Chapter 42: Anti-Personnel Mines
Although the attic is full of traps, not to mention just one person; even a small team could easily meet their demise here.
However, all these traps are rendered ineffective in front of the hint system.
Following the system's markers, Zhang Tuohai carefully stepped over the hidden traps in the floor.
Fortunately, the designer of the traps had some conscience, leaving enough distance between them for a normal person to cross.
Otherwise, Zhang Tuohai might have found himself in a painful situation.
He dodged left and right, finally making it past layers of traps to stand in front of a supply crate.
“What’s inside this thing? If it’s junk, when I meet the planner, I’ll shove this crowbar up his backside.”
Zhang Tuohai readied the crowbar to open the crate.
[A triggering trap is placed under the crate; if opened or picked up, an anti-personnel mine will be triggered after 5 seconds, scattering 700 steel balls in a 60-degree fan-shaped area; the kill height is 2.4 meters. The maximum effective range is 200 meters.]
“Is this the broad-sword anti-personnel mine you’re talking about? It must be!”
Zhang Tuohai was at a loss for words.
He thought the person who deployed this orange supply crate must be pitiful, with only one page in their household registration. Otherwise, they would never have designed something that could lead to the loss of critical reproductive organs for the next generation.
This was like bamboo shoots being opened by their own door—bamboo shoots to the house.
Who would have thought there would be an anti-personnel mine under the supply crate?
This thing could easily cause severe injuries, even if you were wearing a stab-resistant suit, let alone if you had on a Kevlar vest.
“Grapes!”
Zhang Tuohai looked at the attic’s size, with a length of about 200 meters and a width of about 20 meters. This meant the entire room was definitely within the mine’s kill range. The only way out was to grab the crate and escape as quickly as possible.
“System, if I grab this crate and rush towards the window next to me, break the glass, and jump out, can I escape?”
He estimated the distance to the window to be about seven to eight meters. Five seconds would be enough for him to break the glass and jump out.
If he got the angle right, he could land on the second-floor balcony.
[The glass of the window next to you is made of bulletproof glass; your head is not as strong as it. If you jump out, it is recommended to choose the window at the 2 o'clock position, as the renovation company replaced this glass with regular glass for more profit.]
Zhang Tuohai gave the bulletproof glass a middle finger.
What kind of attic has bulletproof glass on the windows? Are you out of your mind?
With that kind of money, wouldn’t it be better to install some air conditioning units in the employee offices below?
He could even sell them to others.
This is truly outrageous.
“System, are you sure that window can be broken? Is there a balcony below? It looks like the balcony doesn’t extend that far?”
Zhang Tuohai was somewhat worried.
[Although there is no balcony below that window, a car will pass by in one minute, and you will land directly on its roof, which is enough to absorb the impact. According to estimates, it will at most cause soft tissue bruising, without affecting normal movement.]
“Well, that’s within acceptable limits.” Zhang Tuohai weighed his options and accepted the escape plan suggested by the system.
He moved around a bit to loosen up, took a couple of deep breaths, then suddenly yanked up the orange supply crate and rushed toward the window at 2 o'clock without looking back.
The system began a countdown to assist him.
[5]
Zhang Tuohai took two steps forward.
[4]
Zhang Tuohai leaped into the air.
[3]
He crashed through the glass as a black seven-seater van slowly approached.
[2]
Zhang Tuohai flew out the window, and the van came to a stop below.
[1]
Zhang Tuohai landed on the roof of the van, leaving two deep impressions with his feet.
The two people inside the van curiously looked up at the roof.
[0]
The anti-personnel mine exploded.
700 steel balls swept through the entire attic, turning everything left inside into a sieve, even the bulletproof glass was left cracked.
Debris from broken furniture rained down from the window Zhang Tuohai had smashed, littering the street.
Many people were drawn to the explosion sound, curiously staring at the attic spewing thick black smoke, wondering what had happened.
Zhang Tuohai, the instigator, quickly jumped off the car and tapped on the window frame, speaking to the startled female driver in the front seat, “Thanks! I’m sorry about the roof. I’ll make it up to you next time. Just a heads up, don’t go to the attic in this building unless you want to experience another explosion like that.”
After finishing, Zhang Tuohai patted her shoulder and, seeing her dazed expression, hurried back to his own car, started it up, and drove away.
“Hey, how do we handle this roof?” Su Qi stared at the two large footprints above, feeling confused.
“Uh, it probably won’t leak, right?” Su Mu touched the footprints, noting that the edges were smooth with no sharp corners. Not fixing it would likely be fine.
If there was a downside, it might collect water when it rains?
While the two sisters discussed whether to repair the car roof, Zhang Tuohai had already escaped three blocks away.
However, he didn’t stop there; instead, he began to circle through the commercial district.
There was no way around it; the noise he had just made was too significant.
A few people were convinced he had gotten something good and were tailing him nonstop, wanting a piece of the action.
To shake off these pursuers, Zhang Tuohai started making circles in the commercial area.
After a while, he realized that this tactic might not work.
The number of cars following him not only hadn’t decreased, but had actually increased.
Moreover, due to Zhang Tuohai’s evasive maneuvers, his pursuers became more emboldened, no longer cautious, even accelerating to close in on him.
“How the hell did these damn flies find me?”
Zhang Tuohai frowned.
Although he wasn’t afraid of them, he knew he was outnumbered. If these people damaged his solar panels or light-collecting glass in the chaos, he would suffer a great loss. Even if he killed them all, he couldn’t make up for that damage.
Thus, Zhang Tuohai resolved to shake off these pests first, planning to deal with them later when he had the chance.
After circling through the busy district a few times, he finally figured out why they could always find him.
It was simple: his car was too new.
Most people were still driving the second-hand family cars that the system had initially provided, while he had upgraded to a level 2 vehicle, a new business van.
Normally, it wouldn’t have stood out much when he was alone, but here, it was like a firefly in the dark—impossible not to notice.