The Secrets of Heaven, Season 4

Chapter 23

Closer to the depths of hell.

In the small, tightly closed room, Ye Xiao and Xiao Zhi quietly hid inside, staring at the screen—the guide Xiao Fang had just appeared; it was filmed on their first night in Nanming, and also the last hour of Xiao Fang's life.

At this moment, the camera shows Xiao Fang's panicked figure as he raises a flashlight and lunges at a "large bird" that flies by in the dark.

"No, that's not a bird!"

Xiaozhi looked at the screen and said softly. The "big bird" in the picture had a peculiar appearance. It didn't seem to have any feathers. The reason it looked so big was just because it was close to the camera. When it flew closer to Xiaofang, it looked more like a monster, flapping a pair of ghostly wings. Its green eyes reflected in the darkness were terrifying to look at.

The little Fang in the video is also very interested in it, and follows it into a small shop along the street. The camera then switches to the inside of the shop.

This is a shop selling small trinkets. The camera is installed in the corner of the wall. Although it is pitch black inside, Xiao Fang always holds up a flashlight. With the night vision function of the lens itself, Ye Xiao and Xiao Zhi can see very clearly.

The flying creature continued to flit about in front of the camera. Xiao Fang shone his flashlight on it several times, but all he could see were eerie green eyes and even more terrifying claws. Xiao Fang nearly caught it several times, but it nimbly dodged him each time, indicating that it also had night vision.

"What exactly is this thing?"

As Ye Xiao asked his question, the monster flew out of the frame, and Xiao Fang followed closely behind, pushing open a small door at the back of the shop.

The scene quickly shifts to a quiet, desolate garden; the camera must have been installed on the outside of the back door of the shop.

Xiao Fang's back appeared in the frame, along with the flying monster, making the desolate garden all the more sinister and terrifying. He seemed to be bewitched, still chasing the monster, and Ye Xiao could see clearly on the screen—between the broad, thin wings of the two sailboats, there was a body so ugly it was indescribable, like a demon that had flown out of hell.

The scene made Ye Xiao and Xiao Zhi hold their breath. In the shot, a two-story building appeared, completely shrouded in darkness, like a ghostly mansion from legend.

The devil flew into the house.

In the deep darkness, under the night-vision camera lens, tour guide Xiao Fang stood for a moment in front of the dark doorway.

Finally, unable to resist the devil's temptation, he boldly broke into the house.

That was also his own grave.

Just when Ye Xiao thought the scene was about to switch to the interior of the house, the camera remained fixed on the garden.

He and Xiaozhi looked at each other, and could only continue to wait for the scene to unfold. At this moment, it was as if the scene had frozen, leaving only a desolate and dark garden.

"The only explanation is that there were no cameras installed in that house."

"That's possible. There are tens of thousands of houses in Nanming City. It's impossible for the TV station to install cameras on every single one. They'll only install them in places where we're likely to pass by."

A minute later, the door was suddenly opened again.

Xiao Fang's figure sprang out like a spring, followed closely by a large group of black shadows, which upon closer inspection turned out to be hundreds or even thousands of pairs of wings!

In the deserted garden, a group of dark shadows could be seen chasing Xiao Fang, with countless wings flapping in the air. Some of them flew so close to the camera that they revealed green eyes in front of the infrared lens.

Vampire bats!

Now Ye Xiao and Xiao Zhi could finally see clearly that these were indeed bats, with very peculiar appearances reminiscent of legendary vampires. The house in the darkness was likely the bats' nest; Xiao Fang's solo entry had undoubtedly provoked their attack!

Xiao Fang rushed into the shop in the blink of an eye, and the camera immediately switched back to the shop. Many bats had already pounced on his face, causing him to let out a heart-wrenching scream.

The scene shifts back to the street outside, where the silence is broken by Xiao Fang's frantic run. Bats continue to relentlessly pursue him, and his body is now covered in them.

Several monsters even crawled into his mouth, rendering him unable to scream anymore—no wonder no one heard Xiao Fang scream that night.

The camera switched to the entrance on the ground floor of the base camp, focusing on the face of the tour guide, Xiao Fang. He was in a terrible state; his clothes were torn to shreds, and his face and body were covered in blood and gore. Xiao Zhi felt nauseous at the sight.

The scene then shifts to the stairwell, where Xiao Fang is unable to make a sound and can only run frantically upstairs. The bats are no longer behind him. The little creatures have completed their attack and flown back to their nest across the street.

The final shot is of the rooftop, where Xiao Fang frantically runs into the night sky, his skin and flesh all ulcerated, and he lies motionless on the platform.

He died.

This is the first death in the "Heavenly Secret" reality show.

Then the screen went black. Ye Xiao was already sweating profusely. He pressed a few more keys haphazardly, but no more images appeared on the screen. Xiao Zhi also let out a long sigh of relief: "I understand."

"So that's how it is—Xiao Fang followed his sleepwalking grandson, Sun Zichu, and came out onto the street alone in the middle of the night. He discovered a strange flying animal, and out of curiosity, he accidentally entered a vampire bat's nest, where he was attacked by a large number of bats. He fled in agony and madness, running all the way to the rooftop, where he eventually died from poisoning and festering sores all over his body."

"No one wanted to kill him; it was just an accidental animal attack."

Ye Xiao gave a bitter smile: "This really is an animal world. Xiao Fang died at the hands of vampire bats, Cheng Li was eaten by crocodiles, Tang Xiaotian was killed by mandrills, Yang Mou was buried in the Butterfly Cemetery, Qian Mozheng was trampled to death by elephants, and even Sun Zichu almost died from fish poison. Why have all the animals here become killers?"

"This is the tragedy that happened in Nanming a year ago. My father opened the treasure of the Rakshasa Kingdom, which caused an ancient virus to rage and all kinds of docile animals to start attacking humans. Only my family's 'Heavenly God' and 'Little White' were exceptions. I don't know why."

"But a year has passed, shouldn't those frenzied animals have all killed each other by now?"

Xiaozhi shook her head blankly: "Perhaps vampire bats won't go berserk, because they can fight poison with poison."

Before she could finish speaking, a muffled gunshot rang out from above!

Bang……

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23:30

late at night.

Beneath the stands of the stadium, amidst the labyrinthine concrete pillars, white lights illuminate the mysterious space, with only one dark corner being an exception.

Is this true?

Hidden in the shadows, Tong Jianguo asked Yu Ling in surprise.

"Yes, this might be our only way to escape, if I'm wrong—no, I hope I'm not wrong!"

She kept her voice as low as it could go, because the dull footsteps kept echoing in the empty maze.

Tong Jianguo covered Yu Ling's mouth. His left arm, which was in a sling, was still bleeding, but he gritted his teeth and endured the pain, daring not to make a sound.

He leaned back against the wall in pain, but vaguely sensed something was wrong. He touched his back with his right hand and discovered that there was a layer of yellow stuff on top of the hard wall, like a plastic film wrapped around it.

At first glance, it looked somewhat familiar. Tong Jianguo carefully examined the packaging and realized that it was a very powerful explosive!

That's right. When he was a mercenary in the Golden Triangle, he personally used this explosive. Just a few dozen grams of it was enough to flatten a three-story building!

Moreover, this explosive is very safe to use. It will not explode even if it is hit directly by a bullet. It can only be detonated by a detonator with multiple codes and a fixed time set.

What followed was even more astonishing: the entire wall was covered with these things, stretching around the entire stands of the stadium—at least tens of tons of explosives!

Tong Jianguo felt his heart leap into his throat. This enormous stadium was actually an ammunition depot! If all these explosives were detonated, their destructive power would be no less than that of a small nuclear bomb. Not only would the stadium be reduced to ashes, but most of Nanming City could be razed to the ground!

This is absolutely insane!

Moreover, he bet that none of the staff at "Dragon TV" in the secret base below knew they were living in a powder keg.

Faced with these things that would blow him to smithereens, even the audacious and battle-hardened Tong Jianguo felt a deep fear and tremble. Just as he grabbed Yu Ling and stood up, trying to escape this destructive labyrinth, a man's voice sounded behind him.

"Don't move!"

He didn't even need to turn around to know who it was—X!

Yes, the man in black stood in a corner of the maze, white light and shadow enveloping his black exterior, gripping a black gun barrel tightly in his hand, pointing it directly at Tong Jianguo's back.

It was he who helped Li Xiaojun escape the locked room, and based on the staff's reports, found the ventilation duct through which Tong Jianguo and Yu Ling escaped. Alone, carrying a gun, he entered the maze, turned on all the lights, and finally found his prey.

Tong Jianguo and Yu Ling slowly turned around. His pistol was still in the pocket under his arm, his left hand was in a sling and bleeding, but his right hand could only be raised above his head.

He smiled helplessly: "You win this round."

You're too kind.

"This stadium has been filled with explosives, did you know that?"

"You found out? You really are a veteran." X nodded admiringly, but the gun barrel didn't budge at all. "The boss ordered me to install it. Besides the boss, I'm the only one who knows about this."

"You will destroy this city."

"That's none of my business!" The man in black paused for a moment. "But what else can we do in our line of work besides destruction?"

Tong Jianguo sighed helplessly: "That makes sense. I have a question now."

"I will allow you to ask questions before I kill you."

"How many people in our tour group were killed by you?"

He slowly raised his left hand and held up three fingers.

"Three? Tell me about them?"

"The first one is Tu Nan. Unfortunately, I didn't intend to kill him. On the second day after you arrived in Nanming City, this guy accidentally broke into this place and discovered our secret base."

Actually, Tong Jianguo had already guessed that it was him. "So you killed him to cover it up?"

"Yes, our plan didn't include killing him, but the boss instructed me to do it. The 'Secret' reality show only airs for two days, and we can't let Tu Nan ruin the whole program. So, I subdued him here and gave him a special pill. Not only will he not reveal the secret, but he will also die within hours. I secretly sent him back to your headquarters, and now it's Tu Nan's time to wait for his death."

Yu Ling was getting anxious too, "Then what about the second one?"

“Li Shu. He smashed the mirror in the bathroom and was the first to discover the hidden camera—luckily, he didn't immediately reveal the secret, but instead broke down and ran outside, giving us ample time. I secretly followed him, making him believe that vampires really existed, and left a distinctive scar on his neck. As for his return to you, wanting to tell you the most important secret—that was a ruse, meant to add drama and excitement to the 'Secret' program. Just as he was about to reveal the secret, we pulled the power switch. That way, you couldn't see anything. I put on night-vision goggles, silently approached Li Shu, and injected a special poison into the wound on his neck, killing him instantly.”

"Bastard!" Tong Jianguo gritted his teeth. "I felt something was wrong at the time, like I heard some strange noise, but I couldn't see anything in front of me, so I didn't catch you on the spot!"

"That's right, you probably think it was done by vampires, right?"

"The third one?"

"Driver, you all thought he was blown to pieces at the gas station on the second day after entering the city—but you've all been fooled! This Thai driver was hired by us, how could he possibly get lost on the tourist route? Of course, he took advantage of your inattention and quietly drove the car onto a side road and that deadly tunnel, leading you into the stage of the 'Heavenly Secret' reality show—Nanming City."

Tong Jianguo cursed fiercely, "Damn bastard!"

"Before the gas station exploded, the driver secretly slipped away. I only detonated the switch after confirming that it wouldn't kill anyone—of course, it wasn't a gasoline explosion. In fact, there was practically no gasoline in the gas station, but I had planted some explosives, the kind you're seeing now. We did precise calculations beforehand to determine the blast radius before detonating it."

"Since he was one of your accomplices, why did you kill the driver?"

"This guy is such a coward. After he slipped away from the tour group, he hid in the secret base down there. He watched the television every day, and when he saw you all dying unexpectedly, people all over the world protesting, and even preparing to sue us, he was terrified. He was afraid of legal repercussions and that his family would be cursed, so he escaped from here at noon today. Of course, I wasn't going to let this kid get away with it. The whole city is full of cameras; he couldn't escape our surveillance. I quickly found his trail. I chased him all the way to the police station, but unexpectedly, Ye Xiao suddenly intervened, and the driver was caught by him by some strange twist of fate. Just as the driver was about to tell him the secret, I decisively shot and killed him."

"Your marksmanship is good."

× smiled wryly, but then brought the pistol closer to Tong Jianguo. "Thank you for the compliment. I didn't expect Ye Xiao to have his eye on me. After a fierce gunfight, I slipped and fell into his hands. Luckily, Xiao Zhi is a very clever girl, and Ye Xiao actually listened to her and let me go."

"I knew she wasn't a good person!"

"I received another order from the boss to rush to Nanming Hospital to dispose of Henry's body—didn't you take care of one too, senior? Then I heard an explosion on the ground floor, opened the door to a secret room, found the American girl named Elena, and then it was time for my duel with you."

"Stop talking!"

Tong Jianguo immediately interrupted him, because what was about to happen was his humiliation—his left hand, which was now bandaged.

"I not only killed people, I also set fires." X continued to boast about his achievements in murder and arson. "Why did that residential building, your so-called headquarters, suddenly catch fire?"

"Yes, you did it too, didn't you?"

"The boss ordered me to secretly set fire to that six-story building and burn it to ashes—on the condition that everyone's safety be guaranteed. I gave you enough time to escape, and at the same time, I made sure that television viewers all over the world saw it. It's said that the ratings increased by 50% that night."