Gulp, gulp... The moment the cork was pulled, dangerous liquid fuel poured out, drenching John from head to toe.
"No... no..." John's eyes widened suddenly, his expression filled with extreme terror.
The next second, with a loud bang, the liquid fuel that had dripped onto the charcoal violently ignited. Flames shot up over three meters high in an instant, and as soon as they touched John's body, they spread over him with lightning speed. John was instantly engulfed in flames, becoming a human torch.
Ah ah ah!!!
He let out a heart-wrenching shriek, his body convulsing and tensing up from extreme pain before springing back, then struggling violently in his death throes.
Burning a person alive! Caleb's eyes twitched as he watched. The realism of the holographic simulation game was too high; this overwhelming cruelty was simply chilling.
'He's beyond saving.' No one could survive in such a blaze. That barrel of liquid fuel was clearly specially made; its burning efficiency was extremely high. From the moment John's entire body ignited, it took roughly half a cup of tea before his struggles ceased and his screams grew weaker and weaker. The human body in the flames rapidly charred at a visible rate, until it finally became a black, burnt corpse. A strong smell of roasted meat permeated the air.
Crackle...
As the 'Adding Fuel to the Fire' device activated, a dull opening sound came from the right. Caleb noticed that a door disguised as a wall had opened, revealing a dark container passage behind it.
'Is this the only way to pass?'
'What is this? On one hand, you make me desperately save someone, and on the other, you go back on your word and kill him?' Was the so-called 'redemption' option just a mirage that sparked hope?
Caleb pouted and continued to move forward. 'Is there no time replenishment after passing a stage?' The 'jaw ripper's' countdown is almost over. The 'beep beep...' sound in his ears was already quite urgent. Caleb gave up running. It was impossible to clear this game in 10 minutes, so rushing now was pointless.
At this moment, a small cabinet appeared by the roadside in front of the dark passage. A table lamp was lit on the cabinet, and a small wooden box was placed under the lamp. Caleb stepped forward to inspect it. After opening the wooden box, he found a small, nut-shaped object inside.
[Winding Key]
[Category: Uncommon Quest Item]
[Effect: Resets the jaw ripper's countdown.]
[Weight: 1]
[Can it be taken out of the scene: No]
[Note: If you carefully examine the jaw ripper, you will understand the purpose of this item.]
After reading the item's description, Caleb reached up and carefully fumbled with the jaw ripper on his head. On the sides of the gears, there were strange protrusions. Touching the surface of these two protrusions carefully, he could feel two differently shaped indentations. Caleb aligned the Winding Key with one of the indentations and found that the screw thread was incorrect and could not be inserted.
If one side was wrong, then it must be the other. After switching to the other indentation, the Winding Key inserted smoothly without any obstruction. Caleb twisted it clockwise for one turn, and the Winding Key locked into place. The increasingly urgent 'beep beep' sound in his ears slowed down.
— The jaw ripper's countdown has been reset.
Phew... He gained another 10 minutes of survival time.
Next, the terrain within the dark passage began to rise. After walking up about three flights of stairs, another mottled, heavy iron door appeared ahead.
Pushing open the iron door, he found a long, rectangular space inside. Only the first third of the ground upon entering was available for standing; the latter two-thirds of the ground had been hollowed out, forming a thirty-meter-deep pit that reached the very bottom. Only three narrow platforms, quite far apart, remained in the pit for standing. Each platform had a small wooden box with a large golden exclamation mark drawn on it. Between the platforms, there were connections made of seemingly narrow and fragile wooden planks.
Caleb withdrew his gaze and looked at the one-third of the ground where he stood. Another strangely shaped killing device was set up here.
At first glance, the device looked like a waterwheel-like roller, firmly fixed to the ground by multiple metal supports, unmovable. Directly in front of the roller was a peculiar combination of several gears, four thick springs, and a spiked metal baseball bat. At this moment, the thick springs were tightened and charged, and the spiked metal baseball bat above was brewing a terrifying destructive force.
A muscular black man covered in tattoos was bound head down, feet up, in an inverted 'A' shape on the roller, his left arm directly opposite the metal baseball bat. If the stored energy in the metal baseball bat were released now, the black man's arm would surely be smashed into two pieces with one blow.
"Hey! You piece of s—t." Seeing Caleb enter, the black man immediately yelled curses at the top of his lungs. "How dare you do this to me... Don't let me get down from here, or I'll make sure you die a miserable death..." He clearly mistook Caleb for his kidnapper. Even so, in such a desperate situation, he still dared to talk tough. Was this guy in a hurry to die? Was he brain-damaged?
Caleb still ignored him, reaching out to take a silver tape recorder from the waterwheel-like roller. After pressing the play button on the recorder, the deep voice came again:
"Hello! Mike, you are bound to a device called 'Cold-Blooded Headshot Maniac.' Once the device is activated, your limbs and head will be in danger of being smashed by a baseball bat..."
The deep voice paused as usual:
"Does the name of the device remind you of an unbearable past event? That past event where you, under the guise of a moral guardian, used it to satisfy your selfish desires and revenge... Your narrow, evil, and violent heart, even after so much time has passed since the incident, still shows not the slightest remorse. You still believe that violence is the best way to solve all problems. However, you must believe that what goes around comes around, and the tables always turn. Your current predicament is by no means accidental. So this time, it's your turn to experience the taste of being executed in private. Let the games begin!"
As the deep voice from the recorder stopped, the spiked baseball bat, poised and ready on the four springs, was suddenly released. This ferocious bat rebounded using its bottom as a pivot, and after sweeping through half a fan-shaped arc, it moved so fast that only an afterimage could be seen.
Bang!
A crisp sound. The spiked baseball bat delivered an incredibly heavy blow to the elbow joint of the black man Mike's left arm.
Ugh ah ah!!!
The black man immediately let out a hoarse, miserable wail. His left elbow joint was directly struck into a bizarre reverse bend. The spikes on the bat mangled the wound, the arm bones shattered from the heavy impact, and the broken ends pierced through the skin.