Chapter 180 Dream Stairs

【？ ？ ？】

【Oh my god, I’m having a panic attack ahh ...

Studies have shown that cockroaches can move at speeds up to fifty times their own length per second.

In short, on this staircase with a side length of less than one meter, this arthropod can climb up from one side in one second and jump directly to the other side in the next second.

There's nowhere to hide.

Almost at the moment the insect appeared on the steps, the silk thread had already shot out along the man's fingertips, and golden light poured down like a waterfall, circling madly under his feet.

The moment the arthropod climbed up, the silk threads had already been woven into a barrier, and the metal shovel clanged into the ground.

Shi Yu lit the tail end of the silk thread ball with fire and threw the lighter away.

The fuel in the lighter's fuel port was opened and poured out. The compressed liquid alkane vaporized rapidly, spraying and expanding outward like a fire extinguisher, and thick white smoke quickly filled the steps.

The fastest beetle had already passed through the layers of silk barriers and opened its mouth with the sharp weapon to bite him.

Shi Yu jumped up on the long handle of the shovel. His body was like a taut bow. At the moment when he stayed in the air due to inertia, he directly let go of the burning ball of silk thread in his hand.

The flickering flames vibrated and rubbed with high concentrations of gas, and suddenly light splashed, and a shocking explosion sounded in the darkness.

"Bang--!!"

【Fuck】

【This is a rip-off!!!】

[The teacher is so beautiful! ! So handsome! ! ! ]

[I hate bugs and feel extremely comfortable with this picture]

[On the thousand ways to use lighters as thermal weapons]

After all, the props produced by the system are not comparable to ordinary lighters. The huge power that burst out in an instant knocked the body falling in the air up again.

Quartz ceramics supported the narrow steps to provide a foothold. Densely packed arthropods crackled and exploded in the firelight, and in a moment they were burned into black residue on the ground.

Shi Yu walked down the ground, stepping on the corpses of insects, and put the ceramic pot used as a footstool and the shovel used as a support pole into the backpack.

The scene suddenly changed.

※

"Idol?"

When Shi Yu stood up, he found himself back in the enlarged version of the primeval forest.

Ji Congyang was obviously excited about the reunion and jumped up to him. But before he could touch the corner of his clothes, someone pulled him away by the back of his collar.

Qiao Yan glanced back at the male player in black who was still standing in front of the gathering fountain, then turned back and said, "Let's talk while we walk."

He started by asking the most inappropriate question: "What have you seen, heard, and done since you entered the game?"

Shi Yu listened to this question: "You guys weren't together at the beginning?"

"No." Qiao Yan said briefly, "I appeared on one of the steps of a staircase."

Ji Congyang was still organizing his words.

Qiao Yan nudged his arm with her elbow: "We don't have much time, so let's make it short."

Ji Congyang said: "I should also be on a staircase, but it's dark all around and I can't see anything."

Qiao Yan: "Then?"

"Then a dice suddenly flew in front of me and I rolled a six."

"And then?"

"Then I thought I would get some instructions about what throwing out six dots meant, but I waited for a long time and nothing happened. I didn't dare to move, not even my feet. As a result, my feet became numb from squatting for too long, and when I stood up, I fell and used my hands to support myself on the ground. I found that the thing in front of me was not a cliff, but stairs, and I could climb up."

“…”

"I moved forward one step, and found that the new step I stepped on was lit up, while the original step was dark, just like a dance machine. I thought, this is familiar to me, isn't it just flying chess? You move as many steps as you throw."

“…”

"I walked six spots, and then I came here, but I just saw you and didn't say a word before I was back on the stairs; then I threw six spots again, so I walked six more spaces; then, then, then..."

Qiao Yan listened with a blank expression.

The other end changed the subject: "I saw a dead body."

The air suddenly became quiet.

"It's really a corpse." Seeing that none of them said anything, Ji Congyang thought they didn't believe him, so he hurriedly proved his innocence, "The one wearing the player bracelet, I guess it should be a player who died in this game."

Shi Yu suddenly asked, "Are there any injuries on the body?"

"No." Ji Congyang had obviously observed this, "But I found a bee next to the player's body."

Shi Yu was stunned when he heard this.

Bees again?

He asked, "Is there no poison needle on the body?"

The other party shook his head: "I didn't see it."

"Was there any blood on the body?"

Still shaking his head: "I didn't see any external injuries on him."

"What did the corpse look like?"

Ji Congyang recalled for a moment and said hesitantly: "Looks quite peaceful?"

Qiao Yan listened to the conversation between the two from the side.

In fact, the meaning of Shi Yu's questions was very clear. He just wanted to determine whether the dead player died from trauma caused by external violence, or died from some supernatural force that could not be explained by science.

But what if he asked?

——How did the person die?

--have no idea.

——Can’t you observe?

——I observed that there was a wasp next to the corpse.

——Was that man stung to death by a wasp?

——I don’t know. I didn’t see any injuries on the body.

——Now that you have found the body, don’t you know how to find out the cause of death?

Ji Congyang reacted: "That person looked like he was asleep, it doesn't look like he suffered any pain before his death... But if he didn't get hurt, how did he die?"

"It should be because you left the grid." Shi Yu looked at Qiao Yan, "Did you also walk up the stairs by the points?"

Qiao Yan nodded.

"The stairs are one of the venues for this game. The dice do not need to be actively sought by the player. Just wait for it to appear on its own. The rule of survival is to walk the stairs according to the number of points rolled. If the number of steps is too many or too few, it will be judged as a violation and the player will die immediately."

Qiao Yan grasped the key words in his words: "Direct death?"

"I also met a player before I threw the first round of dice." Shi Yu opened his mouth and dropped a thunderbolt, "He ran up from downstairs. When he saw me, his pupils were still moving, but he stopped breathing after landing, and a bee fell out of his clothes."

Qiao Yan: "Killed by a bee sting?"

Shi Yu shook his head: "There are no signs of being stung on his body."

"Because the bees didn't kill him, it means he died because he violated the rules and reached your step? Why?" Qiao Yan asked, "You don't know which floor he was originally standing on, and you don't know how many points he shook. How can you be sure that he couldn't have reached your step according to the number of steps?"

"The point is not whether the bees killed him," Shi Yu said calmly, "but how the bees caused him to react. If you were standing on a one-square-meter open space and a swarm of wasps suddenly flew in front of you, what would you do?"

Qiao Yan's conditioned reflex: "Of course I hide..."

He suddenly realized.

Shi Yu said: "He is the same. In fact, except for him, most players' first reaction when they suddenly encounter a swarm of wasps is to hide. Once they have the idea of hiding, they will run upstairs or downstairs. Once they leave the original steps, they will be killed by the rules the moment they hit the ground. Or if the player falls out of the correct step range in extreme panic, the part of the body that exceeds a certain percentage of the whole body may be judged as a violation."

"Of course, in addition to passive behavior, some players may have actively violated the rules. After all, at the beginning of the game, no one knew the consequences of taking the wrong steps. In order to understand the environment, many players would probably try to go up or down the stairs before throwing the dice. The mortality rate could be very high, so only twelve of the sixteen players showed up when the game first gathered."

"If that's the case, then whether you can survive this game depends entirely on luck?" Qiao Yan looked at him. "According to what you said, the players don't know anything at the beginning, so doesn't it mean there is a 50% chance of choosing to go upstairs or go downstairs?"

Shi Yu: "When players are sent to the stairs at the beginning of the game, they should be facing upstairs."

Qiao Yan was stunned.

"I remember the direction I stood at the beginning. The front was up, the back was down, and both sides were vertical." Shi Yu said, "Ji Congyang also said just now that he found the stairs in front of him and had never moved before, which means that the stairs he was facing were also upwards."

Ji Congyang was suddenly nominated and nodded subconsciously.

Shi Yu: "Are you also going upstairs?"

Qiao Yan did not deny it.

"If the player is initially sent to the stairs and faces the direction of going upstairs, then the probability of choosing to go upstairs is more than 50%." Shi Yu said, "Then there are cockroaches and bees."

Qiao Yan listened: "Where did the cockroach come from?"

Shi Yu: “I encountered it.”

Ji Congyang suddenly heard this and his eyes widened: "When?!"

"After throwing the dice for the second time and walking up the stairs." Shi Yu didn't explain much, "Neither bees nor cockroaches are poisonous. It's not clear whether these two things have anything to do with the primeval forest, but their nature should be the same, just to make players break their rules and walk out of the safe stairs."

Qiao Yan made a guess: "If you roll a certain number, a certain animal will be summoned?"

Shi Yu shook his head: "I threw a little both times, but only the second time did a swarm of insects appear."

"What if the number of dangerous points in each round is different?" Qiao Yan walked over the dead leaves on the ground. "The first round is between 2, 3 and 5 points, and the second round is 1 point."

"Among the players who gathered earlier, there were those who threw two, three, and five points."

"What if they have encountered it and taken action?"

"We can't rule out this possibility," Shi Yu said, "but I can't explain whether the number of danger points in each round changes randomly or follows a specific pattern."

"Do you have any other guesses?"

"Stairs."

Qiao Yan was startled for a moment, then his thoughts suddenly became clear: "Are the dangerous steps reusable or consumable?"

"Too little data to be clear." Shi Yu shook his head. "Besides, the bigger problem now is the venue rather than whether the dangerous steps can be effective a second time."

"What do you mean?"

"It is now known that there are five players who appear on the stairs at the beginning of the game. There should be no doubt that all players will be sent to the stairs at the beginning. Do all players appear on the same stairs?"

Qiao Yan reflected on what he meant: "Do you think there is more than one staircase?"

Shi Yu: "Players can't see the surrounding scene, nor do they know each other's position. No one knows what the entire staircase looks like."

Qiao Yan: "But you and he both encountered other people on the stairs..."

The other party only said half of his words before the rest of the voice disappeared into the darkness.

The environment jumps again.

Shi Yu stood on the stairs and saw a thick layer of insect corpses piled up under his feet.