But when he skipped past Ren Xiaosu, someone asked the director, “Why didn’t you interview that young man just now?”
“He doesn’t look strong at all. I can tell at a glance that he’s not a superhuman,” the director said.
Then the director spotted the shadow clone not far away from them. When he saw the shadow clone in the white mask, his eyes lit up. “Hurry up, let’s interview him. That man looks really strong!”
Ren Xiaosu was left speechless as he lay in the grass. The initially tense atmosphere was suddenly mixed with an element of absurdity due to the arrival of the film crew.
At this moment, Ren Xiaosu saw the mob bosses he had made friends with at the spa center run over. Seeing that they were about to enter the tunnel without even thinking, Ren Xiaosu couldn’t help himself from stopping them. “Zheng Hongning, get over here!”
Zheng Hongning was pleased to see Ren Xiaosu. “Dr. Ren, you came here too? Why didn’t you go inside?”
Ren Xiaosu beckoned to them. “Don’t go inside yet. Let’s just watch for a bit.”
“What’s there to see? If we watch any longer, all the research data will be seized by others,” Zheng Hongning said.
Ren Xiaosu glanced at him. “Do you think it’s that easy to get ahold of the research data? Just wait and see. Those people who manage to get their hands on the research data will still have to exit from the tunnel through here anyway.”
Upon Ren Xiaosu’s observation, Zheng Hongning facepalmed. “Oh! That’s true!”
As they spoke, another several dozen people joined them in the overgrowth outside the tunnel.
What Ren Xiaosu found curious was that he did not see anyone from the Pyro Company and the Riders enter the tunnel since he got here.
Could it be that the Pyro Company and the Riders had given up on the research data when they saw so many people arriving? Or could it be that this was just a conspiracy as he had guessed?
Then, a text alert sounded from Ren Xiaosu’s pocket. When he looked up at the others, he saw more than 20 people among the now nearly a 100-member crowd in the grass take out their cell phones as well.
The lights on the cell phones looked like fireflies fluttering around in the grass.
Ren Xiaosu looked at the text message and was surprised to see the Anjing House had suddenly changed their mind. They had sent a reminder to all hitmen to not act rashly, and that everyone should watch and wait outside the tunnel!
Although the Anjing House did not state the reason for this, everyone was overwhelmed with doubt by this sudden announcement.
Suddenly, someone stood up holding a cell phone in his hand and said, “Whoever owns a cell phone here is probably a contract killer from the Anjing House, and my guess is that not everyone here is A-rank. There should be some of you who are still B and C-rank, so I feel that we lower-ranking hitmen should work together to hunt down the members of the Pyro Company. That way, our chances of succeeding will be greater. Those of us with cell phones—”
The person speaking was a B-rank hitman. Knowing that he would be promoted to A-rank soon, he was also getting a little ambitious at qualifying for the Anjing House trials. However, he was not confident of killing the Pyro Company members by himself. As such, he tried to urge everyone here to attack the enemy together.
It wasn’t only the A-rank hitmen who had gathered here; a large number of local B and C-rank hitmen also who wanted to take advantage of the situation. After all, regardless of whether they could qualify for the trials next year, they would still receive a reward for killing the Pyro Company members today.
However, his speech ended up reminding Ren Xiaosu instead!
That was right! There were more than 20 cell phones here!
While the B-rank hitman was speaking, he suddenly saw a hooded figure wearing a white mask get up from the grass and walk over to knock him unconscious.
Not mentioning the Pyro Company, the Anjing House’s mission broadcast this time had gathered all of these hitmen with cell phones in one place, giving Ren Xiaosu a chance to capture them in one fell swoop.
Nobody had expected such a turn of events. Why was this person suddenly snatching the cell phone of others without warning?! Weren’t they just talking about working together to kill the Pyro Company members?
Watching the shadow clone attacking the hitmen, Zheng Hongning suddenly sighed next to Ren Xiaosu, “How I wish I was a powerful superhuman like that guy.”
Ren Xiaosu said modestly without a care while watching the tunnel entrance, “He’s not really that powerful.”
But when Zheng Hongning heard this, he said to Ren Xiaosu solemnly, “Dr. Ren, I know you’re young and energetic, but admitting that others are powerful can also be a sign of self-confidence.”
Ren Xiaosu realized he had said something wrong. He responded humbly by reflex, but Zheng Hongning did not know the shadow clone belonged to him.
All of a sudden, loud explosions rang out in the tunnel. In an instant, smoke and fire spewed out of the tunnel like a sandstorm.
Smoke and dust were blasted out by the huge explosions in the tunnel, and some of those who had just gone into the tunnel were immediately blown several dozen meters into the air!
Off to the side, the film crew’s cameras happened to record this shocking scene.
The loud explosions jolted the entire stronghold awake.
However, that was not all. Amid the explosions, a sound resembling the crackling of a glacier came from the tunnel as well. Ren Xiaosu mumbled, “The tunnel’s gonna collapse!”
As soon as he finished speaking, the tunnel, which had existed since before The Cataclysm, suddenly caved in. Ren Xiaosu realized the Pyro Company was actually using this tunnel as a counterattack against the Anjing House.
If they had not carefully planted explosives at each of the load-bearing points of the tunnel, it would have been impossible to destroy the tunnel in an instant.
A huge whirlpool suddenly appeared on the surface of East Lake, and a flood of water gushed into every corner of the tunnel. However, no screams came from inside the tunnel. The sound of the tunnel collapsing, the explosions, and the current devouring the tunnel had completely drowned out the screams of those inside.
In the blink of an eye, several hundred human lives in the tunnel were snuffed out.
It was as quick as a comet burning through the sky.
The Anjing House had tried to conspire against the Pyro Company. With just a text, several hundred people had been attracted here to interfere with the Pyro Company’s plans and bring ridicule to their secret operation.
But the Pyro Company was not dumb. They also made use of the scheme the Anjing House had hatched to finish off these few hundred people who had ulterior motives and leave them dead at the bottom of East Lake.
The director of the film crew was stupefied by the happenings. Compared to the wild world that should have been all about duels and romances, this was completely unlike his expectations.
The wild world that was playing out in front of him could only be described as brutal.
He had seen those people entering the tunnel with his own eyes, and their cameras even captured shots of them. But just a short while later, the people who had passed him were all dead.
Ren Xiaosu recalled that he had not seen anyone from the Pyro Company or the Riders this entire time. Perhaps the Anjing House had also realized this, so they sent out a text to inform everyone to watch and wait outside the tunnel.
However, the text had come too late.
