Jing Shu kicked the door open with a loud bang. The detonator was already buzzing at high speed, arcs of electricity sparking across its surface!
Boom!
At that critical moment, Jing Shu arrived and shouted, "Collect!"
In an instant, she swept nearly all the explosives in the room into her Cube Space. But the detonator had already been activated. Within that split second, a small portion of explosives failed to be collected. With a deafening explosion, the blast went off.
For the second time, she was thrown back by the shockwave. This time was far worse than before—her forehead slammed hard, splitting open, and blood trickled down her face, leaving her in a pitiful state.
The conference room erupted with another loud boom, though the power of the blast was reduced by countless times.
Jing Shu lay on the ground for a while, unwilling to move. Her entire body ached. Every single day was proving to be nerve-wracking. If she ran into explosives again, she honestly had no idea if she could handle it.
Just then, heavy footsteps thundered outside. She cursed inwardly. Of all times to arrive, why now? Reluctantly, she pulled out nearly four tons of TNT from her Cube Space and staged the scene to look like she had manually cut off the detonator wiring. After all, everyone outside was sharp-eyed and hard to fool.
As someone familiar with TNT, she knew how to stop an activated detonator. All it took was cutting off power to the remaining explosives. Easy to say, far harder to do. In her previous life, she hadn't had the courage to test it. This time, she used the safer method of her space ability.
Suddenly, blinding searchlights flooded the room. She shielded her eyes from the harsh glare.
"There's someone there! A survivor!"
"Catch them!"
"Wait! Captain Wang, I know her! She's the one Mr. Su and Mr. Qian were looking for!"
Still lying on the ground, Jing Shu saw a familiar pair of military boots approach step by step. Looking up, she spotted Yang Yang's delicate but stern face.
"Is that you, Jing Shu?"
Her ears were still ringing, but she managed to respond, "Mm."
Yang Yang quickly rushed over, his boots tapping against the floor. He propped her up and asked, "Are you badly hurt? Mr. Qian has an old doctor with him!"
She shook her head. "Not too bad, but I should still get bandaged."
Captain Wang frowned. "Yang Yang, what's going on here?"
"Captain Wang, this is Jing Shu, a classmate who has been traveling with Su Mali. She protected her all the way here. Just now, Mr. Su was asking about her. Originally, she was with Su Mali, but she suspected Lin Yi planned to blow up the castle, so she went off alone to search for clues."
Hearing this, Captain Wang's expression softened. "Then hurry, get her treated first. The rest of you, search the ruins."
Jing Shu pointed inside. "A woman triggered the TNT with a detonator. I only managed to cut most of it off, but some still exploded. Check if she's alive."
Captain Wang's eyes widened. He gestured to the explosives nearby. "You cut those while the detonator was already active?"
She nodded. "I knew the theory but never tried it before. I figured if I didn't, we'd all die."
"Good! Excellent! You saved every one of us! As soon as we entered, we started defusing charges, but only found two decoys. Never imagined the real stash was here. Jing Shu, you've made great merit!"
"I disabled several of these big ones already. Pity I can't make it official credit."
Her heart bled as she thought of it—four tons of TNT! In the apocalypse, explosives were worth their weight in gold, useful in countless ways. Still, she told herself not to be greedy. She still had fourteen tons left. That should be enough. By now, she truly deserved to be called the Queen of Arms.
"Report! That woman's upper body was destroyed in the blast. Only her lower body remains."
Captain Wang waved his hand. "Bring it back for DNA testing."
Jing Shu was escorted to the castle's main hall. A crowd had already gathered, but no one dared to speak loudly. The atmosphere was heavy and chilling. Outside, the bombing had finally subsided. she guessed that most of Xishan had likely been blown to rubble. By tomorrow, rumors would surely spread that the richest man in Xishan had lost an entire mountain to an explosion.
She even found herself with enough presence of mind to look around the so-called castle of the richest man. In her past life, she had only glimpsed it from afar, marveling at how magnificent and fortress-like it looked. Now that she was inside, her first impression was its sheer size—vast as a palace, with ten-meter-high ceilings and no pillars. The empty hall radiated understated luxury.
It wasn't gaudy, but every object was priceless.
Having money was wonderful. In the apocalypse, having money was even better.
Being rich felt good for a while. Staying rich felt good forever.
"Jing Shu? Jing Shu, are you alright? Don't scare me!" Su Mali ran over in tears.
All eyes turned toward her. After all, when everyone had been relieved to find Su Mali safe, it was Jing Shu who warned that someone planned to blow up Xishan. She had gone alone to hunt for the bombs. In the end, Xishan truly had been bombed, and even part of the castle was destroyed.
Qian Duoduo, whose face had been pale with rage, finally relaxed. "Get her bandaged." He then asked, "What's the situation?" He had always claimed the castle was the safest place. But before long, explosives were discovered inside as well, proving him wrong. When one of his teams entered to investigate, they uncovered a host of problems.
He realized then that his steel castle, built at staggering expense, had been compromised. Someone had tunneled beneath it. Thanks to the reinforced materials, the intruders couldn't penetrate the main walls. But the underground passage reached right to the gate. If he hadn't ordered the castle's defenses opened, those saboteurs would never have been able to sneak in and plant so many explosives.
Yang Yang spoke first. "Mission accomplished. Jing Shu cut off the detonators for four tons of TNT, preventing them from being set off. She saved all of us."
"No way. That's incredible!"
"Looks like it's true. Just look at her injuries."
"Allah truly protected us."
Qian Duoduo exhaled heavily and patted Jing Shu lightly. "Today, I can't thank you enough. You not only exposed their plot but also stopped their plan. I, Qian Duoduo, owe you a great debt."
Su Xiangnan's grim face finally softened as well. He said, "Unlike Qian Duoduo, I'm not stingy. I owe you two favors. You saved both Su Mali and me."
"Then I owe you four favors. You saved my entire family of four." Qian Duoduo snorted.