Chapter 40.2
âSon! My son!â As soon as the middle-aged woman saw them coming back, she rushed towards the little boy and tried to s.n.a.t.c.h the child back. âYou traffickers! Give me back my son!â
The little boy let out a scream and ran to Xiao Tangqiu and hid behind him. âYouâre not my mother! Youâre not my mother! â
The middle-aged womanâs agitated expression twisted at once. She decided to attack Xiao Tangqiu by scratching his face and lunged at him. âItâs all because you people have misguided by son! Give me back my son!â
Xiao Tangqiu grabbed the middle-aged womanâs hand and asked impa.s.sively, âYou say heâs your son, what proof do you have?â
The middle-aged woman paused, but soon she growled righteously, âHe is my son! What proof do you want? You villains dare rob me of my son?! Iâll kill you!â
âYou said heâs your son, then tell me his name, how old he is, and which school he goes to.â Xiao Tangqiu calmly found a way to discredit her. âIf you canât tell us, that means youâre a human trafficker!â
The middle-aged woman immediately stammered and faltered for a long time, apparently unable to speak. But soon, she became angry from embarra.s.sment. âWhy should I tell you? Heâs my son! Give me back my son! Let go! Let go!â
Xiao Tangqiu coldly watched as the middle-aged woman rolled around, making a huge scene. Although he had restrained her earlier, he didnât know what to do next. If he couldnât reason with her, he couldnât start beating her either, could he?
While he was still in a dilemma, a flying knife suddenly brushed the middle-aged womanâs cheek and was embedded into the floor. She was too scared to move.
Duan Hongzhen grinned and said, âYouâre too f.u.c.king noisy. Iâll ask you a question. Is your sonâs life more important or yours? Choose one.â
The middle-aged women s.h.i.+vered and didnât dare to move.
Duan Hongzhen pulled out the flying knife from the floor and casually fiddled with it. âIf you choose your son, Iâll kill you. If you choose yourself, Iâll kill your son.â
The middle-aged woman immediately shouted, âDonât kill me! Donât kill me!â
Duan Hongzhen smiled and put away his knife. Naturally, he wasnât planning to kill the little boy, but the middle-aged womanâs reaction caught everyone elseâs attention. The young man suddenly paled. âYou lied to us! Youâre a trafficker!â
The middle-aged woman hid in the corner, shaking uncontrollably, but at this moment no one cared about her anymore. Xiao Tangqiu looked at the young manâs body that was covered in blood and frowned slightly. âWhat happened?â
Hearing Xiao Tangqiuâs question, the young man suddenly exploded, âDonât you know what happened? This morning I took a few people out to find a way to escape this place, but the result was⦠was⦠â
There was a look of fear on his face. G.o.d only knows what he had seen. âTheyâre all dead⦠Dead â¦Iâm the only one who escaped⦠Iâm the only one left!â
Xiao Tangqiuâs heart sank at once. All the others who left with this guy died?
Tang Mianmian asked, âWhat did you see then?â
The young man suddenly s.h.i.+vered with fear, obviously unwilling to recall the scene from earlier. Instead, he accused Xiao Tangqiu and the others, âYou mustâve known what was out therek2026; Why didnât you stop us then! If you had stopped us, so many people wouldnât have died! I wouldnât have lost an arm either! So many people died! They were all killed by you! â
It wasnât until then that Xiao Tangqiu noticed that the young manâs right sleeve was empty and one arm was indeed missing. However, perhaps it was because of timely treatment and the hemostasic agent that he was lucky enough to escape with his life.
Listening to this guyâs indiscriminate accusation, he almost laughed from anger, âDidnât I stop you then? You were the ones who didnât believe me!â
The young man burst out, âIf you had told us the consequences, we wouldnât have thrown our lives away like that! You clearly knew what was outside the castle! Why didnât you tell us?!â
Xiao Tangqiu never expected that even this could be blamed on him, just like a pot that fell out of nowhere and landed accurately on his head. He was speechless but heard Shen Yuan suddenly say, âSeek death and youâll die. Serves you right.â
The young man was obviously about to explode from indignation, but as soon as his eyes met Shen Yuanâs, he immediately deflated like a balloon that was p.r.i.c.ked by a needle. He froze at once, too afraid to even breathe.
âOkay, okay, everyone calm down. Thereâs no need to argue at this point. Donât make things worse.â At this time, the middle-aged man tried to be a mediator. âWe can only find a way out if everyone is united. Unity is strength⦠Whereâs the young lady?â
Xiao Tangqiu said faintly, âSheâs dead.â
âDead?â The middle-aged man paused for a moment, then expressed regret. âWhat a pity, such a beautiful young lady.â
There were a total of five newbies who had left the castle in the morning. Four died, so including Lu Siâer, five players had died in one day.
So far, only 13 players remained.
A number of people had already died today, and 13, this unlucky number, gave Xiao Tangqiu a bad feeling. Everyone in the hall, except those senior old players, had an ugly and gloomy expression on their faces.
They didnât even have time to grieve for their dead companions. They were all worried about their present situation, and even more concerned about the unpredictability of tomorrow. Of course, they didnât actually know if they had a tomorrow. Maybe after going to sleep tonight, they would never have the chance to open their eyes again.
Confusion, fear, terror⦠Their hearts were flooded with all sorts of emotions.
Then, Duan Hongzhenâs casual remark broke the silence. âItâs almost twelve oâclock. Captain, should we go back to sleep? Iâm so tired.â
Shen Yuan nodded his head and added, âLetâs all go back to our rooms.â
At his command, Duan Hongzhen and the others immediately went back to their rooms without a second thought. The others also instantly got a rude awakening â it would soon be midnight! They must return to their rooms before then! Otherwise, G.o.d knows what would happen!
With the previous warning, they naturally didnât dare to do anything out of line again, and immediately rushed back to their rooms.
Xiao Tangqiu followed Shen Yuan and the others, feeling some hesitation, Last night, he and Tang Mianmianâs candle had gone out, which drew the monster to them. He and Tang Mianmian had to stay in Shen Yuan and Duan Hongzhenâs rooms respectively.
But what should they do for tonight? Should they continue to be shameless and refuse to leave?
After returning to the second floor, he ran to check the candle at their door. However, the candle was still extinguished and hadnât been rekindled. Suddenly, there was a scream in front of him. âThe candle at our door went out!â
Xiao Tangqiu looked up. It turned out to be the young man with a missing arm. He stood at the door of his room with a face full of panic, and the candle in front of him was extinguished.
Another candle had gone out!
The young man cried incredulously, âHow is this possible? It was still burning when we left the room this morning! Why did it go out now? Did the wind extinguish it? This is impossible!â Todayâs bitter experience made him frightened. Although nothing had happened yet, he had already turned pale with fear and was short of breath.
The middle-aged man shared a room with him, and right now, only the two of them remained. After hearing what the young man said, he immediately cried out in disbelief, âHow is that possible? How did the candle go out?â
He immediately looked at Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmianâs candle, seeming to suspect that they had secretly switched them. However, the candle at their door remained extinguished.
âCalm down first.â Duan Hongzhen suddenly said with a smile. âTry to rekindle it with a lighter.â
Xiao Tangqiu couldnât help but look at Duan Hongzhen. Although he didnât know Duan Hongzhen very well, this guy was obviously not the kind of person who was willing to help others or cared about the newbies. Duan Hongzhen casually gave him a smile that didnât reach his eyes.
The middle-aged man took out his lighter and started to light the candle with trembling hands. However, no matter how many times he tried, he couldnât light it.
The young man suddenly fell into despair. âHow did this happen? Why doesnât it light up? Does anyone have matches? Try it lighting it with a match!â
The lighter didnât work, so even if they tried using a match, it wouldnât light up either. But these two men were too anxious to care about anything. They groped around their pockets then looked to the others for some matches. However, few people carried matches with them these days. After asking everyone, they still hadnât found a match.
The two men turned pale and trembled like a leaf. The middle-aged man asked Duan Hongzhen with that last bit of hope, âIs there any other way?â
Duan Hongzhen smiled casually at him. âHow should I know?â
Seeing the middle-aged man get more and more fearful, Duan Hongzhen smiled and added, âMaybe it can only be lit by the fire from this old castle. You can try using the other candles.â
The middle-aged men suddenly caught a glimpse of hope again. He quickly picked up the candle at their door, went to the other candles and tried to light his own but only met with failure.
âIt doesnât work! It still didnât light up! What should we do? What should we do?!â
Duan Hongzhenâs lips curved, revealing a nasty smile. âMaybe the fire is too small. You can try using firewood from the kitchen.â
âKitchen? Yes! Thereâs the kitchen! There must be fire in the kitchen!â The middle-aged man hesitated, âBut the kitchen is on the first floor, and itâll be midnight soonâ¦â
âWe still have ten minutes!â The young man looked at the time on his cellphone with his only hand and immediately cried out, âTen minutes should be enough!â
âAlright then! Letâs go to the kitchen!â The middle-aged man grit his teeth and finally decided, rus.h.i.+ng downstairs with the young man at once.
Duan Hongzhen casually watched the two men go downstairs. Then, he turned to Shen Yuan and said, âIt seems that once these candles are extinguished, thereâs no way to light them again.â
Shen Yuan said impa.s.sively, âThatâs not a surprise.â
âYeah, thatâs within our expectations.â Duan Hongzhen waved his hands. âIf the candles really went out one by one, would we all have to squeeze into a room on the last day?â
Tang Mianmian finally responded, âWhat should Qiuqiu and I do about tonight?â
Duan Hongzhen looked at him with a smile that could hardly be described as a smile. âThereâs no other way. You can only wait for death.â
Tang Mianmian glared at Duan Hongzhen one eye, but he soon turned away. If you werenât powerful enough as others, you had no choice but to lower yourself.
Xiao Tangqiu was also uneasy, but he could only wait for Shen Yuanâs decision. If Shen Yuan told them go back to their room, then, they could only steady themselves to return to that dangerous room.