Players, Please Board the Train

Zheng Liang immediately followed the instruction, but at that moment, screams came from downstairs. He rushed over to look and discovered that the elevator door on the thirteenth floor was spewing a cloud of golden powder—it was the poisonous powder from the Man-eating Flower’s roots and stems!

By now, Dai Wenqian and the others had already come up. Lagging behind were some non-players, all frantically scrambling up the flowering vines. However, the vines had a limited load capacity and suddenly snapped in the middle. The five or six people hanging below all fell onto the elevator car and were immediately covered by the gushing poisonous powder! The combined weight of these individuals and their struggling movements caused the elevator car to shake and begin sinking downward!

”Hurry up!” Da Zhi turned back and grabbed the flowering vine, but the two people below reached out and seized his arms, dragging him into the elevator shaft!

”Da Zhi!” Jiang Yihua grabbed his hand, her body wedged against the floor.

Xiao Ba and a few others nearby hurried forward to help, but the flowering vine snapped from above at that moment. The weight of all the people below fell entirely onto Da Zhi. Furthermore, there were three more non-players who had jumped out from the thirteenth floor and were clinging to the legs of those below—nearly ten people strung together in a line!

Da Zhi gripped one end of the flowering vine with one hand and held Jiang Yihua’s hand with the other. Seeing the increasingly dense poisonous powder pouring out from the thirteenth floor, he lifted his head.

”Don’t even think about it!” Jiang Yihua’s face changed dramatically, then she roared, ”Let them go! I’ll pull you up!”

But the three people below had a death grip on his arm, their fingernails digging deep into his flesh. The life-or-death desperation often unleashes unimaginable strength. One person even bit down hard on his fingers!

”You think you can shake us off? If we die, we all die together!” the people below screamed hysterically.

”Kill to save yourself!” Dai Wenqian said coldly.Da Zhi’s face showed hesitation, but Jiang Yihua spoke to the people below, ”Sir, would you like to buy a bouquet of flowers?”

The expressions of the frenzied individuals stiffened for an instant. Once Da Zhi’s hand was free, he quickly pulled out a card and released it downward. A giant tiger materialized, shoving away everyone entangled with him, and the flowering vine fell along with them.

Heavy thuds echoed as bodies slammed onto the elevator car, accompanied by screams and curses. The elevator, stuck between floors, began plummeting rapidly downward.

Da Zhi was pulled up, and the elevator door closed immediately after.

”Stop standing around! Help quickly!” Gu Yu urged. ”Close all the elevator doors!”

Everyone immediately split up to take action.

Since most of the elevator doors on the thirteenth floor were already closed, the Mutants’ jumping ability wasn’t sufficient to clear the height of three consecutive floors. Therefore, closing the elevator doors proceeded without significant obstacles. The real problem lay with the Mutants outside.

Now, the fifteenth floor was wide open. The windows at the front, left, and right sides were completely exposed. Even after clearing the flowering vines inside the room, it still wasn’t safe enough because the vines from the lower floors were tangled and overlapping. As long as some sections clung to the fourteenth floor, they could create opportunities for the Mutants.

After killing two more Mutants attempting to jump up, Xu Huo turned back and said, ”Split up and hide in several offices.”

”Wouldn’t it be better to all hide in the break room together?” Dai Wenqian suggested. ”The break room only has one front door and one window. Whether it’s Mutants or Man-eating Flowers trying to get in, there are only two entry points, making them easier to deal with.”

Xu Huo raised his hand and slashed at the break room wall with his sword. The wall wasn’t made of metal, just ordinary building materials, and was easily damaged.

”The central offices are relatively safer. However, this is mainly for defense against the Man-eating Flowers. Without the vines, the Mutated Animals won’t find it easy to climb up.”

”Then let’s go to the offices,” Chen Shu said. ”I think Kang Hong’s condition isn’t right.”

Gu Yu pulled open the clothes wrapped around him, frowned upon seeing his knee and the upper part of his thigh had turned bluish-black, and asked, ”Has he used an antidote?”

”He already drank it,” Jiang Yihua replied. She had given him all the antidote she obtained from the small cabin in the greenhouse area.

”Does he need more antidote?” Zheng Liang asked. ”I still have some here.”

”It’s useless,” Dai Wenqian stated. ”If the antidote were effective, one dose should have worked. This indicates the medicine isn’t the right treatment. Drinking more won’t help; no need to waste another antidote.”

Zheng Liang still wanted to try, but Zhang Biao interjected, ”Give it to me! I was also bitten by a Mutant!”

Gu Yu went over to check his wound. ”You’re not poisoned at all! What do you need an antidote for?”

”Who knows if there’s poison or not? Just because it hasn’t manifested now doesn’t mean it won’t later!” Zhang Biao argued vehemently.

Zheng Liang couldn’t be bothered with him and directly administered the antidote to Kang Hong.

But as Dai Wenqian had said, drinking it proved useless. Kang Hong’s bodily functions were gradually weakening, and he himself had fallen unconscious.

Chen Shu laid him down on the floor, her eyes reddening as she said, ”He was a good person.”

Gu Yu and the others remained silent. They still needed to guard against the possible return of the Man-eating Flowers and had no extra energy to dwell on such thoughts.

The group moved to the central offices. Xu Huo, Jiang Yihua, and a few others took one room; Dai Wenqian, Gu Yu, and a few others took another; most of the remaining non-players chose to join Xu Huo’s room.

The roars of Mutants could still be heard from below, but as long as they didn’t reach the fifteenth floor, they weren’t a significant threat.

As the sky darkened, the noises outside gradually diminished.

”Kang Hong is dead,” Chen Shu, who had been keeping watch by his side, suddenly announced late at night.

Jiang Yihua and Da Zhi looked saddened. Including the players, only slightly over twenty people had escaped from the thirteenth floor, and now there was one fewer.

”Nearly two hundred people... reduced to just a tenth in two or three days,” Chen Shu said mournfully. ”If we had known this would be the outcome, why did we struggle until now? Maybe we should have just followed the elevator rules to reduce the numbers.”

”Reaching the first floor doesn’t guarantee absolute safety,” Xu Huo said. ”Throughout the entire building, the elevator doors on the fifteenth floor have the most bloodied handprints. This likely means that regardless of how many people reach the first floor, they will ultimately have to face the Mutants. Even if one manages to get to the first floor, surviving is another matter entirely.”

”And those who fell down...” the Wealthy Young Girl said softly. ”If we had reached the fifteenth floor earlier, maybe they wouldn’t have died.”

Jiang Yihua had taken good care of her, so she brought her along when leaving the thirteenth floor, but the injured woman remained on the thirteenth floor forever.

”Who could have known what traps were in the dungeon?” Jiang Yihua said, crossing her arms. ”Just thinking about having to cycle through days like this forever makes me feel that living is worse than dying.”

”I want to become a player,” the young girl stated, her attitude completely opposite. ”Even if it means constantly playing games, it’s better than being randomly pulled into a dungeon and arbitrarily killed.”

Jiang Yihua paused. ”After we get out, you can apply to become a player.”

Some people harbor beautiful hopes only to be shattered by reality; some suffer setbacks and never recover; others go through life-and-death experiences and emerge with stronger convictions. The game is like a long-distance elimination race—some leave, others enter.

Xu Huo glanced at the individuals with their varied expressions, then returned his focus to the window.