“I'm sorry.”
Shen Tan spoke up suddenly, seemingly having resigned herself to her fate. “You guys should run. I probably won't be able to escape. But I'm already very happy that you came to save me.”
“What kind of nonsense are you talking? If you wanted to die, I wouldn't have come in the first place,” Shen Jiayi said, frowning with dissatisfaction in her voice.
“Because of the thing in my belly, they won't give up chasing me. This is the first time viviparity has occurred in that species.” Shen Tan laid out the facts, but her eyes were scanning everyone's reactions.
If she had truly resigned herself to her fate, why would she have scattered the “Withered Flowers” along the way, and why would she have waited until they had all escaped that place before saying such things?
She was merely testing their reactions.
“We went to all this trouble to rescue you. How could we possibly let you go back to die?”
“If we can't run, then we won't run. Let's find a way to eliminate them. Once everyone who knows is dead, no one will chase you anymore.”
Bai Ci responded firmly, without the slightest hint of backing down.
Of course she wouldn't choose to abandon Shen Tan for a reason like this.
She refused to accept going through the hardship of saving someone only to watch them go back to their death, and she certainly wouldn't accept the terrible instance evaluation that such a sloppy ending would bring.
“Huh?” Shen Jiayi met Shen Tan's gaze and let out a blunt chuckle. She knew it.
But she didn't expose Shen Tan, choosing instead to say, “Count me in. I've been dying to see this village destroyed anyway.”
As a player, Qu Ling shared a similar mindset with Bai Ci.
Just barely scraping by and escaping never yielded high evaluations. She wasn't one of the Hedonists, so she had no intention of accepting such a losing ending.
Though her mind was entirely filled with calculations, Qu Ling still spoke with righteous indignation, “I'm not leaving either. I don't want to watch someone sacrifice themselves right in front of me.”
After a brief silence, Shen Jiayi suddenly remembered something. She looked at Shen Tan and asked, “How did you start that fire during the day? Let's just burn the whole village down.”
“Wang Dong set the fire. I don't know how he did it,” Shen Tan said softly, her voice completely calm.
But immediately after, she used the same calm tone to drop a bombshell: “However, I've hidden a massive amount of explosives in the Red Church.”
“I originally planned to detonate them on the day of the Honey Rite.”
“I despise that so-called god, so of course I won't marry it. Even if it's just a fake ceremony, I refuse to endure it.”
“Ah?” Qu Ling let out a sound of surprise.
Weren't the NPCs in this instance a bit too highly capable of independent action? Even without players, they probably could have handled most of this incident on their own.
For the first time, she began to wonder if the existence of players like themselves was somewhat redundant.
“I majored in chemistry, so it's only normal that I know how to make explosives,” Shen Tan said flatly, as if she were merely stating a trivial fact.
Connecting this with what she had previously deduced, Bai Ci immediately pressed further, “Does Wang Dong know about the explosives? How much does he know about you?”
“He doesn't know,” Shen Tan shook her head slightly, explaining clearly. “Our cooperation was strictly transactional. He helped me stir up trouble in the apiary, and I transferred two hundred thousand in savings to him. That's all.”
“I prepared all the explosives in private. No one else knows.”
“Moreover, I tainted all the explosive raw materials and finished products with a special perfume. Since they don't have that scent on them, it means the explosives haven't been discovered.”
The hidden danger was completely ruled out.
Once Bai Ci confirmed the situation, she quickly formulated a plan: “In that case, let's stir up some trouble to draw them to the Red Church, blow it up, and wipe out all the knowing parties in one fell swoop.”
“It's very simple to draw them here,” Shen Tan said softly. “There's no need to intentionally cause a scene. Just scrape off the lichen on the stone in the middle of the Red Church, and someone will naturally come.”
“Besides, at a time like this, the only ones who would go to the Red Church and scrape off the lichen are a bunch of self-righteous, panicked runaways like us,” Shen Jiayi added with a dangerous smile.
With the plan finalized, the group made their way silently through the woods under the cover of the late-night darkness, arriving at the Red Church.
As long as they didn't gaze at the spherical structure atop the Red Church's spire at night, they wouldn't fall into a state of memory blackout.
This was a valuable lesson Shen Jiayi had learned after courting death multiple times.
Now, she shared it with the others for free.
After sneaking inside the church to inspect it, everyone was secretly shocked.
The explosives Shen Tan had hidden were far more numerous and densely packed than they had imagined.
Thanks to Wang Dong's highly successful arson in the apiary, which drew the attention of the entire village, she had even managed to make multiple round trips to transport raw materials under the cover of her voluminous wedding gown.
Not only had she hidden the finished explosives in advance, but she had also kept a large quantity of raw materials, enough to craft even more explosive devices on the spot.
The group quickly divided the labor, adjusting the positions of the explosives, connecting the fuses, and maximizing the blast power to ensure the entire Red Church would be completely demolished.
Once the preparations were complete, Shen Tan stood quietly and announced, “I have to stay behind.”
“Only by staying in the church can I draw that thing here.”
“I'll stay with you. We can't leave a pregnant woman here alone. If danger strikes, you won't even have time to run.”
Having run all this way with Shen Tan, Bai Ci had a very clear understanding of her physical strength and endurance.
If possible, Bai Ci still hoped that Shen Tan could survive.
Shen Tan's life had only just begun. If it were to end here over something like this, it would be a terrible shame.
“Then I'll stay and help too. Might as well see this through to the end,” Qu Ling also chose to stay.
How could she miss being on-site for a final showdown, which was bound to give massive bonus points?
Shen Jiayi, however, shook her head. “I have to leave first.”
“Once the church blows up and those who know are dead, I still need to stay in the village. I have other things to do.”
She had a “gift” that she had prepared long ago to deliver.
She had originally intended to give it to herself, but now, she had changed her mind.
As Shen Jiayi turned and exited the church, Shen Tan reached out and scraped off the lichen on the stone of the pulpit.
The lichen fell away, revealing a bright red interior. Something resembling blood vessels covered the surface, pulsing rhythmically.
Before long, Shen Jiayi, who was hiding outside, sent a message. Some villagers were indeed heading this way.
Before the villagers arrived, a familiar figure appeared first at the church entrance.
Under the cover of night, Sang Lan walked in briskly, carrying an obvious, icy intent to kill. However, the moment he spotted Bai Ci, he froze.
“Ci-mei'er, what are you doing here?”
Sang Lan squeezed out a smile on his gorgeous face, hoping to dismantle any wariness his girlfriend might have developed due to outsiders.
“Come with me. Don't worry about what's happening here.”
Rate on N.U.
