The sound from the channel being broadcast on public television went silent, and it was clear that Tyler's eyes were fixed on the door.
Just by looking at the door not too far away, he found a small reason to keep living. The pain in his legs made him wish he had died with Alicia.
He was afraid that if he stopped staring at the door, he wouldn't be able to resist looking at his legs—charred by the intense flames. And his greatest fear was that if he did, he might collapse completely in an instant.
Tense nerves…
Burning flames…
There was also that damned timer, still running without pause, reminding him that there wasn't much time left.
Under the intense flames, the open wounds on his skin made it far too difficult to move. But enduring that pain, Tyler clenched his teeth and lowered his other leg!
"Argh…"
The sound of the flames burning his skin was very audible. Tyler's strange, muffled screams could be heard through the screens of thousands and millions of viewers.
At that moment, the camera zoomed in on Tyler's charred leg. The flames had burned his skin black and split it open. Then, his skin began to melt, and before the blood could even flow, it had already dried up.
These images were not only for the viewers but also for all those families affected by this man. Dying in such a way was justice; watching him suffer was comforting, and his imminent death would be what finally closed their wounds.
Justice!
At that moment, Tyler's head was already starting to feel dizzy. He was getting less and less oxygen. He looked at the timer and realized there were only about ten seconds left.
To keep himself from fainting, Tyler took a deep breath and slapped himself twice. Then he used both legs to move forward again. Every step tormented him. The pain was unbearable.
Tyler's heart screamed wildly once more.
"I want to win!"
"I want to live!"
"I can't die!"
"I'll get out soon!"
"I have to get out!"
"Just wait. I'll kill you when I get out!"
He couldn't think of anything else in that moment. All these phrases flashed through his mind. He was trying to console himself. Only these simple words and curses inspired a faint will to survive in his fading consciousness.
At that moment, Tyler was only three meters away from the door, but his legs were becoming harder to control. Even taking another step was nearly impossible.
His entire body began to tremble, then turned into violent shaking.
That was when the cold, hoarse voice sounded again.
"Five."
"Four."
Hearing the countdown, Tyler struggled with all his strength and tried to move toward the door. However, he had already lost control of his legs. He could only struggle physically, trembling on the spot.
Tyler could no longer stand and fell directly to the floor due to the shaking.
The growing flames engulfed Tyler in an instant. The next second, he stopped struggling and only moved twice.
"Two."
"One."
When Larry's countdown ended, the burning flames extinguished at that moment.
Smoke could be seen rising from Tyler's black, charred corpse on the ground. Compared to the other executed bodies, Tyler's corpse was not as disgusting.
It simply lay silently on the ground like a piece of coal. However, since his body had been burned for too short a time, blood still oozed from the cracked wounds.
Due to the extreme loss of moisture, it was no longer recognizable as Tyler's body. Instead, it looked more like that of a monkey.
Social media exploded with posts about what they had just witnessed. Everyone, without exception, was shocked that they could access this kind of footage without any restrictions.
Finally, Larry spoke. "Today's death trial ends here. We'll meet again next time. Thank you for watching."
After saying that, he closed the live broadcast channel, and everything returned to normal.
What Larry didn't know was that after finishing his meticulous execution, another group of people had already begun promoting his work. The chief editors of major media outlets had started writing their reports. It was a media frenzy, and a new wave of public sensation was being born.
…
"This setup is quite interesting." In the darkness, Larry closed his eyes, savoring the thrill of having completed another trial in the tests he had crafted with his own ingenuity.
Finishing his work, Larry stepped out of the dark room where he had been and, upon seeing a person in front of him, smiled naturally and asked, "Also sneaking away from your wife for a smoke?"
"I'm glad I'm not the only one. Care to join me?"
Larry shook his head slightly and said, "I already smoked. My date's waiting for me."
After saying that, Larry stepped out of where he was—which turned out to be the restroom of a restaurant—and asked, "Did I take too long?"
Jane shook her head and said, "I ordered dessert."
"Perfect."
Larry was calm, but meanwhile, on the other side, in the police department's conference room…
"Damn it!" Daniel grabbed his cup, smashed it against the wall, and shattered it.
Daniel wasn't the only one furious. The entire Zero Task Force felt useless.
Daniel was the first. Earlier, Willie and Monica had sent word that they'd found the Porsche and the crime scene, but the scene wasn't in the suburbs—it was in an abandoned building less than two kilometers from their police station.
It was completely different from what they had imagined. Choosing a place so close to commit the crime was simply a deliberate provocation to the police.
Hart and Bowman were furious as well. They had rushed to the suburbs in the middle of the night, searching more than a dozen factories, checking them one by one. They hadn't even found a shadow. And in the end, they received a call saying the crime scene was in the city!
Finally, Elena felt terrible.
The ten super-hackers not only failed to break through the opponent's firewall, but several of their computers had been infected by a virus and were completely paralyzed.
It could be said that the entire Zero Task Force had been completely defeated by the organization behind the Judge of Death!