48 Hours a Day

“What the hell?” The youth in the Zhanfu was shocked by the sudden vibration. “Is this a normal childbirth process?”

He still had a sliver of hope in his heart, but in the end, he saw the man who was initially walking towards them on the balcony suddenly stop in his tracks. The expression on his face became incomparably terrified as if he had seen an incomparably terrifying scene. Then, ignoring them, he rushed toward the spiral staircase.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to stay here any longer,” Master Kui said with a severe expression.

Although she had just entered the dungeon and hadn’t figured out what the factory was for, she could tell that something terrible was about to happen.

“Follow him,” Zhang Heng said.

With that, he took a step forward, and the players in the room followed behind him as they ran toward the helix.

As the players ran, they looked down at their feet, only to find that not only were the cubes jumping more and more. Even the insulation boards around them were bent by the impact, it was as if a terrifying demon was sealed under the round lid, and the latter was about to break free from its cage, bringing forth disaster to the human world.

Without Zhang Heng’s warning, everyone realized the danger and quickened their pace. They rushed down the spiral staircase and came to a passage about ten meters above the ground.

The group had just come out of the room, so they were familiar with the “factory.” In fact, they didn’t know where to run to for safety. Under such circumstances, they had few options. The safest option was to follow the man on the balcony. No matter what, the latter was a serious factory employee. He wouldn’t do something like that to himself… right?

However, to be honest, everyone wasn’t too sure. Moreover, they had lost sight of their target as soon as they entered the tunnel. Fortunately, they heard the sound of the door opening from the left side. Judging from the sound, the door should be quite heavy. The man on the balcony seemed to be struggling a little.

At the same time, they heard the sound of air behind them. Something that looked like a safety valve was opened, releasing a stream of white steam. It seemed to have relieved some of the pressure on the large manhole cover, but it didn’t take long before the valve broke, and the noise under the circular manhole cover grew even louder.

The group didn’t dare to delay any longer. They rushed to the left. There, the man standing on the balcony had already opened a safety door that looked like a bank vault, squeezing his body through it,

Zhang Heng was the first to arrive, but he wasn’t in a hurry to squeeze in. Instead, he pulled the door open a little more, so that at least two people could pass through, greatly reducing the group’s travel time.

After that, Zhang Heng, the engineer, and the young man worked together to close the safety door. However, not long after they closed the door, they heard a loud bang from the other side.

The entire “factory” shook.

“Did something explode down there?” the young man asked nervously as he continued to run. “I was so nervous just now. It was too close a call…”

However, before he could finish his sentence, he heard an even more terrifying explosion. This time, it wasn’t the plant that shook, but it felt as if an earthquake before the end of the world. Unable to even stand properly, the youth was directly jolted to the ground. He saw that the wall to his right had a few cracks, to the point the steel bars inside were revealed. The lamppost above his head had also been jolted down.

The air was filled with a thick haze of dust.

The young man’s ears rang. After a while, he regained his hearing. He shook his dizzy head and asked, “Is everyone okay?”

The players responded one by one. There was a safety door separating them. At the same time, they ran a distance forward. At least, the terrifying explosion did not directly affect them, therefore, there was no loss of players in the party.

Zhang Heng’s attention was now on the man who had been standing on the balcony not too far away. Although the man had fallen, he did not seem to be in any danger. However, there was no joy on his face, the fear becoming even more intense. He muttered a single word repeatedly. Then, he got up from the ground and staggered toward the corridor in front of him.

Zhang Heng didn’t know what that word meant until a long time later.

“What do we do now? Do we continue to follow?” the repairman said as he dusted off his clothes.

“There’s no need,” Coconut said. “From the looks of it, that guy is probably going to inform the others. He’ll probably call for the factory’s security or something. If we go up there, there’s an 80% chance that we’ll be exposed. Even if we don’t, there’s a high chance that we’ll be dragged to the fire rescue or something. Of course, I’ll still follow the leader’s orders.”

Previously, when Zhang Heng revealed his code name, it attracted a wave of gasps. However, other than the fanboy, the other players still treated Zhang Heng with more respect than trust. After all, they didn’t have much interaction with Simon before, only knowing that he was strong enough. They knew nothing about his character and moral standards. Furthermore, they couldn’t rule out the possibility that Zhang Heng was using Simon’s name to cause trouble.

Therefore, even though most of the players were very polite to Zhang Heng on the surface, they were still wary of him in private. They would listen to Zhang Heng’s arrangements as long as it really went against their plans. However, after Zhang Heng’s action of pushing open the safety door, everyone could at least confirm that he was not the kind of person who was completely selfish and did not care about the lives of others.

This also made many players have a good impression of Zhang Heng. People like Coconut had already started to view Zhang Heng as the leader of this team. They were no longer the kind of rag-tag gang that would randomly pull people on the road. Everyone had their own ulterior motive.

Zhang Heng looked ahead. At the end of the corridor, about a hundred meters away, there was a room that looked like some control room. The man who had been standing on the balcony earlier had run there.

Zhang Heng also went there to take a look. He should be able to gather some clues related to the two explosions earlier. Unfortunately, none of the seven players who participated in the game knew Russian. Even if the clues were right in front of their eyes, they probably wouldn’t be able to see it, leaving Zhang Heng to merely say, “Let’s leave this place first.”

The players didn’t have any objections when they heard that. The earlier explosion had shattered the glass in the corridor. Glass shards were scattered all over. It looked like a mess, but from here, they could see what was below. Not only were the floor filled with rubble, but there were also glowing objects that looked like burning charcoal. There was also the distant door.

“Good news! At least we’ll be able to leave this damned place soon,” Mouse said. “I’m almost choking to death from the smoke and dust here. Also, what is that smell? Why does my mouth have a metallic taste?”