Chapter 36

The metal golem stood two meters tall, made of an unknown hard metal, with a surface data structure of at least level four, making it extremely sturdy. Whether by magic or physical attacks, it was incredibly difficult to destroy.

In the narrow cave, this golem was more than capable of crushing ordinary Maintainers into pulp.

But this time, the Vampire Saboteur encountered Sun Ran, who was a master of all things magical and a grandmaster in alchemy. As a result, the golem turned against its creator and became a powerful tool in Sun Ran's hands.

The golem charged through the stone cave, triggering countless traps along the way. Flames and frost runes exploded one after another, but they failed to damage the golem in the slightest. Poison arrows flew around, but when they hit the golem, they only sparked a few sparks.

It was like a bulldozer, clearing away all the traps the Saboteur had set up to block the Maintainers' advance.

The communication device on the golem was still controlled by the Saboteur, and an angry voice came from it: "Oh~ my golem, damn it, you'll regret this!"

The Maintainers ignored the threats and followed ten meters behind the golem, safe and sound.

The Saboteur knew that the cave could no longer stop them. The microphone in the golem made a 'click' sound, as if the communication was cut off.

But then, the Saboteur's voice continued to come from the golem's microphone.

"We will immediately retreat and escape through different routes. You and I will go to Targovishte to meet the Duke, Henry, you and Roder go to Istanbul to develop more descendants. Move quickly, regardless of quality, just focus on quantity, and turn as many people into vampires as possible. We must make the game company pay!"

It seemed the Saboteur was making plans, but why were they being transmitted through the golem?

Everyone was puzzled and looked at Sun Ran, who was the only one who had tampered with the golem.

Sun Ran shrugged: "Radio transmission is convenient, but it's easy to intercept. I kept the communication device on the whole time. Of course, they thought it was off."

This was a flaw of technology, which was far less controllable than Daoist or magical techniques, which rarely made such low-level mistakes.

Everyone was stunned. This move was too devious, completely outsmarting the Saboteur.

Sun Ran's expression turned serious: "The situation is more unexpected than we thought. There are four of them, split into two groups. We need to split our forces as well."

Targovishte was the capital of the principality with a population of over 50,000, but that was nothing compared to Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, with a population of at least 500,000, making it a super city of the era.

If these two cities were infiltrated by vampires and used to develop more descendants, it would certainly turn into a disaster.

Everyone realized the severity of the situation and nodded solemnly.

Jing Ke spoke up: "I will intercept the group heading to Targovishte."

This group of Saboteurs could influence Duke Dracula and incite a war, making them more important. Moreover, the leader of the Saboteurs was going there to seek revenge.

Sun Ran shook his head: "No, that group includes the leader of the Saboteurs. He is not only a powerful vampire at the Count level but also likely a powerful mage. Can you counter his magical attacks from a distance?"

Jing Ke was silent. A vampire mage had powerful magic and avoided the weakness of a mage's frail body. His strength was in assassination, and he had no confidence in defeating a vampire Count in a direct confrontation.

Time was running out, and Sun Ran quickly made his arrangements: "Jing Ke, you and Lan Xin will chase the group heading to Istanbul. You must not let a single one escape. Are you confident?"

Jing Ke was very strong in close combat, and Lan Xin was also an expert with a turbocharged crossbow with a range of over 300 meters, assisted by the Eagle Eye skill. As long as the vampires were on the plains, it would be difficult for them to escape her.

Jing Ke nodded in agreement. He respected strength, and Sun Ran's performance had always been superior to the Saboteurs, so he was naturally convinced.

Lan Xin had no objections: "I will do my best." She waved her turbocharged crossbow, showing her confidence in the weapon.

The remaining three would naturally chase the group heading to Targovishte. This group was equally important, if not more so, as it was the key to the success or failure of the mission!

If the Saboteurs escaped, Count Dracula would immediately launch a military operation. Dracula was an ordinary player, and his bat army was also made up of ordinary players infected by vampires, who were victims and protected by federal law. The game company could not arbitrarily infringe on their rights, and if they could not stop them with the same military means, they could only watch as they carried out a brutal massacre.

At this point, the metal golem had already charged to the deepest part of the cave, where there was another secret room filled with various devices.

The devices were diverse, ranging from modern equipment to alchemical apparatus suitable for the medieval style. From this, it was clear that the Saboteur group was highly skilled in multiple areas.

Sun Ran glanced at the devices in the secret room, his eyes thoughtful. He turned to Bai Tingxuan and asked, "Xuanxuan, do you know the Tracking Spell?"

The Tracking Spell was a zero-level auxiliary Daoist spell, available for purchase from various Daoist sects on the virtual network for a mere 500 credit points.

Bai Tingxuan nodded and waved her magical artifact, releasing a white mist that spread out in all directions of the secret room.

Soon, the mist gathered, forming vague human figures and a faint white mist trail leading to a corner of the secret room.

These figures were the residual auras left by the vampires, or in other words, redundant data.

Sun Ran counted the figures and confirmed, "This is where the Saboteurs were hiding. They left here no more than a minute ago!"

Ke'er had already followed the white mist trail and exclaimed, "Look, there's a hidden door here."

Sun Ran looked over and saw Ke'er about to open the door. His eyes narrowed, and he urgently warned, "Be careful of traps!"

Ke'er was immediately frightened and froze in place.

Sun Ran walked over and carefully examined the hidden door. Sure enough, he found traces of a magical trap. He crouched down and traced the vague patterns in the air, explaining, "It's a large Fire Blast Rune Array, linked to ten Fire Blast Runes, with a power close to level four. If the hidden door is opened without caution, the entire secret room will turn into a sea of fire, and the cave will collapse."

A level four spell was ten times more powerful than a level three spell, and the qualitative change in power was especially significant in a relatively enclosed space like a cave, making the explosion particularly devastating.

"Can you disarm it?" Jing Ke asked.

"I can," Sun Ran said, squinting and carefully examining the hidden door. His eyes glowed with a faint golden light as he activated his Fire Eye Golden Vision to study the data flow of the Fire Blast Rune.

After ten seconds, Sun Ran's expression became very serious: "The design of this Fire Blast Rune is very intricate. It has a delayed trigger mechanism, and it's set up on the opposite side of the secret room. In other words, it's a time bomb."

Everyone was immediately alarmed. This meant that the device would explode even without being triggered. When would it explode? A moment's thought revealed that it would be when the Saboteurs themselves had escaped the cave.

Hao Qiang, who had been observing the situation in the secret room, tensed up and contacted Sun Ran: "Can you disarm it?"

The Maintainers also looked at Sun Ran. He was the only one who understood Western magical runes, while the others were clueless.

Sun Ran gave a confident answer: "I can disarm it, no problem."

He extended his staff, and a light appeared at the tip, which he gently touched to the entrance of the secret passage. The tip of the staff emitted a complex web of runes, enveloping the entire entrance.

Hao Qiang urged him, "Hurry, the first vampire has already run out of the cave."

The moment the vampire ran out of the cave was the moment the Fire Blast Rune would explode.

At the secret exit of the cave, one vampire appeared, followed by a second, a third, and finally the last one. The last vampire, while running, counted aloud: "Three, two, one, take cover!"

The four Saboteurs leaped forward and lay flat on the ground, tucking their heads and covering their ears.

According to their calculations, the Fire Blast Rune in the cave would explode in one second, with a terrifying force. They were taking cover to avoid the shockwave.

One second passed, then two seconds... five seconds passed, and the wilderness remained quiet. There was no fire or explosion from the cave entrance. The four Saboteurs, puzzled, looked at each other, all with a look of frustration.

"Roder, why didn't it explode?" the lead Saboteur shouted, clearly the leader.

The last Saboteur quickly defended himself: "That's impossible. The timer I designed can't be wrong. We tested it together. Henry, you used a level two spell to hit it, and it still worked. How could it fail? And even if the main timer failed, I installed a backup!"

Henry nodded, confirming that Roder's timer had a very low failure rate.

The Saboteur leader was stunned and quickly reacted: "Damn, it must be that mage. He's a skilled one! Let's run!"

The four Saboteurs immediately got up and fled.

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