Editor: Junyans
When Xia Tian spotted Bai Jingan by the car, he had given himself another shot to the waist. People like them knew how to trade injuries for their lives.
His comrade was huddled by the car door. Half of his clothes were covered in blood, and his whole body was shaking so hard that he couldn’t stand up at all, but he still held on tightly to his gun. Everyone who had tried to get close to the car had turned into lifeless bodies.
After dashing over and pulling him up, Xia Tian realized that the man was very conscious and was gathering strength to kill again should the need arise.
He helped Bai Jingan to the passenger seat. Despite trembling uncontrollably, as if he was on the verge of shattering, he still managed to kill a sneak attacker who tried to attack them right after getting into the car.
Xia Tian fastened the seat belt for the man, then glanced at his pupils—they were extremely dilated, meaning, the situation was severe—Bai Jingan was looking at him too.
At this moment, stimulants and tranquilizer pellets tore through his body, ripping something in his brain and laying bare the depths of his soul.
Those gray eyes stared at him, still exuding an aura of relentless determination and murderousness, yet beneath it lay profound sorrow.
This was someone who had once been completely shattered, sunken to the deepest depths of hell, yet some force had stubbornly gathered the fragments, attempting to piece them back together. It was simply soul-stirring.
A shiver ran down Xia Tian’s spine. Bai Jingan dropped the gun with the empty magazine and picked up another.
Most of his bodily functions had been forcefully shut down by the tranquilizer pellets, yet stimulants squeezed the last ounce of his strength, which intensified the pain and stretched his nerves to their limits.
But Bai Jingan’s gun-handling was steady, as if he could storm into any battleground and slay any enemy, all to achieve his goal.
He saw the man roughly wipe the blood from his forehead, grab his backpack and count the supplies, to prepare for the upcoming tough battle.
Xia Tian checked the magazine, walked towards the driver’s seat, and Bai Jingan said, “Let’s go.”
The sound of bullets hitting the alloy plate was like a hailstorm. Xia Tian gripped the steering wheel, and the car rushed forward, knocking an armored vehicle parked diagonally on the roadside off the road.
A roadblock appeared ahead. Bai Jingan picked up the Marshmallow and skillfully adjusted its setting, while Xia Tian asked him, “What was that just now?”
“Snake,” Bai Jingan replied.
Xia Tian immediately recognized it. This thing had been mentioned repeatedly in the information provided by Minkov Jr.—it was a controllable flexible tube often resembling a snake with everything from toxins, electric shocks to aphrodisiacs on its fangs.
They had been fighting on a grassy area, where the risk of being stealthily attacked by the “snake” was heightened. If he remembered correctly, this thing could even mimic its surroundings.
The fuckers were pulling out all the stops.
“Not an aphrodisiac, right?” Xia Tian asked.
Bai Jingan chuckled. “Electric shock,” he said.
He unbuckled the seatbelt, stood up, and forcefully lifted the car roof before aiming the gun forward.
His stance was stable, the gun resting on the car roof, and his gray eyes stared coldly ahead.
Three seconds later, he fired two shots.
He penetrated the energy storage area of the left-side barricade, the first shot hit the casing, and the other hit the circuit.
Xia Tian didn’t even touch the brake. In the instant the car surged forward, the barricade net flickered and vanished.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
At the same moment, they could see three vehicles approaching from a distance, completely blocking the intersection and its surroundings.
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After all, no legal roads in the city were open to them. As for some peripheral roads, it was possible to use them if you had good enough skills and knew the route correctly.
The armored vehicle narrowly passed between two flourishing locust trees, maintaining its speed without slowing down a bit.
Further ahead, large roadblocks had undoubtedly been erected, eliminating any chance of escape. However, the defenses at the end of this road would not be as tight as those on the main route.
And any oversight of the organizers, no matter how small, presented an opportunity for them.
Bai Jingan was improvising several exposure bombs when the hunters began to encircle them again. Temporarily discarding the exposure bombs, he proceeded to open fire on the encroaching hunters.
Five shots, each lethal. On the sixth shot, his hand trembled, hitting a hunter in the chest. The person staggered but didn’t fall. Bai Jingan fired another shot.
He cursed, then went into his bag for stimulants. Xia Tian exclaimed, “That’s enough!”
“Watch the road,” Bai Jingan said.
Suddenly adjusting the steering wheel, Xia Tian swerved past a tree with red flowers whose name he didn’t know. Bai Jingan gave himself another injection with an expressionless face.
Xia Tian saw him take a sharp breath and tighten his hand like a bowstring. However, he held the gun steady and aimed outside the window once more.
Two conflicting forces clashed within his body, yet he maintained a stoic expression, as if he was long accustomed to pain and nothing could cause him any harm.
“Speed up,” he said.
“You better not pass out!” Xia Tian warned.
Bai Jingan responded with a smile.
Just then, the car radio made a hissing sound and turned on by itself.
A voice came from inside, “Listen you two, the entire area around the lakeside has been cleared. Three layers of barricades surround you. There’s no way you can escape.”
It was a somewhat brisk male voice, accustomed to the pinnacle of violence and authority, with a cold and crisp tone. However, the last word was slurred, as if he was eating something.
“This is a customized game for the elites to enjoy. Do you really think you can get away?” He continued, “We don’t need to suppress you with overwhelming force. We just want to make the fight look good and make the scene look good when we catch you.”
Xia Tian reached to turn off the radio but found it wouldn’t shut down.
“Three days is quite an achievement, fellas. After all, the focus of this performance isn’t the pursuit but the ‘feast,'” the voice continued, “You were originally the company’s property, so why not make things easier? They won’t kill you; the ‘gods on the mountaintop’ just want to ensure you are absolutely obedient and submissive.”
He laughed as if he had thought of something amusing.
“After one attends the feast, they all become obedient. I’ve seen this happen many times. You’ll like it when your bottom line shatters; life becomes much easier.
“Those fans always think you’re invincible, but don’t be naive. Domesticated livestock have no idea what the depths of the Upper City hunting grounds are like.
“You’re the highest-valued celebrities in the Upper City, but you haven’t seen the darkest corners of the grand feast yet. I’ve been thinking, you lying prostrate—”
Xia Tian fired a shot at the radio, finally silencing it.
The two Killing Show contestants maintained frosty expressions as the car sped through the second barricade.
Further away, the encirclement tightened, and hunters reloaded their bullets, awaiting their arrival.
At the same time, four satellites in orbit were focused in this direction—a weather satellite, a radio broadcast satellite, and two belonging to the Ministry of Defense.
Fans were hosting a grand broadcast, albeit a secretive one. And unlike the Killing Show filled with advertisements and inciting power, it seemed dedicated to the pursuit of truth.
The main audience as well as the people in charge consisted of the technical executives of the floating city. These people not only used satellites to follow and take pictures in real time, but also hacked into the internal cameras of the armored vehicles.
It wasn’t particularly challenging, and the two Killing Show contestants paid no attention. Besides, all the equipment in the show was designed and manufactured by these people. In this day and age, which programmer doesn’t leave a backdoor?
The director of the Guest Show, Qi Xiashang, was issuing commands to the hunting team, almost wishing he could be the on-site dispatcher.
The second director, Jakowski, devoted half of his attention to monitoring the video being broadcasted by the senior tech personnel of the Upper City. It was transmitted via an encrypted television station, featuring numerous covert shots and first-class mass participation.
This had never happened before because it was strictly prohibited. How could commoners get a share of the dishes on the elites’ table?
But now, more and more people had joined in, and the scene had reached a point where it was about to explode, as if a fire had been burning under the house, but no one from the security department seemed to have noticed.
He suspected someone from the security department was involved.
And no one had snitched.
When everyone remained tight-lipped, how could the elites discover the plot? Some of them struggled even to handle nanoweapons, merely knowing how to pull the trigger.
Jakowski had no intention of being the whistleblower.
He was observing the event from a different channel. The discussions here were no longer like in the Killing Show; it was more than just anger and slogans.
Many of the things these people were saying were chilling.
“We can use orbital strikes—”
“Can we be realistic, please?!”
“They can’t get out—”
“The Upper City is a dead end.”
“I can’t stand watching!”
“I don’t care; I’ve hacked the H23 road barriers.”
“Hacking the H23 is useless; go for the T-type barriers!”
“I can’t get in!”
“Who are you? You need to have the permission of ‘Iceberg.’ Leave your contact information and I will find you.”
Jakowski wondered if these people realized how terrifying this conversation was.
Xia Tian switched to autopilot and reached for a gun in the emergency bag.
Bai Jingan handed over the gun, but his hand trembled, and the gun slipped. Xia Tian swiftly caught it.
Finally, unable to find stimulants, the man’s hand quivered incessantly. He tried to grab a second gun but couldn’t lift it.
“Lil’ Bai,” Xia Tian called.
Bai Jingan looked at him. Xia Tian knew how powerful this person was. But at this moment, he was so fragile. His consciousness was blurred, yet he struggled to find something—perhaps a gun, maybe a bomb—
“I’ll get us out of here,” Xia Tian said.
Bai Jingan stared at him, still desperately trying to stay alert. His pupils always reflected a hellish scene, yet he had the audacity to challenge any kind of battleground.
But Xia Tian was acutely aware of what would make him feel pain. He could vividly see the precise moment—whenever Bai Jingan looked at him.
Bai Jingan raised his hand, fingertips brushing against the hem of Xia Tian’s clothing. He was being pulled down by the powerful anesthetic coursing through his body. Behind the scenes, those individuals exploited it to capture their prey before condemning them to hell, where the victims would never see the light of day again.
His eyes had lost focus, but he still stubbornly held on to the gun. Xia Tian said, “Even if we don’t make it through, at least we’ll be together.”
Bai Jingan’s lips curved into a smile. Xia Tian extended his arm and used his sleeve to wipe away the blood trickling down the man’s forehead.
Bai Jingan wasn’t sure if what happened afterwards was a dream.
His body felt like it was endlessly falling, as if it was burning in intense flames yet also plunging into an icy abyss. After reaching a certain pain threshold, he lost all sense.
He had discussed with Xia Tian the extensive barricades at the outermost perimeter. As a tactical planner, he had considered every detail.
He knew that at the final moment, they would burst out from beyond the villa area and charge through the indoor halls of the hotel-style service building.
Most likely, that area had already been cleared, but it was impossible for the organizers to set up destructive barricades. They wouldn’t think of this as the indoors were surrounded by stone walls, and no vehicles could pass through.
However, as long as you had sufficient firepower, there was nowhere you couldn’t traverse through.
He knew that, at the point where he could see a Kashi holly tree, Xia Tian would make a sharp turn before rushing towards the colossal building ahead, its exterior shining like a massive jewel mountain in the sunlight.
He saw the windshield in front of Xia Tian shatter into pieces, and his right shoulder was badly injured. Bai Jingan couldn’t remember how he got injured.
But Xia Tian’s actions were decisive. He lifted his hand, fired the gun, and the exposure bombs whistled out of the barrel.
The gun exploded in his hand. He discarded it and picked up another one.
In front of them, flames soared into the sky, and stone pillars, glass, and building materials shattered and scattered. Hunters in the distance shouting, arranging for interception.
At the same time, their vehicle charged into the midst of the fire.
With the scorching flames burned on the car windows, they looked like they were rushing out of a world entirely ablaze—as if breaking free from hell.
But it was such an immense hell. In the moment of breaking free from the flames, they beheld the hunting team rapidly gathering on the road further ahead, their movements frantic. Just a few feet ahead, a destructive barricade was about to close in on them.
Beneath the sun’s warm glow, trees, hunters, and the road all warped under the influence of the force field.
Even when nearing the force field, Xia Tian didn’t stop the car; instead he pressed the accelerator to the floor.
Leaning against the car window, Bai Jingan felt Xia Tian’s brief gaze. He was somehow feeling serene. He wanted to reach out and pat Xia Tian’s shoulder… but he couldn’t lift his hand.
The car collided, scraping against the barricade and bursting through. The blast-resistant armor emitted a sharp tearing sound as it was forcibly ripped from the car, and the whole world trembled.
He felt Xia Tian stroking his hair.
