No one could evade that single bullet, not even the high-level players like Su Zhen, Lu Rufeng, and the others.
At extreme speeds, stopping was incredibly difficult, let alone changing direction in mid-air.
However, no one expected that even outside of the maze, the maid boy could control those terrifying green vines.
Everyone watching the vines dancing wildly in the sky couldn’t help but feel a surge of fear in their hearts, akin to mayflies facing the vast heavens.
So small and powerless.
But the players involved in the gamble didn’t have much time to be afraid. When they saw the maid boy looking in Ruan Qing’s direction, they instinctively gripped their weapons tightly.
All of them stared at the maid boy as if facing a formidable enemy.
As soon as the maid boy made any move, they would immediately act to stop him.
Even if it meant sacrificing their lives, they were willing.
Because any of them could be eliminated, but not the young man who served as the core commander.
The young man was their hope of winning the gamble—their only hope.
Ruan Qing watched the maid boy, stepping on green vines, rushing toward him. With his other hand, he quickly pressed the send button on his phone.
Then, Ruan Qing swiftly took a few steps back, retreating directly to the edge of the rooftop, and without hesitation, leaned backward.
He fell straight back.
The wind on the rooftop was fierce, lifting Ruan Qing’s clothes and hair into a graceful arc—beautiful.
Yet utterly insane.
After all, the building where Ruan Qing stood was dozens of stories high. But he fell without the slightest hesitation, his figure disappearing instantly from the maid boy’s sight.
The maid boy’s eyes widened, and he sped up his rush forward.
However, he was still a step too late. The young man was nowhere to be seen near the building.
The players were originally about to step forward and stop the maid boy as he rushed, but suddenly, a message on their phones halted them.
The message was from the young man.
It detailed the escape direction and route for each person, even specifying strict requirements for speed.
Not too fast, not too slow, and they had to move in pairs.
At the end of the instructions, there was an additional sentence:
[This time, two people will be eliminated. Those who choose to follow the instructions to escape should be mentally prepared.]
Ruan Qing’s reminder was given in a tone of certainty, and this instruction did not come with any rigid demands, leaving the players with the freedom to make their own choices.
They could choose to escape according to his instructions or find their own way to flee.
Although the hint was just a single sentence, the players immediately understood its implication: fleeing in their own way seemed to pose no apparent danger, but following the instructions would certainly result in two people being eliminated.
The maid boy’s methods were ruthless and merciless, and all the players were well aware of what elimination entailed.
It likely meant death.
The maid boy would always eliminate people right before they were on the brink of death. In such circumstances, being eliminated while still barely alive would not violate the rules of the gamble.
But whether one could survive after being eliminated was uncertain.
Thus, Ruan Qing’s instruction was almost no different from ordering two people to their deaths.
Yet, the players who received the instruction showed no hesitation or delay; all of them resolutely and swiftly scanned their surroundings.
The positions of the players participating in the attempt to kill the maid boy were not in the same location, so they had to immediately find a partner to team up with.
Several players quickly spotted the positions of other players, exchanged glances, and without any hesitation, chose one of the teammates to accompany them.
Then, they began to escape according to the route in the instructions.
Not a single person chose to disregard the received instructions, even though executing them might result in death.
The players understood very well why the young man had planned the routes to be not too different and required their speed to be neither too fast nor too slow.
This was because the young man had two people on his side, and neither of them was particularly fast. He needed others to interfere with the maid boy’s perception, preventing the maid boy from finding him.
As for which two people would be eliminated by the maid boy, that would be left to fate and luck.
Given that they were already exposed to the maid boy’s sight, avoiding him was not going to be easy.
Even Ruan Qing was taking a huge risk; sacrificing two people was already the smallest possible price.
Ruan Qing had given the others extremely complex routes that were easy to lose their pursuers, routes that would be the best for escaping.
However, Ruan Qing himself did the opposite; he ran wherever there was a path, without any analysis or calculation. This approach was more consistent with the way those players would flee.
If it were just him and Xia Yi running, they would definitely stand out too much, so in addition to giving instructions to those players, Ruan Qing also gave escape instructions to the players who did not participate in the previous operation.
No specific route was given.
This way, with half of the group running randomly and the other half following a carefully analyzed escape plan, it would be difficult to pinpoint his location.
When the maid boy couldn’t determine which direction he was in, he would choose the direction he thought most likely and chase after it.
And once the maid boy realized he wasn’t chasing the right person, he would certainly eliminate whoever he was pursuing.
Therefore, when Ruan Qing issued this directive, he gave the players a chance and the right to choose.
Facts proved that Ruan Qing’s method was very effective; the maid boy didn’t find him.
However, ten minutes later, Ruan Qing received a notification that two of the players had been eliminated.
With the addition of these two, a total of six players on their side had been eliminated, and there was still no news of Han Ze.
Forty minutes had passed, with only twenty minutes remaining until the agreed-upon time.
Ruan Qing leaned against the corner of the wall. Having exerted all his strength to run away, he now felt weak all over.
If he gets exposed again, he probably won’t have enough strength to avoid it.
Xia Yi was in a similar state. The intense exertion had made her face as pale as paper, even turning a shade of blue.
She was almost unable to breathe.
But she didn’t give up, still clutching the long dagger given to her by the bearded uncle, and stuck close to Ruan Qing’s side.
Seeing Ruan Qing sitting down against the wall, Xia Yi, holding the long dagger given to her by the bearded uncle, silently sat down next to him.
Ruan Qing didn’t have the energy to pay attention to Xia Yi. As soon as he sat down, he took out his phone and called Li Ruoshi, who hadn’t sent any messages.
Since she made her move, Li Ruoshi’s position hadn’t changed at all.
There had been no messages, not even a response when he sent her instructions.
This was obviously abnormal.
Although Ruan Qing had not received any notification that she had been eliminated, no news was the worst news.
After all, the green vines had shot up at that time, and on them were not only the maid boy but also Li Ruoshi on the top floor.
Li Ruoshi and the maid boy were almost on the same line, and the likelihood of being affected by the green vines was very high.
When Ruan Qing called Li Ruoshi’s phone, it rang for a long time, but no one answered.
Ruan Qing did not give up and persistently continued to make phone calls, as if he would keep calling until the other party answered.
Fortunately, after calling four or five times, the call was finally answered.
Li Ruoshi’s voice came from the phone. She sounded extremely weak and feeble, her speech even broken and intermittent.
“Mr. Yan... this is... Li Ruoshi...”
“What... what do you...” Li Ruoshi hadn’t finished her sentence when the sound of coughing up blood and suppressed coughing came through the phone.
It was evident that Li Ruoshi’s condition was very poor.
At this moment, Li Ruoshi was kneeling on the ground, clutching her abdomen. She was well aware that her condition was not good, but she had already missed the window for death.
To prevent gamblers from taking advantage of the situation by passively waiting to die after being attacked, there was a rule that set a time limit from the moment of being attacked to the moment of death.
Ten minutes.
Once the ten minutes were up, her death would not be attributed to the young maid.
When the green vine attacked, it had struck her so hard that she passed out. By the time the ringing woke her up, ten minutes had already passed.
If it weren’t for the young man’s call, she might not have woken up at all.
Li Ruoshi held her abdomen tightly with one hand, trying to slow down the bleeding. With her other hand, she moved the phone away from her mouth and spat out another mouthful of blood.
Bloodstains completely soaked her clothes, making her look quite horrifying.
Xia Yi, who was sitting very close to Ruan Qing, also heard Li Ruoshi’s intermittent voice. Her eyes turned slightly red, and she bit her lower lip hard.
Ruan Qing’s eyelashes fluttered slightly when he heard Li Ruoshi’s voice, and then he spoke softly, “How long can you hold on?”
Before Li Ruoshi could answer, Ruan Qing continued, “If you can’t hold on for half an hour, think of a way to leave the gambling game on your own.”
Li Ruoshi covered her mouth, trying to suppress the urge to cough, but the blood at the corner of her mouth wouldn’t stop flowing.
Her hand was stained red as well.
Li Ruoshi looked down at her abdomen, pierced through by the green vine, and bit her lip, trying to make her voice sound less weak, “Mr. Yan... I can do it...”
However, no matter how hard Li Ruoshi tried to disguise it, her intermittent tone betrayed her.
Ruan Qing was silent for a few seconds before finally speaking softly, “Stay alive.”
“Even if it’s just for me.”
Li Ruoshi was stunned when she heard this. In the end, the corners of her eyes curved slightly, and she revealed a faint smile. “Mm.”
Xia Yi, looking at Ruan Qing who had just hung up the phone, spoke in a small voice with reddened eyes, “Will Sister Li... also die?”
Ruan Qing paused for a moment when she heard this, then gently reached out and rubbed Xia Yi’s head. “No, she won’t.”
Xia Yi froze when she felt the hand on her head. She tightly gripped the dagger in her hand and finally nodded resolutely at Ruan Qing.
She believed in him.
As long as he said it, she would believe him.
Time passed by second by second. There were only a few minutes left until an hour had passed.
Yet Han Ze still hadn’t returned.
The number of people on Ruan Qing’s side being eliminated was getting fewer and fewer, making it almost impossible to hide their location anymore.
They were nearing their limit.
Moreover, Ruan Qing no longer had the strength to frequently change locations and could only lean more towards hiding.
But the maid boy could sense their location through many means, and hiding wasn’t without its dangers either.
It was entirely a gamble of luck.
And when it came to luck, Ruan Qing had never been particularly fortunate.
Ruan Qing’s eyes widened as he looked at the maid boy, who was smiling brightly in the distance. His pupils contracted slightly, and he instinctively took a step back.
i rly hope that nobody on their side dies:(
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