Chapter 42: Detonating the Bomb

As the man's voice faded, the flashlight beam vanished.

Ling Yun used a barrier to conceal Duoduo while simultaneously blocking the light source within the barrier.

The man in glasses breathed a sigh of relief.

His hiding spot had been exposed, and he needed to find another place before those people tracked him down.

"Bro... Glasses, take... take me with you!" The stutterer grabbed the man in glasses.

The man in glasses grasped her hand and said decisively, "Let's go!"

However, the moment they took a few steps, the overhead lights suddenly flickered on.

Both of them halted in their tracks, clearly stunned.

"Bro Glasses, what's going on? Didn't they say the lights here would never come on again? Why did they suddenly turn on?"

The man in glasses shook his head, looking equally bewildered.

A man about 1.85 meters tall, holding an axe, suddenly appeared before them.

"This is a prop card I just found. Using it makes the lights in an area come back on and keeps them on for five minutes.

With three of us against the two of you, five minutes is more than enough!"

As his voice fell, three other men quickly closed in from all directions.

They rapidly narrowed the circle, completely blocking off all possible escape routes for the man in glasses and the stutterer.

"Daddy, what are those people doing?"

Duoduo looked at the people appearing ahead and tilted her head in curiosity.

The three suddenly appearing men looked fierce and menacing, so terrifying!

"There's nobody there. You're seeing things."

Ling Yun raised his hand, his broad, warm palm gently covering Duoduo's eyes.

When he lowered his hand again, the people in front of them had all vanished.

"Eh, where did the uncle from just now go? Did I really see things?"

"Duoduo, can you still see me?" Zhang Yangfan asked with some anxiety.

Just now, the old ghost Ling Yun had used a blinding spell on Duoduo, rendering him invisible to her. Was she unable to see him again now?

Zhang Yangfan raised his hand and waved it in front of Duoduo's eyes.

Duoduo reached out her tiny hand and accurately grabbed Zhang Yangfan's hand.

"Brother, what are you talking about?"

Duoduo tilted her little head, looking at him with puzzlement.

Brother was talking so strangely, she couldn't understand a single word.

Hearing this, Zhang Yangfan let out a sigh of relief.

Thank goodness, the old ghost Ling Yun still had a bit of a conscience and hadn't shielded him as well.

"Daddy, there are wooden crates over there. Shall we sit down and watch the show for a while?"

Zhang Yangfan looked at Ling Yun, trying to curry favor with him.

Ling Yun looked down at Duoduo, guessing that she must be tired after walking for so long, and nodded in agreement.

He picked Duoduo up and placed her on a wooden crate.

Zhang Yangfan smiled as he scrambled up onto the crate and sat down beside Duoduo.

Hehehe, he got to sit next to little sister again!

In a space invisible to Duoduo, the three men had surrounded the man in glasses and the stutterer.

The tall man raised the axe in his hand, but before he could bring it down, he saw the man in glasses suddenly fling open his coat.

"Holy shit, that's a... a bomb!" The dark-skinned man suddenly exclaimed in shock.

The tall man was startled, nearly dropping the axe in his hand.

The man in glasses looked at them coldly, holding a lighter in his hand.

"If any of you dare to touch me, I'll drag you all down with me to hell!"

The man in glasses aimed the flame nozzle of the lighter directly at the fuse.

Seeing that he was not joking, the tall man hastily lowered his axe.

"Brother, that's a bomb. If this thing goes off, everyone here dies. You better think this through!"

"Yeah, yeah, if you want to blow us up, you won't survive either."

"Hmph, if I don't light it, you'll still hunt me down and kill me anyway. Since it's death either way, I might as well drag you all down with me!"

The man in glasses darkened his face, fully prepared to perish together.

Realizing that reasoning with him was useless, the trendily dressed man with a streak of white hair shifted his gaze to the stutterer.

"Beauty, you don't want to die, do you? You're together with him, hurry up and help persuade him!"

"Whate... whatever Bro Glasses does, I... I support it!"

Although the stutterer was terrified out of her wits, she knew she had no choice.

If the man in glasses compromised, the two of them would definitely die.

Using the bomb as a threat gave them at least a sliver of a chance of survival!

"Damn stutterer, if he detonates the bomb, you'll die too. What good does that do you?" The tall man asked angrily.

Why was this damned woman so impossible to reason with?

Ignoring them, the stutterer cowered timidly behind the man in glasses.

The two sides stood at a stalemate, neither willing to compromise.

The game rules stated very clearly that only three people could survive in the end.

If they let the man in glasses and the stutterer go, only one person among their own group could survive!

How could that be allowed?

The dark-skinned man's eyes darted around as he exchanged a glance with the other two men.

The trendy man instantly understood and lunged forward.

However, the man in glasses anticipated their move and quickly sidestepped a few paces, evading the trendy man's assault.

With his face flushed red with anger, he pressed his thumb down and ignited the lighter.

"You forced me into this!"

With those words, he set the fuse ablaze.

The three men turned pale with fright, their legs going weak.

"Are you crazy? When the bomb goes off, you'll die too!"

"Quick, quick, hurry and put out the fire!"

Driven mad with panic, the three men rushed forward to tackle the man in glasses and extinguish the flame on the fuse.

Yet just as they moved, the overhead lights suddenly went out.

In the pitch-black surroundings, only the tiny spark on the bomb's fuse remained glowing.

"Warning: Someone has ignited the bomb. An explosion is projected to occur in ten seconds.

The blast radius is immense, and everyone within the Hell-tier instance will be obliterated. Ten, nine, eight..."

A completely emotionless voice suddenly echoed from above.

Compared to the previous countdowns, this voice felt more like a death warrant, instilling terror in everyone.

"It's over, we're completely finished!"

"Dammit, who on earth lit the bomb?"

"I don't want to die, I want to go home, sob, sob, sob..."

Desperation permeated every corner of the corridor.

Duoduo had no idea what a bomb was, nor did she comprehend the consequences of a detonation.

She raised her lotus-root-like arms and felt around in front of her.

"Daddy, Brother, Duoduo can't see you anymore!"

Zhang Yangfan remained silent, quietly gripping her tiny hand.

The bomb's destructive power was terrifying; if it detonated, Duoduo would die too!

He didn't want Duoduo to die; he wanted to stay with her forever!

Zhang Yangfan felt a sudden sting in his nose, his heart aching profoundly.

Netizens in the livestream viewing this scene instantly felt as though the sky were falling.

[No, please don't! Duoduo is so cute, she can't die! Can't someone rush over and extinguish the fuse?]

[Weren't those three men so badass earlier? Why are they cowards now? Hurry up and tackle the guy with the glasses!]

[It's over, it's over, only three seconds left on the countdown, there's no time!]

"Three, two, one..."