Simulation Game: Crisis Management-Chapter 306 - 153: Death by Asphyxiation

In an instant.

The crowd in the carriage was instantly thrust together by inertia, and Gu Ji was buried at the bottom of the pile. The enormous pressure from above left him nearly suffocating. He decisively intertwined his fingers, protected his neck with his hands, clamped his elbows around his head, bent his knees forward, and curled his body into a ball to ensure space for his chest and abdomen.

The terrifying impact of the flood made the carriage fall apart. Crash, a large amount of floodwater rushed into the carriage through the shattered windows, and people screamed and shouted, desperately trampling.

Before Gu Ji could shout a few words, he was already submerged at the bottom by the flood.

In an instant, he couldn’t hear anything in his ears, only the sound of gurgling bubbles around him. His eyes strained to open, feeling raw like they were scraped by sandpaper. Fortunately, he had just learned anti-drowning techniques from NMIOTC maritime operations training. Instinctively, he took a big gulp of air and held his breath.

He tried desperately to struggle, but he was pinned down by over a dozen people. Don’t mention standing up; even changing position was extremely difficult.

And the surrounding people had the same thoughts as Gu Ji.

Panic-driven hands grasped blindly everywhere, clutching anything they could as if seeking a lifeline.

Gu Ji could clearly feel someone strangling his collar, someone grabbing his ankle, and someone else clutching his belt.

Half a minute passed, and the movements around him diminished.

He tried to struggle again, and thanks to the buoyancy of the water, this time it was much easier.

With a forceful kick, his thigh finally broke free from the restraint.

But just then, a figure crashed into him, face to face with him, with a hideous expression, eyes wide open. It was Fatima, who had already suffocated to death.

Gu Ji’s body instinctively jerked; he could feel that there wasn’t much oxygen left in his lungs.

The strong survival instinct drove him to desperately dive upward from memory, trying to find broken glass, but the flood was too murky, with visibility only a few centimeters. Coupled with the many bodies floating in the water, he was like a headless fly crashing around everywhere.

[Objective: To keep the death toll below 400 before the central government intervenes for assistance has failed!]

[Random penalty in progress...]

[Your current remaining oxygen is reduced by 20%!]

Damn!

Messing with me again!

In an instant, Gu Ji clearly felt a wave of suffocation coming on; there wasn’t enough oxygen in his lungs!

His mind began to get confused.

Despite Gu Ji trying his best to suppress the instinct to breathe, while searching for an exit, his brain’s rapid hypoxia still triggered the chemical sensors, activating the physiological instinct. The intercostal external muscles and diaphragm responsible for breathing exploded with immense power, instantly prying open his tightly shut mouth.

Suddenly, a rush of dirty water flooded through his nose and mouth into his mouth and trachea. The heart-wrenching sensation made him gag and cough instinctively, but the more he did, the more water came flooding in. The ingested water burned like lava in his lungs and stomach, and yet he couldn’t roll around to release it like on land. In the water, all the pain and discomfort had to be held in with little release.

As the lack of oxygen intensified, Gu Ji’s consciousness grew increasingly hazy. The world around him went pitch black, and his body convulsed twice before gradually sinking.

...

...

Rustle, rustle, rustle...

Beep! Beep!

"Hoo-ah—! Hoo-ah—! Ugh, cough, cough, cough..."

Gu Ji suddenly opened his eyes, his hands clutching his throat, hunched over and gasping for air, even retching a few times physiologically. It took him a good four or five seconds to come back to his senses amidst the screams of the people around him.

Death reloaded!

Gazing at the extremely ferocious Bengal tiger and the pale-faced driver collapsed on the ground, Gu Ji finally realized how terrifying it was when death approached.

This was the first time he had died so painfully in the game world.

Previous restarts from death were from being shot or blown up. Even during the initial Laird Airport checkpoint in Heart mode, it was more psychological pressure and fear, whereas what he just endured was genuine physical torment!

A full three minutes of death!

During these three minutes, Gu Ji experienced suffocation, vomiting, scorching, and hypoxia — a series of indescribable pains, alongside dread, fear, and terror. All kinds of physiological fears attacked him together, even leading to a thought of "never wanting to touch water again in this lifetime."

This is... a stress reaction!

His extensive experience in life-and-death crisis combat and various police academy skills instantly pulled him back from the abyss of fear.

He cut off his inner dread, a crazed bloodiness flickering in his eyes.

Screw it.

He had endured this many life-or-death situations; would a flood scare him now?

With a darkened face, Gu Ji quickly adjusted his mindset, while taking out his phone to record the tiger on video, and started directing passersby on the street to rescue the injured driver.

[Crisis begins!]

[Please choose your initial reward!]

[Swimming Expertise (Intermediate)] or [Endurance Boost (Intermediate)]

Great, the vehicle is gone...

Although both skills are quite useful, in this national-level checkpoint crisis, individual power is really limited. For example, in the crisis before the last death, even if he had world-class swimming skills, he would still die.

Instead, having a vehicle capable of traveling through floodwater would be more practical.

Blue [Swimming Expertise (Intermediate)]: Increases breaststroke, freestyle, sidestroke, and backstroke skills by 25%, enhances water rescue capability by 28%, reduces water endurance consumption by 17.8%.

Blue [Endurance Boost (Intermediate)]: Increases total endurance limit by 23%, increases the number of red muscle fibers by 21.6%, and shortens endurance recovery time by 14.3%.