enough to bring Eleanor back from her thoughts.
She steadied herself, staring at the box in front of her, and slowly reached out.
The box was sealed shut, impossible to open. And with all four types of insects being lightweight, it was impossible to discern what was inside.
As she was anxious and indecisive, the one-armed man next to her, due to lack of time, randomly hit the button labeled ‘butterfly’.
The box opened, and what flew out wasn’t a butterfly, but a moth. Simultaneously, the Death Door beneath him opened.
Fortunately, the one-armed man wasn’t standing on the round mark. He didn’t fall straight down like Scarface Man, but turned around and bolted.
He thought that leaving the arcade would save him, but as soon as he took a step beyond the arcade, the tiled floor beneath him opened up.
Without any warning, he fell down, and at the same time, the adjacent tiles opened up one after another.
Meaning not only was the round mark a trapdoor, the entire floor they were standing on was a trapdoor. Choosing wrong, or not choosing at all, would result in falling down, until they were swallowed by snakes.
Seeing the man being slowly devoured by the snakes, his flesh being stripped away layer by layer, Eleanor felt a wave of nausea.
It was only now that she understood why no one ever made it out of the nine-round game. Each round was a matter of life and death, no one could escape.
“5, 4…”
“Eleanor!” Robin’s voice echoed in her ears again, and Eleanor, seemingly resigned to her fate, like the one-armed man, hit the button labeled ‘butterfly’.
The box opened, and a blue butterfly spread its wings and flew out, fluttering towards the sky as if it had found freedom.
Once Robin confirmed Eleanor had chosen correctly, he finally relaxed. Then, at the last second of the mechanic voice countdown, he hit the button.
The moment he hit the button, Eleanor, not daring to look, covered her eyes and staggered backward.
But the expected sound of the Death Door opening did not come. Instead, she heard Robin’s clear and loud voice, “Eleanor.”
Hearing his voice, Eleanor slowly opened her eyes, seeing Robin leaning against the control panel, his head slightly tilted, smiling at her.
He was actually quite good looking. When he smiled, the dimples on both cheeks, one deep and one shallow, were quite charming.
Seeing his safe and sound smile, Eleanor was overwhelmed with joy and broke down in tears.
Robin, on the other hand, spread his arms and tilted his chin at her, “Come here, gimme a hug.”
After the end of the second round game, Eleanor found the key to the handcuffs in a compartment of the suitcase, and the two of them were finally freed.
Eleanor smiled and walked over to embrace him, “This is our second brush with death.”
The first time was during the first round, the second was the seventh. In the meantime, with the assistance of Scarface Man, they had not felt endangered. It was, only these two times that were real.
Robin, with his wish fulfilled to hold Eleanor, his smile became even more pronounced.
Even though it was just comfort after surviving a catastrophe, for him, it was enough for a lifetime.
“If you hadn’t chosen correctly just now, I had already decided to go down in your place.”
After so many rounds of games, Robin had already figured out the trapdoor mechanism.
No matter which round of the game, the trapdoor needed one person to fall in for it to end.
So watching Eleanor fall down without doing anything was worse than him going down himself.
Robin’s words touched Eleanor. She patted Robin’s back gently, whispering, “No one is worth your life, Robin. You need to take good care of yourself.”
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: A Second Chance At Forever novel (Eleanor and Bernard)
Loved the story, many times caught in so much actually crying with the situation. Wish had more chapters to a better ending....
It's weird that the story went from narrative to slang use. Good story so far though...