Chapter 6: Why Does Your Firework Have a Timer?

Back at the farmhouse courtyard, viewers had never seen anything so intense. The live audience shot past one hundred thousand. Gift animations filled the screen, and comments piled up until they obscured the picture.

The director was beside himself. Watching officers hurry about sealing off the scene, he pulled out his phone with shaking hands and reported the emergency to his superiors.

The television station had invested heavily in this flagship show. If it were taken off the air over a terrorism-related incident, his career in the industry would be over.

When station executives heard the news, they rushed back from home and called an emergency meeting to decide whether the broadcast should continue.

In the conference room, several Jiangzhou officials watched the rising viewer count and the startling images of SWAT officers cordoning off the scene. Their faces grew increasingly grave.

*Three’s a Team* had been intended to bring strangers in Jiangzhou closer together and spread a positive social message. Instead, on his very first day, a young man named Jiang Chen had apparently made a powerful explosive by hand in front of the entire internet. The relevant authorities had already begun investigating all three contestants’ backgrounds.

An official frowned at a freshly printed report. “This Jiang Chen has no criminal record. Not even a fight on his record growing up. He’s outgoing and mostly likes playing games. Perhaps he just wanted the five-million-yuan prize and stumbled into this by accident?”

Another official slammed the table. “Impossible! Absolutely impossible! Without extensive practical experience, how could he calmly make an explosive that powerful? Watch the replay! His hands didn’t even shake when he added the ingredients. He was as precise as a measuring instrument!”

Soon the discussion turned to Wang Zhen.

“Look at him. He’s older, introverted, and seems mature and steady. By rights he should have been the team’s last safety catch. So why didn’t he stop them? He even supplied the saltpeter himself!”

After studying the files, they reached a conclusion: their supposed safety catch was no safety catch at all. Together, the three were a gang of outlaws.

The conference-room door flew open. The head of the bomb-disposal bureau hurried in, drenched in sweat.

“The situation is getting out of control! Our specialists say that device is extremely difficult to dismantle!”

Everyone rose. “What happened? Isn’t it just powder in a plastic pipe?”

The bureau chief swallowed, his voice trembling. “It’s nowhere near that simple! An X-ray scan revealed extremely complex wiring. We also detected the sound of numerous steel balls rolling inside. It isn’t a firework or an ordinary explosive. It has an anti-tampering trigger. It’s a genuine time bomb!”

The room drew a collective breath.

Wiping his brow, the chief continued, “We have two choices. First, cut off Jiang Chen’s stream immediately and limit the public impact. But more than a hundred thousand people are watching. A sudden blackout will set off speculation across the internet. We may even be accused of covering up the truth, causing panic.

“Second, keep broadcasting. But bomb disposal is extremely dangerous and the content is completely beyond our control. If it explodes, we’d be livestreaming a major disaster to the whole internet. The risk is enormous.”

An official stood, braced both hands on the table, and gave his verdict. “I recommend shutting the stream down! Arrest the Jiang Chen group immediately and interrogate them!”

An official in charge of publicity stood and pointed at Jiang Chen’s file on the screen. “The show was meant to be positive! To bring people closer together, help them become friends and partners! This has strayed completely from that purpose. Those three haven’t become friends; they’ve become terrorists! We cannot allow terrorists in Jiangzhou! Order the broadcast stopped and arrest them!”

As the officials prepared to sign the order, the door opened again. The head of the municipal police entered, pale-faced, carrying a file stamped TOP SECRET in red. He slapped it on the table.

“Forget the broadcast for now! Word just came from bomb disposal. The timer has started! We estimate there may be only ten minutes left!”

The room erupted. “What? The countdown started? Who touched the bomb?”

The bomb-disposal chief was frantic. The police chief’s expression darkened. “Nobody touched it. The specialists say it has an internal temperature sensor. When the night air drops below a certain point, it activates the countdown automatically. The design is insane!

“The team doesn’t dare cut any wires. There are multiple logic circuits. Cut the wrong one and it detonates.”

The officials panicked. Ten minutes wasn’t enough to evacuate nearby residents to a safe distance. If the device went off, the tube full of TNT and rolling steel balls would be devastating.

“Quick! Contact the armored vehicle at the front! Have Jiang Chen tell us how to dismantle it. He made it, so he should know how to disarm it!”

The order went out at once.

In an armored vehicle parked several kilometers away in the safe zone, Jiang Chen, Zhou Fei, and Wang Zhen sat in a row. Zhou Fei was nearly in tears, his chubby cheeks scrunched together.

“Brother Chen, I haven’t even married yet. I don’t want to end up sewing in prison. What on earth is that thing?”

Wang Zhen kept his head down, muttering, “If I’d known, I wouldn’t have brought that bag of high-purity fertilizer.”

Jiang Chen was about to comfort them when the vehicle’s radio crackled. The officer at the wheel grabbed it, listened, and turned sharply toward Jiang Chen, his face full of anxiety and anger.

“Jiang Chen! The countdown on your bomb has started! Less than eight minutes left! The specialists don’t dare dismantle it. Tell us now: which wire do we cut?”

All three stared at him. Then they jerked their heads up and spoke together.

“Wait! What?! What timer?!”