Chapter 96

96 A BRIDGE TO HELL

It turned out that no one withdrew from the event even after hearing the explanation from the imperial soldier who was in charge of reading out the rules in front of all the participants.

The other participants came prepared, and Bai Chen made the right decision by not backing down from the event. If he ended up pulling himself out of the event before it started, then he would only embarrass himself in front of the other participants.

What’s more, he would receive a series of insults from Bai Renshu, not to mention that his points would be deducted by the system as well if he failed to complete the mission he had agreed to.

When the guards made sure no one wanted to back out of the event, they then let the participants enter the forest before setting up another barrier around the forest.

Bai Chen could see how the people in front of him were starting to move forward, but he was still where he was because he wanted to be the last person to enter the battle area.

He thought it would be good to observe the other participants first. If he suddenly heard the participants screaming or even crying as soon as they set foot in the forest, then he would know that they were in danger, so perhaps he would have time if he wanted to change his mind.

‘Why do I keep thinking about withdrawing from this event? I’m already in this place, and I can’t just back away and embarrass myself. Moreover, I don’t have many points in my inventory, so if the system reduces my points, I might die,’ he groaned inwardly as he kept telling himself that he couldn’t just cancel his participation in the event no matter what.

Bai Chen tried to calm himself down, and he secretly glanced at the imperial soldiers guarding the participants as they were about to enter the forest.

He only saw the imperial army, but he did not see Bai Guowei and Wu Shun in the area. It was said that the two Emperors would monitor the event, but they probably wouldn’t do it in person as the forest was definitely not the place for them.

.....

Bai Chen could see how the crowd in front of him was starting to move forward, but he frowned when he saw how the people were moving too slowly. There were only less than a hundred participants, but they seemed to have to line up to enter the Forbidden Forest.

‘Looks like we’re about to ride the famous roller coaster at the amusement park when we even have to queue for hours,’ Bai Chen thought to himself, and he even rolled his blue eyes when he realized that his thoughts were ridiculous.

A roller coaster would be fun, but he was sure there was nothing fun in the woods, so they didn’t have to line up just to enter the forest where they would risk their lives.

The situation before him seemed strange, and Bai Chen chose to move his feet forward to get a better picture of the forest. But then his feet froze as his blue eyes managed to see what kind of forest waiting for them.

It turned out that the forest was located on different land and not part of the mainland. There was a deep chasm as the border between the forest and the mainland, and it was so deep that Bai Chen couldn’t see the bottom. Even the forest ground looked like it was floating because he couldn’t see the underground.

There was a deep ravine, and above the gorge was a bridge made of wood and rope, and it didn’t look very safe. The soldiers asked the participants to cross the bridge one by one, and that is why it took them so long to reach the forest.

And when one person stepped onto the old bridge, Bai Chen could see the bridge shaking as if it was about to break, and Bai Chen held his breath as he continued to stare at the other participants who were crossing the bridge.

The people participating in the event were not just ordinary people, and they all came well prepared. Perhaps crossing the bridge was just a piece of cake for them, and Bai Chen didn’t see that they looked scared at all.

Their faces were different from Bai Chen who looked pale as if his face was made of paper. He had lost all the blood on his face, and he looked like a corpse even if his heart was still pounding so hard.

Of course, his heart was pounding because he felt so nervous right now. The bridge was only the first obstacle, but it felt like he wanted to give up now.

He could see how Bai Renshu managed to cross the bridge with ease, and Bai Chen felt even more envious when he saw how the Crown Prince had managed to enter the Forbidden Forest.

And even Shao Meihui didn’t look scared at all. The girl calmly brought her feet to step on the bridge hanging above the ravine, and she didn’t even look back as she casually started walking on it.

Even if he had agreed to enter the Forbidden Forest together with Shao Meihui, the girl had ended up leaving him alone. Even the three guards faithfully followed the girl because their main task was to protect the girl during the event.

Now Bai Chen could see the image of the bridge after other participants crossed it, and he looked even more frightened when he saw the bridge. It was indeed an old bridge, and some of the steps were even missing, leaving a hole large enough to make a body slip and fall into the abyss.

Perhaps Bai Chen didn’t overreact when he said that the abyss was bottomless. When he stood by the bridge and looked down at the ravine, he couldn’t see the bottom, so he assumed that he wasn’t wrong to think that the bridge probably would bring him to Hell instead of the forest.

Bai Chen bit his lower lip nervously as he looked at the bridge blankly, but then he heard someone questioning him from the side.

“You are Prince Bai Chen, right? Are you going to enter the forest or not? We need to set up a barrier immediately, so you better make your choice now.”

It was one of the soldiers who questioned Bai Chen, and the Prince cursed inwardly, ‘He knows that I’m Prince Bai Chen, but he dares to speak to me without any respect.’

Even if Bai Chen continued to receive such treatment, he still didn’t like hearing disrespectful words from the people of this world. Even the soldier dared to treat him like that, and it seemed that he really had no dignity.

Bai Chen sighed, but he decided to ignore the man’s words as he started to move his trembling legs onto the old bridge. His legs were indeed shaking, and his entire body experienced tremors as well.

It got worse when his right foot finally stepped on the wooden bridge. His whole body was shaking, so when he took the first step on the bridge, he could see that the bridge was starting to shake.

It was a bad sign, and Bai Chen felt even more nervous, but all he could hear were the soldiers laughing at his misfortune.

Bai Chen was alone on the bridge, and he could fall into the abyss if he made a mistake, but the soldiers didn’t seem to care about his safety even though he was the Prince of Dong Lang.

Perhaps they were openly mocking him, but Bai Chen knew that it was not the time to feel sad just because of that. If he ended up falling into the abyss, those people would probably only laugh louder than feeling bad for him, so all he could do now was prove to them that he was capable enough to cross the bridge.

With that in mind, Bai Chen took a deep breath as he continued to take another step on the bridge. Some of the steps on the bridge were missing, but he was lucky because he was still able to hold on to the ropes of the bridge.

He gripped the rope tightly as he carefully stepped on the bridge. Even if his legs continued to tremble, Bai Chen managed to reach the middle of the bridge, but he was once again nervous because three steps were missing in the middle of the bridge.

The three missing steps left a great deal of space, and he needed to spread his legs wide if he wanted to reach another step so he could continue across the bridge. Bai Chen did spread his legs, and he could feel how his feet managed to touch the next step.

Everything seemed fine, but suddenly, the step he was standing on broke, causing him to lose his balance, and he even forgot to hold the rope as his body slipped off the bridge.

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‘Is this the end of my life in this world?’