Everyone's eyes widened in astonishment!
The gold coin slipped from Tan Xiao's hand, bounced high, and then arced through the air!
It landed on the ground—
Ding!
The gold coin spun rapidly on the ground like a top!
As it spun, the space behind Tan Xiao began to tear apart! An oval-shaped rift cracked open, revealing a bottomless darkness within, emanating a terrifying suction force! Before anyone could react, Tan Xiao and Li Li, who were closest to the rift, were sucked in!
Zhu Shu and Su Man instinctively reached out to grab Li Li, but grasped only air, and were also pulled into the rift!
Shen Mo reacted swiftly, grabbing Tan Xiao's arm at the first moment, but the suction force was astonishingly strong, dragging him along as well—
"Shen Mo!" Bai Youwei cried out in alarm, pushing her wheelchair forward.
Yan Qingwen grabbed her. "We'll go save them. You stay here!"
"Don't touch me!" Bai Youwei angrily shook him off, allowing herself and the wheelchair to be sucked into the void-like black hole!
Left behind were Teacher Cheng, Pan Xiaoxin, Lü Ang, and Yan Qingwen.
"Xiaoxin, let's go in too!" Teacher Cheng frantically picked up his backpack and cane from the ground, hurrying towards the rift!
Pan Xiaoxin didn't dare delay, shouldering his backpack and rushing in after him!
Lü Ang frowned and asked Yan Qingwen, "Are we going in?"
The gold coin on the ground was slowing down.
The rift was also shrinking and narrowing, the full oval gradually becoming elongated.
Yan Qingwen guessed that when the coin fell, the rift would close completely.
…Should they go in?
Unimaginable dangers surely awaited them inside.
"Our mission is to get Li Li to the destination…" Yan Qingwen gritted his teeth. "Let's go in!"
Time was short. The two had no time to grab their equipment, entering the now-narrowed rift one after the other—
The gold coin spun slower and slower.
Slower… and slower…
Clink, it fell to the ground.
The rift vanished.
At the same time, the gold coin lost its luster, as if instantly coated in a layer of dust. While still gold, it no longer held the dazzling allure from before, looking like a dull, insignificant coin lying on the roadside.
A gentle breeze blew by.
The leaves rustled.
On the deserted street, it seemed as if nothing had ever happened…
…
Within the pure white diamond-shaped space, giant cubes were arranged in neat rows.
A grey-robed Inspector stood before one of the cubic spaces, murmuring mysteriously, "Foolishness and ignorance are not the greatest obstacles to survival, but arrogance is."
Behind it, the Rabbit-Headed Inspector approached, holding a black top hat in its hands, and asked politely, "This quote is from The Three-Body Problem: Death's End, first published in human year 2010, describing the war between civilizations. Why this sudden sentiment?"
The grey-robed figure replied in a low voice, "Nothing, just felt… that this quote is quite fitting at this moment."
The Rabbit-Headed Inspector looked at the cube in front of the grey-robed figure and asked, puzzled, "You activated Game 7016… You know that this instance is still in debugging and won't be put into use until next month. Players at the current stage can't handle the difficulty of 7016."
The grey-robed figure laughed, a dry, rasping sound emanating from its throat.
"It doesn't matter. These few who entered are all players who have undergone secondary data upgrades. They need this level of trial."
The Rabbit-Headed Inspector fell silent. After a while, it asked, "Do you want them to die?"
"Of course," the grey-robed figure slowly nodded. "…If they don't die, how will all of this end?"