Along with the devil's smile came a sudden crack as the ground floor opened up, leaving everyone with nothing beneath their feet, causing them to plummet to the ground.
Surrounded by darkness, accompanied by screams, the seven people continued to fall, as if they had fallen into a bottomless abyss.
In the darkness, Yu Tang's hand tightened, and the next moment Lu Qingyuan pulled her into his arms.
The young man's smiling voice reached his ears, asking, "Isn't it exciting?"
Yu Tang elbowed him hard from behind, and only after hearing the devil's pained cry did he grit his teeth and say, "What are you up to now?"
Was my choice wrong just now?
“No, you chose the right one.” Lu Qingyuan wrapped his arm around Yu Tang’s arm to stop him from moving around. “But the correct answer corresponds to another, more dangerous path.”
He warned Yu Tang: "So, old angel, you'd better be mentally prepared."
"Next... is the main event."
The fall finally reached its destination.
With several muffled thuds, everyone fell onto the soft mat, feeling dizzy and disoriented, unable to get up for a long time.
Three seconds later, the dark space was illuminated by the light.
At the same time, a mechanical voice announced: "Congratulations, players! You have successfully 'killed' yourselves. So... welcome to the eighteenth level of hell!"
The game rules have now changed.
There is only one elevator in the eighteen levels of hell, large enough for one person to ride. This elevator's final destination is the real world. Players have 72 hours to choose one person to ride this elevator back to the real world.
The rest will perish completely in the thousands of explosives planted in hell more than 72 hours later.
The game continues.
Upon hearing this, Wang Zhibin disregarded his dizzy and disoriented body from the fall and immediately scrambled to his feet, running towards the elevator.
This time, he no longer trusted that man named Yu Tang!
Everyone looks out for themselves!
He must live!
I must go home!
But he had only staggered a few steps when he felt his trouser leg being grabbed.
When he turned around, he saw that it was Jiang Yuan who had grabbed his clothes.
The disheveled woman gripped him tightly, refusing to let go, her eyes fierce: "Mr. Wang, we'll die together! I won't let you escape alone!"
Zhao Yuqing pulled Su An down from the mat: "An'an, I'll take you to the elevator. If you can leave, please live on for my sake too."
She was about to leave when Su An, whose face was pale from the impact, stopped her.
The girl shook her head: "No need, Yuqing."
"Even if we two girls fight tooth and nail, we still can't beat those men."
Besides, I can't bring myself to leave you alone and go back to reality.
As if remembering something, a blush slowly spread across her face: "And, you just... just confessed to me, and I... I'm already so happy. I even feel that if we can't escape and have to stay here forever, it's worth it..."
Upon hearing these words, Zhao Yuqing's face flushed completely red.
The short-haired girl silently sat back down next to the long-haired girl.
Feeling embarrassed, I deliberately kept a distance, but Su An tugged at me.
The next moment, the other person's head rested on her shoulder.
Chen Shu was probably the fastest runner, but unexpectedly, when he got to the elevator...
Instead of pressing the button to go in, he stopped Wang Zhibin, who had kicked Jiang Yuan away and was trying to catch up.
The tall young man seemed to have instantly lost his previous irritability and calmly said, "Wang Zhibin, right? Do you know what kind of person I hate the most?"
"Get out of my way!" Wang Zhibin shouted at Chen Shu, "I don't care what you hate the most! I'm just leaving this place and going back to the real world! I don't care if you live or die!"
As he spoke, he reached out to grab Chen Shu, but the next moment Chen Shu, with his muscular physique, grabbed his arm and threw him over the shoulder, causing him to fall to the ground.
With a loud bang, the ground trembled.
This also surprised Yu Tang and Lu Qingyuan, who had followed them.
"Let me tell you, you old bastard!" Chen Shu said, "I fucking hate men who hit women the most!"
"What the hell can't we talk things out? Hitting a woman is wrong!"
He stomped his foot on Wang Zhibin's chest and declared domineeringly, "I'm putting my words here today. Just because you hit a woman, anyone can get on this elevator, but I'm fucking not letting you!"
Chapter 27
Died for the fifth time for the villain (27)
Chen Shu's actions stunned everyone.
Yu Tang and Lu Qingyuan arrived at the elevator. Chen Shu had already kicked Wang Zhibin away and was leaning against the elevator door, saying, "Weren't you all pretty calm before? How come you're even more agitated than me now?"
He glanced at the sports watch: "It was supposed to be 72 hours, but only 52 minutes have passed. What's the rush?"
His words caused everyone's expressions to change again.
Wang Zhibin coughed a few times, retreated to a safe position, and looked at Chen Shu warily.
Yu Tang's gaze fell on Chen Shu's watch.
Would someone who has always been so irritable remember the exact time they arrived here so clearly?
Chen Shu was probably the person he couldn't understand the most among everyone present.
Lu Qingyuan narrowed his eyes, rested his elbow on Yu Tang's shoulder, and smiled at Chen Shu: "Who said we're in a hurry?"
He pointed at Wang Zhibin: "The only one who's worried is this cheating man. My brother and I just came to watch the show."
Then, he changed the subject, saying, "However, just because I'm not in a hurry now doesn't mean I won't be in a hurry later. After all, it doesn't matter if I die, but my brother can't be in trouble. Even if I kill all of you, I'll make sure my brother rides this elevator. You'd better be prepared..."
As everyone stared at him in astonishment, he smiled kindly and said, "Well, it's too early to talk about these things now."
He pointed at Chen Shu: "Since you have the guts to stop all of us, then you should come up with a way to get us all out of here."
Yu Tang grabbed Lu Qingyuan's arm to free her own shoulder, glared at him fiercely, and then apologized to the people around her, "My younger brother..."
The man pointed to his head: "Something's not right here."
"The doctor calls it 'chuunibyou' (middle school syndrome), and it has been treated for many years without success. I hope everyone can understand."
The system was laughing hysterically in Yu Tang's consciousness. Ignoring Lu Qingyuan's deathly gaze, Yu Tang waved to Zhao Yuqing and Su An, who were sitting over there. After everyone came over, he continued, "Everyone might want to think about this: the first question the question setter asked us to choose someone to die. But at the same time, we chose ourselves."
"Although the result was a massive fire, the underground partition suddenly opened, and we were thrown into a place called 'Hell,' facing an even greater challenge: only one of the seven could survive. To anyone, this was a hopeless situation."
“But you’ve overlooked the most important point,” Yu Tang said: “None of us died.”
"We all chose ourselves, yet none of us died, which means that the game's true purpose wasn't to kill us."
And indeed, as Su An had previously suspected, it was a test of our humanity.
"Therefore, I think the best thing we can do at this stage is to destroy this elevator."
Yu Tang asked the most resolute question in the most natural tone: "Let's cut off this only way out together, do you dare to do it?"
Wang Zhibin was the first to shout, "I disagree!"
"Who do you think you are? Why should we all listen to you? What gives you the right to decide our lives?"
"If your choice is wrong, and what could have been a chance for one person to escape turns into the death of everyone, then you will be the biggest sinner!"
He added, "I think you're just saying that; you actually want to take advantage of the chaos to send yourself or your brother away! I won't fall for your tricks!"
Jiang Yuan was helped over by Zhao Yuqing and Su An. There were still slap marks on her face from Wang Zhibin, and shoe prints were clearly visible on her shirt.
She scoffed and said, "Wang Zhibin, you scum, what right do you have to criticize others?"
"When you slept with me, you told me that you had already divorced your wife and that you had no say in the children."
"You only mention your wife and kids when you get to this godforsaken place, putting on a show of being a good father and husband! Someone like you? You think you deserve that?"
The woman spat on the ground and continued saying things that left everyone around her speechless: "Just now she was hitting and cursing me, just trying to kick me away and run away herself!"
Do you want to take this opportunity to kill me here?
That way I won't have to worry about revealing this secret, right?!
"What are you yelling about?!" Wang Zhibin's face changed drastically, and he cursed, "Although I slept with you, I also gave you the money and position you wanted. I have never mistreated you. Don't you have any self-awareness?"
"A woman you can sleep with anytime wants to marry me? You're dreaming!"
After Wang Zhibin finished speaking, the atmosphere remained silent for a long time. It wasn't until Jiang Yuan collapsed to the ground, covering her face and bursting into tears that the deathly silence was broken.
Chen Shu pursed his thin lips, but finally went up to Su An, asked for a piece of paper, and handed it to Jiang Yuan: "Wipe it off..."
He said, "There are other men in the world, it's not worth crying over him."
"Be more careful next time you look for a man, and don't fall for it again."
"And..." Chen Shu paused, then said, "When you find out the other person has a family, never be a homewrecker, or I will look down on you."
After saying this, Chen Shu turned around, raised his long leg, and kicked Wang Zhibin in the stomach, causing the man who had just stood up to fall to the ground again, clutching his stomach and gagging.
"You owe her the heartless liar who plays with other people's feelings."
Chen Shu's voice was cold. After reprimanding Wang Zhibin, he returned to the elevator and looked at Yu Tang: "Mr. Yu, you are a good person. It was your answer that saved us when we were on the first floor."
But that doesn't mean you can destroy the only elevator that can get you out of here.
He said, "Let's vote by raising our hands. Those who agree to destroy this elevator, please raise your hands."
Yu Tang immediately raised his hand, followed by Su An.
Five seconds passed, ten seconds passed...
Yu Tang glared at Lu Qingyuan, signaling for him to support her.
But Lu Qingyuan pointed to his head and looked straight ahead: "Don't look at me..."
"I am a patient, I have a mental illness."