However, Xu Huo disregarded him and went straight to the point, "Scouting is unnecessary."
"Regardless of whether the next floor is dangerous or not, we need 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 trick was not impressive. Xu Huo had no desire to elaborate. He looked at Dai Wenqian, "Let’s make a bet."
Dai Wenqian was intrigued, "What’s the bet?"
"A bet on who has better luck," Xu Huo said. "Ten elevators. Let’s see which one will be chosen. Apart from you and me, no mention of others; between you and me, whoever gets chosen will have the right to allocate the elevators on the next floor."
Dai Wenqian smiled, "Seems like you’re quite confident."
"Sure. But I think this round we can spread out a bit, since there are enough elevators anyway."
Counting the one who was just killed, a total of sixty-five people have died or gone missing, leaving one hundred thirty people—just enough for ten elevators, not one more or less.
But if Xu Huo’s deduction was correct, when the elevator reached the ninth floor, only the people in nine elevators would remain.
Since the rules of the elevator game were not yet clear, any of the ten elevators could potentially repeat the disappearance event from the fifteenth to fourteenth floor. The best strategy would be to reduce the number by thirteen, ensuring the safety of the other nine elevators, just like when descending from floors thirteen and twelve.
Regardless of whether it was random killing or leaving thirteen people on the eleventh floor, those thirteen would likely die. But if the players shared this risk, even if they triggered the rules of the elevator game, there was still a chance of survival.
However, if the people otherwise concentrated in ten elevators were dispersed into more, there was no guarantee that multiple elevators wouldn’t simultaneously "disappear."
This was one of the unclear aspects of the elevator game.
Dai Wenqian suggested spreading out the numbers, simply wanting to arrive at a clear conclusion.
"There aren’t enough players," Xu Huo said. "Each elevator should have at least two players."
Dai Wenqian replied, "I can’t influence other players; you can discuss it with them yourself."
Gu Yu, Zheng Liang, and others like Jiang Yihua and Da Zhi listened to the conversation between the two with confusion. Gu Yu frowned and asked, "What exactly are you talking about?"
"It’s nothing. Just that someone wants to risk the lives of players to save ordinary people," Dai Wenqian said casually. "Although we have thirteen players here, there are also five on the other side. Stirring things up won’t do anyone good. It’s better to sit down and discuss things properly."
"Five?" Zheng Liang and Jiang Yihua asked in unison, then turned their heads to look at the group of ordinary people, "Who are the other two players?"
Xu Huo gestured with his chin towards Kang Hong and the tall woman, "Stop hiding. You two need to express your stance on this matter as well."
Kang Hong and the tall woman showed varying degrees of surprise, with the former eventually smiling, "I thought I was hiding pretty well, didn’t realize I had been found out."
The tall woman introduced herself graciously, "My name is Chen Shu, a Level E Player."
Jiang Yihua glared at the two, "Quite the deep cover, hiding behind others when danger strikes!"
Kang Hong and Chen Shu did not argue, which was as good as admitting it.
However, Dai Wenqian directly unveiled their secret, "Don’t set your expectations too high. Everyone who entered this instance is a Level E Player. Some may have just come from the preliminary screening train and might not even have any items or potions. What do you expect them to help with?"
Jiang Yihua had nothing to say in response, but Chen Shu spoke up, "Although I might not play a key role, I can still lend a hand."
"Hold on!" Zheng Liang suddenly said, "Since there are so many players here, shouldn’t we confirm the type of players? I don’t want to travel with a Cannibal Player!"
Chen Shu pulled at her shoulder, revealing the white number on her back.
Kang Hong followed suit and revealed his number; he was a Black Player.
Then came Jiang Yihua and Da Zhi, one a White Player, the other a Black Player.
"It’s your turn." Xu Huo showed everyone just the letter "E."
As a gesture of sincerity, Gu Yu and the others also showed their numbers, most of which were Black Players, while Zheng Liang and Xiao Ba were White Players.
Jiang Yihua looked at Zheng Liang in surprise, "I didn’t think you were one of the good guys."
Zheng Liang’s face turned red with anger.
After checking the numbers, the group of players had established a preliminary intent to cooperate.
The party moved to a laboratory next door, where Xu Huo shared his guesses about the game’s mechanics and suggested spreading players across each elevator to mitigate risks.
"According to what you’re saying, the extra elevators are definitely dangerous, and one might not even know how they died. Why should we risk our lives for a bunch of strangers?" Brother Tie was the first to object.
"I think most of the Aliens in this building have starved to death. Even if there are survivors, they are probably no match for the players," Xu Huo countered, "besides, the minority must follow the majority."
Brother Tie’s injured face twisted a bit as he looked towards Gu Yu and the others, "Do you all agree?"
Gu Yu nodded, "This is a viable strategy."
"Besides, this is just a guess by Xu Huo and Dai Wenqian, it’s not certain. If we can use it to figure out the rules of the game, our chances of survival will also be higher."
Zheng Liang and Xiao Ba immediately expressed their willingness to follow Gu Yu’s lead.
Zhang Biao and the Bald Player exchanged glances and also agreed.
Brother Tie looked at them angrily, "Have you all had your brains kicked in by donkeys?"
Zhang Biao quickly said, "Brother Tie, this strategy is actually really good. It’s self-preserving and can save others, killing two birds with one stone."
"Bullshit!" Brother Tie shouted, "If it really comes to reducing the number of people in the elevators on the next floor, why not just leave those people upstairs!"
Wei Bin rolled his eyes, "Are you stupid or what?"
"Can’t you see the situation here?"
"We have eighteen players here. Even if everyone else outside is dead, we’ll still have five too many by the time we reach the first floor. Do you think we should pick five people to commit suicide now or what?"
After listening to Xu Huo, Wei Bin immediately understood why Dai Wenqian had bet with him: because Dai Wenqian wasn’t confident enough to kill Xu Huo. Once they turned on each other, Dai Wenqian could be killed by Xu Huo, so until the very last moment, mutual restraint was the best option.
The anger on Brother Tie’s face froze, and as he turned to look at Xu Huo, he realized Xu Huo had been staring at him expressionlessly the whole time.
A chill ran through him; if it came to that point, it was hard to say whom this man would strike first.
Brother Tie calmed down and said with slight unwillingness, "I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed, so we’ll do as you say."
With the troublemaker subdued, what followed was the issue of player distribution.
Dai Wenqian’s proposal was to spread the number of people in the original ten elevators to even more elevators, but dividing among elevators meant dividing the players. The more dispersed the players became, the higher the risk for each one, so the extra elevators introduced this time might all end up failing.