Chapter 243 - Welcome To The Fifth Competition!

[Congratulation to all eight players once again for making it to your fifth competition arena just on time!~] 

[Mastermo] 

[BBtrash] 

[Hulk0_0] 

[Devilmagiclover] 

[Yingli] 

[Jiangshi] 

[Richlord]

[T-rex101] 

[Kaze17] 

[Throughout your gaming journey with us, you guys have managed to surprise and impress us with every passing second.] 

[We have tested your strength and your speed. Now, we have also tested your intelligence and are well aware of your skills.] 

[Since you guys are all so amazing, it is only natural that we designed a special competition this time just for all of you.] 

[We have focused on individual aspects of your strengths till now but in this competition, we would be testing you according to our newly created testing plan that covers the scope of both mental and physical strength.] 

[Your mission this time is to simply survive.] 

Zhihao suddenly had a foreboding feeling in his stomach and in the very next second, he could immediately understand why he was feeling this way. 

[There is a bomb planted inside this shopping complex and the timer is set for exactly ten minutes.] 

[All the exits and entries are sealed shut and can not be opened easily.] 

[You have to get out of the building before it blows up.] 

[This time, you are free to help each other out but if you don't want to cooperate with other players, you are naturally free to act independently.] 

[There are no major restrictions for you this time which might make things easier for you.] 

[The hints have already been provided to you.] 

[Thank you for choosing T.I.A.D. and we wish you all the best!] 

[If you guys survive this, we would certainly meet again in the maze of death!] 

The system didn't say anything more and the players naturally had nothing to say as they slowly absorbed all the information that had been presented to them.

Tian Xifeng suddenly broke out laughing and the rest of the players unconsciously turned to look at her as if she had gone crazy. 

"Li Ling Gege, we are really doomed! So funny! Hahaha..." 

Li Ling's eyes twitched as he commented in a volume that was barely above a whisper, "She's lost it." 

Wang GuiYing gulped as he looked down at his phone and saw the ticking timer. 

"Mastermo, remember what we talked about?" Wang GuiYing questioned as he raised his head and looked at the man. 

Zhihao nodded with a sigh as he didn't bother saying anything. 

"We definitely can't die!" Wang GuiYing announced and it almost sounded as if he was trying to cheer everyone up and at the same time, it also sounded as if he was trying to motivate himself. 

"What did you two discuss?" Li Ying questioned curiously as she looked at the determination in Wang GuiYing's eyes. 

Wang GuiYing turned to Zhihao and both nodded in understanding as they silently decided not to alert everyone. 

Even if this was some super immersive virtual world, if they were to die here, there was a high chance that they would also be dangering their lives in the real world so it was naturally better not to take such a big risk. 

"Well... It seems that you were wrong," Liang Feng commented as he turned to glance at Tian Xifeng who was still laughing silently, "It wasn't about shopping after all." 

"Mastermo, what do we do?" Kaoru questioned as she looked at Zhihao with determined eyes that seemed to be putting their complete trust in Zhihao.

Zhihao sighed as he striaghtened his back and looked around, "We need to get out of here before that bomb blows up." 

"Didn't the system say that all the exist and entries are sealed off?" Li Ying questioned as she pointed it out. 

Zhihao nodded his head as he agreed to her, "That's right but the system also said that it would not be easy for us to break through the sealed doors." 

"Eh?" 

"It never said that it would be impossible, it said that it wouldn't be easy," Zhihao added. 

"Then we break through the doors?" Wang GuiYing gulped as he interjected and questioned anxiously. 

Zhihao shook his head as he replied, "It would be the best option for us but I don't believe it would be that easy." 

"What do you mean, Mastermo?" Zhou Xinyi was the one who asked with a complicated expression plastered on his face. 

"It's just as I've said," Zhihao responded with a sigh, "It's an option but not the only one. The system said that this competition was not just about strength and speed but it was also about intelligence which means nothing can be as simple as we would like it to be." 

"What are the other options?" Li Ying asked seriously as she felt that Zhihao was somehow right.

"The easiest would be trying to escape from the main exits, the second easiest option would be to break through the glass windows. The third one would be the rooftop but escaping through there might just be a bit tricky and dangerous. These are all the options we can use in order to escape from this building, however..." 

"However?" Li Ling frowned as he urged Zhihao to continue speaking. 

"We don't necessarily have to escape, do we?" Zhihao's eyebrows furrowed together as he stated an option that nobody would agree to. 

"That's suicide," Tian Xifeng scoffed as she immediately understood what Zhihao was trying to say. 

"Then we only have three escape routes to choose from," Zhihao spoke up, "I knew nobody would agree to the fourth option so I won't be forcing it on you guys. It's too risky." 

"Then let's do this!" Li Ying exclaimed as she suggested, "We first try to use the main exit and if that doesn't work, we try to break the glass windows and we keep the rooftop as our last resort." 

"Or we break into groups and try all three methods at once?" Wang GuiYing frowned as he replied. 

Li Ying shook her head as she clearly rejected the idea, "We might not have time but it wouldn't be smart to divide our manpower like that." 

"Then let's give each option a two-minute time limit," Zhihao suggested as he thought about it carefully, "If we aren't successful in those two minutes, we move on to try the next option. In total, we'll be using six minutes to test out all the options which would give us four minutes to think and come up with other ways if all three methods fail." 

"I agree to that!" Li Ling exclaimed as he raised his hand, "Let's do it according to Zhihao's plan." 

Wang GuiYing took a sharp breath in as he turned and started walking towards the exit that was just beside the entry gate that they had used to get inside, "What are you guys idling about? Get moving!" 

Zhihao couldn't help but let out a small chuckle as he saw the man's spontaneous reaction. 

Wang GuiYing was always better at actions than he was at words. In fact, Zhihao kinda preferred it when the man just shut up since it would suddenly become more peaceful and Wang GuiYing would automatically seem less annoying once he keeps his mouth shut. 

The rest of the players gulped as they silently followed after the man and agreed to go according to Zhihao's plan once again. 

Wang GuiYing first tried to pull the door but as expected, the door was locked and no matter how much force he used, he was still unable to pull the door open. 

Wang GuiYing took a sharp breath in as he calmed his fuming head and lifted his foot to kick the door but once again, nothing happened. 

"It's strong. We can't break it," Zhou Xinyi spoke up with a sigh as he stepped closer and observed the sealed door. 

The door was made out of glass but the glass was not at all easy to break, in fact, it was so thick and hard to break that it shocked the players who would have never expected to see such type of glass. 

Through the transparent glass door, they could also see the shutters that were closed and sealed with the use of old locks and chains. 

"Even if we break the door, the shutters are going to be a problem," Zhihao sighed as he informed. 

Li Ling nodded his head as he took a closer look at the lock that was on the glass door. 

"It's a passcode," Li Ling muttered as he tried to put in some random codes that might let them out but it was only natural that none of the codes worked. 

"Then we give up and move on to the windows!" Li Ying exclaimed, sounding a bit too happy. 

"No," Zhihao shook his head with a sigh, "We try to open this door or head for the rooftop." 

"Eh?" Li Ying frowned as she waited for Zhihao to explain. 

"The glass cannot be broken and if I'm guessing right, bulletproof glass has been used throughout the whole building. We won't be able to break the windows as well."