Players, Please Board the Train

On the other side, Kang Hong and Chen Shu closed the nearby elevator doors. In their haste, Chen Shu glanced into the elevator shaft and cried out in terror, ”All the elevator doors below are open! Mutants are coming up from the third and fourth floors!”

”Close the doors!” Kang Hong shouted.

Working together, they managed to trap one Mutant that had climbed up the elevator shaft walls inside. Without a moment’s pause, they immediately moved to close the next elevator door.

But there were more Mutants than they had anticipated, and they were faster too. Kang Hong was caught off guard when a Mutant bit his leg, dragging half his body into the elevator shaft. Chen Shu reacted quickly and grabbed him. Seeing more Mutants appearing one after another at the elevator doors below, looking up and attempting to climb, Chen Shu turned her head and yelled, ”Someone help Kang Hong, quick!”

Xiao Ba, who was closest, immediately went to assist. Meanwhile, Xu Huo and the others were being held up by a two-meter-tall Mutant.

A two-meter-tall Mutant should, by height alone, be very imposing. But in reality, this particular Mutant seemed to have congenital defects. It somewhat resembled a wild boar, with no obvious fur, an unusually short body, oddly long limbs, and a pair of substantial tusks in its mouth. Its mismatched body looked very unbalanced at first glance.

However, its speed and strength far exceeded that of other Mutants. It repeatedly dodged attacks from Xu Huo and Dai Wenqian, and even kicked Gu Yu, causing serious injury. When Chen Shu called for help, it was stepping on the Ox Shield, crushing Xu Huo against the wall!

Gu Yu charged from behind and knocked one of its hind legs askew, allowing Xu Huo to break free. But immediately after, the Mutant tilted its head and sent Xu Huo flying with a blow!

Zheng Liang used his characteristic speed to attract the Mutant’s attention. After luring it away from Xu Huo, he kept changing positions. Nearly all the glass rooms on the entire thirteenth floor were smashed to pieces by the Mutant!

Landing near the elevator, Xu Huo turned his head and saw Chen Shu’s legs, braced against the half-closed elevator door, shaking violently. Even with Xiao Ba holding her waist, they couldn’t pull her up. He pushed himself off the ground, stood up, went over, killed the Mutant hanging from Kang Hong’s leg with a few sword strikes, pulled both of them up, and then closed the elevator door.Ignoring the banging and roaring from inside, he quickly returned to the battle.

”Cough!” Dai Wenqian smashed a potion bottle, blinding one of the Mutant’s eyes, but was then thrown against a glass room. Coughing up blood as he landed amidst the shattered glass, he said quickly, ”If we keep fighting like this, we’re doomed for sure! We need to lure it into the elevator shaft!”

Not all fifteen elevators were completely closed. Xu Huo exchanged glances with Gu Yu and Zheng Liang. Zheng Liang was responsible for attracting the Mutant’s attention and leading it toward the elevators, while Xu Huo and Gu Yu provided support from the left and right, acting as targets to distract the Mutant and prevent it from deviating from the path.

But just as they managed to lure it to the elevator door, the creature moved away from the door the moment Zheng Liang left. With extreme speed, it chased down the fleeing Zheng Liang and stabbed one of its tusks into his armpit!

”Damn it!” Zheng Liang, who had narrowly avoided worse injury, couldn’t help but shout, then yelled, ”My characteristic’s time limit is up!”

At that moment, Xu Huo moved in from the side and slashed the Mutant’s front leg with his sword!

The Crimson Sword’s effect could only target the nearest single object. Now, with the entire thirteenth floor covered in fragments, the special item’s effect couldn’t be utilized properly, so it could only function as a sharp sword!

However, this strike still had an effect.

The enraged Mutant turned around to chase him. Xu Huo, using his own speed enhanced by the Super Running Shoes, rushed toward the elevator and leaped inside!

The tall but short-bodied Mutant followed him, pouncing in after him!

This Mutant clearly couldn’t climb. Once it jumped in, it could only fall. Xu Huo, holding onto the piano wire, hovered above. With a small swing of his sword, and with no obstructions in the way, he killed it.

The Mutant’s corpse fell deep into the elevator shaft. He didn’t kill any other Mutants but returned to the thirteenth floor and closed the elevator door.

At this point, the Mutants on the thirteenth floor were considered all cleared out. Jiang Yihua, Da Zhi, Xiao Ba, Zheng Liang, and Chen Shu all had minor injuries. Xu Huo, Dai Wenqian, and Gu Yu had significant internal injuries. The most severely injured was Kang Hong; both his legs had been bitten by multiple Mutants simultaneously. The flesh on his calves was almost entirely gnawed away, leaving stark white bones exposed.

Chen Shu quickly bandaged his legs, while Jiang Yihua and Da Zhi helped feed him a healing potion.

As for Zhang Biao, aside from one arm being temporarily immobile, he had no other injuries. The Bald Player was even luckier, with only some scrapes. None of the dozen or so people who went down with them had returned.

”What the hell were you all rummaging for down there?” Zheng Liang grabbed Zhang Biao by the arm. ”You actually attracted so many Mutants! Are you trying to get us all killed?!”

Zhang Biao looked aggrieved. ”I was just the same as yesterday, sifting through trash! I didn’t touch anything else! How was I supposed to know Mutants would come out!”

”If I’d known, I wouldn’t have gone out at all!”

”Bullshit!” Zheng Liang clenched his fist, ready to hit him. The Bald Player hurried over to stop him. ”Don’t fight, don’t fight! We’re all on the same side. Nobody wanted to attract Mutants. But thankfully, we’ve closed all the elevator doors now...”

Before he could finish speaking, chewing and banging sounds suddenly came from the direction of the windows!

”It’s Mutants!” Jiang Yihua said in shock. ”They’re climbing up the flower vines!”

”Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid!” Da Zhi said. ”The windows are sealed with metal! They can’t get in!”

However, misfortune never comes alone. The sound of something crawling came from the ventilation ducts on the thirteenth floor.

Everyone looked up, only to see the vent covers shaking.

It turned out that metal strips had been placed under the covers, propping them up along with the glass rooms. But during the fight, these metal strips supporting the covers, along with the glass rooms, had been knocked away. Now, there was only a layer of tape sealing them!

”Don’t tell me Mutants are going to crawl in through the ventilation ducts!” Zheng Liang swallowed hard.

”Not Mutants, it’s the Man-eating Flowers!” Xu Huo’s expression changed. ”Get to the fifteenth floor, now!”

”The elevator shaft is full of Mutants! How do we get up?” Jiang Yihua said.

”There’s one elevator stuck between the thirteenth and twelfth floors!” Xiao Ba immediately went to find that elevator. After opening the elevator door, he said, ”It’s here!”

”I’ll go up first!” Zheng Liang picked up a Man-eating Flower vine.

”I’ll go with you.” Xu Huo stepped forward and went up to the fifteenth floor with him.

The fifteenth floor also had quite a few Man-eating Flowers spread around, though significantly fewer than downstairs. Taking advantage of the Mutants being attracted to the thirteenth floor, Xu Huo first cut the Man-eating Flowers connected to the windows.

The tape previously used to seal the windows had some effect. Some of the Man-eating Flower vines had gotten stuck together by the tape, forming a single mass that could be severed with one sword strike.

Over there, Zheng Liang secured the vine and started clearing the vines with him.

Seeing Mutants starting to climb up, he threw an electrical cable out the window, then slammed a container down, shouting, ”Screw you! I don’t believe you aren’t afraid of electricity!”

He pulled the switch, and two Mutants were electrocuted and fell. Zheng Liang laughed heartily.

Xu Huo stepped forward and kicked him. ”Go clear the vines on the left and right!”