Players, Please Board the Train

”Two more players can join, which would make us much safer.” Xu Huo paused briefly before adding, ”The remaining others can make up the numbers.”

”What gives you the right to decide others’ lives and deaths!” A man in his fifties or sixties stood up from the back, speaking agitatedly.

”Because my fists are bigger!” Brother Tie turned around and glared fiercely at the man, ”Don’t forget there are a hundred and eight people on this floor, and we’ll have four more when we go down to the next level.”

The man quickly avoided his gaze in fear, then suddenly looked toward Xu Huo and the others, saying angrily, ”Didn’t you just say you had a solution? You said everyone could get out alive, but now you’re telling us we have to wait to die floor by floor!”

These were the words Kang Hong and Chen Shu had used earlier to calm the crowd. Being questioned like this, both of them showed expressions of helplessness and anger.

”...It’s all your fault, it’s all the players’ fault! If there were no players, there wouldn’t be any damn game dungeons, and we wouldn’t be in this situation today...”

”Same with what happened a few days ago—those people who came from other places were after some powerful item. If it weren’t for that, so many people wouldn’t have died, the world would still be peaceful, and I’d be sitting in an air-conditioned room eating watermelon... This is a nightmare!”

Some people’s mental states were clearly deteriorating.

The ninth floor suddenly became restless and tense. Over a dozen players were surrounded by the crowd, dozens of eyes filled with various emotions making everyone feel uneasy.

”What does this have to do with us,” Xiao Ba murmured quietly, ”It’s not like we wanted to become players.”Ordinary people could likely live decent lives as long as they didn’t get dragged into random dungeons or encounter unexpected events. But once someone became a player, they faced endless game dungeons until the day they died.

”Hah!” Zheng Liang sneered at this moment, ”No wonder some people have no conscience. Aren’t we risking our lives to test the game rules to save more people?”

”Otherwise, we could just make sure we get to the first floor and not care who lives or dies!”

”What’s the point of all this talking!” Brother Tie clenched his fists, ”Kill a few and they’ll naturally quiet down.”

This time, not many people lowered their heads. Instead, they looked at the players with even greater anger.

”Those willing to join us in the overloaded elevator can step forward themselves.” Xu Huo’s calm voice broke the tense atmosphere as he said, ”Whether you’re a player or not, people will definitely die.”

”Rather than fighting among ourselves, it’s better to make some contribution.”

”The upper floors not having much danger doesn’t mean the lower ones are safe too. There are no absolutes in dungeons—killing all the players and others won’t guarantee survival until the end.”

Gu Yu and the others were momentarily stunned, then Zhang Biao laughed out loud, ”They actually want to kill all of us?”

Xu Huo looked at him until the smile completely disappeared from his face and he began shifting his eyes uneasily, then stood up and said, ”I’m going to the thirteenth floor.”

”To get the mutated plants? I’ll come help too,” Gu Yu said.

”Not urgent,” Xu Huo said, ”I’ll go up first to check things out.”

”You’re not planning to pull some trick, are you?” Brother Tie scrutinized him.

”You can go instead,” Xu Huo stepped aside.

Brother Tie fell silent.

Jiang Yihua and Da Zhi worked together to pry the elevator doors open a crack, confirming there were no other mutated animals inside before opening them about one-third of the way.

After Xu Huo entered, Jiang Yihua added, ”We don’t need to close the elevator doors, right? We’ll stay down here to support you.”

Xu Huo glanced toward the motionless elevator shaft and said, ”If the Man-eating Flower becomes active, throw the potted plant down.”

Jiang Yihua nodded.

He then asked Wei Bin, ”Does the poisonous gas have any tolerance threshold?”

Wei Bin hesitated for a moment before saying, ”Yes.”

”Then come up with me.”

Wei Bin looked at Gu Yu, and only after she nodded did he agree.

Xu Huo grabbed the piano wire and brought him up to the thirteenth floor. Through the elevator door crack, Wei Bin pressed close and sniffed vigorously, ”There’s no problem now, but it would be more accurate to open the door a bit more.”

Xu Huo held his breath and signaled for him to proceed.

Wei Bin opened the elevator door a crack, waited a few seconds, then said, ”The air is fine.”

Xu Huo nodded, ”Shall we go in together?”

Wei Bin quickly shook his head, ”You’re skilled and brave, but I won’t go in.”

Xu Huo sent him back down and returned to the thirteenth floor. After opening the elevator doors, he first observed the mantis corpse thrown inside, then retrieved his phone, and cautiously stepped into the floor.

The thirteenth floor showed no reaction.

After placing the mantis corpse in a glass room in the corner and setting down another fully charged phone, he went to the glass room Jiang Yihua had mentioned earlier and found that purple potted plant with only a small energy value.

【Unknown Plant: No name, no classification, a small flower growing like a weed. It can grow anywhere in the game, quite common in some wormhole points, but almost nonexistent in others.】

Although the game provided information about this plant, it couldn’t be stored in the item slot. So Xu Huo picked it up and also moved several other potted plants from the same glass room before leaving.

After going down, Jiang Yihua and the others first took the potted plants and asked, ”How are things up there?”

”I didn’t encounter any surprises,” Xu Huo said, watching as Jiang Yihua casually placed that pot of purple small flowers in the middle of the cart, next to the potted plants that emitted pollen.

”Since that’s the case, what are we waiting for,” Brother Tie walked over, ”Let’s go up and move more flowers first.”

Xu Huo didn’t stop them. Brother Tie and Zhang Biao took several players up to the thirteenth floor.

Dai Wenqian walked over, just glanced into the elevator and said indifferently, ”Really lucky.”

Zheng Liang watched as Brother Tie and the others went up and down moving flowers and couldn’t help saying, ”The thirteenth floor is safe, so why don’t we stay on the thirteenth floor?”

”We could break open the windows for ventilation.”

Neither Xu Huo nor Dai Wenqian spoke. Wei Bin explained, ”The thirteenth floor appears safe now, but it’s more uncertain compared to other floors.”

”On other floors you might encounter mutated animals or mutated plants, but with so many plants gathered together on the thirteenth floor, they might produce unusual chemical reactions.”

Zheng Liang’s eyes widened slightly, ”Then why let them move flowers down here?”

”How many flowers can just a few people move?” Wei Bin pointed at the windows, ”The air here is quite well-ventilated.”

At that moment, Gu Yu came over and said to Xu Huo, ”I called two more people to help you.”

The two players following her were one tall and one short. Both had martial arts backgrounds before becoming players and had strong physical abilities.

”These two are among the better fighters among our players.”

Xu Huo nodded. Now they had eight players.

There were currently a hundred and eight people on the ninth floor, and the four extra people had to go with them.

That meant they still needed nine more people.

”We’ve discussed it and will go with you.” The middle-aged woman who had harshly criticized Zhang Biao and the others on the fourteenth floor came over with three other people. The middle-aged woman said, ”We’re all people without many attachments. If we can help others find a way to survive, it would be worth it.”