"Did you encounter any other accidents coming down from the twelfth floor?" Dai Wenqian raised his voice and asked, "What about the Man-Eating Flower at the bottom of the elevator shaft?"
"It’s still jumping around down there," Xu Huo replied. "It looks like it’s not easy to kill."
Dai Wenqian smiled faintly, "You guys came back with nothing."
"We might not have gained anything, but we didn’t harm anyone either," Jiang Yihua glanced at the corpse on the ground, "unlike you guys."
"Desperate times," Dai Wenqian said with a shrug, making an expression as if he had no other choice.
Jiang Yihua turned her head away and stopped talking.
Since her companion was by her side, Gu Yu didn’t feel it was appropriate to ask Xu Huo about what happened upstairs, so she had no choice but to return to Zheng Liang’s side.
The six hours on the eleventh floor quickly passed, and then it was time to head to the tenth floor.
The tenth floor was originally a laboratory, the floor was littered with shattered experimental equipment, test benches and instruments had been knocked over, and the ground and walls bore scratches from wild beasts. There were occasional dried bloodstains, and although there were no skeletal remains, some suspicious residues were left on the floor.
Xu Huo walked to the window and looked down, still unable to see the first floor, the windows of the ninth floor were also half-obstructed.
He turned back into the room and plunged the Sword into the ground. After it penetrated the floorboards and he pulled it back up, it failed to pierce through to the ninth floor below. He then swung the Sword at the edge of the window, but it seemed that the floors were separated by some special material, as the Sword did not cut through the floorboards.
Brother Tie and his group watched the Sword in his hands, exchanged glances, and Zhang Biao touched the mole on his face before speaking, "I think instead of wasting these six hours sitting here, we should make use of the time."
The others turned to look at him, and Bald Head quickly added, "You mean..."
"Although going up is risky, we can go down the floors ahead of time," Zhang Biao explained. "Back on the fourteenth floor, the reason we lost so many people was that we were newcomers, not clear about the situation. If we had known about the Aliens on the fourteenth floor in advance, that would never have happened."
It sounded somewhat reasonable to the rest of the group, and Zhang Biao looked around before continuing, "So why don’t we just take the initiative and scout ahead before the elevator arrives, to give others a heads-up."
This seemed like a viable plan.
"If we do that, we can indeed avoid certain risks," Kang Hong said pragmatically, "but the ones scouting ahead will definitely be in danger."
"How dangerous can it be?" Brother Tie said dismissively, "Coming down from the upper floors, did we really encounter any fierce Aliens?"
He pointed at Xu Huo and the others, "Didn’t they kill a Mantis? With such a commotion upstairs, no other Mutant Mantis were attracted. Maybe the one they killed was the same creature that killed Wu Kun in the elevator shaft."
"With that in mind, the building should be safer," he suggested.
"But didn’t you say when you came down that there were not only Mutant Mantises but also other Aliens attracted later on? We just escaped ahead of time," Jiang Yihua said with a frown.
"If that Alien was really so powerful, could you really have escaped with your lives?" Brother Tie retorted.
Jiang Yihua was speechless, unable to argue back when she heard him continue, "To put it frankly, in small numbers, the Aliens aren’t that strong, otherwise how could the three of you easily kill one, right?"
"What do you plan to do?" Xu Huo asked at this time.
"Since it’s scouting, we need strong players to go," Brother Tie said, "We have sixteen players here, and we’re not forcing anyone, so let’s just draw straws. Whoever gets picked, goes."
"How about it? Fair enough, right?"
"You can join the lottery if you’re willing to make a sacrifice for everyone," he said, glancing at Kang Hong and the others.
The ordinary people at the back shook their heads like rattle-drums, variously saying, "We agree with your method."
Brother Tie smiled with satisfaction and then looked at Dai Wenqian, "What do you say?"
Dai Wenqian didn’t commit outright but said, "I have no objections as long as most people agree."
Brother Tie then immediately looked for a somewhat intact notebook in the lab, tore out pieces of paper of the same size, marked them with different numbers, and handed all the papers to Gu Yu, "To be fair, let’s decide which numbers will go down to scout the area after everyone has drawn."
For the vast majority of people present and most players, this method was advantageous, as the lower the floors, the more dangerous they seemed. It was sheer luck that they hadn’t encountered any highly aggressive Aliens on the upper floors. If the events of the fourteenth floor were to repeat, no doubt many more would die.
"Let’s do the lottery draw," Xiao Ba said. "After the draw, we’ll choose an elevator, work together to kill the Man-Eating Flower below, and then head down."
"It’s also convenient to descend through the elevator shaft, where we can flee back up immediately if we encounter danger."
The other players thought it over and agreed, but Gu Yu, holding the slips of paper, was hesitant to nod. She knew the capabilities of these players the best; Brother Tie, Zhang Biao, and a few others had only survived one instance, getting the lowest rating. As for the rest, Zheng Liang and Xiao Ba had just disembarked from the preliminary trial train and were not yet due for the next instance.
The most experienced ones present were probably Dai Wenqian and Xu Huo.
Since Dai Wenqian’s stance was unclear, she turned her gaze to Xu Huo, "Do you also agree with this method?"
"Agreed, do as you please," Xu Huo said. "I’m not participating."
Brother Tie’s face darkened, "What do you mean? Wanting to go back on your word?"
Xu Huo glanced at him, "That was something you agreed upon, what does it have to do with me?"
"Xu Huo, it’s not just about you, every player has to draw lots," Zheng Liang said.
Xu Huo went silent, showing no intention of cooperating.
Brother Tie suddenly stood up and glared at him fiercely, "Xu, the minority submits to the majority. Everyone else agrees, why not you?"
"Who said everyone agrees?" Jiang Yihua said. "We will also not participate in the draw."
Brother Tie glanced at Gu Yu, saw her change in attitude, his face momentarily showing annoyance, then said, "Didn’t you stand for justice just now? Why chicken out at this moment?"
"Weren’t you going to rescue people? Turn into a turtle at the sign of actual danger. Nice talk, but no action!"
Brother Tie riled up some of the restless individuals and someone said sarcastically, "Just drop it. Being afraid of death is human nature. Our lives are not as precious as the players’, is it not a pity to let them trample on landmines for us ordinary people?"
"I heard the country is calling for ordinary people to join player squads. My son even wants to sign up. If he turns out , I’ll beat him dead!"
"...The country is doomed in the hands of people ..."
Most people didn’t say anything, but with over a hundred people, even the sporadic comments of a few created a noisy environment when everyone had their say.
Brother Tie laughed, looking triumphantly at Xu Huo.