âPut the gun down,â a womanâs voice, tinged with amusement, came from above him.
Ma-Ge felt a chill down his spine and slowly released his grip. He wouldnât be fooled into thinking she wouldnât kill him just because her tone was casual. Besides matching the speed of a mutation beast, her control over her own strength was terrifyingly precise. Someone like her, who could stop a knife mid-strike just in front of his face, could just as easily pierce his skull in the blink of an eye. Even though those figures were just a short distance ahead, both the mysterious death of the man with a surname Zhou and the threat from this woman beside him warned him against making any rash moves.
As he lowered the gun, he mustered the courage to speak softly, âPlease⦠donât kill me⦠Iâm just an ordinary Member, I⦠I wonât pose any threat to youâ¦â
âSeems like you know how to cooperate well.â
A figure approached him, and Ma-Ge immediately noticed the hiking boots on this person, causing him to tense up and mutter, âYouâre⦠Ling⦠Ling Moâ¦â
âAlright,â Ling Mo crouched down in front of him, with a half-smile on his face, and asked, âDo you know why youâre still alive?â
Ma-Ge blinked in surprise and quickly replied, âI⦠I know! Whatever you want to askâ¦â
âGood⦠being straightforward makes things easier⦠What I want to know is, how many people are in this building? How many traps like those in the corridor are there, and where are they located? That Glasses Man, where is he? And about his superpowers, how much do you know?⦠Basically, tell me everything you know.â Ling Mo glanced at him and said calmly.
Ma-Geâs Adamâs apple bobbed a few times as he swallowed and replied, âI⦠I donât know much⦠There are a total of twenty-four people in this building, and you just killed one⦠and three more died earlier on the Rooftop⦠In fact, only about half of them appeared in front of you back then, but they can all be considered elites. Among those remaining, most are superhumans or responsible for setting up trapsâ¦â
âWhy are superhumans not considered elites?â Another girlâs voice sounded, carrying a hint of surprise. Ma-Ge only caught a glimpse of a Scythe but dared not look up at the girlâs faceâ¦
Sweating profusely, he replied, âThe captain said that sometimes firearms are more effective than superhumans⦠especially when dealing with people⦠Superpowers can counter each other, but bullets have no such restrictions⦠Also, there were several explosive points planted in advance on the Rooftop. If you had resisted directly, someone would have detonated them from afar⦠The amount of explosives was precisely calculated; it might not have killed you, but it would have ensured you couldnât resist. As for the positions they took, there was a method to it, something those superhumans couldnât manageâ¦â
âThat Glasses Man really knows how to plan,â Ling Mo snorted.
He had sensed something was off at that time, and now he realized just how meticulously plotted it had been! But all those preparations were rendered useless by his countermeasures, not only failing to be of any use but also failing to prevent their own casualties⦠As for the location of those explosives, they were most likely in front of the hatch door. If the amount was accurate enough, it could have confined the explosion to a very small area while inflicting enough damage on Ling Mo. The Rooftop was already full of pits and depressions, and he wouldnât have focused his attention on his feet. This arrangement⦠was indeed vicious.
However, this tactic wasnât something they could use recklessly; otherwise, they could have detonated the explosives as soon as Ling Mo landed.
âTrue⦠if they wanted to use me to threaten Yuwen Xuan, theyâd at least need to ensure I was still breathing, you canât take easy chances with explosives. But this limitation was only effective then; now itâs definitely goneâ¦â Ling Mo thought to himself and then said, âGo on.â
âThose traps⦠I really donât know much about them, except for the ones on the stairs⦠Just be careful not to step on the odd-numbered steps. And the captain⦠he should be on the top floor, but I donât know which room exactly. As for his superpower⦠I canât describe it, but I know heâs never been injured before, and there are rarely any casualties among the Team Members with him. However, heâs highly regarded by Chief of Staff Wang, so he must have some extraordinary abilities⦠Oh, and one more thing, he used to be a salesmanâ¦â Ma-Geâs lips trembled slightly as he said, âI donât know if that counts as informationâ¦â
Ling Mo pondered for a moment and then said, âIs that all?â
âThatâs all I knowâ¦â Cold sweat broke out on Ma-Ge again.
âWho is Chief of Staff Wang? What about Chief of Staff Su? Isnât she in charge?â Ling Mo thought for a bit and asked.
âI⦠I donât knowâ¦â Before he could finish speaking, Ma-Geâs eyes suddenly went blank, and a sharp pain shot through his Hindbrain, plunging him into darkness.
Li Yalin watched him collapse to the ground, then looked up and asked, âWhat should we do next?â
Ye Lian, beside her, took a deep breath and said quietly, âThe scent here is very mixed⦠but⦠once we get closer, we should be able to find itâ¦â
âIt should be the scent of gunpowder heâs talking about, right? I feel like my sense of smell is being interfered with, so it seems theyâve prepared quite a lotâ¦â Xia Na glanced at Ma-Ge and then picked up the gun beside him. Given Li Yalinâs strength, it looked like he wouldnât wake up anytime soonâ¦
âThe situation with Falcon is more complicated than I expectedâ¦â Ling Mo frowned, stood up, and said, âSince that Glasses Man is hiding on the top floor, letâs head there directly. I believe heâd be more than happy to see usâ¦â
Inside the insurance company, three additional Members were hidden, each tucked away in different corners, completely unaware of what was happening near the lobby. Over the next two minutes, they too would follow in Ma-Geâs footsteps, one after another. Like Ma-Ge, they didnât see who attacked them, nor did they have a chance to react. Usually, they would just see a blur before losing consciousnessâ¦
After ascending the stairs once more, Ling Mo inspected the stairs based on the intelligence provided by Ma-Ge. He pressed down on the odd-numbered steps and brushed his hand over the even-numbered ones, murmuring thoughtfully, âOn the surface, thereâs nothing wrong, but the trap was triggered suddenly as we were going up. That member clearly wasnât lying, but we canât follow his instructions blindlyâ¦â
Previously, the traps could be handled by Ye Lian and the others in time, but the path ahead was crucial. The closer they got to the top floor, the more traps there would likely be, and their potency would also increase. Any slight oversight could lead to a complete failure, a scenario Ling Mo was keen to avoid.
âCould it be a hallucination?â Ling Mo scanned the area with a Tentacle, ruling out that possibility.
Xia Na also focused on the steps and said, âThe traps weâve encountered so far have mostly been sudden noises, but here, they most likely arenât set up just as an alarm, right? At least before, they left some traces, but hereâ¦â
She gently traced her finger along the steps, saying, âNo covering, no transparent threads⦠Itâs odd. If theyâre using the odd-even setup for convenient passage, why is there nothing unusual on the even-numbered steps?â
âThat guy said these traps were set by a superhumanâ¦â Ling Mo suddenly remarked.
âWhat?â Ye Lian bent down, curiously asking.
âI get itâ¦â Ling Mo said as he stepped onto an even-numbered step.
âAh!â Ye Lian immediately covered her mouth.
However, to their surprise, the surroundings remained silent, with nothing happening at allâ¦
âWhatâs going on?â Xia Na asked curiously, her lips parting slightly.
Ling Mo chuckled and replied, âThat statement itself was a trap. Regular people wouldnât pay attention to whether steps are odd or even when going upstairs, so they would step on both. But asking someone in a fight to focus on odd and even steps is quite absurd. The real answer should be â just skip a step. If thatâs all we need to focus on, it becomes simple.â
âSo that person lied to us?â A hint of anger flashed in Li Yalinâs eyes.
âNot exactly, but they were stationed there as part of the trap itself. I think thereâs something unusual about this staircase, that it triggers when both adjacent steps are stepped on simultaneously. The real trap lies in every step, with a unique triggering method. But since these traps were set by a superhuman, they arenât easy to spot. Anyway, once we find the right method, we can move through quickly,â Ling Mo explained.
This is the underlying strength of a Camp. They have a large number of people and resources, allowing them to set all sorts of traps to capture someone. And Ling Mo? He isnât fighting alone eitherâ¦
âHave they not been found yet?â asked a man in a reception room on the top floor. Standing behind him was another Young Man in Yellow. This young man was standing behind a curtain, occasionally peeking out to check the situation.
âNo⦠and I havenât heard any traps being triggered,â the Young Man in Yellow replied. He straightened his collar and turned back, saying, âThe traps beyond this point are created by my superpower. Once triggered, Iâll naturally know. Outsiders canât possibly make it up hereâ¦â His tone was filled with confidence.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
The man he was speaking to was none other than Zhang Xi, with dark skin. Holding a pistol, he looked gloomily at Luo Ming, who wasnât far away. âDidnât you say he would definitely come?â