Chapter 141: "Shall We Test It?"

Aren stiffened at once.

The dizziness slowed her reaction just enough that she recognized where he had touched a heartbeat too late. She stepped away almost immediately, slipping free of his touch.

"N-No... that can’t be." She forced out a weak laugh. "I’m... I’m feeling terribly cold down here."

Jordan reached for her again.

This time, he caught her hand.

Just as he had suspected. Her fingers were still ice-cold, yet beneath that freezing skin, her body radiated unmistakable fever.

’She’s got reactive fever.’

Without hesitation, he stepped closer, slipping an arm around her to steady her.

"Ariana, don’t try to fool me." His voice softened with concern. "I’ve had this before, the first time I went through one of the flooded chambers. You’re burning up inside, aren’t you?"

Aren let out a quiet sigh.

There was no point hiding it anymore.

’He caught me.’

The fever was worsening rapidly now, each wave of dizziness making her body feel heavier than the last. Leaning lightly against him, she gave his arm a reassuring pat.

"Y-Yes... I’m afraid so. B-But I can still function."

She forced a faint smile.

"So... let’s keep moving. If we find the coin quickly and get out of this maze, that’ll be better for me too."

Jordan couldn’t argue with that. As much as he wanted her to rest, the fastest way to help her was to get her out of the freezing underground chambers.

Tightening his hold on her hand, he gently urged her forward.

"Then let’s keep going."

Together, they continued along the wall, carefully examining every inch as they slowly left the first side of the chamber behind.

When they reached the next wall, Jordan halted abruptly.

His hand had found something else.

"Ariana... I think I found something."

Aren immediately shook herself out of the haze clouding her thoughts.

"Describe it to me."

Jordan began examining the object with both hands.

This time, it wasn’t another display case.

It was long and thick, protruding diagonally from the wall at roughly a forty-five-degree angle.

Like a lever.

"It feels like some kind of lever," he said, running his fingers around its base.

A rectangular recess surrounded it, confirming his suspicion. The handle was clearly designed to be pulled downward.

"I’ll try moving it." He glanced toward her, though he could barely make out her outline in the darkness. "Stay close to me, alright?"

"Alright," Aren replied, stepping closer until she was almost shoulder to shoulder with him.

Jordan wrapped both hands around the lever. Taking a steady breath, he pulled it downward with all his strength until it refused to move any farther.

CLACK.

The heavy metallic sound echoed through the chamber.

He held the lever there.

He waited.

Aren waited.

Both of them held their breath.

Their attention swept in every direction, waiting for anything — a hidden door, a shifting wall, a spring-loaded trap, poisoned darts, anything at all.

Thirty long seconds passed.

Nothing happened.

Jordan frowned.

"That’s strange."

He looked toward Aren.

"Did you notice anything?"

"No." Aren shook her head. "Nothing at all. S-shall we search the next wall too? There... there might be another clue."

"Yep."

Jordan slowly released the lever.

The instant he did, it snapped back into its original position with another loud, metallic—

CLACK.

Without giving it much further thought, the two of them continued deeper into the darkness.

At the next wall, strangely enough, Jordan found nothing.

His hand glided across uninterrupted stone from one corner to the next without encountering a single object protruding from the surface.

By the time he reached the following corner, he had formed a rough understanding of the chamber’s dimensions. It was a perfect square, each wall measuring roughly ten feet across.

When they began tracing the final wall, however, Jordan stopped abruptly.

"Wait a minute."

Aren immediately looked toward him.

"What is it?"

"There’s another lever here."

Her brows lifted.

"A-Another one?"

"Yep." He examined it carefully. "It’s exactly the same size. Same metal. It’s identical to the first one."

Resting both hands on it, he added, "I’ll pull it down and see what happens. Stay close to me."

With that, he pulled the lever downward and held it in place.

Thirty seconds passed.

Nothing happened.

Jordan frowned even more deeply than before.

"That’s... really strange. I doubt they installed two levers down here for no reason. It’s almost as if they built both mechanisms, then forgot to connect them to anything."

As soon as he released it, the lever snapped back into place with a metallic—

CLACK.

That tiny detail caught Aren’s attention.

Fighting through the haze clouding her thoughts, she stepped closer and wrapped her fingers around the handle, giving it a testing pull.

"Hey... wait a minute."

She looked toward him.

"Jordan, when you tested both levers... did you have to keep holding them down the entire time?"

"Yeah." Jordan nodded slowly, only now realizing the significance of that detail. "Both of them are heavy. They keep pulling themselves back up, like they’re spring-loaded... or there’s some kind of mechanism behind the wall forcing them back into position—"

He stopped mid-sentence.

His eyes widened.

"Wait... could this be...?"

Aren had already reached the same conclusion.

"Yep... I think you’re thinking exactly what I am."

She turned toward where they both knew the bulletproof glass case stood somewhere in the darkness.

"T-These two levers are probably p-part of the locking mechanism for that display case. A dual-lever pneumatic lock. T-They aren’t meant to be pulled one at a time... They’re meant to be held down simultaneously."

Silence settled over the chamber as the realization sank in.

The room itself had been designed for cooperation.

The levers were positioned on opposite walls, far beyond the reach of any single person, forcing two contestants to work together simply to unlock the bulletproof case.

And yet, once the case opened and revealed the coin inside...

Those same two people would inevitably be expected to turn on each other and fight over it.

Jordan couldn’t help letting out a mocking scoff.

"Whoever designed this round is definitely a little twisted."

Aren laughed softly.

"Good thing I found us a coin earlier, isn’t it?" she teased. "Otherwise... you’d have to fight me to the death in here."

A warm laugh escaped Jordan.

Reaching into the darkness until he found her shoulder, he gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Good thing I have you on my side," he murmured.

Then his smile slowly faded, concern creeping back into his voice.

"But... are you feeling alright? Do you think you can hold one of these? Earlier, I had to use quite a bit of strength just to keep the lever down. Whatever spring is inside this thing is pretty strong."

Aren didn’t answer his concern directly, knowing it would only make him worry more. Instead, she gently nudged him toward the opposite wall.

"W-we won’t know unless we try... Shall... shall we test it?"

Jordan hesitated.

"...Alright."

Reluctantly, he gave her hand one last reassuring squeeze before letting go.

"You stay there. I’ll head to the other lever. Let’s get this over with as quickly as possible and get you out of here."