Before Shao Lan could think about it any further, a shrill cry echoed from outside.
Shao Lan and Jiang Mingran exchanged a glance and walked out together.
The shouting wasn’t coming from the 8th floor, but rather from the 7th floor adjacent to them, traveling all the way up through the safety exit.
A man in a suit was kneeling beside the elevator, crying desperately at the top of his lungs: “I pressed the wrong button! I really just pressed the wrong button! I don’t want to participate in the instance! I don’t want to die! Let me go! Please!”
Standing opposite him was the property manager. Still wearing her professional smile, she said politely, “Homeowner, pressing the elevator button is considered a desire to participate in the game, and it cannot be reversed.”
“I pressed it by mistake! I said I really just pressed it by mistake! Don’t make me get in the elevator! I don’t want to play the game anymore! I’ll die! I’m begging you!” The man in the suit was in tears.
The property manager kept smiling, not moving an inch.
The man in the suit completely broke down; he simply bolted toward the hallway, trying to escape!
In a flash, the petite property manager blocked the man’s path.
“Are you planning to violate the homeowner regulations of [Xingfu Community]?” she asked softly.
The man in the suit gritted his teeth and tried to push the property manager away.
“I said I don’t want to participate in the game! You…”
Half of his sentence cut off in his throat, instantly turning into a miserable scream.
A loud, sharp crack rang out from the man’s left leg, followed immediately by his right leg.
Smiling, the property manager reached out and snapped both of the man’s legs. As she watched the man crawling on the ground, she reached out again and twisted his arms clean off.
Treating the man—whose limbs were completely broken—like trash, she tossed him into the open elevator and bowed with a smile: “Have a pleasant game.”
The elevator doors closed, and the man’s blood-stained face vanished behind them.
It was easy to imagine that he definitely wouldn’t survive.
The elevator led to an extremely terrifying world, and he couldn’t even stand up.
No wonder the property manager had warned them to take the stairs and not use the elevator when going to other floors, otherwise there would be severe consequences.
Pressing the elevator button was regarded as applying to join the game.
This application could not be canceled and had to be fulfilled. If you didn’t fulfill it yourself, someone like the property manager would come and help you fulfill it.
Both Shao Lan and Jiang Mingran’s faces turned somewhat pale.
Jiang Mingran muttered: “Is this property manager a monster too…”
As a sports student, Jiang Mingran had always been confident in his physical strength, but snapping an adult man’s four limbs with bare hands definitely exceeded human capabilities.
Not to mention that the property manager’s expression was as relaxed as if she were playing with a Barbie doll, without even using her full strength.
The elevator grew quiet once again. The two stood in the doorway for a moment before returning to their respective rooms.
Just before stepping inside, Shao Lan subconsciously glanced over at Room 801.
He froze.
The spot that was originally the doorway to Room 801 had turned into a solid, unbroken wall.
This room had vanished into thin air.
No wonder… no wonder the 3rd floor only had 303, and no 301 or 302.
Because the homeowners who used to live in those two rooms had already “checked out.”
When a homeowner died, the corresponding room vanished along with them.
What had caused them to die? Did they starve to death like the woman in 801, or were they forced to participate in an instance and die inside it?
Such a thought made Shao Lan feel deeply uncomfortable, but there was nothing else he could do. He returned to his room and boiled eggs and potatoes.
He hastily ate some eggs and potatoes to fill his stomach.
After resting for a while, he went to check on Uncle Bing in room 804.
Uncle Bing was sitting on the edge of the bed, lost in thought. What had happened was clearly beyond the old man’s capacity to bear. His eyes were red, his withered right hand held an old wallet, and his left hand was wiping away tears.
In this age of widespread online payments, probably only an elderly person like Uncle Bing would still use a wallet. The money inside was useless in the building; only a photograph remained, which Uncle Bing gently stroked.
Shao Lan looked at the photograph. It showed a little girl with big, bright eyes like two glistening black grapes, very cute.
“My granddaughter, her name is Tangtang.” Uncle Bing looked at the little girl in the photo and sighed softly.
“My wife passed away during childbirth after giving birth to my daughter. I ran the food stall and raised her.”
“Finally, my daughter graduated, got a job, and got married. Her husband was a good man, but they both died young… leaving me with a little granddaughter.”
“I named this little girl Tangtang, hoping she would have a life as sweet as honey and not suffer as much as her mother and grandmother…”
Uncle Bing’s biggest reason for surviving this long is Tangtang.
“I might never see her again.” Uncle Bing wiped away his tears. “I don’t know how she is now.”
“Have you eaten?” Shao Lan asked.
Uncle Bing was taken aback.
“You have to survive yourself first before you have a chance to see your granddaughter,” Shao Lan said calmly.
Uncle Bing murmured, “Is there… is there still a chance?”
“I don’t know, but if you die, there’s definitely no chance,” Shao Lan said. “Let’s survive first. There must be a way out. We’ll look for it slowly.”
He paused, “I want to get out as soon as possible, just like you.”
His words seemed to have a magical power, and Uncle Bing gradually cheered up.
This young man gave people a sense of security. If he said there was a way out, then there must be.
Seeing that Uncle Bing’s emotions had stabilized, Shao Lan first confirmed the number with him.
As expected, Uncle Bing also found the number—on the calf of his disabled leg.
“XCVI.”
Uncle Bing’s number was the highest among the three of them, 96, more than twice as high as Jiang Mingran’s 41.
Uncle Bing obviously had no idea when the scar appeared.
“I just felt a little itchy on my leg, like the feeling of flesh growing back from a wound,” Uncle Bing pressed the scar, “When did I get burned?”
Shao Lan had no answer to this either.
There were too many mysteries here to solve in a short time. The most important thing was to survive.
Seeing that Uncle Bing hadn’t eaten or drunk anything, Shao Lan prepared to take him to his room.
Uncle Bing initially disagreed: “I can’t spend your money.”
“It’s free,” Shao Lan said. “I’ve already bought that induction cooker, might as well use it. It can always boil some water.”
The building’s utilities were free, so it was like getting a freebie.
Uncle Bing then followed Shao Lan to room 802. Shao Lan had boiled tap water with the induction cooker earlier, so it was now perfectly warm and drinkable.
Uncle Bing drank it without even looking up—he was genuinely thirsty.
Shao Lan offered Uncle Bing some more food, but Uncle Bing refused to accept it. He learned to use the vending machine, bought a potato, and cooked it on Shao Lan’s induction cooker.
“Little Shao, I won’t buy the cooker. How about this, I’ll pay you every time I use it. I don’t know if the money can be transferred between us, but if not, I’ll exchange it for something, and use that as compensation…”
Uncle Bing’s face turned slightly red. He was an honest man and didn’t like taking advantage of others, but with a total of only 500 yuan, he really couldn’t bear to spend 128 yuan on a pot.
“It’s fine, I’ve already bought it anyway,” Shao Lan said. “Using it a few more times will make me feel like it was worth the price.”
He temporarily kept quiet about the fact that he had 10,000 yuan.
Although Uncle Bing and Jiang Mingran seemed like good people, Shao Lan was naturally cautious and decided not to show off his wealth at this stage.
The woman in 801 who starved to death and the man on the 7th floor who cried and refused to enter the elevator were enough to prove how difficult it was to make money and survive in this building.
In this situation, showing off wealth made it too easy to become a target.
Even if Uncle Bing and Jiang Mingran were good people, the despair, hunger, and fear in extreme situations were enough to turn a good person into a demon.
Shao Lan didn’t want to gamble with human nature.
Uncle Bing ate the potato he had bought himself, while Shao Lan boiled another pot of water and left it to cool. Just then, a knock came at the door.
“Brother, it’s me, Xiao Jiang.”
“Come in.”
“Brother, there’s something I want to discuss with you.” Jiang Mingran walked in. “A girl wants to team up with us…”