Chapter 24

Chapter 24

A white handkerchief covered his mouth and nose, carrying a peculiar scent. Su's eyelids flickered as he tried to rise, but his consciousness grew increasingly heavy.

Dan... How could it be him? Why? Was he under some duress?

The man's eyes in the black silhouette gleamed with a cold light like blades. Nurse Su caught a glimpse of a white figure out of the corner of her eye, a heavy indigo-black in the night. It was... Doctor Wu Qiang, sitting there with his head bowed, silent.

Su wanted to say something, but that was all. Through the thick blanket, a sharp blade pierced his throat, and he lost consciousness completely.

The snipers on the third floor were still diligently on duty, their attention focused outside where they had spotted rats.

A medical staff member wearing a red cross armband rubbed his eyes as he emerged from the clinic, seemingly heading for the restroom. So tired that he bumped into a wall, he muttered a low curse.

The night watchman yawning by the pillar glanced over before turning his gaze away.

After a while, the medical staff member returned, approaching him. "Got a light? Can I borrow a flame?"

Many mercenaries were chain smokers; without cigarettes, they couldn't survive, and the night watchman was no exception. He pulled out a matchbox, striking a match with a swift motion. "Oh, you're that..."

His voice cut off abruptly as he stared wide-eyed at the approaching medical staff. The man bit down on a slender cigar, leaning in as the tip ignited. The small flame illuminated the beautiful face slightly lowered, but his hand held a syringe, its needle already inserted into the night watchman's neck.

Minutes later.

A mercenary patrolling the third-floor corridor with his gun lowered happened to glance down and saw the first-floor night watchman, who had been leaning against the pillar, now crouched behind it, wisps of gray smoke drifting out.

"Smoking again, hiding." The patrolling mercenary on the third floor frowned, suppressing an inexplicable irritation.

Something felt off, as if something was about to happen.

On the first floor, the wooden door to the holding area for suspicious individuals stood open. A shadow shrouded in darkness appeared at the entrance.

"An Imperial student?" The tall shadow spoke in a somewhat cold voice, condescending.

The half-asleep student from Country D jolted awake. Instinctively, he looked at the newcomer's wrist, but the sleeve concealed any sign of a mission watch.

This person seemed to be speaking the language of Country D.

"Senior?" The student from Country D asked doubtfully. Who else could infiltrate the enemy's base, speak their language, and know the term 'student' besides their own country's officially dispatched students? Truly worthy of being an officially dispatched student of the great Empire D!

The student from Country D became excited, kneeling on the ground. "Senior, I'm also a student from Country D, one of those selected this time. Have you come to save me?"

"Rash and without a plan, if not for your foolishness getting discovered, how could I have appeared here? Regardless, we're from the same country."

The student from Country D immediately understood his meaning. This was concern over the potential unnatural disaster caused by his death affecting the populace.

He felt deeply apologetic yet also somewhat exhilarated. He never expected to have the opportunity to collaborate with an officially dispatched student. These people were heroes.

"Yes! Very sorry!"

"Because my plans were disrupted, I have to change them." The shadow tossed over a rifle, two grenades, and a key. "Can you use these? Work with me."

"Eh? Senior, what do you need me to do?" The student from Country D was surprised but clutched the rifle tightly.

"There are two ammunition depots here. You'll blow up one of them. I'll tell you how."

"Eh?!"

"But... But..." Although he had participated in the scouts, the student from Country D, fundamentally a civilian, trembled as he held the gun. "I can't."

"Bastard!" The shadow's command made the student from Country D shudder.

However, the person's tone softened afterward. "Of course, I have a complete plan.

"And this is for the victory of our great Empire D. Think of those waiting for us. Do you want to disappoint them?"

Those waiting for them?

"Un, understood."

The newcomer nodded. "Rest assured, I won't abandon you."

An unprecedented sense of mission suddenly enveloped the student from Country D. He felt like the protagonist in a manga about to turn the tide.

Their fellow citizens were eagerly awaiting their success!

"Hi! Please entrust this task to me!"

The shadow scrutinized him, seemingly assessing his worthiness. The student from Country D straightened his posture even more. The more he did so, the more he wanted to be recognized.

Finally, the shadow seemed to temporarily accept him. "Listen closely. Don't forget a single word I say."

"Hi!"

He listened intently as the entire plan was explained. After hearing it all, the student from Country D felt the success rate was very high.

Originally, this was just a mud structure, lacking the sturdiness of modern concrete. After blowing up the ammunition, a breach would appear in the walls, allowing him to escape.

Nearby was a village, the perfect refuge.

Moreover, this capable officially dispatched student had already eliminated the biggest threat: the night watch mercenary.

The heart of the student from Country D pounded. He dared to pretend to be an NPC and enter, indicating he was someone ambitious. And now, a clear path lay before him.

"Please leave this to me!" Driven by self-interest and a sense of mission, the student from Country D disappeared into the night with his gun. Soon after, gunfire echoed, and then...

BONG! A massive explosion rang out.

The fragile mud building instantly crumbled at one corner due to the intense blast. The mercenaries inside the mud building and the students outside were stunned.

The wailing of the alarm was quickly drowned out by a series of explosions. The shells and smoke bombs casually piled together during the day detonated one after another, filling the entire Tulou with a thick, yellow, pungent fog.

Awakened mercenaries rushed over in haste as gunfire erupted.

Amidst the chaos, a panicked voice cried out, "Senior? Where are you, Senior?"

By then, Ji Xinghai had donned his white lab coat and round spectacles. Summoning Ganba Fungus to use its hallucinogenic function, the refined Doctor Wu Qiang appeared.

Ji Xinghai hurriedly made his way to the second floor where dangerous biological reagents were stored. "An enemy has infiltrated. Is there any problem here?"

"Doctor Wu Qiang?"

"I need to double-check everything to ensure absolute safety."

His voice was subtly different from usual, but due to the urgency of the situation, the guard overseeing the biological reagents didn't think much of it and promptly opened the gate, offering him a full set of protective gear and a more advanced gas mask.

But he only wore the gas mask: "Necessity overrides protocol."

"Doctor Wu Qiang." There were two other guards inside the room who saluted upon seeing him.

"Hmm." In the blink of an eye, 'Doctor Wu Qiang' suddenly spun around, producing two guns from nowhere, firing several shots that killed all the guards inside and outside.

'Doctor Wu Qiang' stepped inside and pulled out a flashlight.

Inside were boxes labeled 'Dangerous, Do Not Touch,' containing hazardous drugs. Since they had been previously inspected, the wooden crates were open, revealing rows of sealed special glass tubes lying within.

Ji Xinghai, disguised as Doctor Wu Qiang, tore open his coat, revealing three rows of high-explosive bombs underneath. In his pocket was a tube of grenades.

These grenades had a five-second delay.

The grenade's safety pin was swiftly pulled and tossed towards the discarded coat. In that instant, he dashed for the stairs, performing a somersault at the last moment to roll into the stairwell, tumbling from the third floor down to the second.

Boom!

A violent explosion ensued, sending wood debris and glass shards flying in all directions with terrifying force, accompanied by billowing black smoke and the peculiar scent of biological reagents.

"Cough."

Ji Xinghai, suffering from chest pain, climbed up from the shaking stair platform and hid on the inner side of the first-floor staircase before anyone upstairs could descend.

The advanced gas mask proved its worth, remaining intact despite the circumstances.

Deng and his assistant Jalin hurried down with their men, none of them looking back, thus failing to notice Ji Xinghai hiding behind the staircase.

Leaning against the wall, his arm hanging at an awkward angle, Ji Xinghai was writhing in pain, yet a silent laugh echoed through his mask.

He wasn't always able to execute his plans flawlessly, often encountering various unexpected situations. As such, he was accustomed to preparing backup plans, sometimes even three of them.

But this time, it was a resounding success.

Plan, execute the plan, and the happiest moment is when it's completely successful.

Bong.

An explosion is like an instant firework, a perfect finale.

"Ahh ahh, I'm going to spam rockets in the live stream! Brother Hai, you're freaking amazing!"

"Keep it together upstairs, you can't spam anything in the live stream. But you can in the central live stream, a spaceship for everyone, let's liven things up by bleeding ourselves dry!"

The central live stream was suddenly filled with all sorts of spacecraft, scaring the host into saying it's best not to, even shutting down the donation channel, and stating that whatever received would be converted to cash and left for the trainees themselves.

Contrary to the excitement here, there was a silence before the volcano erupts on the D country side.

Watching their own trainee being swindled by the neighboring JiuZhou trainee, watching him blow up the ammunition depot, then watching the live stream go black.

The D country trainee indeed rushed out from the explosion breach as Ji Xinghai planned, and was also met with concentrated fire from other trainees rushing over, dying just as Ji Xinghai planned.

Well, who told him to wear the enemy NPC's clothes?

Of course, even if he had managed to escape by chance, the sniper upstairs would have taught him a lesson. Ji Xinghai had prepared at least two death scenarios for him.

This could be considered his favor to the D country people.

"Ahh ahh ahh ahh! I'm going to kill that JiuZhou trainee!"

The enraged D country viewers stormed Ji Xinghai's live stream, but lacked any fighting power.

"Morality? Justice? When you've repaid the debt of over 300,000 heads in J city, then talk to me about morality and justice. Do you deserve it?"

"Beasts don't deserve it."

"The victor is king, the loser is a bandit, if you can't match someone's skills and still come out to show off, isn't that embarrassing?"

It's lively outside the instance, and even livelier inside, this is a carnival for the brave.

"What's going on? Points are jumping into my hands? Not getting a high score would be an insult to the machine gun in my old lady's hand!"

Outside Tulou, night-active trainees had gathered, hiding behind the nearest earthen walls, machine guns in hand, spare magazines ready, mercenaries coming out of the breach were dropping one by one, suffocated by the toxic smoke.

The most vicious killer was a girl with long braids, the sweeter she looked, the more ruthless she killed. During the day, she was also one of those lying in wait in the village to ambush the mercenaries.

Another one quietly raking in the profits was a bald man, his looks suggested he wasn't someone to mess with.

These two almost monopolized the unlucky ones rushing out from the breach.

"Goddamn it, where's my gas mask?!" The unique architectural structure of Tulou ensured that most of the toxic smoke couldn't disperse, the excessively concentrated super-toxic gas could claim lives in an instant.

In the dense fog where you couldn't see three meters ahead, only distorted figures could be seen falling down, never to rise again. Deng, who hurriedly went downstairs wearing a gas mask, was almost passing out.

He was doomed, he was as good as dead!

The gas masks and ammunition were just on the other side of a wall, now long gone in the explosion. The mercenaries inside either suffocated to death in Tulou or were gunned down by the students lying in wait outside.

In these two minutes of hesitation, more people fell, never to rise again. Ji Xinghai's mission watch score soared like a helicopter—every NPC killed by the poison gas counted as his kill.

But how could one ever have enough points?

Ji Xinghai stood up, his deformed arm hanging limply. He stood in the narrow stairwell, eyeing the third floor—would the makeshift office hold any treasures?

"Is Brother Hai injured?"

As the audience fretted, they watched him expressionlessly wrench his own arm with a vicious twist. A crisp sound echoed as the bone returned to its rightful place, but it still felt weak and lacked strength.

He shook his head, dislodging some dust from his gas mask, then summoned the wooden skeleton, tossing it a short knife: "Go to the third floor, see anything alive, kill it."

Saying this, he raised his pistol and fired at the 'thud' of a gas mask in the mist.

Bang.

Glass shattered.