Deadly Game: Almighty Boss’s Guide to Making Money

Chapter 1231. The Book at Night (19)

—Anyway, 123 doesn't have it, but she has "water".

—Isn't water a panacea?
—Hmm, it's been a long time since I've been "omnipotent".

—Hey? Doesn't the key in Teacher Huang's hand have the character "时" (time) on it?
—I wonder if it is one of time, space, and shadow.

—Probably!
—So, all we need to do is find the void and the shadow.

—Let's stay alive first; the black mist seems pretty powerful.

Let's go to the library first!
Huang Jingjing stood in the first position, and everyone let Xiao Qin stand in the second position so that she could be closer to Huang Jingjing.

After all, she was one of only three girls.

Lin Xi stood on the outside, her mountaineering jacket shimmering with gold stars, which should have been impervious to the black mist.

Guo Yuelang walked on the other side, constantly on guard against the black fog.

Bai Ye followed closely behind Xiao Qin, with Chang Xiaohe behind Bai Ye and Chang Xiaohe following closely behind.

Bai Yueming and Ouyang Xichen covered the rear.

Huang Jingjing walked at the front, holding a silver key that gleamed white. The half-meter safety zone around the key was like a thin veil, barely keeping out the black threads that were wrapped around it.

But after taking only a couple of steps, she suddenly hissed as a slight burning sensation came from her fingertips.

The white light emanating from the key was fainter than before, and the black mist at the edge of the safe zone began to probe repeatedly like a ravenous beast. Occasionally, a few strands would break through the barrier, leaving faint black marks on the hem of a trouser, which couldn't be wiped away.

The light on the key is dimming!

Huang Jingjing reminded them to slow down their pace unconsciously.

"Has it been used for too long? What if it... suddenly stops working?" Xiaoqin asked thoughtfully.

--Shut up!
--Shut up!
—Xiao Qin, don't learn from vegetables.

Hahaha, now everyone's afraid of jinxing people.

"Don't panic, first look around for anything useful."

Lin Xi's voice came from behind her. She was touching the shelf next to her with the hand that hadn't been touched by the black mist.

"There's a book here."

Lin Xi suddenly stopped as his fingertips traced the yellowed spine of the book.

"This book... is it cold?"

—123, aren't books just meant to be cold?

—Waaaaah, tell me which book is still fresh.

—Hahahaha, I'm dying of laughter. It's still hot, can we eat it?

—Don't ruin the suspense! You know that's not what 1, 2, and 3 meant!
—Exactly! Whenever I get nervous, your laughter makes me relax.

—That's great, it saves me from being constantly tense.

Everyone followed her gaze.

It was a thick book with a spiderweb-like crack on the cover, and the blurry words "time and space" on the spine were barely legible.

Ouyang Xichen immediately leaned over, bringing the flame of his lighter close to the pages. Under the orange light, the edges of the pages glowed with a faint blue light—exactly the same blue light as the gears he had seen before.

"This book is about gears!"

Chang Xiaohe's eyes lit up, and he was about to reach for it when Guo Yuelang grabbed him.

"Wait! Have you forgotten about the black mist corrosion from earlier?"

Guo Yuelang raised his hand.

Although Huang Jingjing has cured it, there are still light red marks on the fingers.

"I just touched the fog on the ground and it was like this. This book is wrapped in blue light, so it might be even more dangerous."

Just then, Bai Yueming suddenly cried out "Ouch!" and jumped back half a step. Everyone turned around and saw a clump of wriggling black thread stuck to his trouser leg, the thread crawling up his calf.

"This thing can even chase people?!" Bai Yueming exclaimed, stamping his foot as he spoke.

Huang Jingjing quickly handed the key to him. A white light swept across it, and the thread instantly shrank into a ball, falling to the ground and turning into black smoke.

"Don't move around! The key's secure area is only so big; if it's spread out, it's not protected."

The white light from the key dimmed further, and she could clearly feel the temperature in her palm dropping.

Holy crap! Those threads actually wrap around people on their own? Didn't they only crawl before?!
—Is Teacher Huang's key about to give way? The light is getting dimmer!

—Could you turn up the flame on Ouyang's lighter? It could at least help block the fog!
—Didn't you guys notice that the Blu-ray of that book is the same as the one with the gears? Maybe they'll put the gears on it!
Ouyang Xichen seemed to have thought of this as well, and immediately took out the engraved gear from his backpack and moved it closer to the thick book on "time and space".

Sure enough, as soon as the gear got close, the blue light on the pages brightened, even creeping up the spine to form a groove on the cover that perfectly matched the shape of the gear.

"It's a slot!" Lin Xi's eyes lit up. "Ouyang, try putting the gear in!"

Ouyang Xichen carefully inserted the gear into the groove, and with a soft "click," the gear fit perfectly.

The next second, the pages suddenly turned open automatically, revealing the silvery words inside.

"The Ink Gate needs time to open; fire will ignite the fog." These were the words above Ouyang Xichen's reading. "What does that mean?"

"Mo Men? That's the door with the vines wrapped around it at the back of the convenience store, right?" Bai immediately realized. "Does Huo Yin mean Ouyang's lighter?"

No sooner had he finished speaking than a loud "boom" came from the direction they had just come from.

Everyone turned around and saw that the already shaky bookshelf had collapsed, and black mist surged in like a tidal wave that had been blown apart.

The density of the black fog outside the safe zone instantly doubled, and the white light of the key was suppressed to only a faint halo.

"Oh no, the fog is getting thicker!"

Lin Xi took out his compass, and this time the pointer stopped spinning and pointed firmly in the direction they had come from.

"There's no time! We must get to the door immediately and use the gears and fire to lure it open! Any later and the black mist will swallow this whole place!"

Huang Jingjing gritted her teeth, raised the key even higher, and tried her best to maintain the safe zone.

"Everyone, stay close to me! Don't fall behind!"

The group quickened their pace, but after only a few steps, they suddenly felt a sticky sensation under their feet.

Quan Quan looked down and saw that the black mist on the ground had condensed into a black viscous liquid. Stepping on it felt like the soles of his shoes were covered in glue, and every step required a great deal of effort.

"What the hell is this thing!" Bai Yueming tried to pull her foot away, but almost tripped and fell. "My shoe is going to get stuck to it!"

Ouyang Xichen's lighter flame began to flicker, and he quickly shielded it with his hand.

"The fog is too thick, the fire can't hold up much longer!"

—Holy shit!
Even the lighter won't work.

—Won't we all get wiped out?!

—What do you mean by "annihilated"? They were just a few out of 50 people.

—Only 50 players left?

--yes!

—If they can all be wiped out, the other players are in big trouble too!

At this critical moment, the key in Huang Jingjing's palm suddenly became extremely hot, and a burst of white light instantly appeared.

Not only did it expand the safe zone to one meter, it also made the black slime on the ground sizzle, and the slime turned into black smoke when it came into contact with white light.

"What is the key responding to!" Huang Jingjing was both surprised and delighted, and looked in the direction where the white light from the key was strongest.

It was the shadow of the back door.

At this moment, the black vines on the door were writhing wildly, as if resisting something.