Chapter 1714: Chapter 30: The Great Eruption

“Soon you’ll know.” Mu Nianqi’s heart clenched with anxiety.

The storm was about to hit, and the wind and waves grew fiercer.

Dantai opened the flamethrower valve to its maximum. As the hot air balloon inflated continuously, it swelled and began to lift, but this also increased its surface area, making it sway unpredictably in the wild wind.

If the special agent hadn’t tied the ropes in advance, the hot air balloon would definitely have been blown away.

Large raindrops carried by the strong winds pelted down, stinging painfully; the deck heaved, making it hard to stand steadily.

The only advantage was that the contestants retreated into the cabin, so there was no worry about the hot air balloon being attacked.

“We can take off now.” Seeing the basket being lifted from the deck, Bai Guo called out happily, but immediately turned to a scream, “Watch out!”

Dantai squatted on the deck, keeping an eye on the hatch direction while checking his backpack, discarding things that weren’t immediately needed. He had originally packed many necessities, but with the wind picking up, he wanted to lighten the load as much as possible to quickly escape the storm’s range.

The wind roared, disrupting Dantai’s hearing, but fortunately, years of life-and-death combat honed his sixth sense. In an instant, the special agent’s sweat glands stood on end, sensing the murderous intent, and he instinctively ducked, rolled forward.

Swish, a gleaming samurai sword slashed past Dantai’s back.

“Kill!”

Missing the first strike, the high school girl roared angrily, gripping the sword and charging again.

The wild wind lifted their skirts, revealing two legs as white as snow, paired with black over-the-knee socks, exuding a unique mannerism, but no one had time to appreciate it.

Dantai flipped his wrist, drawing a dagger from his belt to parry the samurai sword, and naturally thrust it into its neck, forcefully slicing it across.

Spray, fresh blood gushed as the high school girl’s head tilted to one side immediately.

“Damn, can’t I catch a break!” Chu Baichuan frustratedly spat blood, wondering why the Punishment Squad appeared prematurely.

Tang Zheng and Mu Nianqi breathed a sigh of relief; at least for the next few days, they should be safe. With Dantai’s skills, dealing with them was a piece of cake.

The Punishment Squad’s appearances followed a pattern; whichever route they were on, the corresponding state’s forces would appear.

In Europe, it’s Assassin’s Creed, Demon Hunter; in Asia, it’s Peking Opera Cheongsam Women, high school girls; in America, Mu Nianqi predicted it would be natives and cowboys.

Dantai kicked the corpse, sending her flying towards the charging high school girl, turned around, shouldered his backpack, and rushed towards the hot air balloon.

Swish, like an agile kangaroo, Dantai leaped up, grabbed the edge of the five-meter-high basket, spun around, jumped in, and then swiftly sliced through the six ropes tying the hot air balloon.

The high school girl leaped, while Dantai drew his gun and fired angrily. Although firearms couldn’t harm them, they still had repelling force.

Bang, bang, the high school girls fell onto the deck.

Dantai’s clothes flapped violently in the wind; he wiped away the rain obscuring his eyes, pulled the umbrella valve control rope, adjusting the size of the flamethrower to prevent being overturned.

Mu Nianqi and Dantai had already calculated the monsoon wind direction over the Pacific at this time, otherwise, they wouldn’t dare to attempt something so daring.

“The wind speed must be over a hundred and twenty kilometers per hour. Damn, are they trying to kill me!”

Ever the gentleman, Dantai, feeling the razor-like wind tearing at his skin, couldn’t help but curse.

The higher the altitude, the greater the wind speed.

Dantai had no way of controlling the basket. It swayed violently with the wind, and if it weren’t for his conqueror’s strength, firmly gripping the rope, he would have been swept off.

“Please, nothing go wrong!” Bai Guo and Tao Ran watched with hearts pounding in their throats.

Dantai had long prepared a rope to secure himself, but by this point, he had already been blown away, flapping like a big snake dancing in the sky. Luckily, he had tied one end to the basket beforehand; otherwise, he would’ve been miserable.

After spending a few seconds retracting the rope, Dantai finally wound it tightly around his waist.

“Do you know why I chose Dantai?” Mu Nianqi looked around, “I checked his file; he’s a special agent, exceptional from a young age, outstanding IQ. At twelve, he was selected by the state for elite training. The dangers he’s faced probably outnumber the bridges you’ve crossed. This has given him excellent composure and exceptional ability to handle danger.” Mu Nianqi knew that reaching this point meant they’d basically made it, as long as they flew out of the storm zone.

“In this situation, maybe only Tang Zheng could handle it!” Dong Zixuan genuinely praised.

“No, I can’t do it.” Tang Zheng had the self-awareness, ensuring he’d survive, but unable to master a hot air balloon, he knew a crash was inevitable.

“Do you think flying a hot air balloon is simple? It requires a flight license. It looks simple, but once you’re up there, you’ll realize how difficult it is.” Mu Nianqi glanced at Tang Zheng, “His on-the-spot adaptability might be good, and he’s calm enough, but he’s far too lacking in experience.”

“Hmph!” Lu Fan snorted, feeling that Queen Mu underestimated his uncle.

“Dantai has experience with over thirty types of vehicles, with more than two thousand hours of flight experience. In the army, he’s a flying ace.” Mu Nianqi’s tone was cold, “Tang Zheng might manage, but I can’t take the risk. I need a fifth pole with a higher success rate!”

“Hope there’s no interference!” After stabilizing the balance, Dantai pulled out a detonator and pressed the button.

Boom, boom, boom!

The bombs installed at various corners of the cruise ship exploded, scorching flames mingled with airwaves, rolling and swirling everywhere.

“What’s going on? Why did the cruise ship explode?”

“Who did this? Are they trying to perish together? This is simply harming others without benefitting themselves!”

“What the hell happened? Was it the punishment forces that did this? It shouldn’t be!”

Watching the cruise ship ablaze with raging flames, the contestants in the team’s session couldn’t remain calm, instinctively shouting.

Having seen the teams kill all the high school girls, the group members thought they could have a good sleep, never expecting something like this to happen.

The contestants dashed out of the cabin, ran onto the deck to avoid the fire, then froze.

“Look at the sky, there’s a hot air balloon!”

With a contestant pointing out, everyone’s gaze shifted over.

“Holy shit, which team is it? So ruthless!”

“This is real desperate fighting, to grab a two or three-day advantage, do they have to go this far?”

“It’s that Dantai Zongqi, the deputy of the Warhammer Team, the guy who got the perfect clearance rating!”

Standing on the deck, the people in the lobby, too, through the contestants’ perspective, saw Dantai flying away.

Not just in the lobby, contestants all over the cruise ship were also in shock and silence, this plan was truly daring.

“Why didn’t we notice beforehand? He really concealed a hot air balloon in the cargo hold, we should’ve thoroughly inspected it!”

“Stop the nonsense, first check the fire and damage level to ensure we can still sail.”

Although the temporary alliance’s group leader began commanding, everyone understood that this ship was done for. Since they wanted to blow it up, they’d certainly leave no retreat.

Sure enough, no need to check, the cruise ship was taking in water, gradually starting to sink.

“Trojan, this isn’t fair, didn’t they say destroying transport is forbidden? Warhammer Team is breaking the rules!” A Conqueror shouted out, wanting to slit Dantai’s throat.

All members of the two merged groups fell behind, and might even be overtaken by those behind them.

“Please mind your language, the game rules forbid assassins from destroying transport, but it doesn’t restrict contestants!”

The Trojan’s reply dumbfounded the Conquerors, their last straw had fallen.

Upon hearing these words, some people’s eyes flashed with thoughts, starting small schemes.

Dantai acted more ruthlessly than Mu Nianqi; during these days, besides checking Mu Nianqi’s secretly installed bomb for completeness, he added explosives to the ship’s bottom, engine room, and boiler room. Even if not sinking the cruise ship, he would make it incapacitated.

True to expectations, the cruise ship directly went down.

“Warhammer Team’s real treacherous, killing multiple birds with one stone!” A few group leaders leaned back in their chairs despondently, resigning to fate, filled with pessimism about future games.

“Choosing to fly under such terrible weather conditions ensures safety from interception by other contestants, after the ship sinks, many who fall into the water will surely die, even if they survive, who knows where the sea waves will push them to, taking forever to be rescued and make it to San Francisco.”

Conquerors are also humans, drifting on the ocean, without any tools, can only hold out for more days, can’t sprout wings and fly to San Francisco.

“This is even worse than seeing contestants die, at least in that situation, you only waste a day, and send out substitutes.”

“These people are done for, definitely overtaken by the groups behind!”

“I understand now, wasn’t it when the cruise ship broke down at Yokohama Port, delaying two days? Letting the third group catch up.” A Conqueror suddenly realized, “No need to ask, it must be Mu Nianqi’s doing, she just wanted more people on that ship, then pulling this trick to screw them over!”

At this moment, even the Seed Teams looked towards Warhammer Team’s area, eyes filled with dread; under the black mist, seemed a monster was concealed.

“Impressive!” Jiang Xiuming breathed a sigh, lost for words.

“Too devious, no, too strategical.” Bai Guo excitedly clenched his fists, immensely admiring this kind of brain.

In the lobby were a bunch of people gloating over others’ misfortune, falling behind initially, now realizing there’s still a chance to catch up in rankings.

Dantai Zongqi’s move made Warhammer Team’s scores skyrocket again, pulling far away from second place.

“Really want to rush out and tell them, dumbfounded, huh, I’m the one who can fly!” Chu Baichuan smacked his lips, feeling thrilled.

“If it weren’t for that bastard Yu Deye, we would definitely be the first group now.” Xu Biyun fumed.

Dantai’s stunt directly left the second group behind out of sight, now the only thing to do is to chase the first group with all they’ve got.

…

PS: Dantai’s big breakout, if you enjoyed it, please cast a monthly ticket to support. Next up, Tang Zheng’s big breakout! (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations, monthly tickets. Your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile users, please read at m.qidian.com.)