The Second Kingdom (VI)
Arthur was already hallucinating from dehydration. He thought the blueprint in front of him was crawling with ants, then he thought he'd mixed the wrong chemical mix. And then, a second later, he nearly guzzled a bottle of highly toxic medicine.
To clear his head, he asked Liad for permission to go up to the top floor of the bunker for some fresh air. It wasn't so much about getting some fresh air as it was about breathing in the foul air from the top floor. This action alone aroused the envy of most people.
Most of them, lacking Arthur's skills, were detained by Liard on the first floor of the bunker. Young and strong players were assigned to kill bugs daily, with the remaining players ranked by contribution points. The system's food distribution was always chaotic, forcing Liard to deploy several core personnel in full armor to prevent the crowds from looting.
However, the most despairing thing was that the system only gave out food as a reward, never actively distributing water. A thirsty woman in Liad's group had taken advantage of Arthur's inattention and snatched a bottle of seemingly clear chemical, gulping it down. The result was predictable.
When the horrific corpse was dragged out, Arthur really wanted to run out and be eaten by insects for a moment.
However, Liad does not allow anyone to surrender, defect to the enemy, or do anything else that directly or indirectly causes Party A's score to increase.
In this round of the dungeon, players A and B became two opposing groups, and no one could fight just for themselves.
The only time the system distributed water and hamburgers was half a day later. Sadly, the water had been taken away by Liard under the pretext of "centralizing the allocation of important strategic supplies."
Most of the second-party players dared not speak out against Liard; after all, he was the owner of "Super Insecticide No. 1." This black, tower-like metal tube contained the special insecticide that Arthur had painstakingly developed since entering this dungeon, and it was the last hope for the second-party players.
Arthur shook his head, trying to clear his mind. He lay down, forming a large "Big" (L). Suddenly, in the silence, he heard the sound of metal pipes being knocked on.
The black tube hummed due to resonance, the sound was muffled and powerful.
Three short, one long, two short, two long… The rhythmic sound continued for a long time, then stopped. Arthur got up.
This isn't Morse code, it's more like...
He opened the Points Store and found an item under [Survival Tools] called "Player Coded Address Book." It was cheap, costing only one point. Arthur purchased it, opened it, and began deciphering the third loop of the voice.
"Assemble, Party B, players... provide water and food, unlimited... We... need manpower... together... leave..."
Arthur silently wrote down the corresponding translation on his palm.
"Arthur! Liad asked you to come in! We're going to release the poison gas tomorrow night, why don't you come and perfect the formula?"
Liad's two men were from the same country as him, both of them were from countries renowned for their oil production. Sharing the same beliefs, they quickly formed a united front. The two men, unshaven, stared at Arthur suspiciously.
Arthur hid the pamphlet in his palm, his face returning to that calm, world-weary expression: "Here it comes."
"Hiss, what's that sound?" One of the Middle Eastern men stopped and looked at the black pipe.
Those sounds mixed with the howling of the wind, like an irregular reverberation.
"It must be some bug that crawled in. The mosquito that ran out a few days ago made the same sound when its wings hit the pipe. What's the big deal?" said another person.
Arthur walked past them, head bowed, pretending not to notice anything, and it suddenly struck him how clever it was for those who had sent the message to knock on the pipes.
Only a desperate player would be in the mood to carefully decipher such seemingly chaotic information. Not using Morse code undoubtedly added another layer of security. Too many people knew Morse code.
"Let's go, let's tell Liad that it's time to send people out hunting." The two men pushed Arthur back to the bunker.
It was called a bunker, but it was just a few shabby, dark rooms connected together into a larger room. One room was for men, another for women, another for weapons, food, and water, and the last room was also where Liad rested.
Arthur is a special member of this team. Before entering the T survival game, he was a professor of chemistry at the University of South Liverpool. In this copy, he was recruited by Liad by coincidence and continued to study the chemical formula to eliminate giant insects.
The chemical formula was 90% complete, but his final concern was that he couldn't guarantee the safety of the second-party player, or rather, he couldn't guarantee the safety of any player. The insecticide in the tube contained a large amount of unpurified permethrin, and Arthur had no idea how much it contained due to the experimental conditions. High doses of permethrin were particularly lethal to children, women, and the elderly who were physically weak. Even the slightest leak of gas could be fatal.
But Liad didn't care.
As soon as Arthur returned to the bunker, he was taken to his "office" by Liad.
A minute later, Arthur's face was filled with shock. "Didn't you say before that the gas in the pipeline had its own dedicated channel that could be directly connected to the giant insect manufacturing plant? How come now it's just opening the valve to release the gas!"
He suddenly realized something, his mouth moved, his heart began to beat violently, and his voice became much lower. "You know, these gases are heavier than oxygen! There are over forty people in the bunker, more than half of them are women and elderly people! Can you guarantee their safety 100%?"
A cold light flashed in Liad's light gray eyes. "I've raised those people until now, and I think I've done my best. Arthur, don't forget, we're in a life-or-death situation. We're not some UN charity relief camp."
Arthur was shaking with anger. He hadn't expected Liad to drop even his disguise. "Whether you saved them or not is one thing. If they starved to death, died of thirst, or were killed by the bugs outside, it wouldn't be your fault! But now you want to take all of us with you to destroy Party A! There's a fundamental difference between the two!"
Liad sneered: "The fundamental difference? Arthur, you weren't so strong when you cried and begged me to give you water."
Liad secretly tried to signal, and one of his confidants stepped forward, feigning a calm demeanor, trying to pat Arthur's shoulder to appease his anger, but Arthur dodged. The man's face darkened, but he continued, "You don't have to use the word 'we'. Brother Liad has always been grateful for your service and has prepared a way out for you..."
He then pointed behind him, where ten gas masks were neatly stacked against the wall. Arthur's eyes widened. "This thing has been out of stock in the Points Mall for a long time, and you still have it?"
Liad smiled and lit a cigarette. "I've said it before, God always protects those warriors who are prepared."
…
Three hours after the first round of messages were sent, Liang Qing received a reply. The other party had obviously recognized the code system they were using and sent them a reply using the same tapping method -
"Sixteen people... at the bottom... mostly women... elderly... next... food time... fifteen minute window... get us out..."
Nie Yun translated sentence by sentence. Shi Xiaofeng looked down and saw that the base of the giant tree was perhaps three or four kilometers away from them, and the time for food distribution was approaching.
"Could this be a trick?"
Liang Qing shook his head: "Party A is busy creating bugs to hunt Party B, and Party B is busy trying to survive. Anyone who can still respond to our message now is probably desperate. Besides, we have double insurance."
Liang Qing raised his right arm, where ten metal patches were affixed. The spoils captured in the two previous direct encounters with Xiya's men were enough to allow them to command an army of insects. However, with only four of them, such a small number was far from enough to engage Party A in a fierce battle.
"I'll go with you?" Alan stood up and Liang Qing nodded.
Nie Yunshi Xiaofeng stayed in place to provide support, while Allen and Liang Qing each led ten giant insects and dived directly towards the bottom of the tree.
Arthur and fifteen other players stood on a terrace at the top of the bunker. These were all the people he could muster in a short period of time who were determined to break free from Liard's control.
With more time, perhaps he could win over everyone, but that would inevitably attract Liad's attention. And Liad's crazy plan was only a few hours away, and he couldn't wait.
When the system distributed food, the British woman in charge, Lily, slipped the coma drug Arthur had given them. Most of those who fell unconscious were Liad and his core members. The drug was a low dose, originally intended for animals. Arthur estimated the window of opportunity for escape was only 15 minutes.
Looking up at the pitch-black sky, the surroundings were so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Arthur suddenly realized that pinning his hopes on a perhaps random knocking sound was a bit self-deceptive, until...
"Arthur! What is that!" Lily pointed above her head.
In the silence, the sound of insect wings vibrating became clearer and clearer in the black void. Those sounds were like several small passenger planes making an emergency landing. The sound waves pressed on the eardrums, making the unknown amplify the fear exponentially.
The first thing that came into their sight was a few majestic locusts.
Lily's face turned pale. "It's Party A! It's Party A!"
Arthur was hit hard and fell to the ground. Someone came up and was about to beat him up, but the others reacted and stopped the attacker.
"Didn't you say someone could save us? Did you take money from the client and trick us into coming here to die?"
The insect swarm was getting closer and closer, and it was too late to escape. The others were cursing and crying in a chaotic mess.
The strongest among them only had a dagger in his hand. The unarmed weak were undoubtedly like meat on a chopping board in front of this group of mechanical giant insects.
Arthur was also stunned. Was his judgment wrong from the beginning?
He let himself be pushed and shoved, neither resisting nor fighting back, closing his eyes in despair. If the noise continued like this, Liad would surely be woken up. He would either die at the hands of Party A or be executed by Liad. It made no difference.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!" Things fell down one after another.
"What's this?"
Someone picked up the package thrown from the direction of the giant insect.
"It's water! And food!"
The man opened the package and found a neatly packed box of twelve bottles of purified water.
"Do you dare to eat it?"
"Are you going to poison us?" The man who spoke could no longer hold back his saliva. His dry lips had already cracked and were bleeding.
Arthur opened his eyes, glanced at the water box, unscrewed a bottle, and drank it directly. The long-lost feeling of being moisturized by clean water made him feel like he had been reborn.
Once the human body gets enough water, all cells become active and the brain immediately returns to normal cognitive level.
"I drank it, and I didn't die." He looked at the crowd who had just beaten him.
Without him saying anything, the rest of the people immediately rushed forward to grab food and water and feasted on them.
Liang Qing and Allen landed on the platform of the bunker with ten giant insects.
The crowd stopped their commotion temporarily and looked at the woman who was the first to jump lightly off the locust's back.
She raised her hands to indicate she was unarmed and stopped five meters away from them. "We're the second-party players. The group meal you received earlier was because I cracked the key clue. Now, I have a plan to get everyone out of the dungeon safely. Do you want to follow me?"
Without a word of nonsense, she made her identity and purpose clear.
Before the group of players who were sitting on the ground eating in a mess could react, Arthur was the first to come out.
He stood in front of Liang Qing and extended his hand: "Hello, I'm Arthur. I received your message. I'm willing to join you."
Liang Qing extended her hand and shook it: "Hello, I'm Liang Qing. Thank you."
He silently took Liang Qing's metal patch and put it on his arm. A nearby bee followed his command and turned around in a circle.
Arthur looked at the bee with a complicated expression.
Liang Qing's gaze passed from his face, then turned to the others: "If you don't join, these food and water will be considered as gifts from me. If you are ready to join, you still have ten seconds."
As soon as she finished speaking, the locked door on the bunker platform was kicked open with a loud bang. From behind the door came Liad's furious voice: "Open the door! Who are you collaborating with the enemy? I will execute you! No one will survive!"
Hearing this sound, most of the remaining players had mixed expressions of fear and anger on their faces.
Liang Qing looked at Arthur, and Arthur explained, "It's our former team leader. We've been trapped here by him for three days, from the beginning until now. He has a large number of weapons."
The last sentence refers to Liang Qing's body shape.
Liang Qing nodded, already fully aware of the situation they were in. She calmly looked at the crowd again, "Is this the dictator who trapped you here, divided you into different classes, threatened you with hunger and thirst, and blocked the sharing of information?"
There was silence on the rooftop, and the sound of banging on the door became louder and louder.
Liang Qing said expressionlessly: "You have three seconds to make your choice."
This time, almost all the players rushed to their side. A giant insect could carry one or two adults, and under Alan's command, they quickly climbed onto the giant insect.
A second before the door was knocked open, she pulled the trigger, and a rocket launcher sent the iron door flying in the opposite direction. The person behind it, along with the original door position, disappeared completely. In its place, only a large black hole remained.
She jumped onto the original big locust. At her command, ten giant insects took off at the same time and flew back to where Nie Yunshi Xiaofeng was.
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