174: This is a real kidnapping.

Moray sat in the room, feeling mentally and physically tormented.

The small dark room had only one tiny window. Judging by the shifting light through the glass, Moray estimated he had been kidnapped for two days. He was terrified, wondering when his father would come to save him.

On Lu Qingyu's side, only two hours into the game, the headset was already broadcasting non-stop announcements.

At first, the broadcasts were normal, such as: Eric from the Yellow Team rescues a hostage, plus one point; William from the Red Team kills a bandit, plus one point; Blue Team kills Steven from the Red Team.

Up until that point, the power of the Red, Yellow, and Blue Teams was quite balanced. Lu Qingyu hadn't scored any points yet, and members of both the Red and Yellow Teams were eager to take his head. But after half an hour, the announcements in the headset began to sound increasingly ridiculous!

"Blue Lu rescues five hostages, plus five points."

"Blue Team Lu kills one bandit, plus one point."

"Blue Team Lu shoots Hans of the Red Team, plus one point; kills Jack of the Red Team, plus one point."

The entire process took less than five minutes, and Lu Qingyu had already scored seven points, whereas the highest score before him had only been three.

The most tragic was the Red Team—they were completely wiped out!

Many players didn't even know how they had died.

Even those killed by Lu Qingyu had no idea where he was located.

Some eliminated contestants walked back to the Game Base on their own, while others were picked up by vehicles.

When those defeated by Lu Qingyu met, they looked at each other speechlessly.

"Did you see where the Boss shot you from?"

"No, I just heard a bang, and then red smoke started coming off my body."

"What about you? Did you find which direction the shot came from?"

"I found the direction, but I couldn't find the person."

"..."

While everyone was waiting at the base, Su Jixing and Hans also walked in. They hadn't expected to be eliminated so quickly either.

Su Jixing was sulking; he had planned to show off his skills, but it was game over before he could even start.

Lu Qingyu: You can't blame me for this. I said I'd take you out last, but you didn't last until the end.

At that moment, Lu Qingyu was perched on a tree branch twenty meters high. He raised his gun and took out another member of the Yellow Team.

Now, the Yellow Team had only one member left.

Currently, the Blue Team was ranked first. The Blue Team members were overjoyed; they had essentially been carried to victory.

Next, the Blue Team members proceeded with the tasks of rescuing hostages and killing bandits, completing them within half an hour.

By this time, it was already dark, and everyone had had their fill of fun.

The Blue Team members communicated via the headset channel:

"We've already won. We can head back now."

"Are we going to catch the last member of the Yellow Team?"

"No need. He's the only one left, he can't possibly win. He's probably walking back to the Game Base himself. Let's all go."

Lu Qingyu stowed his AK, climbed down the tree, and also began walking toward the base.

He had so much fun today. Once he returned to China, he wanted to organize a game like this himself.

Others: The experience was average; we died before we could play for long.

After getting down from the tree, Lu Qingyu didn't wait for the game center staff to pick him up. Instead, he checked his electronic smartwatch, turned on the navigation, and followed the instructions back.

The navigation chose the shortest route for him, but Lu Qingyu remembered that one section of that path was very difficult to traverse. So, he chose the second recommended route, which would take an extra five minutes.

Just as he reached the shady side of the mountain and passed a Reed Bed, he suddenly noticed some movement.

Lu Qingyu instinctively hid himself. He quietly observed through the Reed Bed as three men stood in front of a small wooden cabin for a moment before entering. They were wearing camouflage and had weapons hanging from their waists.

Lu Qingyu tapped his watch to check the game data. So far, five bandits in the game had not been found, and three hostages remained.

Oho, a Hidden Quest! Although they had already won, it didn't hurt to get a higher score.

With that thought, Lu Qingyu took his AK and circled to the small window at the back of the cabin to check the situation inside.

Inside the cabin, there was indeed a hostage, looking about seventeen or eighteen. His face was bruised, and his expression was dull and full of despair.

Lu Qingyu couldn't help but admire him. This NPC's acting was great, and he was quite handsome too. Maybe he should scout him as an actor for his company.

The other three men in the room were sitting idly at a table nearby, eating bread.

They were waiting for news from Harry. They had heard that Harry had already obtained 300 million worth of diamonds. This Kane Bailey was truly wealthy.

But Kane Bailey was so rich that they couldn't help but want more.

"A billionaire is a billionaire; he gave away 300 million worth of items just like that."

"What else could he do? He only has this one son. When he dies, all that money will belong to his son. If he doesn't pay, those assets will be useless to him anyway."

"So, how should we handle this kid?"

One of them looked at Moray. "That depends on what his dad thinks. If he dares to be disobedient, we'll chop the boy up and mail him to his father."

The men didn't seem to feel that what they were saying was bloody or violent at all.

Sitting in the corner, Moray shuddered. It was over; he feared he really wouldn't escape this time.

At the moment of Moray's despair, the cabin door was suddenly burst open. Lu Qingyu entered and raised his hand, hitting the first man with a Blank Cartridge.

The person opposite reacted immediately, getting up to shoot at Lu Qingyu. Lu Qingyu spun and rolled, closing in on another bandit. Holding his AK, he fired the second and third Blank Cartridges into the chests of the other two men in succession.

After the sequence of moves, Lu Qingyu stood up proudly. "Hostage rescue complete."

The three men were stunned by Lu Qingyu's actions. Being hit by Blank Cartridges was still painful, and since Lu Qingyu had hit them right in the chest, they thought they were going to die. However, after waiting for a while, there was no blood.

The three men looked at each other. Damn, who the hell is this?

Lu Qingyu stood there and waited for three seconds, but no announcement came through his headset. Lu Qingyu: ??? Something's wrong. Why is there no sound?

Looking up again, he realized the men across from him weren't wearing the game vests. The game vests were specially made; once hit, they would connect to the backend to show a kill. Previously, the headset announcements had been very fast, but now there was no signal.

Then Lu Qingyu noticed that these guys weren't wearing vests at all. Could they be slacking off? If that were the case, how would his score be calculated?

"You guys are a bit unprofessional. Why aren't you wearing your ves—"

Before he could finish the word, one of the men raised a weapon and fired at Lu Qingyu.

Unlike the Blank Cartridges, this hit was solid and real.