Chapter 638: The Knife

The gap in their heights was significant, so the only viable target for the punch was Zhao Heng's jaw.

Zhao Heng couldn't help but scoff inwardly. He had seen this coming. His body barely needed to move at all. A slight backward tilt of the head would be more than enough to let the punch pass through empty air.

Then, in the next instant, his pupils contracted sharply, and his blood seemed to freeze.

Because in Huang Shengjie's hand was a blade that caught the light with a cold gleam.

The attack coming from behind and below was not an uppercut aimed at his jaw. It was a knife, driving toward his heart.

Without a weapon in his hand, this kind of feint would have been completely meaningless. A fist striking Zhao Heng's chest would have been no more than a minor annoyance.

But a sharp knife was enough to change everything.

Zhao Heng went still. He couldn't work out where it had come from.

In the split second that followed, his mind raced and a possibility suddenly surfaced.

"Could it be from the 'Miscellaneous Goods' materials?"

The 'Medications' materials had contained pain-suppressing drugs and had already played a significant role in the game.

But no one had opened the 'Food' or 'Miscellaneous Goods' materials yet.

Because by the most reasonable inference, they would contain things like food to stave off hunger or miscellaneous items with no practical use under the current rules. Within the game's existing framework, they shouldn't have much value.

Only the 'Medications' were worth anything.

And every package you opened triggered a violation, which meant there were simply not enough allowances to waste on them.

If a knife had now appeared, and it couldn't have been brought in from outside, the only place it could have been hidden was inside the counterweights of a 'Miscellaneous Goods' unit.

But using a knife to kill someone was a severe act of violence that endangered a player's life. Was Huang Shengjie out of his mind? Was he actually trying to take Zhao Heng down with himself?

Yao Yuan shouted, "Don't! Shengjie, the immunity voucher isn't supposed to be wasted like this!"

Zhao Heng's pupils contracted sharply. In that instant, a terrible possibility flashed through his mind.

The immunity voucher.

The immunity voucher's mechanism in the Gallery was unusual. When activated in advance, it could absorb one instant-death penalty on the holder's behalf.

When a player committed an act of severe violence that endangered another player's life, the instant-death penalty would be triggered, but it would not take effect immediately. There was a very brief window of delay.

If the attacker was fast enough and landed a killing blow, there was a real possibility that the target could be killed before the penalty took effect.

But whether this could actually work, whether killing someone this way and then surviving it with the immunity voucher was even possible, was entirely unknown, because Zhao Heng had never encountered a situation like this.

Either way, in the blink of an eye, Huang Shengjie's knife was already driving toward his heart.

Zhao Heng felt his blood surge. Almost purely on instinct, he threw himself sideways and brought his fist crashing hard into Huang Shengjie's chest.

The knife didn't reach his heart, but it still made contact with his side, near the ribs.

Even someone with professional combat training would very likely come off worse when faced with a weapon-wielding opponent.

Disarming an attacker empty-handed is, in the overwhelming majority of real situations, nothing more than a fantasy from films and television.

Beyond that, Zhao Heng had deliberately allowed Huang Shengjie to get in close, which had in turn compressed his own reaction time.

But Zhao Heng looked down in genuine surprise. There was no cold sensation from his side. Instead, something hard had simply prodded him with no real force at all.

The tip of the knife in Huang Shengjie's hand had retracted on contact.

It was a stage prop, a trick knife. It caused Zhao Heng no harm whatsoever, and had not even been classified as a violent act.

Huang Shengjie was thrown off balance by the punch, stumbled backward several steps, and fell to the ground, unable to get up for the moment.

Zhao Heng stood frozen, his mind temporarily blank.

The next instant, his entire body was paralysed. And the paralysis lasted considerably longer than the first time he had experienced it.

Huang Shengjie said nothing. He only gave two sharp coughs, while looking out across the open field, as though waiting for something.

[A player of Community 23, Zhao Heng, has exceeded the violation limit and triggered a special penalty.]

[Within 10 minutes, any 2 players of Community 23 must donate all of their Gold Pounds through any available device, totalling no less than 20,000.]

[Otherwise, Zhao Heng will receive an instant-death penalty.]

Because this was a special penalty, the announcement was broadcast to the entire venue.

Every player's Worker Badge also vibrated, synchronising the notification.

Zhao Heng went still, his mind rapidly cycling through the information he had synchronised with his community players during the rest period.

Wu Xiufang had been the first to open materials to obtain medication, triggering one violation. That was Community 23's first.

Zhao Heng had used violence against Li Mao inside the cell block. That was the second.

Li Mao had opened materials to trigger a violation in order to enter Solitary Confinement during Round Two. That was the third.

Which meant Community 23 still had two allowances remaining, and Zhao Heng personally still had one.

Even after punching Huang Shengjie, he had still been within the permitted range.

There was only one explanation for what had just happened: the other players in Community 23 had committed additional violations in secret, without Zhao Heng's knowledge, pushing the community's total to its limit.

And they had done so without telling him.

Zhao Heng fixed his gaze on Yao Yuan, "It seems I underestimated you after all.

"You're not like the other communities I've dealt with before, the ones who just talk about poaching without any real strategy behind it.

"But unfortunately, this game's mechanics are particular. Even though you've managed to trigger the special penalty against me through considerable effort, I won't die.

"All it takes is two people each donating 10,000 Gold Pounds, and the penalty is waived.

"Wu Xiufang will certainly save me.

"And once Wu Xiufang makes her donation, Li Mao the fence-sitter will certainly follow."

Yao Yuan gave no response.

"Then take your time and wait."

Zhao Heng remained paralysed, unable to move.

Huang Shengjie, helped to his feet by Zhou Wanlin, steadied himself. He and Yao Yuan each picked up their Contraband and walked past Zhao Heng, heading toward Community 2's cell block to make their delivery.

Earlier, the moment Zhao Heng had set out to intercept Community 2's players, the other members of his community had each moved to their assigned roles.

Li Mao remained inside the cell block, continuing to receive materials and convert them into Gold Pounds.

Wu Xiufang, still in the role of Inspector, crossed the overhead walkway to the Inspection Room, preparing to press 'Full Inspection' at the last moment on Community 2's cargo and collect the fine.

Zhou Xiaoying took over the steam train and prepared to relay the Contraband in stages.

Earlier, while Peng Xinyuan had been serving as Distributor, during the 12 minutes the steam train was running its delivery sequence, he had carried a batch of 'Medications' materials from the warehouse to a spot just outside Community 2's Inspection Room, stacking them in a relatively concealed position beneath the walkway junction near Safe Zone 2.

It was an excellent blind spot, and it didn't require leaving the enclosed corridor, so it caused no disruption to the train.

If the Contraband in Round Three had been 'Medications,' that entire stockpile could have been carried to the cell block in one go during Round Three, cutting roughly half the total distance from the original route.

But that category had not been selected as Contraband.

So Peng Xinyuan still had to carry the actual Contraband from the Raw Materials Warehouse, though Zhou Xiaoying could relay it for part of the distance.

Just then, as Peng Xinyuan was preparing to start carrying the Contraband, he saw Zhou Xiaoying, who had already finished setting up the train's loading sequence, tear open a unit of 'Medications' packaging and fall into a brief paralysis.