Chapter 100: Elevator Peril (1)

Seeing the heavy doors of the Secret Room seal tight, Geng Hao dropped his previously trembling and fearful demeanor. Completely changing his tune, he held out a hand toward Chen Ran.

"Give me a Cigarette."

Chen Ran glanced at him and readily handed one over.

"You don't seem nervous at all."

"Why should I be?"

"Oh? Let's hear it."

Hearing this, Geng Hao plopped down onto the floor, looking thoroughly relaxed. "Because I know that in this round of the Escape Room Game, there is a high probability you won't kill me."

Although he was absolutely certain in his heart, he still used the phrase 'high probability' to avoid triggering a lie.

This was incredibly strange. Outside, Lin Jiabao was certain Chen Ran would kill Geng Hao, yet inside, Geng Hao was equally certain Chen Ran would spare him.

"At the same time, if you and Qiu Yinong want to clear the Instance, you must kill The Youth and the Young Heiress."

"If you kill me in this round, then only four people will be left in the Third Secret Room for the next round."

"With four people, two will be stuck at the gambling table and unable to participate in the Escape Room Game, leaving only two people available to clear it."

"Following that, whether you kill The Youth or the Young Heiress, only three people will be left in the Third Secret Room."

"Three people. Two at the gambling table, one as a faction member. And then..."

"Here comes the problem. One faction will have no members to send out. When a faction has no members available, the Successor representing them at the gambling table will lose their qualification to sit there and automatically become a faction member. That means one less Successor at the table. To fill the spot, the person with the most Chest Plates in the faction will be sent to the table again. But if that happens, there will still be one faction without an available member to send into the game. It becomes an endless loop."

"You and Qiu Yinong will be trapped in this Instance forever."

Seeing Chen Ran deep in thought, Geng Hao took a long, satisfying drag of his Cigarette and continued.

"Therefore, your only choice is to spare me this round, and kill either The Youth or the Young Heiress in the next one."

"If you do that, the four remaining people in the Secret Room will be: me, you, Qiu Yinong, and whichever one of The Youth or the Young Heiress is left."

"The three of us can work together to kill the remaining Youth or Young Heiress. Only then can our trio successfully clear the Instance."

It had to be said, Geng Hao's deductive reasoning was spot on. Theoretically speaking, this Instance could only be cleared by exactly three people.

Presumably, the previous Players had either perished in the Escape Room Game, been wiped out by Lin Jiabei's Fishing in Murky Waters Skill, or stumbled at...

The hidden requirement of needing exactly three people to clear it.

A long time passed.

Chen Ran finally asked, "Spit it out. What do you want?"

Geng Hao blanked for a moment before realizing what Chen Ran meant.

'I am the only one who knows the full effects of Chen Ran and Qiu Yinong's Skills.'

'Is Chen Ran planning to give me hush money?'

"I want eighty percent of the Points you two earn in this Instance!"

Chen Ran nodded. "Fine. But we need to add a precondition: assuming you manage to leave this Instance alive."

'Chen Ran must be worried about accidents, like me dying in the Escape Room Game, or being tricked into telling a lie and dying by Judgment.'

'That makes sense.'

"Deal."

Without another word, the two immediately spoke a Future Lie. The terms were:

'If Geng Hao leaves the Instance alive, Chen Ran and Qiu Yinong will give him eighty percent of the Points earned in this Instance. In exchange, no matter where he is, Geng Hao cannot reveal the effects of their Skills to anyone.'

This Future Lie would have to be repeated again in the 18th Level after leaving the Instance. Establishing it now was just to give each other peace of mind.

Indeed, once the Future Lie was spoken, Geng Hao's dangling anxieties were finally laid to rest.

Once they finished their Cigarettes.

The two sat in their chairs. A wave of dizziness washed over them, and they immediately lost consciousness.

When they opened their eyes again, their first instinct was to check their Watches and record the time. Only then did they survey this new Secret Room.

To be exact, this was an...

Elevator!

The two of them were inside an Elevator. It was perfectly still, and the floor panel didn't indicate which floor they were currently on.

They continued to observe their surroundings.

First, their clothes had transformed into blue overalls printed with the word 'Mitsubishi'.

Second, the Elevator's floor panel featured eleven numbers: -1 through 9.

However, there was also a 'Confirm' button. This indicated there was a high probability the building had more than 10 floors. For example, if a passenger lived on the 18th floor, they would need to press 1, then 8, and finally 'Confirm'.

Next, the display screen next to the number buttons read: 'Under Maintenance'.

Finally, pasted onto the Elevator's interior wall was a flat photograph of the building's rooftop terrace.

The two carefully examined the photograph but found nothing unusual about it. It looked like any ordinary rooftop.

That was the extent of their clues.

The cramped space was maddening, so they simply sat down on the floor.

"It seems our current identities are Elevator maintenance workers," Chen Ran noted.

Geng Hao nodded. "Under normal circumstances, an elevator's Machine Room is located on the top floor. Since maintenance workers are taking the Elevator, it proves this Elevator can reach the top floor. But the problem is, this Elevator doesn't have direct floor buttons. It requires passengers to manually input the floor number, which means we don't know which floor is the top floor."

"If we input the wrong floor, we will likely trigger a trap and die."

The two stopped talking. Instead, they lit their Cigarettes and began sorting through the clues inside the Elevator.

The two stopped talking. Instead, they lit their Cigarettes and began sorting through the clues inside the Elevator.

Geng Hao looked at the number buttons.

'Since they are number buttons, it means this building is at least a high-rise.'

'There is a photograph of the rooftop pasted inside the Elevator, and there is no helipad in the picture.'

'According to national regulations, any building exceeding 33 floors must have a helipad built on the top floor. In other words...'

'This building has no more than 33 floors.'

'And since our current identities are maintenance workers who would rather take a faulty Elevator than use another one, it means...'

'The building has a maximum of 11 floors!'

'Again, according to national regulations, any building with over 12 floors must install two elevators.'

'Given the greed of developers, they would definitely exploit this regulation to its absolute limit.'

'Therefore, to summarize, this building only has 11 floors, not 12.'

'If the 11th floor is the top floor, then we need to input 11 to reach the Machine Room.'

'But, there is a problem here...'

'If this building only has 11 floors, why wouldn't the panel just list every single floor? Why force the passengers to manually input the floor number? What is the point of making it so troublesome?'

'Unless...'

'The broken one is actually a second elevator, and we are currently taking a functioning Elevator to the top floor.'

'But the issue is, why wouldn't maintenance workers just take the stairs? The stairs would be much safer.'

Not only was he unable to figure it out, but Chen Ran couldn't either. The two of them simply sat on the floor, smoking quietly. However...

A short while later, a floor number suddenly flashed onto the Elevator screen: 2.

Immediately after.

The Elevator plummeted rapidly. The intense sensation of weightlessness made them realize something was terribly wrong. In perfect unison, they pressed their backs against the walls, bent their knees, and braced their hands on the handrails to keep from being crushed to death.