Chapter 148: They’re Here

Chapter 148: Chapter 148: They’re Here

The customs team approached around Noon, their car drawing near the mountain road they had to take.

Before entering the mountain road, the car stopped. The Team Red members inside pulled out a map and discussed the route ahead.

"It’s this mountain road right up ahead. Our prediction was spot-on—Team Blue will definitely have people laying an ambush in there."

"Everyone, stay sharp. When we get out, keep your shields up on both sides; don’t let your tires or arms get punctured. Remember: keep your eyes forward, don’t look to the sides, no matter what happens. Don’t get tangled up with them. Just get through this road and we’ll be safe."

"..."

Ever since receiving the recall order from Team Red’s commander, they’d gotten busy preparing.

Taking lessons from the past two times Team Red got ambushed by Team Blue, they’d boiled down these guidelines.

Under the scorching sun, it was Bama on duty this time. He was drenched in sweat, sun-struck and seeing stars. When he saw the crowd gathered at the far end of the mountain road, he thought for a second he was hallucinating.

Damn, finally! I’ve been waiting forever for these Red dogs to show up.

Seeing how fast they were moving, they’d be here in no time. Bama hurriedly grabbed his comms and notified Dane and the others.

Dane, Renee Morgan, and a few others were chilling under the trees. Even in the shade, the heat wave had them sweating buckets and almost dozing off.

When Bama’s voice came through the earpiece announcing Team Red’s arrival, the sleepy group exchanged glances, wondering if they’d misheard.

Until Bama repeated it twice more, Dane was the first to jump up, reached over and yanked Renee off the ground.

The group crouched at their pre-arranged ambush spot, eyes locked on the road, watching closely for enemy movements.

Even Noon, who was half-asleep like the chat, got nudged—someone reminded him: something’s happening in the livestream.

The camera feed focused on fifteen program members; the rest were captives. Only Renee Morgan was a key player, and the progress of the competition was presented from her perspective.

Team Red’s commander and Hugh’s convo? Team Blue—including Renee Morgan—was totally out of the loop. The program didn’t switch to their feed, and viewers in the livestream had no clue Hugh and his group were sneaking up on Team Blue’s camp.

Now, seeing Team Red’s customs squad finally pop up, everyone was hyped.

Except... when the messy tangle of vine nets, and that super-obvious thick vine—totally not a trap, straight up tied across the road like a massive roadblock—flashed onscreen again...

Viewers all had a bad feeling that today’s ambush was about to flop...

They were excited but anxious.

As the show went viral, livestream viewer numbers shot through the roof.

There were plenty of people pissed off that Renee Morgan was hogging over ten trending topics a day. If they didn’t know how big this show actually was, they’d think the server was broken—data rolling back and forth, always her name.

This phenomenon started messing with other celebs too.

Think about it: their idols all dressed up, hyped, promoted like mad, called for attention, did all the prep—and finally stepped into the spotlight, but couldn’t even get a single trending search.

Fans hustled, spent money, pushed their way in.

But as soon as they made it, they barely got warm before being squeezed out. Unlike the usual, where you could buy your way to the top, control keywords, dominate the ranks—totally different now.

The fans of every idol had never seen anything like this before.

That’s just insane heat.

No way to win, so the other fans just poured into the livestream to throw shade.

But... turns out they didn’t even need to work hard at hate—Renee Morgan was about to crash on her own.

[Wow, is Renee Morgan getting famous and letting it go to her head?]

[Right? The showrunners must be brain-dead, blindly pushing one person is already dumb, but they’re also making the other members seem stupid.]

[Dane and Bama thought these traps wouldn’t work from the jump, but Renee Morgan insisted. They couldn’t force a veto, so they went along for the show.]

[Sigh, finally a viral show, but why did they have to invite some brainless celeb?]

[Um... actually, Morgan’s pretty skilled and smart, right? Maybe she just messed up this time.]

[Heh, what kind of idiot has skills? Skills? If it weren’t for scripted protection, she wouldn’t survive two rounds, I’d write my name backwards. Let alone get the highest headshot score.]

[Agree +1. If she didn’t self-sabotage and followed the script, she’d for sure get the championship and top score, head home for endless endorsements and cash. But she can’t help but show off and fuss with traps—oh well, here comes disaster.]

Most of Renee Morgan’s fans were rational at this point and just stayed quiet.

Facts speak louder: the traps Renee fussed over really were lame. Hopefully, her sniping later would be fierce enough and rack up some points to calm all the mockery.

Dane crouched beside Renee Morgan, weighed down by worries.

Deep down, he was totally lacking confidence.

Team Red’s customs squad had 31 people. One was a medic, the other thirty were assault troops and specialty roles—all armed soldier classes.

Once they hit the mountain road, except for the driver and the medic, everyone else piled out of the vehicle.

The car crawled along in the middle. The troops split into two columns on each side, gun straps around their necks, shields gripped upright outside, eyes dead ahead, marching at an even pace.

Time ticked on. Team Red’s force got closer and closer to Renee Morgan’s ambush point.

A few meters from the vine net, Team Red stopped in perfect formation.

Dane waited eagerly for them to get confused.

Bet they got burned by this.

But Team Red’s squad looked stern, and someone quickly stepped forward, inspecting the net for hidden military knives that could puncture their tires.

Their HQ—the Team Red Tower—wasn’t far off, about forty minutes’ drive, but walking back wasn’t a joke.

They searched but found nothing.

Still suspicious, a few moved in to help, trying to lift the vine net and toss it to the roadside.

Took some effort, but at least now the car could pass through safely.

Hart and Dane whispered to each other, clicking their tongues in amazement—Team Red really got bitten hard before, now they’re paranoid for a decade.

They’d buried military knives in dry grass before, slashed Team Red’s tires, so they were super cautious now.

This time the ambush setup was Renee Morgan’s doing. They watched her closely—no military knives, not even a short arrow hiding in the vine net.

That’s exactly why they thought it was ’harmless’ and lame.

The original plan was to do the unexpected—freak Team Red out, have them hesitate and hesitate, then burst out for the kill. But, who could’ve guessed...