"I’m telling you, there’s nothing wrong." Zhang Biao chuckled after a glance and his laughter dispersed Da Zhi’s anger like smoke, "I think Dai Wenqian and that Xu guy are just exaggerating. It’s not as dangerous as they say!"
Gu Yu and Kang Hong exchanged a look, both somewhat incredulous.
"Maybe we’re just too nervous," Gu Yu said. "There might be a chance of being attacked through the window, but it’s not a certain death situation."
"We can only hope for the best," Kang Hong said, looking back. "At least those who stayed behind still have a chance to live."
Three hours quickly passed, and everyone, along with the unconscious middle-aged man, took the elevator down to the seventh floor.
As for the potted plants that Brother Tie and his group had moved down from the thirteenth floor, apart from his companions, no one else got any. The extras were all smashed downstairs by them.
The cart belonging to Xu Huo, however, was taken away by Kang Hong and Chen Shu together.
"Wouldn’t it be safer to have the potted plants?" the man with the square face asked. "It wouldn’t hurt to give them some."
"If everyone gets a plant, we’ll be in danger," Brother Tie said. "Whether these things are useful or not is another matter, but we can’t let them increase our risk."
As they were talking, the elevator reached the seventh floor. As soon as the door opened, the first thing they heard was a chilling chewing sound. The players were on high alert, but upon closer inspection, they didn’t find anything dangerous—just some gnawed-on corpses, not much different from the floors above.
Chen Shu found the source of the sound. It was a plant in the corner. "This is what’s making the noise."
Gu Yu went over for a look and recalled carefully, "There seemed to be one like it on the thirteenth floor. I can’t quite remember the name, but it can record sounds. The longest it can remember is one week."
"There really is every sort of bizarre plant," Chen Shu remarked.
"What’s there to study about some lousy flower?" Zhang Biao snorted with disdain and then noticed something under a nearby corpse. He walked over, turned the body over, and retrieved the item underneath, suddenly exclaiming with delight, "It’s a prop!"
Brother Tie and his group hurried over, and Zhang Biao immediately pocketed the prop in his inventory, later saying, "This corpse must have been a player. Let’s look around; maybe there are other props."
Several players immediately searched the seventh floor and indeed found two more unclaimed props.
Killing a player allows for taking over any possessions including props, potions, and tickets, but if a player dies accidentally or at non-player hands, the items are reclaimed by the game. Only props a player was using at the moment of death will drop on the spot and become unclaimed.
Brother Tie picked up a knife and, after pocketing it, commented, "Pretty average, huh?"
"You should be content," Zhang Biao said. "The best players who can enter this dungeon are Level D players. Many Level E players don’t even have a prop to their names, and Level D players can’t be that well off."
Brother Tie looked at the box in Chen Shu’s hand and reached out, "Yours, let me have a look."
Chen Shu put the wooden box prop away, "Finders keepers."
By her side, Kang Hong and Gu Yu among others looked over.
Brother Tie let out a cold laugh and looked away, taking out a pen, "Let’s not waste time. Time to draw lots."
Meanwhile, inside the small wooden cabin in the glass greenhouse.
"The Man-Eating Flower twitched just now," Jiang Yihua said, looking at the distant flower crown. "There was a spike in energy levels."
"Could it be that something’s gone wrong outside?" Zheng Liang said anxiously, "Gu Yu and all of them are outside."
"It won’t be a big problem," Xu Huo replied. "Kang Hong and the three of them, along with her, are basically on par with the remaining players, unless the other eighty-two people join forces against the players."
Jiang Yihua had a sudden realization, "So that’s why you wanted Da Zhi and the others to stay behind."
"But this is unlikely to have much effect," Xu Huo said. "They’ve already reached the seventh floor, reducing the number of people is inevitable."
"Could Da Zhi and the others be in danger?" Jiang Yihua asked anxiously. "Even a cornered rabbit will bite. Certainly, no one’s willing to die willingly."
"Those guys like Zhang Biao might seem dumb, but they’ve got some smarts," Dai Wenqian said indifferently. "They won’t let non-players kill the players, one against ten has a chance of winning."
"Instead of worrying about others, we should worry about ourselves," Wei Bin couldn’t help saying. "This light can only last for twelve hours; more than half the time is already gone."
"How are we going to get out?"
Xu Huo had already tried using the piano wire. The top and ground of the glass greenhouse were more than seventy meters apart, out of reach from the light, and besides a switch button, no other operations could be performed inside the small cabin, so making a path with a high-luminance light was not feasible.
"Start with the Man-Eating Flower," Dai Wenqian said succinctly. "Once the Man-Eating Flower starts moving, it can drive away other mutant animals. It’s not far from this building. If we move fast, we can run over there."
Jiang Yihua was taken aback, "What about the other two people?"
Dai Wenqian shrugged and did not respond.
The young girl who had been squatting in a corner, too scared to get too close to or too far away from them, started crying again, choking up, "Don’t leave me behind, my family is very rich, I can give you money..."
"Who cares about your money!" Zheng Liang interrupted her impatiently, then paused and added, "We won’t abandon you unless it’s absolutely necessary."
Xu Huo assessed the approximate location of the Man-Eating Flower within the entire glass greenhouse and recalled in detail the hurried glimpse he had of the circuit layout, frowning slightly.
The main circuitry was too far from both the cabin and the Man-Eating Flower, and the lines were dispersed. Even starting a fire wouldn’t be effective unless there was a large amount of flammable material. Thus, traversing the dense foliage was too dangerous without knowing how many Aliens were hidden, especially before creating a clear path.
Moreover, that giant Man-Eating Flower did not seem very obedient; they could end up being attacked from both sides.
If only they could divert the attention of the Aliens and the Man-Eating Flower...
No sooner had this thought crossed his mind than the dense foliage suddenly rustled. He jerked his head up just in time to see the giant Man-Eating Flower start trembling. It stretched its broad leaves, and while avoiding the spots illuminated by the high-luminance light, its crown spurted out a myriad of small Man-Eating Flowers that slithered like snakes towards the direction of the building!
"Perfect chance!" Dai Wenqian was the first to leap out of the cabin.
"Let’s go too!" Xu Huo quickly rushed into the rest area, tied up the injured woman and the young girl with bedsheets using the piano wire, and flew out of the cabin. Following the surge of the small Man-Eating Flowers, he ran towards the building.
Something in the building’s direction seemed to be attracting the giant Man-Eating Flower; it did not attack Xu Huo and the others or the surrounding mutant animals. But the fleeing mutants gave them the perfect opportunity to escape. In the blink of an eye, they reached the base of the building!
Two large doors, one red and one green, appeared ahead. Dai Wenqian, who was leading the way, and Xu Huo, who caught up later, almost simultaneously opened the doors in front of them, only one chose the green door, the other the red door!
Before entering, Xu Huo saw surprise on Dai Wenqian’s face, but in a split second, their gaze diverted, and they were already inside the building. Behind them, Jiang Yihua and Zheng Liang caught the two dropped down by the piano wire. Seeing Wei Bin enter the door next to them, they immediately closed the door!