Players, Please Board the Train

Among the remaining seventeen players on the ninth floor, Xu Huo took seven with him. When they reached the eighth floor, the remaining nine players split into two factions.

One faction was represented by five players: Gu Yu, Kang Hong, plus Da Zhi, Chen Shu, and Xiao Ba.

The other faction was represented by four players: Brother Tie, Zhang Biao, along with Square-Faced Man and the Bald Player.

Behind these two groups stood other people. Gu Yu’s side consisted mostly of women and elderly people, while Brother Tie’s side was predominantly composed of young and middle-aged men.

”Gu Yu, think carefully,” Brother Tie said with a gloomy expression. ”Going down to the seventh floor isn’t a problem now, but what about when we reach the sixth floor?”

”Eight players fell in one elevator. Even if we squeeze all the remaining players into one elevator, it won’t help. We must reduce the number of people. If it’s not them, it will be others. There’s no choice.”

Gu Yu glanced at the people behind him. ”If we follow your method, only thirteen people will reach the first floor. The people standing behind you still won’t survive.”

Brother Tie didn’t care about her provocation at all, instead saying indifferently, ”Living as long as possible is what matters. When we reach the lower floors, we’ll be close to the game’s time limit. Then we can just find a place to hide and wait until the game ends.”

”So that’s your plan,” Chen Shu said angrily. ”I think you’re dreaming. Do you think the mutated animals’ sense of smell hasn’t evolved?”

”You’re the ones dreaming,” Zhang Biao sneered. ”How many of you are there? Do you think you can protect dozens of people?””When it really comes to life and death, do you believe they won’t be more ferocious than the players?”

”While we still have enough time, let’s properly discuss the rules to avoid trouble when the time comes.”

”The rules you’re talking about mean letting the elderly, weak, women, and children die first?” Kang Hong also spoke with anger.

”Then ask them if they’re willing to draw lots?” Brother Tie pointed at the people behind him.

More than thirty young and middle-aged men had their own thoughts, but clearly none were willing to draw lots to decide who would stay behind in the next round.

Seeing this, Gu Yu was furious but helpless. The reason Brother Tie was standing here negotiating with them instead of taking direct action was because both sides had similar numbers of players. But if he incited those young and middle-aged men to attack the others, their five players would find it difficult to change anything, and they might even put themselves in danger.

She turned to look at Kang Hong and the others.

Kang Hong paused for a moment before saying to Brother Tie, ”As long as you can guarantee a smooth arrival at the first floor, it makes no difference to you who survives, right?”

Brother Tie started to laugh, but it aggravated the injury on his face, so he suppressed his laughter. ”So you want me to help you.”

”This isn’t a loss for you either,” Kang Hong analyzed calmly. ”Think about it. After the elderly, weak, women, and children are all dead, what remains are those young and middle-aged men behind you who have strong physical strength and quick reactions. The power people can unleash in life-and-death situations cannot be measured by ordinary standards.”

Brother Tie’s face darkened, but a middle-aged man behind him hurriedly said, ”Don’t try to drive a wedge between us! Don’t think we can’t see that you just want us to be the sacrificial lambs first so those women can live!”

After speaking, he moved closer to Brother Tie. ”Big brother, we just want to hitch a ride downstairs. How could we possibly be a match for players? And we don’t know if there’s danger downstairs yet. We still need to rely on players to protect us.”

”You’re right,” Brother Tie said, then kicked him flying. He said sinisterly, ”There are still mutated animals downstairs. I don’t want to get stabbed in the back by you bastards!”

The eighth floor was an exhibition room. The middle-aged man crashed through cabinets all the way to the window, spat out blood, and could no longer get up.

Brother Tie casually picked up a pen, turned to Gu Yu and said, ”The remaining people stand separately. Whoever it points to stays on the seventh floor.”

”And the extra people...” Gu Yu frowned, but before she could finish speaking, he interrupted her again. ”Stand randomly. We can only have more, not less.”

Besides the nine players and the middle-aged man, there were eighty-one people remaining. Even with thirteen people per batch, there would still be three extra people.

”No!” Gu Yu said decisively. ”The numbers work out. There’s no need to sacrifice additional people.”

Brother Tie spun the pen. ”I advise you not to make trouble for no reason. With about eighty people, no matter which ones you pick, the others won’t agree.”

Gu Yu’s expression stiffened, then she looked at the people around her and gave up on arguing.

Kang Hong and Chen Shu also didn’t speak anymore.

Da Zhi stood beside them, looking around left and right, then suddenly said, ”Shouldn’t we wait for Xu Huo?”

”Even though they disappeared, they’re not necessarily dead.”

”Isn’t it too early for us to be selecting people now? And the way you’re discussing how to make people die is too terrifying.”

Gu Yu and the others were all shocked, but Zhang Biao from Brother Tie’s side said, ”What do you, a foreigner, know? This is called preparing for rain before it comes!”

”As for that Xu guy and Dai Wenqian’s group, they’ve probably already entered the Hall of Reincarnation.”

”Do you even know what the Hall of Reincarnation is?”

”They brought death upon themselves with their cleverness. They’re already done for, unless you have another method.”

”Does your companion’s death make you so happy?” Da Zhi was puzzled by his attitude, then added, ”We can go through the windows.”

”Prepare tools in advance. After the others go downstairs, the people left on the upper floors can descend through the windows.”

”Doing that will attract mutated animals,” Kang Hong said. The people stranded on the upper floor would basically be dead. ”And the outside isn’t necessarily safe. The mutated animals also use the elevators to move around. There must be something in the fog that even they fear.”

Actually, to be completely safe, killing the extra people before going downstairs was the safest option. It would both reduce the excess numbers and prevent them from desperately trying anything or the possibility of someone accidentally falling.

However, he didn’t say this out loud.

The others clearly had the same concerns, but Da Zhi said, ”So you plan to kill all the extra people before going downstairs?”

The people who had almost accepted reality showed terrified expressions. But when they saw the players all had the same expression, they immediately shouted: ”Don’t even think about it!”

”Rather than being killed like this, we might as well fight to the death! Anyway, we’ll take someone down with us—every one counts!”

Brother Tie glared viciously at Da Zhi, but then saw him grab a table lamp from a nearby low cabinet and throw it toward the window!

”What are you doing!”

Not only Brother Tie’s group, but Gu Yu’s group also rushed forward to intercept the table lamp. Unfortunately, the two groups collided with each other, and they could only watch helplessly as the object flew out!

After a brief moment, a ”bang” sound came from downstairs.

For a moment, everyone on the eighth floor held their breath. But after a few seconds passed, there was no movement from downstairs.

”Go take a look,” Brother Tie ordered a man beside him.

The man, afraid of becoming the next middle-aged man, forced down his fear and walked to the window to peer down. Then he said trembling, ”There’s nothing down there.”

The players looked at each other. After waiting a while longer and confirming it was safe for people to stand by the window, they walked over.