178: Will anyone come to rescue them?

The next day.

Outside the 97th Stronghold, at a certain base.

Xiao Rui was dead.

Luck was not on his side this time; when he was thrown back inside the iron gate, he, like Hua Shaoyu, was covered in festering wounds.

Hua Shaoyu, whose body had been in the iron gate for two days after his death, was now emitting a foul smell of decay.

Hua Shaoyou, who had been guarding the body, could barely stand it anymore.

"What kind of hellhole is this, when can we get out?!" Hua Shaoyou yelled at the iron gate.

No one could answer his question, because everyone was thinking the same thing.

When can we get out of this cursed place?

Will anyone come to rescue them?

From inside the iron gate, they couldn't see the sky or tell the time; they didn't even know how many days they had been trapped.

Or perhaps they had all gone mad, or died, and the people still breathing were just figments of their imagination?

"Ah, ah, ah, ah, I can't take it anymore! If I stay here any longer, I'll go completely insane!"

Liu Ming clutched his head and shook it frantically, as if some monster in his mind was trying to devour him.

"Liu Ming, what's wrong?" Liu XinFan wanted to get closer to observe Liu Ming's condition; he had been fine just moments ago.

"Go away! Don't touch me!" Liu Ming kicked his legs, strongly rejecting anyone's approach.

Liu XinFan frowned and did not step forward.

That's right, staying in such a confined space, without seeing the light of day, would turn anyone into a lunatic. Moreover, two people had already died, and their bodies were still left there, coexisting with the living.

In such a place, Liu XinFan couldn't even save himself, let alone others.

"Ah, ah, ah, ah! Don't kill me, don't kill me, don't come over!" Wang Xingche also began to clutch his head with both hands, his cries hoarse.

It was truly difficult for him; after mumbling for so many days, he finally managed to roar once.

"Xingche, calm down. What if being so loud attracts those people?" Wang Xingge quickly went over and embraced the somewhat out-of-control Wang Xingche, covering his mouth.

"Mmm, mmm mmm... Wuwu..."

Wang Xingche, whose mouth was covered, struggled at first, but after a while, the struggling sounds turned into sobs.

Wang Xingge sighed and lowered the hand covering Wang Xingche's mouth: "Sigh, forget it. Cry if you want to cry, curse if you want to curse. Anyway, the outcome awaiting us is the same..."

The outcome awaiting them was the same.

—That was death.

Liu XinFan lifted his eyelids.

Was it all the same?

Not necessarily.

With Wang Xingche's crying, Liu Ming also couldn't help but cry, both weeping over the fate they were about to face.

Immediately after, Hua Shaoyou also began to whimper.

Then came the others who had been brought here: some from the Liu Family, some from the Hua Family, some from the Wang Family, and some from the Xiao Family.

For a moment, the confined room was filled with a chorus of weeping.

Liu XinFan did not cry.

He merely watched it all with a detached gaze.

Could crying solve the problem? No.

Crying was the most useless thing to do.

"Creak—"

The old iron gate was opened from the outside again.

The person standing at the doorway this time was still 0827, his face, which looked as if it had been stitched together, was terrifying. Seeing the scene of agonizing wails inside, his harsh and unpleasant voice rang out again: "Noisy, noisy, what are you making noise about? You, come out!"

It was clear he was very angry, because the words "hehe" were not included in this sentence.

"Ah? Me?"

The person pointed to by 0827 was precisely Wang Xingche, the first one to start sobbing. He had been huddled in the corner, muttering and trembling, so Liu XinFan had thought he had gone mad, but it turned out he still knew fear.

He hadn't gone mad.

"I don't want to go, I don't want to, I don't want to die, ah, ah, ah!" Wang Xingche shook his head violently, turned, and ran to the back, but the room was so small that even if he ran to the corner, 0827 could still easily catch him.

"Tsk." 0827 pouted, clearly displeased with Wang Xingche's behavior.

Wang Xingge felt for his younger brother and didn't want Wang Xingche to just die like that, so he spread his arms to block 0827 and said, "You're not allowed to take him!"

"Oh? Hehe... not him, then you?" 0827 grinned, his wide mouth, stretching to his ears, seemed capable of devouring everything.

His mood seemed to have improved again.

"I... I..." Wang Xingge hesitated.

His outstretched arms trembled slightly.

If he didn't let this person take Wang Xingche, he himself would be the one to die.

"Brother, save me, I don't want to die, big brother!" Wang Xingche's entire face trembled as he said this from the corner, as if the loose flesh on his face would fall off any second.

"Brother..." Wang Xingge gritted his teeth.

"How about it? Have you decided... hehe, taking him or taking you, it's all the same..." 0827's eyes widened. What he liked most was this kind of drama.

In the face of survival, what friends, what relatives... they were all useless.

No one was unafraid of death.

"I... I..." Wang Xingge was clearly struggling to hold on.

He looked back at the excited Wang Xingche, who now seemed even more frantic: "Big brother, my good big brother, will you take my place just this once, okay? Will you die for me, okay?"

Wang Xingge's brows furrowed.

He asked himself, was he truly willing to give this chance to live to Wang Xingche?

No.

He didn't want to.

So he lowered his arms and cleared the path.

"That's right... hehe..." 0827 lightly patted Wang Xingge's shoulder with his hand, which had been used in countless experiments, then walked directly towards Wang Xingche.

Wang Xingche's eyes widened. He looked incredulously at 0827 walking towards him, then at Wang Xingge, who had stepped aside with his head lowered, and stammered, "No... no... I, why? Don't kill me, ah, ah, ah!"

"Not kill you, hehe... I've never killed anyone." 0827 chuckled as he walked over and pinched Wang Xingche's chin. Wang Xingche instantly stopped his frantic behavior.

"H-how is that possible? If you haven't killed anyone, how did those two die?" Wang Xingche was referring to the deceased Hua Shaoyu and Xiao Rui.

"You mean them." 0827 laughed again, "I just used them for experiments, and they died because they couldn't withstand it, hehe... I didn't kill anyone."

Hearing this, Wang Xingche couldn't utter a single word.

He tried to open his mouth, but the sound that should have come out seemed to have abandoned him.

"Come with me. This isn't a bad thing for you. Maybe if the experiment succeeds, you'll be like me... hehe..."