Forty-Nine Doomsday Chapter 33: Xu Xiaotian in Danger

Day 11 of the third Doomsday Rule taking effect, with 4 days remaining until its conclusion.

In an arcade in Yunhua City, Xu Xiaotian stared dejectedly at the screen where his controlled character had fallen dead.

"Damn it, died again!"

He had been playing this game continuously for several days but still couldn't clear the final level.

"This difficulty is absolutely insane, I've tried dozens of times and can't get past it," Xu Xiaotian muttered. "If I'd played this before the Doomsday Rules appeared, imagine how many game coins I would have wasted trying to beat it."

"Buddy, you're not getting past this level."

A voice came from beside him. Xu Xiaotian turned to see a long-haired young man in a jacket who had spoken to him.

The long-haired youth looked at the screen and said, "The final level of this game is designed to be unsolvable. They never intended for players to beat it—it's purely meant to drain your coins."

"Really?" Xu Xiaotian said in surprise. "That's so scammy!"

"Yeah, exactly that scammy."

Seeing the long-haired youth appeared a few years older than him, Xu Xiaotian asked, "Brother, how do you know that? Did you get scammed out of a lot of coins before?"

The long-haired youth grinned: "I used to work here, so that's how I know."

"Oh, I see!"

"But you're pretty persistent, buddy," the long-haired youth said. "Playing so many times without getting through and still going at it."

Xu Xiaotian smiled: "Well, I've got nothing better to do. Besides, I loved playing arcade games since I was a kid, but never had money for game coins. Now we can play without inserting coins whenever we want—how awesome is that!"

The long-haired youth nodded: "Pretty awesome indeed."

He then examined Xu Xiaotian's expression and said with a smile, "Looking at you, buddy, I'd guess you've given up on the third rule challenge, right?"

"Huh?"

"Pretty much everyone who's out playing is like that," the long-haired youth explained. "Those who want to pass the rules are following official advice to minimize activity and reduce energy consumption, right? So I figure those out playing have basically given up."

"Oh, that makes sense!"

Xu Xiaotian hadn't really thought about this before. Because of his instant noodles item, he hadn't paid much attention to the official recommendations for the third rule, and naturally hadn't read the official challenge guides either.

Thinking about it now, it made sense—those trying to pass the rules would mostly stay home to avoid unnecessary energy expenditure from moving around. Those out having fun were mostly people who had abandoned the challenge.

"What, don't tell me you haven't given up?" the long-haired youth asked immediately upon seeing Xu Xiaotian's expression.

Xu Xiaotian nodded.

"Wow, impressive," the long-haired youth's eyes lit up. "So you bought food boxes then? If you can afford them with Ascension Coins, your Mind Power must be over 80, right?"

"Something like that, hehe," Xu Xiaotian responded with a laugh, wanting to continue playing, but the long-haired youth pressed down on his arm.

"Buddy, I know another arcade where they've got all new games you've definitely never played before. Want to come check it out with me?"

"Really?!" Xu Xiaotian's eyes sparkled. For an arcade enthusiast like him, the appeal of never-before-played new games was huge.

"Of course, would I lie to you? Let's go."

"Let's go, let's go!"

Xu Xiaotian followed the long-haired youth downstairs. On the way, the long-haired youth went to the restroom to make a phone call.

After leaving the arcade, they waited by the roadside for a while.

Xu Xiaotian asked, "Bro, aren't we going directly there?"

"Someone's coming to pick us up, just wait a bit," the long-haired youth said.

"Okay."

Soon, a black car pulled up.

Xu Xiaotian glanced inside and saw three people in the car—one in the driver's seat, one in the passenger seat, and another in the back.

Counting himself and the long-haired youth, that made five people filling the car.

"Why so many people?"

"Just some buddies I play with. Get in."

The long-haired youth opened the back door. Seeing the tattoo on the neck of the youth sitting in the back, Xu Xiaotian suddenly felt something was wrong.

He suddenly remembered what Guan Tong had told him before—that there were suspected criminal gangs in Yunhua kidnapping people with high Mind Power.

Recalling how the long-haired youth had probed about his Mind Power back in the arcade, he began to panic.

"Um, bro, I just remembered I have something to do. Maybe next time!"

After saying this, Xu Xiaotian turned to leave, but before he could take two steps, someone grabbed his arm.

"Hey now, buddy," the long-haired youth pulled Xu Xiaotian back, a menacing glint appearing in his eyes. "Leaving now would be disrespectful to us."

"I..."

At that moment, the person from the passenger seat and the one from the back both got out of the car. Together with the long-haired youth, the three of them surrounded Xu Xiaotian.

The tattooed man said viciously, "Kid, get in the car now if you don't want to get beaten up!"

The tattooed man's complete lack of pretense made Xu Xiaotian turn pale, realizing he had truly encountered criminals.

Looking at the three fierce-looking men, he pretended to comply and shrank his neck: "O-okay, I'll go with you..."

Halfway through his sentence, Xu Xiaotian suddenly made his move!

He swung his right hand and summoned his Mind Power item from his Storage Box—instant noodles.

"Splash!"

Xu Xiaotian flung the noodles forcefully, sending scalding noodles and soup splashing into the three men's faces, making them cry out in pain.

Seizing the opportunity, Xu Xiaotian turned and ran, pulling out his phone as he fled and dialing the top number in his contacts.

When the call connected, it was Guan Tong's voice that answered.

"Hello, Xiaotian, what's up?"

Since they had only recently met and exchanged numbers, Guan Tong's number was at the top of his newly added contacts.

"Guan Tong!" Xu Xiaotian shouted in panic. "It's bad! I've run into kidnappers! Near the arcade! Contact the Police Department for me, I—Ow!"

Before he could finish speaking, he felt a kick from behind, stumbling and falling to the ground.

Looking up, he saw it was the young man from the driver's seat who had caught up with him. Since he hadn't gotten out of the car, he had avoided the instant noodles attack.

Now this driver began punching and kicking the fallen Xu Xiaotian.

"You little bastard, daring to pull that sneaky trick! I'll beat you to death!"

"Ouch!"

The other three men caught up too, joining in with furious kicks.

"Where did this little shit get instant noodles from? That burned like hell, I'm going to beat him to death!"

"Stop hitting him for now, quickly stuff him in the car and take him back!"

"His phone, smash his phone!"

Crunch—

That was the last sound Guan Tong heard before the call cut off with a beep.

"Xu Xiaotian got kidnapped by criminals? I need to contact the Police Department immediately!"

With lives at stake, Guan Tong didn't dare delay.

He had gotten along quite well with Xu Xiaotian these past few days, and since he himself had almost become a victim in this serial kidnapping case, he certainly couldn't stand by and do nothing.

He immediately dialed the Police Department and reported Xu Xiaotian's situation. The Police Department was already rigorously investigating the kidnapping cases, so they took this new lead very seriously. The operator even asked Guan Tong to come to the station when he had time to give a report in person.

Guan Tong agreed. After hanging up, he headed to the Police Department, wanting to get the latest updates on the kidnapping case as soon as possible.