Chapter 60: The Nine-Story Tower Exploded

Chapter 60: The Nine-Tiered Pagoda Explodes

After Chen Wang left, Guan Yujia was quickly ambushed by Lan Miaomiao, who ripped off his only name tag.

With two eliminated, the remaining four guests automatically earned the right to advance to the seventh floor.

Upon reaching the seventh floor, Gu Sai sniffed around and said, "Why do I smell garlic?"

Lan Miaomiao didn't smell anything. She said, "Gu Sai, are you hungry?"

Gu Sai scratched his head: "Maybe. It seems like I can't smell it anymore now."

Chen Wang arrived at the first floor and greeted the director. He was basically done for the day—he just had to wait for the others to finish the game and decide the winner, then come back to the livestream to officially sign off. Though he figured he'd have to wait until tomorrow.

So Chen Wang planned to go to the hotel for a good shower and rest up. Once Gu Sai finished recording, he'd drag him to the hotel and have his way with him.

Xiao Song and the driver were already waiting out front. Chen Wang got in the car, and Xiao Song handed him his phone: "Brother Wang, you got a ton of calls over these two days. Like you told me to, I didn't answer any."

"Mm." Chen Wang took it and checked. His mom had called the most.

She knew he was filming, yet she kept blowing up his phone. Could something urgent have happened?

Chen Wang called back: "Hey, Mom, you looking for me?"

"Chen Wang! What exactly is going on between you and that Gu Sai? What's with all the flirting on the show? Do you know what people are saying about you? How do you think that makes Jia Jia feel?"

She addressed him by his full name right off the bat—clearly, his mom was genuinely angry.

Chen Wang held back his irritation and said, "I'll do what I want, and they can say what they want. As for Guan Yujia... Mom, if you really want him as part of the family, why not have another son and arrange a childhood betrothal between them? I just don't see him that way."

Fang Yuxia's voice went shrill with anger: "That's nonsense! Jia Jia grew up with you—how can you not see him that way? His dad saved your life! How can you be so ungrateful..."

Chen Wang didn't have the patience to listen anymore. He hung up without hesitation. He could almost recite the rest from memory.

"To the hotel," he told the driver.

"Yes, boss."

The car had just pulled out when Guan Yujia suddenly ran up and blocked the way, scaring the driver into slamming on the brakes.

"Brother Wang!"

Guan Yujia knocked on the window. Chen Wang rolled it down and asked, "What's up?"

Guan Yujia seemed to want to say something, bit his lip, and asked, "Do you blame me?"

Chen Wang smiled: "It's just a small game. Not worth getting worked up over."

Guan Yujia gave a stiff smile: "That's good. Brother Wang, I'm staying at your family's hotel too—Uncle Chen set it up. Can I catch a ride with you?"

The Nine-Tiered Pagoda was out in the suburbs, and their hotel was downtown. Getting a cab out here wasn't easy. Besides, Chen Wang didn't want to give him any reason to tattle over something so trivial. Annoying.

"Get in."

"Thanks, Brother Wang!"

Normally, Guan Yujia would chatter nonstop once he got in the car. Chen Wang was already ready to tell him to shut up. But today, Guan Yujia was acting weird—sitting there quietly, looking nervous, and glancing back at the Nine-Tiered Pagoda every now and then.

Chen Wang couldn't be bothered. He leaned back, closed his eyes, and rested.

The car had gone a few miles when a loud "BOOM" suddenly came from behind. Guan Yujia flinched hard. Chen Wang's eyes snapped open, and he rolled down the window to see where the sound came from.

Xiao Song in the passenger seat said, "Brother Wang, it sounds like it's coming from the Nine-Tiered Pagoda!"

Chen Wang looked over and, through the gaps in the buildings, sure enough, saw thick smoke rising from the Nine-Tiered Pagoda. It had exploded?

That means... Gu Sai!

"Go back!" Chen Wang ordered the driver.

Guan Yujia tried to stop him: "No, Brother Wang, you can't go back—it's too dangerous!"

Chen Wang gave him a look and ordered the driver again: "Go back!"

The driver, of course, did what Chen Wang said and quickly made a U-turn at the intersection.

The seventh floor of the Nine-Tiered Pagoda.

The explosion left Gu Sai's ears ringing and his head spinning. He lay on the ground for a while, unable to recover.

"Thump, thump, thump..."

Gu Sai felt his heartbeat slowing, as if it might stop at any moment.

Butt: "Oh no, I can't get through to the ears, and the heart is on standby. Master, wake up!"

Gu Sai moved his fingers. He could feel the heat of fire around him, his right leg hurt badly, and something heavy was pressing down on him. He could barely breathe, but he didn't have the strength to push it off.

Butt said urgently: "Adrenal medulla, secrete some adrenaline, quick—get Master awake!"

"Roger!"

A few seconds later, Gu Sai's eyes snapped open and he gasped for air, like he'd just come back from the brink of death.

Ears: "I'm awake. That blast knocked me senseless."

Right leg: "Ow... I got crushed by something."

Gu Sai raised his head and finally took in the situation. The whole seventh floor was engulfed in flames. The wooden structure was burning fast, and the flames were visibly licking toward him.

So just now... it was an explosion?

Thankfully, thankfully Chen Wang had already left...

Gu Sai finally found the strength to get up, only to realize that the person lying on top of him was an unconscious Lan Miaomiao.

Gu Sai remembered now—at the moment of the explosion, it was Lan Miaomiao who had tackled him to the ground.

"Sister Miaomiao! Sister Miaomiao!"

He held her and called out, but Lan Miaomiao remained unconscious.

Gu Sai hoisted her onto his back and limped toward the stairs, only to find that the staircase had been blown apart. Not only that—the burning floorboards and railings from the seventh floor were falling nonstop, and the sixth and fifth floors were also engulfed in flames.

From the broken stairwell, he could see the director and his crew on the fourth floor, pacing around frantically, but they couldn't get up to rescue anyone.

The explosion happened at the staircase, so why were the fires starting from the walls around the seventh floor?

Gu Sai suddenly remembered the garlic smell he'd noticed when they first arrived on the seventh floor.

It's white phosphorus!

This stuff has a really low ignition point, and the heat from the explosion is enough to set it ablaze. So, this wasn't an accident—it was premeditated.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

The smoke choked Gu Sai, making him cough nonstop, his eyes watering so bad he could barely see. After a few steps, he stumbled over something.

He crouched down and felt around, finding a cameraman on the floor, along with a half-empty bottle of water. Gu Sai ripped off some strips of his shirt, soaked them, and tied them around Lan Miaomiao's and the cameraman's mouths and noses, then covered his own as well.

He remembered that every floor had fire extinguishers, but they were all placed against the walls, and since the fire was spreading from the walls, he couldn't reach them.

"Ah!! Ah—damn it, it hurts so much!!"

Gu Sai heard someone screaming and followed the sound through the smoke: "Teacher Xie, is that you?"

"Yes, it's me, Gu Sai!" Xie Yang shouted loudly.

Gu Sai, carrying Lan Miaomiao on his back, rushed into a room and found Xie Yang pinned to the ground by a cabinet, with an unconscious cameraman lying beside him.

The room was relatively sealed, with little smoke inside, so he quickly closed the door after entering.

"Help me—quick!"