Chapter 226 - Explosion

Zhihao opened his mouth to ask the man what he was doing but before the question could roll out of his tongue, his whole body went numb as he heard the ear-deafening sound of an explosion. The ground beneath him shuddered for a mere second as the main control room blew up without any warning. 

The explosion was serious but not big enough to affect them as they had a wall protecting them. 

Zhihao gulped as his ears started ringing for a solid few seconds because of the shockingly loud sound that had almost managed to deafen him. 

When the explosion calmed down, nobody else dared to say anything out of the shock and it was Li Ling who broke the silence as he stated, "A-Zhi, be careful. Don't just go carelessly opening unknown doors like that." 

"What... How.... Why in the world did that room..." Zhihao gulped as he couldn't even form a complete sentence to voice out the questions he had in mind. 

Li Ling sighed and seemed to have read Zhihao's head as he responded, "Probably the hunters."

"Eh?" 

"The game never specified any rules. If the hunters are provided with working guns and ammo then it's no shock that they also have access to such bombs and other weapons," Li Ling tried his best to explain the situation according to his own personal observation and theories. 

Kaoru was breathing heavily as her eyes turned red and tears started trailing down her cheeks, "This game... It's seriously trying to kill us." 

Li Ling could see the fear in her eyes but he was not the type of person who would give somebody fake consolation so he nodded his head as he replied with honesty, "The game is trying to kill us but it's up to us to decide whether we want to die or not." 

Tian Xifeng moved closer to Kaoru and patted the girl on her back as she reassured, "We'll make it out alive. If there's anyone on this planet that can survive this game then it's us. We're the best bet. Isn't that why we are here?" 

It was probably the first time anyone was seeing such a side of Tian Xifeng. Normally, this woman would be the one that would be crying and clinging to the other players but it seemed that today, her job was taken by Kaoru and she was forced to become this reliable older sister that remained calm even when the sky was falling. 

Liang Feng quickly composed himself as he looked at Li Ling and questioned, "What's the next plan?" 

Li Ling first glanced at Zhihao to see if the man had anything to suggest but when he got silence as a response, he sighed as he spoke up, "The plan is to either hide well and run for the rest of the game or kill the hunters instead." 

Surprisingly enough, the latter suggestion was the exact same plan that Zhihao also had. 

"Hiding is out of the question since the hunters have our location and if we run, we can risk falling into more traps or getting caught," Li Ling added as he considered the possibility seriously. 

"How much time do we have left?" Zhihao took a sharp breath in as Li Ling's calmness affected him as well and he pushed away his shock to take action since taking action was the only way to actually help them survive this. 

Crying, being shocked, or speechless wasn't going to help them at all. If they were to be shocked and stay loitering around then they might as well join Andyzz in the afterlife. 

Tian Xifeng gulped as she turned on her phone and looked at the ticking timer that was displayed on top of the screen, but before she could give an answer to Zhihao, Liang Feng had beat her to it. 

"Six minutes," Liang Feng informed. 

"Damn it..." Zhihao cursed under his breath. 

How come it felt like an eternity had passed when it was only four minutes that had passed?!

Zhihao took a sharp breath in as he completely calmed himself down and came up with their next course of action. 

"Let's kill them first," Zhihao spoke up. 

Everyone was a bit shocked but it seemed that they had already expected it to be something like this and hence, their shock didn't last for more than a few seconds. 

"I refuse," Wang GuiYing suddenly voiced out as he stood up and raised his hand. 

"Eh?" Zhihao's eyebrows creased together as he really wouldn't have expected Wang GuiYing to refuse. 

"Why?" Li Ling questioned as he looked at the man and waited for the man's reasoning. 

"Even if they are trying to kill us, they are still human, are they not?" Wang GuiYing spoke up, clearly showing that he was against Zhihao and Li Ling's idea. 

Zhihao gulped as he also felt a little reluctant after hearing this. 

"But they were the ones that started killing us first!" Tian Xifeng suddenly spoke up, "This is not the time to be thinking like a stupid hero!" 

Li Ling was silent as he decided not to say anything on the topic yet. 

Wang GuiYing frowned as he retorted, "This is not about playing hero! This is about life or death! I don't want to go to jail nor do I want to be called a killer." 

"It's for self-defense!" Tian Xifeng argued. 

Wang GuiYing gritted his teeth and it seemed that he wanted to say something more but Zhou Xinyi stopped him from saying anything more. 

"If we kill them, then we'll have to live with that guilt for the rest of our lives," Zhou Xinyi suddenly pointed out, "If winning this game is our only motive then we should protect ourselves well. If we don't get caught, we don't die and we don't have to kill anyone either." 

"I object!" Liang Feng also spoke up as he stated his own thoughts on the topic of killing or being killed, "There's no guarantee that we'll be safe if we do that. In the next six minutes, another one of us might die and the killer would surely be the hunters. If we don't kill them then are we not giving them the chance to kill us instead?" 

Zhou Xinyi nodded calmly as he responded, "You're right. I can't guarantee our safety but let's say that you really do plan and get ready to kill them instead. They already have our live location so who's to say that they won't notice and turn our attack against us?" 

Li Ling suddenly sighed as he stopped the argument from going any further, "Let's bet on it." 

"Huh?" Everyone turned their eyes towards the man as they waited for him to explain himself. 

"Everything is a guess or a theory but there's something that we all need to consider," Li Ling spoke up as he looked at the others confidently, "There's nobody else in the city right now. In the starting, we could at least see a few people running around but as the competitions progressed, everyone simply vanished into thin air. Logically speaking, something like that is not possible so there is a chance that all of this isn't real." 

Zhihao's eyebrows creased together as he suddenly remembered the vague conversation between Liang Feng and Li Ling.

Liang Feng gulped as he shook his head, "You're barking up the wrong tree." 

Li Ling chuckled dryly as he responded, "I've been told that many times so it has no effect on me." 

"..." 

"Liang Feng, technology makes everything possible. Just because you think something is impossible doesn't mean someone else in this world hadn't already made it possible." 

This was a statement that Li Ling connected with a lot and the way he said it also confirmed this. 

A lot of people had told him that creating a human-like bot was impossible but here they were... In a game organized by that bot that had already become independent of its maker. 

Liang Feng, who knew this would naturally understand Li Ling's statement more than the others that were unaware of this fact. 

"But..." Liang Feng stopped himself as he bit his lip. 

He really couldn't believe that a technology like that could be possible.

"What are you guys talking about?" Zhihao once again felt like he was out of the conversation so he stepped in between and asked.

"A-Zhi, have you ever heard about the full-dive VR?" 

"Full-dive?" Zhihao repeated as his eyes widened slightly. 

He had certainly heard about such a thing but it was only in books and movies. 

Li Ling nodded his head as he added, "That's right. A full-dive VR. Something that connects directly to your brain and doesn't feel like a forced technology at all. It's controlled by your brain and can fool you into believing that everything you see, feel, and hear is real." 

Just like the name suggested, it was a VR experience that was no different from reality. 

"Such a thing... Are you sure it's possible?" Zhihao questioned. 

Li Ling, "If the rumors are true then it means someone was successful in creating the world's very first full-dive VR."