Author: 颜凉雨 / Yan Liang Yu

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 120: Death

The tour leader patiently waited for them to join the group. Once the five of them blended in with the main troop, the leader waved the small flag and smiled brilliantly. “Stay close. Don’t stray from the group.”

As soon as these words were spoken, the five received a new prompt—

[Cheat Sheet]: Leaving the group is prohibited, or else it will be considered a failed submission.

[Cheat Sheet]: Stationery can be used after 15 minutes. Countdown starts now.

They had to wait fifteen minutes to use stationery? During the countdown, they could only rely on their bare hands?

Xu Wang opened his stationery box, and indeed, it was all grayed out.

The main group had started moving again, continuing along the pedestrian path. Without time to think further, Xu Wang hurriedly led his team to catch up.

They were in a mixed commercial and residential area, bustling with traffic and an array of quaint and elegant shops. Walking in the middle of the group, with the road on their left and the shops on their right, Xu Wang’s small team, though standing shoulder to shoulder, had no leisurely spirit of sightseeing. What bound them tightly together at this moment was a single factor—their will to survive.

[Any event that breaks habitual behavior could be a precursor to a deadly accident.]

This was the universal survival formula Wu Sheng had summarized, applicable in any environment.

Since joining this tour group, this phrase had been echoing in their minds, serving as a prominent alarm bell.

What does “breaking habitual behavior” mean?

For example, if you’re walking normally and suddenly there’s an empty can on the ground, you could choose to step on it, kick it, or avoid it. But whichever you choose, it breaks your initial habit of walking at a consistent pace, and hence, it poses a danger.

By extension, many seemingly trivial things could be deadly traps.

The more Xu Wang thought about it, the heavier he felt. He didn’t notice when the tour leader had moved back to the middle of the group until Wu Sheng greeted him first. “Leader.”

Xu Wang looked up to see the leader’s concerned smile. “You don’t seem very excited?”

If it were you facing the threat of death at any moment, you wouldn’t be happy either!

Xu Wang muttered in his mind but still put on a brave face, smiling at the leader. “We’re not familiar with everyone, so we’re hesitant to just start talking.”

Survival was their first priority, and finding the accident-causing demon was the second. Since the leader had approached them, Xu Wang certainly couldn’t miss this opportunity.

Sure enough, the leader opened up. “Everyone here is young and easy to get along with. This group regularly organizes these backpacker activities. The group number is XXXX…”

The leader was almost about to reveal the whole history of the tour group. However, there was hardly any useful information, especially regarding the backgrounds of each person in the group.

“Leader—” Someone from the front of the group called out.

The leader quickly stopped talking and hurried to the front.

Xu Wang watched his back, deep in thought.

Wu Sheng, noticing, asked, “What’s wrong?”

Xu Wang pursed his lips. “Don’t you think he’s a bit too enthusiastic?”

Following his gaze, Wu Sheng also watched the leader. After a while, he said, “Usually, the one who first seems suspicious isn’t the culprit.”

Xu Wang looked at him and nodded. “Right, the movies haven’t been watched in vain.”

In addition to writing formulas, their advisor had been binge-watching thrillers, mysteries, horrors, and detective films for the past three days, with a dedication akin to preparing for a crucial exam.

Behind them, Kuang Jinxin was absorbed in his thoughts, staring at his arm.

Chi Yingxue noticed and leaned over, saying coolly, “Xiao Sijin, watch the road, not your hand. Otherwise, you won’t even know how you die.”

Being too absorbed in his own thoughts, Classmate Kuang didn’t hear Chi Yingxue. He suddenly looked up, walked quickly to Xu Wang, and asked, “Captain, what is a Finnish bath?”

The Finnish bath was the hint for this level’s badge. The hint had been the same for the past few days.

Xu Wang naturally assumed his teammates understood it, so he hadn’t discussed it further. Now asked by Kuang Jinxin, he realized the generational gap between him, in his thirties, and the younger team member in his early twenties.

In his childhood, Finnish baths were common, later replaced by steam saunas, and now sweat steaming was popular.

“It’s a dry sauna without steam,” Xu Wang explained to his teammate in detail. “It’s a small wooden cabin with hot stones. You pour a ladle of water on the stones, and with a sizzle, the room temperature rises…”

“Captain, I’ve experienced it. I just didn’t match the name…” With Xu Wang’s description, vivid imagery struck Kuang Jinxin, stirring his memory.

Chi Yingxue and Qian Ai also felt the vividness of the description.

The former was indifferent, but the latter imagined a dire death scene—a closed, small wooden cabin at a high temperature. It seemed very dangerous!

“Wait.” Xu Wang suddenly grabbed Wu Sheng.

Wu Sheng, who was listening attentively, was startled, not understanding why he was suddenly involved. Turning around, he saw Xu Wang looking worried.

“Do you think,” Xu Wang asked seriously, “Xiao Kuang suddenly asking me about the Finnish bath could be a suspicious event breaking habitual behavior?”

Wu Sheng was momentarily stunned.

The next second, a woman’s scolding came from above their heads. “Marrying you was the biggest mistake of my life—”

They instinctively looked up. It was a resident on the fourth floor above the shops, the only one with open windows adorned with potted plants. The cozy atmosphere contrasted starkly with the argument inside.

“Regret it? Then remarry—” A man’s voice roared back defiantly.

The entire group stopped, looked up, and listened to the excitement.

The woman seemed to be driven to a frenzy by anger, letting out a series of shrill screams!

Screams came from inside the house, spilling out from the windowsill. In an instant, the woman had already rushed out half of her body and was about to jump!

Her husband must have rushed over, holding her waist tightly. “I was wrong. I was wrong. Just calm down—”

“Let me go—” The woman, now crying and exhausted, refused to go back inside. With a forceful swing of her arms, she pushed a flowerpot off the outer windowsill!

The flowerpot came crashing directly towards Xu Wang’s head!

Wu Sheng, with quick reflexes, pulled Xu Wang into his arms!

“Crash—”

The flowerpot shattered at their feet, spreading debris and soil all around.

“Don’t look anymore. Let’s go!” Wu Sheng urged, pulling Xu Wang and calling out to the other three teammates.

Xu Wang, still dazed from his near-death experience, followed Wu Sheng mechanically.

The other three quickly caught up.

The main group remained stationary, still engrossed in the spectacle, making their departure seem abrupt. However, moving from the middle to the front of the group didn’t break any rules.

Chi Yingxue, trailing behind, had just moved a meter away from where the flowerpot had fallen when he heard a whizzing sound above, like a sharp blade cutting through the air.

Before he could look up, a scream rang out next to him, so piercing it didn’t sound human.

Turning his head, he saw, just a few steps away, a fellow tourist who was watching the excitement with a kitchen knife embedded in his skull.

The knife had sliced through his head like a watermelon. The blood was blocked by the blade, unable to spurt out, and only trickled down from his forehead to his brow.

He stared at Chi Yingxue, mouth agape, but beyond that initial scream, he couldn’t utter another sound.

The arguing couple on the fourth floor looked down to see the deadly consequence of their dispute. Their lips trembled, and their faces turned pale.

The young man who was struck collapsed to the ground.

His head landed right next to Chi Yingxue’s feet.

The tourists, however, remained indifferent. Seeing the argument had ceased, they became disappointed and regrouped around the leader, not sparing a glance at the fallen body.

Chi Yingxue looked down at the corpse, lost in thought.

Kuang Jinxin approached, not daring to stare directly at the body like him, and asked, “Do you think dying like this is quick and painless?”

Chi Yingxue didn’t respond.

“This challenge really means death.” Kuang Jinxin sighed. “Don’t take it lightly.”

With no time for further discussion, he pulled Chi Yingxue to catch up with the others.

Ahead, Xu Wang and Wu Sheng were already being engaged in conversation by a fellow tourist.

As they approached a small restaurant, the delicious aroma wafting out led a man about Xu Wang’s age to strike up a conversation. “Smells good, huh? Wonder what they have for lunch today.”

Xu Wang, preoccupied with identifying the demon, was instantly on guard, engaging in the conversation while cautiously sizing up the man. The more he observed, the more he found the man suspiciously talkative.

Having gone through so many levels, Xu Wang had never been so wary of any NPC, often finding them friendly in many levels. But here, he couldn’t trust anyone; everyone seemed like they could be the demon.

“I’m a chef, so I care about food.” The man chatted merrily on his own, laughing heartily.

Wu Sheng, who had been observing, suddenly frowned, sniffing the air as if he detected something.

Seeing his reaction, the man joked, “You think it smells good too, right? Haha.”

Wu Sheng’s gaze fell on the restaurant door, and his expression darkened. “Gas!”

Xu Wang and Qian Ai together: “What?”

Without time to explain, Wu Sheng shouted, “Get down—”

The three instantly hit the ground. Kuang Jinxin, still confused, was pushed forward by Chi Yingxue, and they too fell flat on the ground!

Just as they landed, a massive explosion occurred, so close that it hurt their eardrums and their bodies could feel the shockwave!

With his head pushed down by Chi Yingxue, Kuang Jinxin couldn’t see anything. He only heard the sound of shattered glass and debris flying around.

Something brushed past their heads, bringing with it the chilling sensation of the wind, making Kuang Jinxin’s hair stand on end.

Choking smoke enveloped the area for a while before gradually dissipating.

The tourists, who were slow to react but narrowly escaped harm, began to stand up.

The five friends also got up.

The once fragrant restaurant was now unrecognizable in the aftermath of the gas tank explosion.

The façade and windows were completely destroyed, and the interior had caught fire. Although the dust from the explosion had settled, the smoke from the burning continued to billow relentlessly.

Kuang Jinxin clutched his racing heart and turned to look at Chi Yingxue, teasing him. “You were quick this time.”

Chi Yingxue dusted off his clothes, pulled out his phone from his pocket, and started fiddling with it very seriously… pretending not to hear.

Kuang Jinxin looked at him with a mix of annoyance and relief. It seemed that a bit of fear sparked Chi Yingxue’s will to survive.

“Why are you messing with your phone here? It doesn’t even work in this place.” Qian Ai slowly got up as he breathlessly responded, still shaken.

Chi Yingxue looked at his phone again and again, finally breathing a sigh of relief. “Good.”

He then put it back in his pocket, looking relieved.

Qian Ai suddenly realized that Chi Yingxue had never turned on his phone and had a moment of realization. “Damn, are you using it as a mirror at a time like this?!”

“……” Kuang Jinxin couldn’t help but laugh and shake his head. He had been wondering why Chi Yingxue was holding his phone, only to realize it was to check his appearance.

Seeing Chi Yingxue casually regain his composure, Kuang Jinxin felt for the first time a stark difference between him and Yan Wang.

In a situation like today’s, if it had been Yan Wang, he would have been thrilled. That person loved facing more dangers and tougher battles but never cared about his appearance.

Chi Yingxue wasn’t just vain; he also liked cakes, leisure, and making sarcastic comments in his mind that occasionally slipped out, provoking Qian Ai to almost start a fight.

Chi Yingxue, Yan Wang.

Two completely different personalities yet living in the same body. To this day, Kuang Jinxin found the concept of split personalities fascinating. He always unconsciously wanted to get close to Chi Yingxue to ask him what it felt like to have two personalities and how it all worked.

But the captain had said it was impolite to pry into someone’s privacy, so he held back his curiosity and kept his questions to himself.

“Thud—”

Another person collapsed behind them.

The five friends froze, and the main group they were following turned around as well.

At the back of the group, another person had fallen. A triangular piece of glass had pierced his neck, severing an artery. Blood gushed out and flowed along the cracks in the tiles, painting a stark red at the feet of the five.

Kuang Jinxin felt a chill run through his body.

If Chi Yingxue hadn’t pushed his head down just in time, the shard that had grazed their scalps might have been lodged in his neck.

The person who fell to the ground slowly stopped breathing but still had his eyes wide open.

The wind had ceased.

The sun continued its climb towards its zenith.

In less than fifteen minutes, two people had died.

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