Chapter 98: Cloud Burst

"If you don't understand what I'm saying, it doesn't matter. Everyone dies together."

Will raised his arm and drew from the void a particularly clumsy and heavy single-man rocket launcher, its exterior covered in black skull stickers, its interior loaded with a round, plump rocket projectile.

"Cloud burst bomb!"

Little Red Riding Hood recognized the origin of the rocket launcher and leapt to her feet from her seat, "Made with puppetry!"

The Killing Field game counts "external items" in players' backpacks as part of their strength—if a novice fills their backpack with ten purchased small nuclear bombs, the Killing Field will genuinely assign them a ten-nuclear-bomb difficulty scenario.

But there are ways to bypass or circumvent this rule—such as buying parts and crafting weapons and gear, or seeking help from the Alliance of Demon Scientists—they possess a puppetry technique that plunges players into a dazed, trance-like state, allowing them to assemble modern weapons from available materials while sleepwalking.

Weapons made this way have a subtly reduced weight as "external items."

Among all categories of equipment and props, cursed items are a particularly unique type—they activate autonomously after the user suffers severe trauma or dies.

【Type: Cursed Item】

【Quality: Fine】

Crack.

【Pickup Successful】

Will leaned against the wall, coughing violently. Even though Li Cheng continuously sprayed wound-sealing gel on the stump of his shoulder to stop the bleeding, he kept coughing up clots and fragments of organs.

Burning chains pierced Leonardo's body, coiled several times around his waist, and with brute force yanked him upright and dragged him out of the house.

Li Cheng replied noncommittally, "Second, as a former professional HR, I'm only skilled at recruiting—I never eliminate anyone. But oddly, the accounting firm I worked for, which handled U. S. military audits, never had a problem with too many employees. It was rather puzzling."

Will slung the rocket launcher onto his shoulder and aimed it at Leonardo and Annie, both drenched in blood.

? So if employees die often, you don't worry about having too many.

He was dead, his head tilted toward the villa, his mouth stretched into a wide grin, his back entwined with countless chains—like octopus tentacles, like Medusa's hair—awaiting Leonardo's arrival.

As the countdown ended, the mechanical arms hanging from the ceiling descended, lifted him up, and tossed him outside the door.

【Cooldown: None】

The cloud burst bomb inside the launcher contained vast quantities of liquid ethylene oxide; the first explosion released a cloud that filled more than half the villa, then instantly ignited, triggering a second blast that generated ground-level overpressure, killing nearly everyone present.

【Consumption: None】

Li Cheng suddenly removed his mask and spoke into the broadcast, "What if I refuse?"

The shockwave effortlessly blew off the villa's security door and ripped off roof tiles. Blazing flames ignited wooden beams, silk curtains, tables, chairs, and sofas.

【Note: A man escaped a grizzly attack using only a bow and arrow, but his friend, who got an arrow in the knee, wasn't so lucky.】

As the broadcast narration ended, the live TV feed concluded with the match. Leonardo instantly stopped performing, placed Annie on the ground, walked to the beach volleyball court, picked up the rocket launcher, and repeatedly tried to store it in his backpack.

The severed arm, still attached to the rocket launcher, rolled several times on the ground, but its fingers never managed to pull the trigger.

Clearly, all his internal glands had overdrawn his life force; every organ was failing and hemorrhaging.

Hum!

A whistling sound pierced the air outside—a burning iron chain, wreathed in flame, shot through the darkness, pierced the villa, and drove through Leonardo's abdomen.

The mechanical arms hidden within the ceiling tracks, now deprived of support, were fully exposed, resembling tree branches.

"Cut off his lower body!"

This elimination refers to Jin Huiying. Indeed, if Li Cheng had taken over the volleyball game just now, he might have eliminated her before the countdown ended.

Second, there is currently one male and two females on the field; according to prior reasoning, Li Cheng could not possibly lose—so why provoke verbally?

【Cannot Pickup】

Oxygen was consumed by the flames; those hiding in the Bone Corridor immediately felt suffocating oxygen deprivation. Fortunately, several diving oxygen masks remained in a box in the corridor's corner—once worn, they quickly restored their breathing.

【Usage: Passive Activation】

"Cough—cough—"

Too bad—it was still one step too late.

【Effect: Vengeful Spirit Seeking Retribution. After the host's death, automatically seeks and attacks the nearest hostile target. Current bound target: Will】

Not only did Little Red Riding Hood not understand—Jin Huiying, who had left the corridor, was equally stunned—Little Red Riding Hood and Master Pi Fu had known each other beforehand; now only three remained, and she had anticipated being targeted, even eliminated.

If the 【Teleport Swap】 skill were still active, Leonardo might have used it to exchange positions with others and escape death.

"Ahh-oh."

Because the Day Island Anomalous Things Investigation Bureau had a cooperative relationship with the Alliance of Demon Scientists, Little Red Riding Hood instantly recognized the item's origin and loudly warned the others.

But a ten-minute cooldown was still too long.

As he saw himself about to be swallowed by the burning chains, he pulled the rocket launcher from his backpack and, with resolve, pulled the trigger toward Will's corpse.

【Cannot Pickup】

The stadium's broadcast system was damaged by the explosion, so the mechanical arms brought a new one from the living room. From it came the familiar, magnetic background narration: "Mr. Leonardo caused irreversible damage to all rooms of the villa, including the kitchen, rendering the next cooking demonstration impossible. The production team has skipped to the final round: Final Handshake. This round requires a popularity of 10 million—please all contestants prepare quickly."

Rip—a sound. Leonardo's right arm skin peeled off like a dishwashing glove, and he himself was dragged out of the house by the chains, pulled into darkness.

Outside the villa, darkness reigned. After a mutated beast's roar, no further sound was heard.

Li Cheng shouted a warning; Jin Huiying snapped to attention and slashed her blade toward Leonardo's waist and abdomen.

Jin Huiying's action did not constitute direct aggression against an ally—merely a technical foul like a faulty serve—so it would not trigger a mechanical arm response.

Leonardo exhaled in relief; the Killing Field system had strict rules regarding "ownership"—an item belonging to another could not be directly placed into one's own backpack while the original owner was still alive.

Seeing this, Li Cheng unhesitatingly removed his bone arm guard and hurled it toward the villa's living room. The moment the Bone Corridor touched the ground, it instantly reshaped itself into a doorway, revealing the vast space beyond.

Jin Huiying whispered softly as she dragged the bleeding Will to the doorway, uttering words she herself didn't believe: "Master Pi Fu said—if you leave the villa immediately upon exiting, without resisting or struggling, there may still be a glimmer of hope."

"Master Pi Fu?" Little Red Riding Hood, who had followed him out of the corridor, looked utterly bewildered—the villa's broadcast had been talking to itself since the beginning, never communicating with the players.

The explosion's force came swiftly and faded just as fast. Li Cheng stepped out of the Bone Corridor to find half the villa engulfed by the cloud burst bomb—roof torn off, walls collapsed, everything in ruins.

"Go inside!"

The nearest, Li Cheng, immediately braced his feet against the wall and grabbed Leonardo's right arm, trying to pull him back inside—but the chains' strength far exceeded expectations; the pull tore a gash across Leonardo's abdomen, exposing his organs and cybernetic implants.

Leonardo withdrew his gaze, glanced at Jin Huiying, who had just betrayed her "teammate," then at Li Cheng, who had done nothing—then shook his head regretfully, "I gave you the chance. If you'd helped just now, you could have eliminated another."

No one knew what spell had been cast on the open ground outside the villa, but the deeper one went, the dimmer the firelight burning on the chains became.

Having a group of people to cushion the fall wasn't bad. Will was about to pull the trigger when his arm suddenly went cold—Jin Huiying had somehow picked up the volleyball Li Cheng had thrown away, slammed it into Will's elbow, and shattered half his arm.

According to the rules, the beach volleyball game was theoretically still going; it was now Jin Huiying and Will's turn to face Li Cheng and Little Red Riding Hood.

The successful pickup now meant that Will was indeed already dead.

He walked to the door and looked outside.

"Ah-ha, so the third round of our wasteland romance reality show has officially ended. It's a shame Mr. Will didn't get enough votes and was eliminated. What's more regrettable is that Miss Annie also died unexpectedly. So that leaves two men and two women on the field. The next segment is a culinary showcase—who among them will make it to the end? Stay tuned, we'll be right back after the break."

【Item Name: Forsaken Vengeance Chains】

At Li Cheng's reminder, Little Red Riding Hood and Jin Huiying rushed into the corridor. Li Cheng himself used the bat-hook grappling gun, fired it at the ceiling, and using the bat gun's movement effect, drifted into the doorway.

"First, I said believe me and maybe you'll survive. You didn't listen yourselves."

"You certainly are decisive."

Even if a player survived, they would die from suffocation once the air ran out afterward.

"If—"

Boom!

Outside the villa, the thermobaric bomb burst open. The initial flash of the explosion was like striking a match in a room that had been dark and lightless for years. Immediately after, that flash of fire swelled a hundred, a thousand times over.

Faintly visible, the source of the chains—Will's intact corpse—was lying quietly on the open ground a few dozen meters in front of the villa.

"Sorry, I don't want to die."

"Not going to answer, huh?"

Li Cheng didn't stop to explain. He stared at the broadcast on his own and said calmly, "Then what happens if I leave the villa?"

(End of Chapter)