Chapter 209 Stirring the Water

Tian Yi and the others still hadn’t fully reacted to this sudden change in circumstances.

Watching Gao Tian in the escape pod, desperately pleading for them to let him out, Tian Yi couldn’t help but ask, “What’s going on? Why do they want to harm us?”

Xia Xinyan briefly shared her thoughts, finally mentioning the game’s system prompt: “Do you remember the game warned us not to trust anything from the start? Because this entire dungeon is basically a live-action show targeting us.”

Upon hearing this, Murong Yue started to understand, nodding to herself: “No wonder…”

Summer Jincang and Ling Mo also fell into contemplation, lost in their thoughts.

Tian Yi, however, was still a bit confused: “You all understand? But why? This dungeon’s plot makes no sense.”

“If you want to know why, you’d have to ask those Resistance Army folks,” Xia Xinyan added, “You can check the mission menu; our main quest hasn’t changed and hasn’t been completed.”

Clearly, this wasn’t the real Control Hub, but based on the information they had, Xia Xinyan had a hypothesis—perhaps the real Control Hub was the entity manipulating this live-action show. It crafted a scenario where the Resistance Army was attempting to destroy the Control Hub, making players believe they completed a mission and guiding them to leave.

Then, after the big battle, the players who let their guard down would naturally walk into their own graves.

Thinking about it this way, it seemed many things earlier were staged for this very moment: the ruckus in the dome area and the ongoing chaos were all setups to distract the players. When players found it hard to calm down and think, they easily overlooked the clues within the dungeon.

Of course, most importantly… it was likely that very few players would consider that the factions in this dungeon could directly project voices into their heads, pretending to be the game system. This was probably the first time they’d experienced such an operation—including Xia Xinyan.

Because of this, nearly all players probably believed that it was indeed a prompt from the game system, following its instructions and walking straight into a dead end—if only they had opened the mission panel to take a look before entering the escape pod, they would have spotted the biggest flaw in the entire dungeon.

Unfortunately… no one did that.

Otherwise, there wouldn’t only be a few of them remaining in this corridor.

Xia Xinyan realized this a little late; otherwise, maybe they could’ve saved a few players.

But those players were probably already home, and they didn’t need to worry about that anymore. Figuring out the current situation was more critical—where exactly was the real Control Hub?

And possibly, the answer to that question could be found with Gao Tian.

“Leave the interrogation to me; I’m good at it,” the Fatty suddenly interrupted Xia Xinyan and stepped outside the escape pod. Looking at Gao Tian, who was already crying and shouting inside, he smacked his lips, “Your acting skills are really lacking; just a little push and you give yourself away. What were they thinking, sending a rookie like you to keep an eye on us?”

Gao Tian was still banging on the escape pod door: “Please, let me out! I don’t want to die! I beg you!”

“Let you out? Sure, where’s the Control Hub?” The Fatty grasped the escape pod’s release lever, ready to pull it and activate the pod.

“Don’t!!” Gao Tian nearly screamed through his tears and snot, “I really don’t know what you’re asking! Isn’t the Control Hub already destroyed?! And aren’t we friends?! Why are you doing this to me?!”

“Why are we doing this to you?” The Fatty couldn’t help but laugh, “I find you quite funny—weren’t you the one who invited us into the escape pod? Now we ask you to enter the escape pod, and we’re the bad guys?”

However, no sooner had the Fatty finished speaking than a group of angry shouts came from a distance: “What are you doing?!”

Turning around, it was the leaders of the previous Resistance Army squad. They arrived here without anyone noticing, their expressions reflecting nothing of their earlier excitement and friendliness, replaced instead by anger and caution.

And all their guns were aimed at them.

The Fatty sneered, glancing at Ling Mo and the others beside him: “How interesting; they’re so eager. We haven’t even thrown a punch, and they already confessed everything.”

Then, waving at the group ahead, he shouted, “We’re here bonding with our dear Resistance Army brothers; he said if one does too much evil, even their mom won’t be spared. So we’re just here to give him a send-off.”

Ignoring Gao Tian’s wails, he pulled down the release lever.

With a loud bang, the escape pod activated, suddenly plummeting off the platform. This seemingly high-tech escape vehicle was actually just an empty shell packed with explosives. Falling from the top of the tower directly to the ground without any cushioning, the impact triggered the internal bombs like a can filled with firecrackers.

Nearby, several other escape pods that had fallen earlier showed no signs of survivors.

On the other side, seeing the Fatty corner Gao Tian into a dead-end, the Resistance Army finally stopped pretending. They didn’t waste a word and just opened fire on them.

This was a complete break of relations. Ling Mo instantly manifested a large vertical shield in front of everyone, then conjured a small shield and retreated to Xia Xinyan’s side: “Xinyan, what should we do? Should we fight our way out?”

Given the current situation, it seemed everyone in the entire Spire had become enemies. They might encounter even stronger battle robots, and right now they had fewer than ten players left—this was definitely a disadvantage.

Summer Jincang also retreated to Xia Xinyan’s side: “This place has become the enemy’s home turf; it’s not wise to linger here. I suggest we find a way to leave first before making any plans.”

However, what Xia Xinyan was thinking about at this moment was Monica.

That girl had told her that as long as they made the city as chaotic as possible, then now… had she already started to act?

Thinking of this, Xia Xinyan seldom abandoned her usual cautious approach and suddenly transformed into a black cat, leaping onto Ling Mo’s shoulder: “Let’s fight our way back. Since we’ve broken free from their control, they’ll do anything to kill us. Generally, this is the best time for players to gain rewards because they’ll put everything good into action—Mo Mo, this is a great opportunity.”

Ling Mo immediately replied, “No problem!”

Then he charged forward, still holding onto the black cat.

Summer Jincang was left dumbfounded: “Wait… my sister could also hide with me! I can protect your sister too!”

But sadly, neither of them paid him any attention.