Players, Please Board the Train

That pea-green object flew right before Xu Huo’s eyes before he could make out its appearance—it was actually a small mechanical fly! As the fly flew, it sprayed out a cloud of red smoke. Frowning, he actively retreated back into the darkness. When he landed back on his original cube pillar, he saw the third player accidentally inhale a bit of the smoke and their expression instantly changed drastically, also immediately withdrawing from the struggle.

”Who do you think you are to compete with me!” The player who successfully occupied the newly appeared cube pillar looked around smugly and let the mechanical fly circle around him.

Xu Huo took an extra glance at that precise mechanism but took no other action, standing on the cube to observe the surroundings.

Although he still couldn’t see or hear anything else in the darkness or all the sounds around him, as expected, the places illuminated by the light beams were clearly visible even from within the darkness, and he could hear their conversations.

The darkness severed the five senses and rendered items ineffective, but where there was light, everything functioned normally.

”Xu Huo?” Yan Jiayu, who had successfully grabbed a new cube pillar, called out towards his direction. Not receiving a response, she grew slightly tense.

Xu Huo tried to respond to her, but clearly, his voice couldn’t reach her side.

”Shouting is useless,” the bearded player said. ”We can’t hear sounds from the darkness, but the cube pillar’s duration is three minutes. Your friend should be fine.”

Yan Jiayu nodded, unable to resist asking, ”How long have you been in here? Is it almost time for the next question?”

The bearded player didn’t answer her, and the other players remained silent as well. Everyone wanted to answer the questions quickly and leave this place early. Telling other players the timing of the next question would undoubtedly increase the difficulty for themselves.The second thirty seconds soon ended. This time, Xu Huo aimed for a cube pillar diagonally ahead to the right and jumped onto it. Due to the considerable distance, the cube swung back and forth significantly as he jumped. He barely managed to steady himself by pressing down with his right hand on the piano wire. However, just as he straightened up, a piece of candy suddenly shot out from the darkness towards him. He caught it with a backhanded motion, but his body swayed again from the movement.

Frowning as he looked towards the direction the candy came from, he said, ”Friend, answering questions is inevitable sooner or later. If it’s not me, there will be another player coming in. There’s no need to use this method to fight for a cube pillar. If you start this trend, you’ll only delay everyone else.”

The duration of each cube pillar is three minutes, and at least six cubes appear every thirty seconds. He had just successfully used the piano wire, which meant items could be used normally in illuminated areas. Therefore, the maximum of fifteen participants for answering questions was sufficient.

In the previous rounds, players only fought and killed each other while scrambling for cube pillars; no one secretly played dirty tricks. Tacitly agreeing to follow this rule benefited everyone.

However, the person who ambushed him clearly didn’t take these words to heart, responding with several more pieces of candy that were comparable to bullets!

After continuously dodging them, Xu Huo took out a glass jar, casually grabbed a few pieces, and shot them back along the same path. He then said into the darkness, ”If you want a war of attrition, that’s fine too. I still have several more jars of candy.”

This time, the other party did not throw any more candy.

”Pfft!” Yan Jiayu couldn’t help but laugh. ”Only children fight by throwing candy.”

Another thirty seconds passed. This time, Xu Huo did not go for a new cube pillar. Instead, he quickly grabbed a handful of candy and hurled it towards the direction from which the earlier attack had come!

”Ugh!” A figure emerged from that direction into the beam of light, but their pace was already disrupted. The other person stepped on the edge of the cube pillar with one foot. The already easily unbalanced cube tilted heavily to one side under the pressure.

As he lost balance and fell, that player reached out and grabbed the edge of the cube, barely delaying his fall for a moment before quickly using a rope to tie himself together with the cube, stopping his downward slide.

But before he could sigh in relief, an apple flew out from the darkness and hit him squarely on the forehead!

Of course, an apple couldn’t cause much damage, but his body swayed again from the impact. The cube also swung and moved accordingly, and the rope barely holding him in place loosened and slipped downward.

”I’ll damn you…” The curse vanished into the darkness along with the player’s descent.

”Hey, hey, everyone, calm down!” a female player standing in a beam of light quickly said. ”Attacking each other is bad for everyone! If you want to fight, wait until you’re out!”

Another player not far from her also said, ”That’s right! I would never attack others in the darkness. Please don’t come looking for trouble with me either. I just want to get out of this damn place quickly!”

The other few players standing in the beams of light didn’t speak, but their expressions grew wary.

While they could roughly guess who had taken action based on the direction, the person throwing candy and the one throwing the apple were clearly not the same individual. Whether they were accomplices or simply seizing the opportunity to kick someone when they were down, it at least indicated one thing: not everyone was solely focused on clearing the stage quickly and leaving. There were plenty of people who wanted to take the chance to harvest the lives of other players.

Xu Huo was in the darkness and couldn’t see Yan Jiayu, who was also in the darkness. He roughly estimated the positions where the cubes had appeared over the past few rounds and, seizing the five seconds before the light beam vanished, jumped onto the cube pillar that the previous player had missed.

The space returned to darkness once more, and new beams of light appeared. However, this time, the clown who announced the rules appeared alongside them!

”Ten minutes are up!” The clown shook its magic wand. ”Next is question time! During the question period, the illumination time for the cube pillars will be doubled. Guests caught in the light, please listen carefully to the question!”

”Wait, that’s not right. It hasn’t been ten minutes since the last question!” A plump player wiping sweat from his forehead said.

”Shut up!” The other five players also in the beam of light simultaneously glared at him angrily. The bearded player quickly said to the clown, ”Please state the question.”

The clown, however, didn’t seem in a hurry. It answered the plump player’s question by making a beckoning cat gesture near its ear and said with a giggle, ”Because my timing is inaccurate.”

Xu Huo’s brow twitched slightly. Inaccurate timing meant opportunities to answer questions could arise before three rounds of cube pillar resets.

”Here is the question: How many floating cubes are there in total in this cube space? Begin the answer rush!”

”One hundred.” A young player closest to the clown answered confidently.

”Bang! Bang!” The clown ran over, set off two party poppers around him, and handed him a small hat. ”Correct answer!”

Immediately after, with a wave of the magic wand, the young player vanished from the cube pillar.

”What kind of question is that!” the plump player exclaimed. ”It’s pitch black everywhere here! How could anyone count the number of cubes!”

”You can calculate it,” the bearded player said, somewhat annoyed. ”Based on the length and width of the giant cube and the spacing between the floating cubes, anyone who can do basic math should be able to figure it out.”

”Exactly!” The clown gave a thumbs-up and said to the other players, ”Everyone, keep up the good work! I’ll be back out again soon!”

After saying this, it vanished back into the darkness. The moment it disappeared, several beams of light lit up on new cubes!