Chapter 4: Defusing Bomb
Shoutout to nyanmaru for the commission!
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X used a strong moral will to restrain his hand, after all, the little beauty still had a husband.
—Even if he’s a widower.
Thinking about this, X felt a twinge of immoral pleasure.
2 minutes and 15 seconds to explosion.
The crimson countdown reflected in their pupils.
Chu Feng held the bomb in a standard position.
The current bomb disposal posture: subjugated.
The summer breeze outside the car felt like a hot hairdryer blowing on his cheeks, and Chu Feng was extremely displeased. The regulator was too close to him, almost plastered over his face.
This guy was still wearing an iron-gray trench coat in the heat of summer, with a long silver gun slung over his back and bandages wrapped around him. He looked like an anime character, recognizable by silhouette alone.
The bus clattered along, and suddenly, Lin Lan, who was driving, yelled, “Someone! Someone is flagging me down up ahead!”
Chu Feng glanced up, and on the roadside, another driver, Xie Shiyu, was vigorously waving his cap, signaling for them to stop!
—They had reached the end of the line: the bus company. It was time for the driver to change shifts.
The regulator said, “Ignore it and keep driving.”
“…Okay… okay!”
Lin Lan nervously glanced at the speedometer, keeping it at a safe 55, and continued forward. Fortunately, there were no obstacles on this road, and Lin Lan breathed a sigh of relief.
The summer sun rose inch by inch, and the bus gradually left the city center. Chu Feng glanced out the window. This road was the longest in the whole city, connecting the east and west.
When he first built the city, Chu Feng was afraid that the older Xie Shiyu would bully the younger ones, so he drew a river to divide the city into east and west. The eastern city housed the Xie Shiyus who were in middle and high school, while the western city housed the Xie Shiyus who were in kindergarten and elementary school.
After observing for a while, Chu Feng found that although the Xie Shiyus would argue, they wouldn’t resort to physical violence. So he built a highway to strengthen the transportation between the east and west cities. This way, he didn’t have to take a duck boat every time he went to see the little Xie Shiyus in the western city.
There were no green belts or shades of trees along this road. The bright sunlight streamed in through the window, dazzling Chu Feng. He squinted but didn’t move.
The bomb on his body ticked away.
X glanced over and saw sweat beading on the little beauty’s forehead.
The sweat dripped down the palm-sized face, gathered at the tip of the chin, and rolled down, sliding along the protruding Adam’s apple, the slightly exposed clavicle, all the way down to the invisible forbidden zone…
Both were men, but X averted his gaze. He spoke to comfort:
“Sorry, please hold on a little longer and don’t move.”
“…Mm.”
Chu Feng nodded obediently. Internally, he kept a close eye on every move of the regulator. The man’s face was also covered in bandages, obscuring his features. The nose was quite high, and the bandages couldn’t hide the curve of the raised nose bridge. Only one eye was visible, focused and observing the seams between the bomb’s casing and its internals.
Suddenly, the regulator’s hand paused:
“Has this bomb been disarmed before?”
Chu Feng’s heart skipped a beat.
Lin Lan, who was driving, trembled. Uh-oh! This regulator is too alert!!
They had indeed attempted to disarm it.
—How could two victims, scared and crying for help, possibly try to disarm the bomb themselves?
Lin Lan nervously swallowed.
He glanced up at his cousin.
The two exchanged a quick glance through the rearview mirror.
Silence spread through the bus.
Chu Feng’s expression remained indifferent, not saying a word. Lin Lan was scared half to death, feeling his face burning red for sure.
—The regulator was waiting for their explanation.
If they remained silent any longer, it would seem suspicious.
Lin Lan’s hands gripping the steering wheel started sweating.
What should he say? Pretend not to know? Or stubbornly deny it?
In the next moment, a voice broke the silence:
—”My cousin has disarmed it before.”
Lin Lan: ?!!
Chu Feng explained:
“He’s from the police academy.”
Lin Lan: …
The regulator didn’t fully believe this explanation, hinting:
“The bombs in the game are different from real ones.”
—What did you base your bomb disposal on?
This time, Lin Lan became clever: “X God’s bomb disposal guide! From the player forums!” He quickly changed the subject: “But I don’t know why, whenever I follow God’s guide… it always goes wrong!”
Regulator: “At which step did it go wrong?”
Lin Lan, feeling embarrassed, touched his nose: “Uh… the first step.”
Regulator: “So, why didn’t you stop and call for help when the first step went wrong?”
“… “
Lin Lan became timid again.
Chu Feng spoke up to save the situation:
“I told him to continue.”
Chu Feng’s eyes glistened with moisture, his whole body shrinking slightly towards the regulator, and he added:
“Sorry… I was too scared at the time, I thought he could handle it… didn’t think of… calling the regulators.”
X raised an eyebrow, glanced at the little beauty beneath him, and didn’t pursue further. His voice softened:
“Remember to call me first next time.”
“Okay.” Chu Feng curled up under the regulator’s towering figure like a rain-soaked kitten.
The bomb defusing began.
Chu Feng saw the regulator press down on the bomb casing with one hand. Unlike Lin Lan, who would directly tear open the plastic layer with both hands, he applied a clever force—
Click!
A notch suddenly appeared under the bomb casing. Chu Feng saw the regulator’s well-defined finger run along the notch, and seemingly finding some trick, suddenly exerted force, flipping up the entire plastic casing—
Revealing the true inner structure!
This bomb was double-layered.
The easily disarmed plastic shell on top was a fake. No matter which wire was cut after opening it, it would be wrong. Only by disarming the true inner shell and then cutting the wire was the correct method.
“No wonder! Whatever I did, it was always wrong!”
Lin Lan realized, muttering, “That’s why X God’s guide couldn’t be wrong.”
The regulator said, “Don’t blindly trust so-called gods. All guides are made by people and are bound to have oversights.”
Lin Lan didn’t like this remark. He thought to himself, “Hmph, who do you think you are? In the Dream City serial bombing case back then, how many regulators failed to disarm the bombs, and players were in danger. If it weren’t for X God’s bomb disposal guide, who knows how many players would have been killed? And all the guides by the god were shared for free, yet your gaming company still deleted his posts, truly despicable.”
However, this unnamed regulator was their savior in disarming the bomb. Lin Lan stopped talking and obediently drove.
1 minute and 51 seconds to explosion.
X quietly observed the true wiring inside the inner structure:
There were a total of 13 wires.
In Dream City, game bombs could have 3 to 13 wires, making it the most complicated type. Novice players couldn’t handle it at all, especially with this bomb hiding a fluid mechanism, a tricky problem even for bomb disposal experts.
Chu Feng laid on the hard seat, feeling a bit sore in the back. The regulator said to him:
“Next, please don’t move. I will disarm the bomb’s fluid mechanism,” the regulator said.
Chu Feng obediently nodded.
“Holy cr*p!” Lin Lan’s face turned pale with fright. “Fluid… fluid mechanism?! No way…”
Chu Feng remained expressionless, not knowing what that meant.
Lin Lan swallowed nervously. Those bombs with fluid mechanisms were terrifying; seasoned players understood. Dream City was all the rage worldwide, but there was a time when it was on the verge of bankruptcy. There were serial bombing incidents in Dream Cities worldwide, with players being killed one after another, and almost all the regulators sent out were wiped out. No one knew why.
Because no one had discovered that there was something extra inside the bombs.
The fluid mechanism consisted of a small mercury column and a tiny iron ball. When the circuit was cut, this mechanism would activate. The iron ball would descend, rupturing the mercury, causing the bomb to explode instantly. Even if the wires were cut correctly, it wouldn’t matter.
Malicious bombers hid this thing in the circuits. Regulators failed to disarm it, and both the regulators and players were killed in the explosion.
Disarming bombs was already risky, and subsequent investigators could only attribute it to accidents or insufficient regulator ability, without considering the problem with the bomb itself.
Once the bomb exploded, it disappeared, and no one could reconstruct the information about the bomb at the time. When encountering a fluid bomb again, they would still be blown up.
And the first person to propose the fluid theory was X, the God of Bomb Defusing.
Because of his seniority, Lin Lan had the privilege of witnessing X’s posts on the player forums. X theoretically proved the existence of an additional device inside the bomb’s internal circuitry and speculated on the structure of this device. He even drew detailed fluid structure diagrams and estimated 49 possible locations for the fluid device.
—Incredibly brilliant.
Just ten minutes after the post was made, it had over fifty thousand replies and was immediately pinned to the top.
After that post, there were no more bombing incidents in Dream Cities worldwide. But X himself disappeared.
All his posts were deleted, and his account couldn’t be found. There were rumors on the forum that because the fluid theory was too brilliant, it directly saved Dream City from bankruptcy, and he was recruited by the game’s higher-ups.
1 minute and 35 seconds to explosion.
Lin Lan drove nervously, watching the regulator’s actions in the rearview mirror.
He thought he was dealing with a simple bomb, thinking he could disarm it himself with X’s bomb disposal guide, but… Brother Xie was indeed Brother Xie, even the bombs he encountered were of h*llish difficulty.
Thirteen wires in the bomb.
Chu Feng watched silently. The regulator indeed had some skill. It was as if he had X-ray vision. With a flick of his index finger, he pinched the eighth red wire two-thirds of the way, then turned his thumb, peeling back the wire’s insulation, revealing the fluid device inside, without a millimeter’s error.
Among the wires was embedded a tiny mercury column with a tiny iron ball inside, so small that Chu Feng felt it should be called iron sand, not a ball.
The regulator reached into his pocket, took out a needle, and turned to Lin Lan, saying:
“Can you drive a little steadier? Disarming the fluid device requires a very stable platform.”
“…Alright! No problem, you… you got this!”
The bus gradually approached the river that spanned the cities, the cool breeze carrying damp mist. Lin Lan glanced out the window; under the wide river, the shimmering waves reflected the blue sky and white clouds. There were no obstacles on the road ahead, and there were no other cars nearby. Lin Lan felt reassured.
“Now, I will use the needle to extract this tiny iron ball. Please hold on a bit longer,” the regulator said.
Chu Feng cooperated fully. The regulator lowered his head, pinched the needle with his index finger and thumb, and pierced into the fluid device, picking out the tiny iron sand.
Chu Feng instantly felt the difficulty of this operation. The bomb disposal expert needed to slowly push the iron sand out of the mercury column’s outer membrane while preventing any mercury from leaking out. The fluid device was too small, and the mercury column’s outer membrane was extremely thin. Any slightly larger movement would cause the membrane to rupture, mercury to splash out, and an immediate explosion.
To complete this operation, the movements of the hands had to be extremely precise, without any trembling.
Under the sunlight, the tiny iron sand was slowly being pushed out of the mercury column. Chu Feng saw the outer membrane surrounding the mercury column instantly stretched open, and the tiny iron sand was about to come out…
Clang!
The bus suddenly jerked violently! The tires rolled over rocks.
X’s wrist exerted force suddenly, stabilizing the tip of the needle with tremendous strength.
The tiny iron sand remained firmly wedged in the breach of the outer membrane, without a drop of mercury leaking out.
“What’s going on?” X asked, looking up.
Chu Feng also looked at Lin Lan. He had just tensed up, almost thinking it was going to explode.
“T-the… the road ahead! It’s broken!!” Lin Lan shouted.
Chu Feng looked ahead. The road was straight, but there was a big gap in the middle!
The gap was estimated to be fifteen meters, and the entire bus had to leap over it to reach the road beyond the gap!
“Cousin, your road isn’t finished yet!” Lin Lan exclaimed, feeling on the verge of going crazy. The road was built over the river, and below the gap was the rolling river. Because the road was too straight, by the time he reached the position where he could see the gap, it was already too late!
“That’s impossible.”
Chu Feng thought to himself that according to the schedule, the construction team led by Little Xie should have completed this road last month.
“Ding dong—”
A notification popped up on the phone’s system elf:
【Due to your current engagement in Teacher-Student Play, with the main interaction target being student Little Xie, the workers Little Xie and others have been deprived of your comforting presence for a long time, resulting in a bad mood and refusal to work overtime, causing the road construction to not meet the deadline】
Chu Feng: …
The bus, cruising at 55 miles per hour, was rapidly approaching the gap. Lin Lan was on the verge of tears:
“What do we do?! What do we do, Cousin?!”
The huge gap loomed ahead.
Stopping was not an option; going below 50 mph would trigger an explosion.
“I… I…” Lin Lan was at a loss, “Can I… can I… speed up?!”
As soon as the words left his mouth, silence fell upon the three of them.
The gap was 15 meters wide, while the bus was 10 meters long. If they maintained full speed, they should be able to make it across, but—
Speeding above 60 would also trigger an explosion.
Estimated time to reach the gap: 10 seconds.
“No need to accelerate, keep driving at 55,” the regulator said, then turned to ask:
“Can you call for another vehicle?”
Chu Feng paused, immediately understanding what he meant.
The bomb required the bus to maintain a speed between 50-60 mph. To cross the gap without accelerating on their own, they needed some extra thrust from behind.
Lin Lan also grasped the implication. He glanced around with his peripheral vision:
—The road was deserted, with no one around. Where could they find additional thrust?
Chu Feng: “I can fish a race car over.”
… fish?
Lin Lan was shocked: Was this married man about to pull off some crazy stunt again? Could he really reel Brother Xie in just by using his brainwave detection?
Then he heard:
[Congratulations on successful micro-transaction. Item purchased: Fishing Rod]
Lin Lan: …
So, it was a physical [fishing].
【Fishing Rod】Function:
Draw any Little Xie within a radius of 500 meters to your side.
【Drawback】The mood of the Xiao Xie -50, requiring intense consolation afterward to return to normal.
(Attention: If the character’s mood value drops below 0, they will commit suicide, so be sure to console them promptly.)
Chu Feng felt a twinge in his waist and activated the fishing rod.
Hum— Hum—
Suddenly, a Lamborghini appeared in the rearview mirror! Lin Lan exclaimed in surprise; the sleek contours of the sports car cut through the wind like a sharp blade. The engine roared as it sped toward them at 200 km/h! The sound of the Lamborghini’s tires rubbing against the asphalt was enough to send countless men’s adrenaline levels soaring. Lin Lan trembled all over.
As the bus approached the gap, this crazily speeding sports car would collide with them, propelling them with its force of 200 km/h, helping the bus leap across the large gap.
Chu Feng exchanged a glance with the regulator.
Bang—!!
The speeding Lamborghini slammed into the back of the bus, and with a crash, the rear windshield shattered completely. The front wheels of the bus entered the gap, and the entire front end hung in the air—
“Ahhhh—!!”
Lin Lan screamed. He was sitting right at the front, facing a whole wall of glass in the driver’s seat, reflecting the river under the gap, with the sunlight shining down. The height was terrifying. Lin Lan huddled over the steering wheel, eyes shut tight.
The bus soared into the air, with Chu Feng firmly pressed into his seat by the regulator. Although the force was immense, it didn’t hurt him at all. The regulator just immobilized him, preventing him from moving.
In that moment of leaping, Chu Feng saw the veins on the back of the regulator’s hand clearly visible. That hand, with the tip of the needle, steadily picked the little iron sand, not shaking at all during the entire process of the collision.
Chu Feng was speechless. The control of this person over power was terrifyingly precise. The little iron sand just happened to block the outer membrane of the mercury column, and not a drop of mercury leaked out.
But now was not the most dangerous time.
After the bus leapt into the air, upon a successful landing, gravity would make the entire vehicle crash heavily onto the ground. Chu Feng could hardly imagine, in that situation, the regulator’s hand wouldn’t shake, and could even keep the fluid device stable.
Drip, drip. He heard the countdown in his ears, and Chu Feng slowly closed his eyes.
Actually, if he were blown up, he wouldn’t have any regrets. Perhaps, deep down, he had been anticipating such a thing, to die earlier, so he could see the real Xie Shiyu sooner.
Bang—!!!
The bus landed on the road after the gap, then bounced up again—
Chu Feng opened his eyes.
The little iron sand remained motionless, stuck at the opening of the membrane, and nothing happened.
The regulator blinked at him, revealing a faint smile. His brown eyes looked like beautiful amber in the sunlight. Chu Feng could see his slightly moving eyelashes when he blinked.
—This guy’s lower lashes were longer than usual, somewhat resembling Xie Shiyu. When he stared at people, it gave off a sense of deep affection…
Chu Feng quickly averted his gaze.
He thought to himself, Xie Shiyu had been gone for too long. Now even a strange bandaged guy looked like Xie Shiyu to him.
Lin Lan, still shaken, sat up straight:
“Really… came over?!”
In the rearview mirror, the battered Lamborghini broke down, and CEO Xie got out of the car, glaring at the bus driving away.
In an instant, Chu Feng’s legs started to ache.
Lin Lan couldn’t sense the meaning behind that gaze; he just felt a bit sorry for this Mr. Xie. He had just bought a new car, and it was already wrecked.
Having crossed the huge gap, Lin Lan relaxed, taking a deep breath…
“Look ahead!”
The regulator in the back shouted sternly.
Lin Lan widened his eyes:
Ahead was all gravel road!!
—The workers Xiao Xie and others hadn’t paved the asphalt yet.
The bus, cruising at 55 miles per hour, instantly drove onto the gravel road, its wheels rolling over the stones incessantly, clattering! The whole bus vibrated, and even the windows shook!
Lin Lan looked at the regulator in despair.
1 minute and 3 seconds left until the explosion.
There was no time. The gravel road stretched as far as the eye could see, and if they waited until they reached a stable point to disarm, it would explode.
They could only pick out the little iron sand on this gravel road, amid the shaking of the whole bus, while also preventing any mercury from dripping.
Chu Feng also looked at the regulator.
X raised his eyebrows. He waited for a while with his hand, seemingly adjusting to the shaking.
Suddenly!
A flick of his fingertip—
The needle was pulled out.
On the tip of the needle was a tiny grain of iron sand.
At the same time, Chu Feng saw the outer membrane of the mercury column being squeezed open by the iron sand, and the mercury inside was about to flow out—
The outer membrane suddenly and accurately retracted, enveloping the mercury.
—Elasticity.
To achieve this, one had to control the force of picking out the iron sand, not too much or too little, quickly and accurately, ensuring that the outer membrane could retract back at the moment the iron sand came out.
If it weren’t for driving, Lin Lan really wanted to stand up and applaud the regulator. This person was truly abnormal. On the clattering and shaking bus, he managed to dismantle the most difficult fluid device. Lin Lan began to worry if his elder cousin could successfully use the expulsion cannon to drive away this war god.
Drip—!
The system emitted a sharp sound:
【Time to explosion: 00 minutes 59 seconds!】
Chu Feng shrunk slightly, intentionally leaning towards the regulator, his shoulders trembling slightly, showing fear.
“Don’t be afraid, the most difficult fluid device has been disarmed, cutting the wires will be quick.”
X reassured.
The little beauty beneath him bit his lip, his jet-black, delicate eyelashes trembling like rain-soaked butterflies. Nodding in fear, he scooted closer to him.
The feeling of being fully trusted and relied upon by the little beauty felt great. X was somewhat moved.
The 【Strategic Advisory System】 in his ear called out:
【The player is so pitiful. These kidnappers deserve to die! X, after disarming the bomb, you must kill them all!】
【Right! Death penalty! Execute immediately】
X nodded in agreement.
He reached into his pocket and took out a small pair of scissors, using his index finger and thumb to twist each of the bomb’s 13 wires, then pulled out the sixth wire, the blade of the scissors stuck at three-quarters of the way through.
Time to explosion: 0 minutes 57 seconds.
Snip—
The wire was cut.
Drip—
The indicator light turned green, and the countdown instantly stopped.
[Yay—! Bomb defused!] cheered the Strategic Advisory System in his ear.
“It… stopped?”
Lin Lan, who was driving, no longer heard the ticking of the life-threatening countdown. Overjoyed, he looked into the rearview mirror—
The countdown had stopped! The regulator removed the bomb strapped to Big Cousin’s body and tossed it to the ground.
“Is it over?… Is it over?! That’s great!!”
Lin Lan shouted with joy! In the rearview mirror, his Cousin glanced at him indifferently.
—The bomb was defused, but his plan wasn’t over yet.
There was one final step: the expulsion cannon.
Strategic Advisory System: 【X! Start the execution now】
X reached for the silver gun behind him—
Suddenly, his sleeve tightened.
The little beauty sat on the seat, grabbing his sleeve, his small face raised, still not fully recovered from the brink of death, still tormented by the fear of the bomb. His eyes, as dark as the night, were filled with tears, like glossy lychee seeds. He looked at X:
“Is the bomb… really disarmed?”
“Yes,” X patiently squatted down, holding his hand, “You’re safe.”
Chu Feng discreetly withdrew his hand, his eyes anxious and fearful again, glancing at the bomb on the ground:
“Can you… throw it out?”
X lowered his head, seeing the bomb lying quietly on the ground. He guessed that the little beauty might be afraid the countdown would start again.
X walked over, picked up the bomb, and returned to the side of the little beauty. Stepping forward, with his back to the little beauty, he opened the car window:
Bang—
The bomb was thrown out violently, smashing into the road, breaking into several pieces like a plastic toy, harmless.
“You see, the bomb has been completely disarmed,” X reiterated.
—”Thank you for your hard work.”
X: ?
The little beauty behind him suddenly stood up, his voice clear and sweet, like a spring washing over stones, with a hint of sweetness.
The next moment, the cold, hard cannon muzzle pressed against his back.
Bang!—
【System prompt, expulsion cannon, launched successfully】
The icy blue cannon roared! Instantly shattered the car window. The bus opened a gaping hole, and the river breeze rushed in. The regulator X flew out immediately, blasted into the sky by the explosion.
With the silver gun on his back, he soared like a war god, soaring to the heights of ninety thousand miles, becoming a new star in the azure sky.
Chu Feng stood in the wind, gently blowing away the smoke from the cannon, smiling at the little star:
“Goodbye~”
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