Chapter 99: Thousand Faces of All Living Things (7)
After Duan Jiangli awkwardly fumbled out the crystal core from the last strange-shaped creature, Gu Qiufeng looked at Duan Jiangli covered in blood and silently took two steps back.
Duan Jiangli: "...are you serious about taking a half step back?"
Gu Qiufeng shrugged: "I'm not sure if you're injured or not. What if you suddenly mutate and rush over to bite me?"
Duan Jiangli: "..."
I always feel like something is wrong, but I can't refute it.
Having just emerged from a fierce fight, Duan Jiangli's brain and body were now in a state of extreme exhaustion. He had no time to think about the teasing in Gu Qiufeng's jokes.
He lifted up the half of his bangs that were wet with blood and narrowed his eyes. "Where are we going after we pass the customs?"
Gu Qiufeng asked, "Do you still remember the rules on that piece of paper?"
"I remember roughly what happened?" Duan Jiangli asked.
Gu Qiufeng said, "That's right. The paper only tells us to experience the entertainment facilities on each floor, but it doesn't tell us how to get to City A. Are you planning to go up one floor at a time?"
Duan Jiangli was stunned for a long while before he managed to utter two words: "Fuck."
He said depressedly: "Why is this game so old and shady."
Gu Qiufeng patted his shoulder and said, "Just get used to it. But have you thought about our next course of action?"
Duan Jiangli said: "Senior, you are so confident, you should have the answer in your mind, right? Why are you asking me again?"
Gu Qiufeng smiled and said, "Every time we enter a copy of a floor, we have to go through a corridor and open a door. And when we finish, we will also go out through the same door and return to the elevator."
"Door?" Duan Jiangli suddenly understood. "There must be a specific door hidden among so many doors!"
Gu Qiufeng said: "So our goal should not be to clear the level, but to find a door that can lead to City A when opened."
"But where should such a door be?" Duan Jiangli pondered, "This only means that we must find a specific floor, but we don't know which floor is the real link to City A. We have to try it out floor by floor. Isn't this no different from brushing a dungeon like a headless fly?"
Gu Qiufeng nodded: "I think most of the A-level players who haven't cleared the game think the same way."
The difficulty lies in how to find a specific floor.
"According to the rules, the higher the floor, the greater the difficulty. Therefore, most players who want to find a specific floor will die or quit in time due to mental and physical fatigue as they continue to climb higher floors." Duan Jiangli said, "And according to the performance of those players, the difficulty of the higher floors may be extremely high that we have not experienced yet."
Gu Qiufeng said, "Since we are looking for a specific floor, according to the rules of the game, we will definitely be provided with corresponding clues, and we will not be left blindly brushing the level like a headless fly. Otherwise, how did the previous players in City A pass the level? Except for the top players, most players must have found certain clues and gradually found certain floors."
"But current players should have thought of this, right? But none of them succeeded in entering City A." Duan Jiangli asked, "Why?"
"Because the difficulty of the last specific floor must be a qualitative change." Gu Qiufeng said, "Even if someone finds the end, they may not be able to pass the last floor and exit in embarrassment. What's more..."
He said thoughtfully: "City A is like an isolated island, cut off from other cities. Can we really be sure that no player has entered City A in the past ten years?"
Duan Jiangli opened his eyes wide and murmured, "This is a really bold guess."
Who will be the players who can enter City A? What is his current strength?
Or, had he already died as a result of X's scheme?
Anyway, judging from what happened to Lu Jinghong and Gu Jiu ten years ago, X has always held an attitude of wiping out all the players in City A.
Thinking of this, Duan Jiangli couldn't help but feel a chill down his spine.
"Of course, this is also a reasonable guess." Gu Qiufeng said thoughtfully, "Since there is a secret clue that guides us to a specific floor, then in concrete terms, what should this clue be?"
Duan Jiangli suddenly said: "Numbers!"
"Hmm?" Gu Qiufeng looked at him with interest and asked, "What do you think?"
Duan Jiangli scratched his head and said, "Maybe it's because there's nothing else that can be specifically linked to the number of floors."
Gu Qiufeng said: "Then let's go to the fifth floor."
"Wait a minute," Duan Jiangli said in shock, "My guess is totally groundless. You don't really believe it, do you?"
"Whether you believe it or not, you have to give it a try." Gu Qiufeng said, "It's better than not trying anything."
Duan Jiangli pondered, "That's right. If it really has something to do with numbers, then the mission we get on the next floor should also be related to a very specific and precise number. The difficulty of the dungeon on the fifth floor won't be too high. We can get the explanation by just going to the next floor."
"But..." When he said this, his doubtful eyes fell on Gu Qiufeng, "Mr. Gu, didn't you get the numbers on your floor?"
Gu Qiufeng silently looked away: "This... maybe I didn't notice it."
In fact, he was stuck in a mental inertia and had no intention of completing the game properly. He knocked out the NPC as soon as he entered the dungeon. In order to arrange the encounter with Lu Jinghong, he didn't pay any attention to the mission. Until Xie Xin completed the game by force, Gu Qiufeng didn't even know about the mission.
Well, there’s no need to tell Duan Jiangli all this.
Fortunately, Duan Jiangli also trusted him and said without thinking too much, "Since this floor has been cleared, let's go to the fifth floor!"
Gu Qiufeng said "hmm".
The two walked to the end of the copy and found a door that merged with the boundary line.
After opening the door, there was an elevator glowing silver.
After Duan Jiangli entered, he looked at the dark elevator buttons with great interest: "After you came out, Mr. Gu, the corresponding floors lit up again."
"But I guess the content of the copy will also change randomly." Gu Qiufeng took a glance and found that in addition to the floor they just came out of, there were three more black buttons.
He frowned slightly.
If we include Xie Songjin, who has been missing before, in the list, there are two extra players...will one of them be Lu Jinghong?
Did Lu Jinghong escape from the memory copy constructed by Xie Xin?
Gu Qiufeng believed what Xie Xin said, but not completely.
To be brutally honest, they have different positions and trust no longer exists.
Duan Jiangli pressed the fifth floor button and the elevator slowly descended.
Gu Qiufeng suddenly thought, since Xie Xin left suddenly, will he come back?
I don’t know why, but it seems like the answer is most likely no.
Xie Xin entered the game, obviously with a more important purpose driving him to complete some mission.
And his behavior will only push himself further and further away from him.
Perhaps Xie Xin also understood this, which is why he met him briefly in the A-level copy.
It is both a meeting and a farewell.
"Senior, are you distracted?" Duan Jiangli waved his hand, bent down and shook in front of Gu Qiufeng, and said, "Come back to your senses, we are on the fifth floor."
Gu Qiufeng pulled himself out of his thoughts and responded softly.
Duan Jiangli saw that he was in a bad mood and realized what was going on almost immediately. He said nothing but asked, "Do you want to continue?"
This was the first time he spoke in such a soft tone, and it suddenly sounded soothing and gentle.
Gu Qiufeng looked at him puzzledly: "Where else can I go if I don't continue?"
Duan Jiangli said embarrassedly: "It's not your job to save the world anyway. If you feel embarrassed, you might as well leave here."
Gu Qiufeng asked: "Oh, do you think you can hold on by yourself?"
Men are most afraid of being looked down upon by other men. Duan Jiangli subconsciously said, "What are you doing? Do I look so unreliable?"
"That's not the case." Gu Qiufeng's emotions finally returned to their normal level because of Duan Jiangli. He said, "Since we're here, let's go. Why not continue?"
He stepped out of the elevator before Duan Jiangli.
Duan Jiangli stayed in the elevator, looking at Gu Qiufeng's back, and touched his nose embarrassedly.
The two men came behind the door, but they didn't expect that behind the door was a corridor exactly the same as the one they passed by later.
Duan Jiangli was stunned.
Gu Qiufeng was also standing there, looking at the road ahead.
"What should we do?" Duan Jiangli said, "I think something is strange."
Gu Qiufeng said: "If there is something strange, it means that our guess is correct."
Duan Jiangli said: "No, I think this copy might be a bit tricky."
Gu Qiufeng said: "Don't be fooled by its pretentiousness. In fact, it is usually a paper tiger. Do you know where evil dragons often appear?"
Duan Jiangli: "...Where is the treasure?"
"Yes, so, as the old saying goes, since we are here, let's go treasure hunting." Gu Qiufeng said.
Duan Jiangli let out a sigh.
If Gu Qiufeng was not afraid, it would make him feel more confident.
The two people slowly stepped into the door, and their surroundings suddenly changed. The door behind them and the passage they came from disappeared, leaving only a corridor leading forward.
Duan Jiangli said: "There is a door in front!"
The door was exactly the same as when they had come.
Gu Qiufeng frowned.
Duan Jiangli clicked his tongue twice: "Isn't this a Russian nesting doll?"
"Write down the number." Gu Qiufeng said, "Maybe it's the clue to our next floor."
"Do we want to keep going forward?" Duan Jiangli asked.
Gu Qiufeng: "Let's go."
They continued to open the familiar door.
Suddenly, there was another similar corridor in front of me.
This time, not only Duan Jiangli, but Gu Qiufeng also stopped abruptly, with a look of astonishment on his face.
Do you want to keep moving forward?
There may be an endless cycle ahead.
The silent torture beat on the hearts of the two people.
Gu Qiufeng lowered his eyes and said to Duan Jiangli: "What do you think?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
