Alan’s mind raced as he assessed the situation. He glanced over at Milo, who was still seething with anger, ready to pounce on the man at any moment. Alan gave him a reassuring nod, silently urging him to restrain himself for now. Then, he turned his attention back to Kenny, lying unconscious on the cold ground.

“Did you kill him?” Alan inquired.

“Huh? No no.. not yet… but I will if you don’t quickly HAND OVER the VIPs..” the man retorted, a sinister grin forming on his face.

Alan took a deep breath, trying to steady himself despite the gravity of the situation. He had been too fixated on the quest’s time restraint, making him careless and fall into a trap. But now that he had realized who he was facing, he stared at the man and said,

“I think.. you’re bluffing… I don’t believe you set an explosive in there.” Alan said calmly, his eyes locked onto the man’s.

The man chuckled, responding with a mocking grin, “Will you bet your life on it?” he taunted.

There were two reasons why Alan believed the man was merely bluffing. First, he couldn’t imagine the man having enough time to knock Kenny out and set a trap simultaneously. Second, the man was a veteran player.

Veterans had two disadvantages: a penalty of a certain number of points deducted if they killed a non-veteran and twice the number of penalties if they failed a round. In this case, a veteran would receive a 2,000 point deduction for killing someone, compared to a 1,000 point deduction for regular players.

These severe penalties discouraged many veterans from playing the game again. Based on this, Alan believed the man wouldn’t resort to killing them, at least not through explosives.

“So.. will you bet your life on that?” the man chuckled at Alan’s response.

Taking a deep breath, Alan replied with a weightless gaze, “My friend and I have enough points that even if you kill us, we will survive the game. But what about you?” He paused for a moment, staring straight into the man’s eyes and continued, “Will you bet yours?”

The man turned serious, a wicked smile lingering on his face. “Well goddamn!! That’s impressive indeed. I don’t get as many points as I hope because those wolves just stopped showing up.. but, I do think I have enough points… Enough for killing a few players.”

Alan finally understood why the veteran had appeared here. He had killed the Alpha wolf, setting off a butterfly effect that led the man to this hidden quest.

“Now hurry up, drop your weapon, and call out the VIPs. I have no time for this shit!!” the Veteran urged in a rush.

The man applied more force on the trigger, baring his teeth at Alan. It was time for Alan to make a decision. He could take one or two bullets before tackling the man down, and Milo could help finish him. However, it still comes with a risk and there was also the situation with Daniel he was concerned with.

After carefully weighing his options, Alan thought of a better solution. Just as the Veteran seemed about to completely lose his temper, Alan’s voice rang through the air.

“Alright, you can have them.”

Alan signaled both Ambassadors to come out from their hiding spot beside the statue. The man’s grin widened at the compliance, believing he had outsmarted them.

“Good call!” he acknowledged with a smug tone.

At the same time, another man in a blazer came out from hiding – the Ambassador saved by Kenny. With an upturned face, the madman took hold of all three VIPs that Alan’s group had painstakingly rescued.

But, he didn’t leave immediately. With the gun still aimed at them, he demanded, “I need your guns and your jackets as well. Now!”

The man’s request was met with a skeptical gaze from Alan. He had been in enough dangerous situations to recognize an attempt to disarm them completely. His instincts kicked in, and he knew they couldn’t afford to give up their only means of protection.

“Nice try, not the gun, but you can take the jackets,” Alan countered, his voice firm and unwavering.

The man’s grin widened before agreeing to the compromise. He collected the jackets, leaving them with a chilly gust of wind and a lingering sense of vulnerability.

As the man departed, followed by the three Ambassadors, Alan let out a deliberate, quiet breath. The immediate threat had subsided, but the weight of their situation was still heavy on his shoulders. He turned to Milo, who was carefully lifting the unconscious Kenny, and together, they rushed to Daniel’s side who was lying bleeding on the ground.

“I am sorry, Mr. D. I was just trying to help you,” Daniel said.

Alan’s relief was evident as he found Daniel still alive. He then checked on the unconscious Kenny. A faint pulse could be felt throbbing beneath his fingertips. Without further ado, he applied the [Medical Gauge] to both of them.

It took a minute before the unconscious player awakened.

“Who… who are you two?!” asked Kenny with bulging eyes as soon as he regained consciousness.

“Let’s just say everyone here is a victim of the same robbery,” Alan briefly explained.

Kenny responded with determination, “We can’t let him do that! We definitely must chase him!”

The young man with glasses growled in rage. However, at the same time, a notification popped up.

[20 minutes left to survive]

[Updating current players]

[Players still in the game – 5,575] 𝒩𝒐𝓋𝓁xt.𝓒𝒪𝑀

[Warning: The super storm has arrived. The air will descend rapidly]

Hearing this, Kenny panicked, “Oh my god, Ohh my fu*king god. This is the sixth one!”

Alan still had extra jumpers and his [Night cloak]. Together with his endurance, he still had +4 cold resistance. As for Milo, he had level-3 resistance from upgrading his endurance to D-, giving him +4 resistance with the jumper.

With this, both only had to deal with a level-2 cold status, resulting in a 30% Stamina penalty. And Level-3 of a 50% penalty at the end game of the last 10 minutes.

“Mr. D, what are you planning to do?” Milo inquired, looking to Alan for guidance.

Alan didn’t answer immediately; instead, he turned and walked toward the door. A few seconds later, the distant sound of multiple gunshots reached their ears, indicating that the Veteran Crimson Gunner was brute-forcing his way to the Helipad.

He turned back to face the others, his resolve unwavering. “If we fight with him now, we will lose too much time,” Alan explained calmly, his voice carrying an air of strategy. “This way, he will take care of the obstacles for us, and I plan to snatch our VIPs back at the destination.”