“Salimu!” Quan Shaoteng found it difficult to look at the bloody marks. He frowned as he turned over to the young chap who was perspiring on the side. “How is it? We still have 10 minutes!”

Only 10 minutes left?

Salimu was sitting under the heave of the dark room. His fingers were moving rapidly on the keyboard…

He took some time to react and hesitated for quite a while before he replied, “Maybe… all of you can go hide in a safe place first?”

Quan Shaoteng grunted with a grimace. “…”

Was he trying to remind them to run for their lives first?

It seemed like a miracle that such an adorable and hesitant young fellow had such an ability!

“Aye! Try your best!” Quan Shaoteng did not waste anymore of his time but waved his fist at him.

“Don’t hit me…” responded Salimu as he looked at Quan Shaoteng’s despondent expression. “Actually…” He furrowed his eyebrows. “There’s a technical problem.”

“What technical problem?” Quan Shaoteng asked anxiously.

“This door has an iris recognition system. I can bypass it to open the door, but the problem is… the moment the two of them leave the dark room, it will trigger all the bombs buried in the area…”

“You can’t stop it?”

“I can’t,” answered Salimu, “it can’t be stopped!”

“… D*mn!”

This system was designed to take lives!

In 40 minutes time, the bombs would activate.

Even if they unlocked the door, they could not step out of the room!

“…”

Bai Muchuan and Xiang Wan had heard what Salimu had said as well.

That was in conjunction with what Meng Chi had said earlier.

“What should we do?” They heard Quan Shaoteng shouted.

“… I don’t know either.” Salimu looked at the equipment with a blinking blue light. “But there’s a bug I can exploit!”

“Say it!”

“The AI determines their presence inside the dark room!”

“…?” Quan Shaoteng’s eyebrows crumpled tightly together.

“That means if we could fool it, they can come out of the room!”

“… How do we fool it?” Quan Shaoteng realized that there was a generation gap when he tried to communicate with young fellows nowadays.

Of course, Salimu was just a few years younger than him. He, too, thought that the young ‘uncle’ before him was asking a very strange question.

“Captain Quan, you’re weird… If I knew, why would I be troubled?”

“…”

To fool the AI…

That means they need to let the system discern that both of them were still inside the room so they could get Xiang Wan and Bai Muchuan out.

What should they do then?

Quan Shaoteng touched his ear stud, racking his brains over the problem when he heard Bai Muchuan’s voice from the speaker.

“Tell me, what did the AI depend on to discern that we’re inside the room?”

Salimu replied in no time, “By using the camera to tell the difference with your facial features…”

“Will photographs work?”

Photographs? Did they have it with them?

Salimu said after pondering for a moment, “Generally speaking, the possibility of fooling the system with photographs is very small… It might not be possible even if we use the video function through the mobile phone…”

Furthermore, with emerging new technologies popping out day after day, the technical means in various fields were different.

Perhaps that person behind this ploy might have used the highest form of technology?

Bai Muchuan looked at the time on the wall. “If the AI could not detect our presence, how long will the AI take to react to that?”

Salimu uttered with hesitation, “That’s where the bug is! This is also the part I couldn’t understand…”

“Say it!”

“This is a very sophisticated system. If the owner wanted, it could blow up right away… yet there’s a 10-second delay in this system… I don’t get it at all. I’m worried that it’s a trap!”

A 10-second delay!

Meng Chi’s words came to Xiang Wan’s mind.

“He does not trust the AI completely! He’s afraid the AI might fail to identify both of them correctly and trigger the explosion in turn… He did not want his magnificent plan to get thwarted. Hence, he set a 10-second buffer for the AI to perform its job meticulously… If the AI did not recognize or failed to find its target within 10 seconds, only then will it trigger the bombs…”

“Yes!” Bai Muchuan affirmed her idea.

“He’s definitely meticulous! However, since he’s a meticulous person, it’s natural that he’s distrustful of things!”

“Ten seconds! We can take a gamble!”

Bai Muchuan took a look at the time on the wall.

Five minutes left!

He turned to Xiang Wan. “Shall we take a gamble?”

It was time to make a decision. Xiang Wan’s heartbeat couldn’t stop pounding as she nodded her head heavily.

“Yes! Let’s take a gamble.”

They would die if they continued to stay inside the room anyway. If so, why not take a gamble?

Even if they really died, they would have died without regrets—

Bai Muchuan took a deep breath before talking in haste. “Laowu, go find a quilt in the nunnery and soak it with water… If there’s steel plates or sand, mud, or stones outside; maybe something like gravel, dirt, or something similar; try to stuff them inside… You’ll then leave the quilt at the door! Next, all of you must retreat!”

Salimu was shocked when he heard that. “What about me?”

“…”

The door would not open until Salimu hacked the final portion of the system.

In order to do that, he could not stay too far away from them—

“You follow what I say earlier as well! Get yourself covered with a wet quilt with all those items stuffed inside. Go the furthest you can and lay flat at somewhere that could block you—”

“Ah!” Salimu felt nervous. “I’m scared!”

“Don’t be a wuss!”

Quan Shaoteng repeated the commands again.

“Everyone follow accordingly!”

“Move!”

“Hurry up!”

…

Every second counted!

Time passed by swiftly!

Quan Shaoteng did accordingly on what was told. They wet the quilt and fill it in with sand and gravel to “reinforce” the quilt. Then they placed it outside the entrance of the dark room…

The whole process took three minutes to complete.

When they were ready, he spoke into the walkie-talkie. “Salimu, are you ready?”

“I’m ready!” Salimu’s reply sounded nervous.

Quan Shaoteng waved his hand. “Retreat!”

The group quickly retreated the area.

That day on the mountain, it was snowing.

The cold wind seemed to pierce through their bones. It was cold, very cold!

Squatting inside a pit in a room, Salimu wrapped himself up in a cotton quilt; his hands were trembling with nervousness!

However, it was hot inside the dark room, very hot.

The time on the wall was still moving!

That beeping sound which was heard with every passing second seemed to deal a knock on the heart as though it could make one die from suffocation.

“There’s one more minute!”

Salimu… did he managed to crack it?

Xiang Wan was praying quietly inside.

“Forty seconds!”

They had 40 minutes to begin with, now they had 40 seconds left.

There were still no changes to the door!

They couldn’t hear anything outside, either!

The whole world felt as if it had quietened down!

These forty seconds might mark the end of their lives!

Both of them stood by the door inside the dark room, waiting and looking at each other…

Beep! Beep!

Xiang Wan had no more interest to look at the time. “Bai Muchuan…”

A short pause followed, her throat felt as if it was blocked since no words came out of her mouth.

“Mm?”

Bai Muchuan stroked Xiang Wan’s face. “Is there anything… you want to tell me?”

“I’m sad!” There was a tremor in Xiang Wan’s voice. “That at this critical moment, I’m unable to see your face! What ’bout you? Anything you want to tell me?”

“You’re inside my heart! I can see you!” Bai Muchuan suddenly embraced her. “Xiang Wan, if one of us leaves this world… you need to continue to live on, for the sake of the other who left!”

Tears were streaking Xiang Wan’s face.

She nodded her head without hesitation and controlled herself so as not to make any sobbing sounds.

“Don’t be afraid! In our next life, I’ll be able to find you!”