Infinite Ebullience
Chapter 245 - 4: Escape from Demon City

Chapter 245: Chapter 4: Escape from Demon City

"Deduct fifty points from Tang Zheng and compensate the newbie Han Zifeng."

"As compensation, Han Zifeng will have the right to select two initial pieces of equipment."

After Trojan announced the punishment, Li Xinlan and the others slightly let out a sigh of relief. They were glad it was just fifty points. To Tang Zheng, that’s just a drop in the bucket.

The high school students initially thought the punishment was severe, but they were stunned by Tang Zheng and his team’s nonchalant attitude. Han Zifeng, along with his fox and dog friends, had wanted to continue to mock Tang Zheng and deduct more points from him. But looking at Tang Zheng’s expression, they had lost interest.

"Tsk, the punishment is too light. Trojan, is Tang Zheng your daddy?" Zhang Hao felt that a hundred points would have been more fitting and grumbled. To his surprise, Trojan heard him.

"Survivor Zhang Hao, you insulted Trojan. Thirty points deducted."

"Fuck, you can’t be serious, I’m getting shot while lying down." Zhang Hao was stunned, his face was immediately filled with grief. Like a football player who had been shown a red card, he chased after the referee, begging him to withdraw the card. "This is too costly. I’m not as tough as Tang Zheng. Thirty points is practically asking for my life. Trojan, show me some mercy, please."

The high school students were confused. They didn’t know whether thirty points was a lot or not. The stark contrast between Zhang Hao’s tear-streaked face and Tang Zheng’s nonchalant attitude was too big.

"Uncle, you’re so pitiful. Little Fan Fan only managed to scrape together five hundred points in the last round of the game. You’ve just lost one-tenth of that all at once." Lu Fan also was indignant, thinking that Trojan was heartless.

"Isn’t it just thirty points?" Han Zifeng looked down on Zhang Hao and called him unmanly.

"You don’t understand a thing. Thirty points can buy thousands of bullets and be converted into three million RMB. These are all hard-earned by risking my life." Zhang Hao grabbed Han Zifeng’s collar, preparing to strike him, but recalling Tang Zheng’s punishment, he snorted and tossed Han Zifeng aside.

Han Zifeng was startled, nearly twisting his neck from Zhang Hao’s yank. However, he was more concerned about these points. The other high school students were also shocked.

"Humph, you should all remember that you’re already dead. You need ten thousand points to get out of here alive. Now tell me, are points important or not?" Zhang Hao growled, holding his head. He didn’t understand why Trojan suddenly went crazy and deducted his points. "Why didn’t you deduct points when I cursed at you normally?"

"Trojan only punishes for certain offensive insults."

"Pfft." Lin Weiguo laughed out loud, thinking that this kid was too pitiful. The four flight attendants tried their best not to laugh, but the forty-something newbies were too stunned to find the humor in the situation. The air in the room suddenly became dense and suffocating.

Han Zifeng quickly came up with a plan and sprang back to Tang Zheng, fake-punching his cheek and provoking him. "Go on, hit me. I dare you."

"Tang Zheng, don’t be impulsive. He wants you to lose points." Pang Meiqin, who always scored few points, was particularly protective of them. She walked over, trying to push away Han Zifeng.

"Oh, I see." Tang Zheng pretended to understand and scrutinized Han Zifeng from head to toe.

"Huh, you just realized that, idiot? Are you scared...?" Han Zifeng made a slapping gesture, but the next second, a heavy punch slammed onto his jaw. The punch knocked the words that he was about to say back into his belly.

Under the unbelieving eyes of the newbies, Han Zifeng spun and flew into mid-air like a spinning top. He spat out teeth and then crash-landed on the ground with a thud, fainting on the spot.

All eyes were on Tang Zheng, who dared to take action.

"I don’t like the number 3750. Trojan, round it up for me!" Tang Zheng brushed off the blood stains on his hand, looking as if he didn’t care.

"Aha, I’ve found the first toy that wants to resist Trojan. Tang Zheng, deduct fifty points." Trojan’s mechanical voice shrieked in a particularly eerie and mocking tone. "Are you interested in beating him into a coma so I can directly deduct down to 3000 points?"

"What if I kill him in the game?" Tang Zheng’s question sent chills down the spines of all the newbies, who all took a step back. By now, even a fool could tell that Tang Zheng and his crew were experienced players.

"If you kill a survivor from the same room, one thousand points will be deducted from the killer. If there are not enough points, you’ll be eliminated instantly." Trojan didn’t hide the rules and sounded quite pleased. "So even if he’s a burden, you have to take him with you. If they go off on their own and accidentally trigger a hidden condition that leads to a team wipeout, you’d only have yourselves to blame."

"What if I break his legs and abandon him?" Tang Zheng pressed.

Trojan was evidently taken aback by this and fell silent. The system didn’t have a rule for this particular offense. A few minutes later, it spoke up hesitantly. "You should love each other."

The Conquerors burst into laughter. This was the first time since they had entered the room that they had seen Trojan at a loss.

"Don’t get too complacent. The rules of the room are far more brutal than you think. Don’t try to exploit loopholes." Trojan shrieked impatiently. "Survival Challenge begins in five minutes. Please select your equipment. Everyone can only select one."

The floor beneath the cubes cracked open and a hollow steel frame rose. The sight of black boxes, various metal firearms, and silver bottles carrying green fluids made the high school students exchange worried glances.

"Opt for the protective clothing, it’ll increase your chances of survival," Zhang Hao felt that Tang Zheng, the goody-two-shoes, was bound to convince them, so he figured he’d get in before him and build some rapport. But they clearly weren’t interested.

"We need to participate in the match to earn points and resurrect to return to our original world," Pang Meiqin quickly chimed in, "The game is too dangerous, survival rates are too low, our only chance of survival is by following Tang Zheng’s lead."

"Thank you, but we will make our own decision." The class president spoke up, rejecting Zhang Hao and Pang Meiqin’s advice. As for Tang Zheng, he only met his refusal with a smile, reticent.

"The president is absolutely right. How can we be sure they won’t betray us, using us as bait? Weapons are the safest bet at least they’ll enable us to fight for our survival."

One girl stood forward, backing her president. Other students who were close to the president joined him too. While others who had been watching began to waver.

"Why are you still standing there? Are you really going to trust a bunch of strangers over someone we’ve lived and studied with for over a year? They are clearly a wolf in sheep’s clothing!" The girl continued, stirring the pot with her cutting words.

"Liu Jiamei, you need to be more careful with your words. Don’t insult their kindness," the class monitor stood up and admonished the girl.

"Yue Tong, you really can talk the talk, but can you prove their kindness?" This silenced Yue Tong, as she had no answer or proof to offer.

"Please note, you have three minutes to choose your equipment." Their indecision was agitated by the sudden countdown. With Liu Jiamei’s last words, they decided to take the new students’ recommendations and the seeds of doubt were planted in their minds.

"A bunch of birdbrains! Ungrateful dogs do bite the hand that feeds them!" Zhang Hao huffed, wishing he could beat them all up to vent his anger.

"I didn’t know you knew how to use idioms," Lin Weiguo teased Zhang Hao, delighted at this turn of events. If they refused Tang Zheng’s advice, it would save them a lot of trouble.

"Uncle, don’t mind them, let them meet their own doom." Lu Fan held Tang Zheng’s hand, comforting him.

"Please note, you now have two minutes to choose your equipment."

"We’re running out of time, let’s get the initial equipment at a one-to-one ratio." Xu Guanlin seemed to be more competent as a young leader than the tearful female teacher, silently rationing out the equipment.

"How do we decide who gets what?" A student questioned, immediately receiving glares from some of his peers who chided him for wasting time.

Xu Guanlin began calling out names quickly "Han Zifeng, you male students from Group Five to Group Six are physically stronger, you take the firearms and lead the offence, female students from Group One to Group Two take the protective clothing."

"Remember to choose the same type of firearms to ensure they’re compatible with your bullets."

The call of names brought the pupils closer together, boosting their team spirit. Under harsh countdown, Xu Guanlin’s confident command inspired trust and loyalty.

"This kid seems pretty impressive," Pang Meiqin assessed Xu Guanlin, he even looked attractive, no wonder so many girls were smitten by him.

"What are you going to choose?" Zhang Hao turned to the female bank clerk, his eyes trained on her flesh-colored silk stockings.

The male teacher saw Zhang Hao’s lack of decorum, ignored him, and went straight to the students. The vendor and the clerk exchanged glances and followed suit, leaving Zhang Hao feeling ignored. After all, anyone would feel safer with the students than with Tang Zheng’s group.

"Tang Zheng, are you just going to give up?" Qin Yan was perplexed. Tang Zheng wasn’t the type to admit defeat so easily.

"Let’s see what the mission is first. The sudden appearance of all these new players is making me uneasy," Tang Zheng frowned, looking to the Trojan, "What’s the mission this time?"

"Successfully escape from the Demon City, no time limit and no penalty troops will track you!" The Trojan did not conceal.

"That simple?" Zhang Hao rubbed his ear, disbelief written all over his face.

"Demon City? Hurry, those with spare points purchase bullets and props that can kill spiritual demon species," Tang Zheng suddenly roared, flicking through the list on his watch screen, "Spiritual Power Hand Grenades, we’ll take five hundred of those too."

"Damn, it’s just Demon City, are you seriously overreacting?" Zhang Hao grumbled, but didn’t stop his hands from buying spiritual bullets. The other Conquerors also had no magical weapons in storage, and they looked rather confused.

"Twenty-nine, twenty-eight!" The Trojan continued to count down, ramping up the tension in the room, the commotion steadily rising.

Tang Zheng no longer cared about the high school students. Good intentions were wasted on them, and using force to coerce them to select equipment was meaningless since the Trojan forbade it. He decided to leave them to their fate.

"Time’s up, teleportation begins." (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to vote and subscribe on qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation.)