Deceitful Game

Chapter 25 Red Balloons and Yellow Balloons

Through that door, Mingpo stepped into a deep red passageway.

It looks a bit like a ventilation duct, with sheet metal on all four sides.

Stepping on it, you feel a hollow sensation under your feet, giving you a strong sense of unease. It's as if it would collapse if you stomped your foot hard.

The red light swept around in circles, making people feel extremely anxious.

Suddenly, Mingpo lost her footing—

The nails on the sheet metal bounced off, and Mingpo fell straight down from mid-air!

The rather elastic piece of sheet metal bounced up like a tongue as Mingpo fell, licking half of his body. His entire body was covered in blood from the sharp metal scrapes, half of his face was disfigured, and he looked like a demon.

In the instant of the fall, Mingpo braced herself to absorb the force. The ventilation duct wasn't very high, only about two and a half meters. If it were a light and agile child, they might even be able to jump straight down from that height without getting hurt.

For a heavy adult, this height is enough to break bones.

When Mingpo looked up, she found herself in a room that was completely enclosed.

There were two heavy, black iron doors in front of him, while there were no doors on the other three sides. The space left for him to move around was only about two square meters, enough to trigger claustrophobia.

His only source of light was the faint red glow leaking from the ventilation duct.

Their eerie light shone on the door, revealing some words written on it.

But this unsettling atmosphere had no effect on Mingpa.

Mingpo squinted and leaned closer, only to see strange words written on it.

I don't like you anymore.

"Let's get a divorce."

"I have someone I like."

"From now on, she will be your mother."

……

The rest of the things were not very clear.

The handwriting was quite messy, and even with great effort, it was difficult to decipher what was written.

—Mingpo has to admit that the earlier parts of this dungeon weren't too difficult for him. But the handwriting was so ugly that he couldn't quite understand it.

Just then, the two iron gates suddenly emitted a heavy rumble and rose into the air, emitting white smoke!

The dazzling light illuminated the entire space in an instant, so bright that Mingpo couldn't help but squint.

He opened his eyes and found that behind the two "black giant doors" were two relatively long passageways—the kind that looked like bowling alleyways.

As the door opened, a platform about half a person's height blocked Mingpo's way.

It's a bit like a bank teller counter—a heavy black marble table with fully enclosed transparent glass, leaving only a small window through which you can see inside. But it's absolutely impossible to squeeze in through there.

On the black marble table sat a bow and arrow.

A pulley bow, a quiver of arrows.

This is... a shooting range.

In each of the two passageways, there was a chair. A woman was tied to each chair.

Their mouths were all gagged, so they couldn't make any sound. Their hands were behind their backs, so they couldn't make any gestures.

But when they saw Mingpo, a light suddenly shone in their desperate and empty eyes.

They suddenly began to struggle violently, trying to say something, but unable to utter a single word.

"Gu Tao, you should know them, right?"

The tone of the voice remained unchanged, but the volume increased and became clearer.

If we disregard the possibility that the volume was turned up—then Mingpo guessed that the person must have "sat up straight."

In other words, starting from here... is what that person truly wants to see.

"Cai Jingyi, thirty-eight years old. Your childhood sweetheart, your first love, your ex-wife, your business partner. She bore you a daughter and was married to you for ten years."

As the voice spoke, a white spotlight shone into the shooting range passage on the left.

Immediately afterwards, the spotlight switched and shone on the woman on the right.

"Zhang Hui, fifty years old. Your current wife, your boss, your savior, who paid off your debts from your failed business venture and bore you a son."

"so what?"

Mingpo asked, "Do you want me to kill them?"

"You're a beast, Gu Tao!"

The voice cursed loudly, but at the same time, it let out a gleeful, maniacal laugh: "You can easily kill them—after you finish this final game!"

As he spoke, the lights above turned on, illuminating the entire passageway.

Beneath them, there was a layer of black "mud".

It could be coal ash, charcoal ash, or something else entirely. In short, it's some kind of black, slag-like substance.

Above their heads, each of them had a transparent box hanging from it.

The box above Cai Jingyi's head on the left contains a large number of red balloons and a small number of yellow balloons; the box above Zhang Hui's head on the right contains a large number of yellow balloons and a small number of red balloons.

"Gu Tao, I want to play a game with you."

The voice said in a sinister tone, "I heard that when you were young, you participated in a shooting competition as a representative of the city? But you injured your hand and had to withdraw from the competition. And that's how you became a physical education teacher and swimming coach."

"Then, it's time to pick up the skills you've forgotten!"

The voice grew excited, as if it were an exaggerated theatrical performance: "Now you will become their hero—"

"Both of them are currently surrounded by a large amount of flammable material."

"The yellow balloons contain some kind of grease-like accelerant. The red balloons will burst and release sparks when they pop, and all the balloons will explode simultaneously at the end of the game."

"If the yellow and red balloons burst at the same time, it's 'possible' to start a fire. Of course, it's also possible that their heat won't ignite the flammable material beneath them, causing the flames to go out or smolder. I don't know exactly which one bursts before it catches fire..."

"However, once the fire starts, it will be impossible to extinguish it in a short time."

"—But you don't need to worry about yourself or anyone else dying because of this! Because when a fire starts in a passage and it's confirmed to be unextinguishable, that passage will be completely sealed off. The smoke will absolutely—not leak out!"

The voice was filled with malice: "There are 12 red balloons and 6 yellow balloons above Cai Jingyi's head; there are 12 yellow balloons and 6 red balloons above Zhang Hui's head. And there are twelve arrows in the quiver in front of you."

"The balloons will slowly descend, landing on their heads, and then bounce off. Because the ground is flammable, the safest way is to shoot arrows at the balloons as they land on their heads to pop them beforehand!"

"This way, neither fire nor oil will affect the combustibles on the ground."

"—By the way, have you ever played Taiko no Tatsujin or Rhythm Heaven?"

Just then, the malicious voice abruptly mentioned the names of two games.