Players, Please Board the Train

”Repeat! Little Flower Red Red Building fifteenth floor will close soon. All personnel please proceed to the fourteenth floor!”

Following the electronic alert came a prolonged air raid siren. Several players near the elevators didn’t enter but instead retreated a few steps.

”Is this a trap?” someone asked.

However, at that moment the air raid siren stopped, and the electronic voice sounded again: ”Countdown sixty seconds, fifty-nine seconds, fifty-eight seconds...”

The lights in the elevators began flickering, urging everyone present to make a quick decision.

Xu Huo glanced at the clock nearby and noticed there were still forty seconds until six o’clock. His expression darkened, then he strode into the elevator.

Moving at the same time was the older bespectacled player, who entered another elevator.

”Dai Wenqian, how could you...” Zheng Liang looked at his companion in surprise.

Dai Wenqian wore a faint smile, ”Come in. We have to go down anyway. Taking the elevator offers a chance to survive. If we’re forced to jump from the building, we’ll only die.”

The first to act were Gu Yu and Wei Bin. Gu Yu quickly returned to the car to retrieve the food and entered the elevator within seconds.Following them were Xiao Ba, Zhang Biao, and others. They originally intended to take the same elevator, but Dai Wenqian stopped those behind, pointing to the sign beside the elevator that indicated a maximum capacity of thirteen people: ”Only thirteen can enter at a time. You go to the other one.”

The remaining four players said nothing, exchanged glances, and went to the nearby elevator.

With the players gone, the remaining people naturally didn’t dare fall behind and rushed into the elevators.

The Flower Basket Girl and the Burly Man entered the elevator to Xu Huo’s right. Kang Hong, the wealthy young girl, and the tall woman immediately rushed into Xu Huo’s elevator.

When the count reached thirteen, Xu Huo kicked out two people crowding the doorway, ”It’s full. Go to another elevator.”

The kicked-out Sharp-Featured Man angrily shouted, ”There’s no overload warning! What gives you the right to keep me out!”

Xu Huo didn’t respond but instead drew his crimson sword and stood it before him.

”...Twenty seconds, nineteen seconds...” The countdown continued. Those still outside the elevators didn’t dare delay further and frantically rushed toward the other elevator. The Sharp-Featured Man cursed as he followed them.

Even as the elevator doors closed, sounds of pushing and angry shouts could be heard from outside.

”Ding!” A few seconds later, the elevator doors opened on the fourteenth floor. This level was completely devoid of light, with windows blocked by something, allowing only faint daylight to filter through—insufficient to clearly see the floor’s layout.

As soon as Xu Huo stepped out of the elevator, a desiccated corpse fell from the side, landing right on the wealthy young girl who had just emerged. She screamed in terror, and as her scream echoed, noises came from various places on the fourteenth floor.

Kang Hong and the tall woman quickly covered her mouth, looking fearfully toward the source of the sounds. Xu Huo, who could see in the dark, said, ”Something fell over. No danger.”

Only then did they relax, stepping out before the elevator doors closed.

Xu Huo crouched before the dried corpse, and the tall woman turned on her phone flashlight to illuminate it.

Xu Huo pressed the corpse’s arm, then moved its head, discovering an egg-sized hole on the back of its neck.

”Was he drained dry?” the tall woman asked, her voice trembling.

People from the other elevator gradually emerged. The Flower Basket Girl, holding up her phone, moved forward and soon said, ”There’s another dried corpse here!”

Not just her—others who followed also successively discovered several corpses distributed throughout the area.

Scattered light sources illuminated the fourteenth floor, gradually revealing its layout.

Unlike the fifteenth floor’s office area, the fourteenth floor was completely open, filled with glass water tanks measuring two meters in length and width each. The tanks were filled with green liquid, with soft tubes inserted along the edges connecting to special metal instruments labeled ”Nutrient Solution Mixers.”

”There seems to be something in the water,” someone said, peering against the tank wall.

Several beams of light focused there simultaneously, and many people saw several fist-sized transparent insect eggs floating near the tank edge, vaguely recognizable as multi-legged spiders.

Swallowing sounds were heard one after another as someone said, ”This floor isn’t raising blood-sucking spiders, is it?”

Sweeping their flashlights around, they saw dozens of similar water tanks before them. Besides the one in front, some tanks were densely packed with insect eggs, almost overflowing, while others already had small spiders crawling inside.

”They’re crawling out!” the Flower Basket Girl exclaimed, lifting her foot to crush a spider near her feet.

Xu Huo, nearby, quickly pulled her back and shouted, ”Don’t step on them recklessly!”

The Flower Basket Girl came to her senses and hurriedly said, ”Right, right. So many people died here—there must be large spiders.”

”Everyone be careful! Don’t crush the small spiders!”

Everyone quickly drew back their feet, avoiding the small spiders while looking for any possible large spiders.

However, the entire fourteenth floor was completely visible at a glance. Besides these water tanks, there were no places for spiders to hide.

Xu Huo suddenly sensed something and looked up at the ceiling, only to see it covered with giant black spiders—each over half a meter long, their hairy legs interwoven like wallpaper clinging to the roof!

Less than a meter away from him, a spider was descending toward him, a tubular mouthpart extending beneath its pair of dark red round eyes!

As he retreated, Xu Huo split the spider in half and shouted to those behind him, ”Turn off the lights!”

Before his words finished, two people from his elevator group had spiders latch onto the back of their necks. Their screams and sucking sounds overlapped. Kang Hong, nearby, mustered courage to hit a spider with his backpack but got stuck by silk the spider spat out, getting thrown back with his bag!

Dodging the panicked fleeing people, Xu Huo swiftly dispatched two spiders with his sword. However, the two who had been grabbed by the neck each had bloody holes on their necks, their faces cut and mangled by the spiders’ sharp legs. They only managed to emit two gurgling sounds before dying.

”Ahhh!!!” Screams erupted everywhere. Not just their group—others were also attacked by spiders. In moments, over ten people had their necks pierced!

The satisfying sucking sounds attracted more spiders to jump down. Not only the helpless ordinary people but even players fell victim.

Zheng Liang tore off a spider that landed on his back and slammed it to the ground, then stomped its head. He then instantly moved to Gu Yu’s side, knocking away a spider pouncing on her!

Gu Yu swung her knife, killing several spiders, then looked up and realized the ceiling wasn’t just covered with one layer but layers upon layers of spiders. As the outer layer descended, the inner ones woke up. She suddenly realized something and shouted, ”Everyone turn off your flashlights! The light is waking the spiders!”

”Are you kidding? Without light we’re blind! Isn’t that asking for death?” Zhang Biao retorted, holding something like a triangular ruler as he fought. ”Since things have come to this, I say we just kill all these things!”