Players, Please Board the Train

However, Xu Huo ignored him and said directly, ”There’s no need for scouting.”

”Regardless of whether there’s danger on the next floor, we all have to follow the elevator down. As long as we stay alert when the doors open, we can achieve the same effect as scouting.”

Brother Tie’s little tricks weren’t worth paying attention to, and Xu Huo had no desire to discuss them further. He looked at Dai Wenqian and said, ”Let’s make a bet.”

Dai Wenqian became interested, ”What kind of bet?”

”A bet on who has better luck,” Xu Huo said. ”There are ten elevators. Let’s see which one gets chosen. Setting aside everyone else, between you and me, whoever gets chosen gets the right to assign elevator distribution for the next floor.”

Dai Wenqian smiled, ”You seem quite confident.”

”Agreed, but for this round, I think we can spread out a bit more. After all, there are enough elevators.”

Counting the one who was just killed, the total number of dead and missing people added up to sixty-five, leaving one hundred thirty people—exactly enough for ten elevators, no more and no less.

But if Xu Huo’s deduction was accurate, then when the elevators reached the ninth floor, there would only be people from nine elevators left.

It wasn’t clear what the rules of the elevator game were, so any of the ten elevators could potentially repeat the disappearance incident that happened from the fifteenth to the fourteenth floor. The best approach would be to reduce the number by thirteen people, so the other nine elevators would be safe, just like when they came down from the thirteenth and twelfth floors.But whether it meant randomly killing thirteen people or leaving thirteen people on the eleventh floor, those thirteen people would basically die. However, if players shared this risk, even if they triggered the elevator game rules, they would have a certain chance of survival.

But if they spread the people who could originally be concentrated in ten elevators across more elevators, there was no guarantee that multiple elevators wouldn’t simultaneously experience ”disappearances.”

This was another unclear aspect of the elevator game.

Dai Wenqian’s suggestion to disperse the people was just an attempt to test for an accurate conclusion.

”There aren’t enough players,” Xu Huo said. ”Each elevator needs at least two players.”

But Dai Wenqian said, ”I can’t control other players. You can discuss it with them yourself.”

Gu Yu, Zheng Liang, Jiang Yihua, Da Zhi, and the others were completely confused by their conversation. Gu Yu frowned and asked, ”What exactly are you two talking about?”

”Nothing much, just someone wanting to use players’ lives to save ordinary people,” Dai Wenqian said lightly. ”Although we have thirteen players on our side, there are five on their side too. If we really fight, no one will benefit. It’s better to sit down and discuss this properly.”

”Five?” Zheng Liang and Jiang Yihua spoke in unison, then turned to look at the group of ordinary people. ”Who are the other two players?”

Xu Huo gestured toward Kang Hong and the tall woman with his chin, ”Stop hiding. We need your input on this matter too.”

Kang Hong and the tall woman showed varying degrees of surprise. The former reacted first and smiled, ”I thought I was hiding pretty well. I didn’t expect to be discovered already.”

The tall woman introduced herself gracefully, ”My name is Chen Shu, E-grade player.”

Jiang Yihua glared at them, ”You hid well enough! And you had the nerve to hide in the back when we were in danger earlier!”

Kang Hong and Chen Shu didn’t refute this, essentially admitting it.

But Dai Wenqian directly exposed these two, ”Don’t set your expectations too high. Everyone who entered this dungeon is an E-grade player. Some might have just come down from the Preliminary Trial Train and don’t even have items or potions yet. What do you expect them to help with?”

Jiang Yihua didn’t say anything more, but Chen Shu said, ”Although we can’t play a key role, we can still lend a hand.”

”Wait a minute!” Zheng Liang suddenly said, ”Since there are so many players here, shouldn’t we confirm player categories? I don’t want to travel with Player-Eaters!”

Chen Shu pulled her shoulder aside, revealing the white number on her back.

Kang Hong followed by showing his number as well—he had a black number.

Then came Jiang Yihua and Da Zhi—one was a White Player, the other a Black Player.

”Your turn,” Xu Huo only showed everyone an ”E” letter.

To show good faith, Gu Yu’s side also displayed their numbers one by one. Most were Black Players, while Zheng Liang and Xiao Ba were White Players.

Jiang Yihua looked at Zheng Liang with some surprise, ”I didn’t expect you to be a good person.”

Zheng Liang’s face turned red with anger.

After checking the numbers, the group of players had established some preliminary cooperative trust.

The group moved to a nearby laboratory, where Xu Huo explained his guesses about the dungeon game mechanics and proposed distributing players across each elevator to counter the risks.

”According to what you’re saying, the extra elevator is definitely dangerous. We might not even know how we died. Why should we risk our lives for a bunch of strangers?” Brother Tie was the first to object.

”I think most of the Mutants in this building have starved to death. Even if there are some still alive, they’re definitely no match for players,” Xu Huo countered him. ”Besides, the minority should yield to the majority.”

Brother Tie’s injured face twisted somewhat. He looked at Gu Yu and the others, ”Do you all agree?”

Gu Yu nodded, ”This isn’t a bad approach.”

”Besides, this is just Xu Huo and Dai Wenqian’s speculation—it’s not certain. If we can use this opportunity to figure out the game rules, our survival rate will be higher too.”

Zheng Liang and Xiao Ba immediately said they would follow Gu Yu’s lead.

Zhang Biao and the Bald Player exchanged glances, then agreed as well.

Brother Tie looked at them with anger, ”Have you all been kicked in the head by a donkey too?”

Zhang Biao quickly said, ”Brother Tie, this method is actually really good. It protects ourselves while saving others—killing two birds with one stone.”

”Bullshit!” Brother Tie shouted. ”If the next floor really reduces the number by one elevator’s worth of people, why not just leave those people on the upper floor!”

Wei Bin rolled his eyes, ”Are you stupid?”

”Can’t you see the current situation clearly?”

”We have eighteen players here. Even if everyone outside dies, we’ll still have five extra by the time we reach the first floor. Do you think we should find five people to commit suicide in advance or what?”

After hearing Xu Huo’s words, Wei Bin immediately understood why Dai Wenqian wanted to bet with him—because Dai Wenqian wasn’t confident enough to kill Xu Huo, and if they turned against each other, he might be killed by Xu Huo instead. Therefore, until the last moment, mutual restraint was best.

The anger on Brother Tie’s face froze. He suddenly turned to look at Xu Huo and realized he had been staring at him expressionlessly the whole time.

His heart skipped a beat, and he suddenly felt something was wrong. If it came to that point, it was hard to say who this person would target first.

Brother Tie calmed down and said with slight reluctance, ”My brain doesn’t work well. I’ll do whatever you all decide.”

With the troublemaker subdued, the next issue was player distribution.

Dai Wenqian proposed spreading the people originally in ten elevators across more elevators. But dividing the elevators meant dividing the players, and the more dispersed the players were, the higher the risk for each player. Therefore, during this attempt, several of the extra elevators might all fail.