CHAPTER 1692: CHAPTER 10: DECRYPTION COMPLETE

The ventilation in the secret room was small and hidden. The heavy scent of blood permeated the air and wouldn’t dissipate. A few female newbies couldn’t handle it, rushed to the sink, and vomited.

The two corpses were dragged to the corner by the Vietnamese man, leaving behind striking traces of crimson blood that brought the atmosphere to a chilling low.

Aside from the Chinese team, all other temporary teams had completely fallen apart.

In two hours, the Public Vote Slaughter Game would happen again, meaning two more people would die. No one wanted to be the unlucky one.

The Vietnamese man, confident in his superior combat skills, didn’t care at all. The Indian man, however, regretted his passivity. If he’d been able to keep his composure, he could have coaxed the newbies into being cannon fodder and easily taken out others.

"This guy... truly impressive!" The Indian man glanced at Tang Zheng, his heart shaken. At this moment, he’d abandoned any thoughts of going against him, only wanting to leave the secret room as soon as possible.

"I’m definitely no match for him." The Japanese woman pondered too. His amicable nature might be something that could be exploited.

"I’m begging you, please find a way out quickly!" The female white-collar worker sobbed as she pleaded with Tang Zheng, sitting on the ground motionless, afraid because of the wet stain on her pencil skirt that she worried would be noticed.

The female white-collar worker had been so scared that she’d lost control of herself earlier. Her legs twisted unnaturally, and the damp sensation on her silk stockings made her feel ashamed.

The others’ eyes lit up, and they all began fervently begging Tang Zheng. If they could escape within two hours, they wouldn’t have to worry about the slaughter game.

"It’s not that fast! Did you not see the progress is only at 50%?"

Tang Zheng tapped his wristwatch, and the virtual screen displayed not only their points but also the strategy progress of various teams.

"FU~CK, there are actually thirty-six teams ahead of us! Two teams are even at 80%!" The Vietnamese man counted, then cursed angrily.

"Look at the annotations!" The Japanese woman flipped the screen and found a small, barely visible note.

"The first ten teams to escape successfully earn 1,000 points. The last five teams face execution penalties!"

"What a dishonest Trojan!" The Vietnamese man grumbled, relieved they weren’t at the bottom of the progress and still managing to joke. Internally, though, he was secretly thankful—without that Chinese guy, this game would probably have gone very badly for him.

The waiting time stretched unbearably long. The Indian man, using a coin he’d sharpened into a thin slice as a screwdriver, unscrewed the bolts fastening the double bed, stood it upright, and used it as a ladder to reach the ceiling.

"The next panel must have the secret written on it somewhere!" The Vietnamese man stared at the ceiling, though he hesitated to break through violently for fear of electrocution and point deductions.

"Can we just bite it with our teeth?" The red-haired man suggested stupidly, pointing at the stubby pencil left behind.

"Don’t even think about it! If it breaks, there’s no fixing it." The Indian man flipped through the bookshelf and carelessly triggered something he shouldn’t have touched.

An electric current surged, and everyone was punished.

"Let’s try using blades. Have you discovered anything new?" The Japanese woman, having lost hope in the Indian man, turned her attention to Tang Zheng.

Tang Zheng shook his head, scanning every corner of the secret room once again.

"Ah!" exclaimed a woman at the sink, rushing to turn off the faucet.

"What’s with the yelling?" The Vietnamese man growled.

"Hurry and rinse it away!" The Japanese woman frowned. The pile of vomit was emitting a strange stench that made everyone’s stomach churn.

"The drain’s clogged!" The newbie looked miserable, scared of being scolded.

"Useless!" The Vietnamese man narrowed his eyes threateningly. "Eat it."

"What?" The newbie was stunned.

"I said eat it! That stuff reeks. Do you want to suffocate everyone here? Hurry up and eat it!" The Vietnamese man, overflowing with anger, unleashed his fury on the newbie.

The newbie was on the verge of tears, his face contorting with desperation after his begging failed.

"Don’t push me!" The newbie held a rifle, pointing it at the Vietnamese man, though his trembling hands betrayed his terror.

"You want to die?" The Vietnamese man narrowed his eyes and prepared to strike.

No one intervened; the Conquerors were all hoping more people would die.

"Why not use the military knife?" A newbie excitedly asked when he noticed the red-haired man slicing a sausage with the straight knife he’d pulled from his military boots. "Something this simple—I can’t believe I didn’t think of it!"

The newbie anticipated praise, but instead, the Conquerors rolled their eyes and looked at him as though he were an idiot.

"You’re truly dumb, aren’t you? Even I know using that thing to sharpen a pencil will definitely trigger an electric shock." The Vietnamese man spat. They were even worse off than the newbies—restricted from using firearms or daggers and forced to engage in combat barehanded. Otherwise, he’d have already blown the newbie’s brains out.

Of course, this was the Trojan’s way of protecting the newbies; otherwise, none would survive.

The newbies fell into silence, and the atmosphere froze once more.

"Put the gun down, or don’t blame me for taking action!" The Vietnamese man realized it wasn’t the right time to kill and managed to hold back.

Another ten minutes of tedious waiting passed. The Conquerors kept staring at the progress bar and noticed others’ scores rising. One team’s progress even surged to 90%, making the Vietnamese man restless.

"Can you really do this or not?"

Tang Zheng gave no reply, merely stood up and walked toward the sink.

Swish. More than ten pairs of eyes instantly fixated on him, watching eagerly.

"Did you find something?" the Japanese woman asked.

"Perhaps!" Tang Zheng was uncertain but began fiddling with the faucet. Water immediately gushed out; the clogged drain caused vomit to spill out of the sink and onto the floor.

"What are you doing?" The Indian man walked over, carefully searching but found no clues.

"Look closely!" Tang Zheng did it on purpose, wanting the Indian man to be oblivious and lose credibility.

"Look at what?" The Indian man grew increasingly nervous, his face souring as all the newbies stared at him. He was on the verge of being humiliated.

"Something’s missing!" Tang Zheng’s eyes scanned the bath supplies.

"What?" The Japanese woman looked left and right but still couldn’t spot it. Some things you would always overlook.

"Soap?" The Indian man exclaimed after noticing the toothbrush, towel, and cup—all the bath supplies except the soap.

"Finding soap in a secret room? That’s not funny." The Vietnamese man was undeniably stupid.

"Where did the soap go?" The Japanese woman wondered aloud. "We’ve searched the room everywhere—it’s not here."

"The drain." The Indian man lit up and gave Tang Zheng a thumbs up. "Impressive! I’m certain the soap has something to do with what we’re looking for."

"Do you have x-ray vision?" The Vietnamese man sneered.

"Didn’t you notice the water running out? There’s definitely something clogging the pipes!" The Indian man rolled his eyes; this guy was truly idiotic.

"Isn’t the newbie vomit clogging it?" The Vietnamese man pointed at the newbie.

"Well, let’s dig it out and find out!" The Japanese woman was eager to try.

"You all better not mess around! Electrocution is one thing, but I can’t afford point deductions!" The Vietnamese man shook his head. The game had already led to several errors, and the increasing intensity of the electric shocks left the weaker newbies foaming at the mouth.

"You do it!" Tang Zheng emphasized his tone forcefully, passing the physical task to the Indian man. He avoided taking the blame, knowing the man would delegate it to a newbie instead.

"I’m not a servant!"

The Indian man secretly cursed but didn’t dare argue with Tang Zheng. He pushed the task onto a luckless newbie, failing to notice how Tang Zheng had slyly manipulated him. By constantly ordering newbies around, he was unknowingly diminishing his standing among them.

Dragged into doing the dirty work, the hapless newbie used the coin to unscrew the bolts, then pulled apart the sink, exposing the drainpipe.

Foul-smelling sewage poured out, drenching him.

"There’s nothing there!" They were zapped three more times during the process, further irritating the Vietnamese man.

The Indian man hesitated too.

"Don’t rush—keep digging!" Tang Zheng drew a rough range with his fingers. "Dig up the whole thing!"

"I’ll do it!" With the time for the public vote game ticking closer, the red-haired man took matters into his own hands, kicking forcefully at the pipe.

Thud after thud—the thin wall crumbled, revealing the drainpipe inside, and everyone saw the soap wedged within.

"It’s really there!" The Vietnamese man marveled. "But what’s it for?"

Some slower-witted people still hadn’t caught on and looked to Tang Zheng for an explanation.

"What are you all waiting for? Smash it!"

With Tang Zheng’s words, the red-haired man stomped on the soap, breaking it apart and revealing a blade embedded inside.

"We got it!"

The newbies cheered, their morale soaring.

The Japanese woman sharpened the pencil and marked the paper, revealing two numbers corresponding to two tiles on the ceiling.

The Vietnamese man stood atop the upright double bed and broke through the ceiling, dislodging an eraser and a remote control.

"Erase the blacked-out letters on the Bible and write them down," Tang Zheng tossed the eraser to the Indian man and took the remote control from the Vietnamese man.

The remote control featured two buttons, one red and one green, along with nine number keys.

"What’s it for?" The Vietnamese man was baffled; thinking wasn’t his strong suit.

"Our progress just hit 80%!" The Japanese woman screamed. "We’re ranked ninth!"

"Now it’s all about solving wordplay!" The Indian man handed the recorded letters to Tang Zheng. "The words these letters form should tell us how to use the remote control."

Tang Zheng nodded but frowned inwardly. Was the Trojan discriminating against nationalities? There weren’t any Europeans here, yet all the words were in English.

What Tang Zheng didn’t know was that, in the rooms holding Europeans and Americans, they were struggling with the strokes of Chinese characters.

"Green, activate?" The Indian man figured out two words and looked toward Tang Zheng for confirmation.

"Hmm!" Tang Zheng’s mind wasn’t fully on solving the puzzle. He was already debating whether to kill these people now. If they escaped the secret room and the ability restrictions were lifted, it would be far more difficult to eliminate them later.

"Are you sure? What if pressing the wrong button makes it explode?"

The Indian man was about to press it when the Vietnamese man’s remark made his hand freeze.

"You, get over here, take the remote control, and press the green button in the corner!" The Vietnamese man ordered a newbie, who shook his head wildly like a rattle drum in refusal.

"Relax—no one’s going to die!" The Indian man approached with a deceptive, kind smile, trying to persuade the newbie as he walked closer. (To be continued. If you enjoyed this story, visit Qidian (qidian.com) for recommendation votes and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation.)