Chapter 236: The Collaborator Who Provides Resources

"Don’t be nervous."

Asagiri took his hand off the older man’s shoulder and said with a smile,

"We’re not the type to go around killing other Players for no reason. Now, tell us about this cooperation plan of yours."

After realizing the overwhelming gap in strength between the two sides, the older man with glasses, as the leader of his three person team, still felt fear and unease. At the same time, however, he also understood one thing clearly. A team this strong had chosen not to kill them on sight. That alone was enough to prove they were not the bloodthirsty or battle-crazed type.

This was a rare opportunity.

A rare opportunity to latch onto someone powerful.

"I believe you have also realized that this Dungeon will last for seventy two hours, so the first thing we must solve is the problem of food and drinking water."

As he spoke, the experienced man took out a completely sealed bag of compressed biscuits from his right hand and handed it directly to Asagiri. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

"This is an item I obtained in a previous Dungeon. Strictly speaking, it is just an ordinary bag of compressed biscuits containing ten blocks. This is only one bag. I still have two more in my inventory, along with a pack of twenty four bottles of purified drinking water. These are system certified items. You can touch them and verify that I am not lying."

"Seventy two hours. Our team only has three people. There is no way we could consume that much. So... I want to exchange these compressed biscuits and drinking water for cooperation with you. No, to put it more accurately... I want to exchange them for your protection."

"Just a few bags of biscuits and some drinking water, and you want our protection? Isn’t that a little too naive?"

Asagiri neither agreed nor refused right away. He simply smiled and continued,

"Since this Dungeon has deliberately raised the issue of food and drinking water, then there must be a corresponding solution somewhere inside it. The value of your supplies isn’t as high as you imagine. Also, by voluntarily revealing that you possess resources, aren’t you afraid I’ll just kill you here, take your phone, and pull out your equipment and items directly?"

"Then let me answer your second question first."

The man with glasses, who had managed to become a high level Player, was clearly no fool. The shock he had felt earlier, when Asagiri’s strength had exceeded all his expectations, had now mostly settled. His tone had become steadier.

"A Player of your level likely has no use for the sort of items and equipment I possess. But I do have quite a few items and pieces of equipment in my inventory. If you wanted to obtain the compressed biscuits and drinking water through random extraction, the probability would be extremely low."

"And even if your luck were exceptionally good, in the end you would only get one bag of ten biscuits or one pack of water. That still leaves the problem unresolved, because you would always be missing either food or water. So it would have little real meaning."

"As for your first question, you are right. There must be some way to solve the issue of food and water in this Dungeon. But this place is full of danger. It is a Third Stage Dungeon. Who can guarantee that the food and water found here are absolutely safe?"

"Even if other Players do manage to find food or water, they will never consume it immediately. They will first wait for someone else to eat or drink it, and only after confirming it is safe will they touch it themselves."

"What I am offering you is food and pure water that are absolutely safe. Since both our teams can start out with guaranteed supplies, as time passes and the other teams weaken due to lack of resources, we will be able to maintain our condition at its peak and calmly wait for them."

At that, the man paused, looked straight into Asagiri’s calm black eyes, and said in a complicated tone,

"But... a Player of your level probably already thought of all that. Were you testing whether I had considered this thoroughly enough...?"

Asagiri shrugged.

"The difficulty of protecting dead weight and the difficulty of protecting Players who actually know what they are doing are two very different things. If you people were just burdens, then there would be no point helping you at all."

He then added with a faint smile,

"And for us to actually keep our promise of protecting you, you were planning to hand over the compressed biscuits and drinking water in batches anyway, weren’t you? Something like once every twelve hours, so that after getting the supplies, we would have no reason to turn on you immediately."

"Yes, exactly so..."

"Then let’s go."

Asagiri led Yuuki Asuna and the others out of the room. Looking at the three Players, who had unconsciously stepped back and were still visibly uneasy, he said indifferently,

"We’re going to start investigating this floor now. We can share any information we obtain with you, but acting together is out of the question. You would only drag us down."

"We’ll meet again at the door of this room in forty minutes. At that point, you’ll hand over the first batch of water and compressed biscuits. Any objections?"

"No problem."

"Good."

It was not until Asagiri and the others disappeared around the corner of the long corridor that the three Players led by the man with glasses finally let out a long breath of relief.

"Mr. Ichikawa... those people are terrifying..."

Hearing his companion’s lingering fear, the bespectacled man raised a hand and adjusted his glasses. Relief colored his tone.

"It seems our luck this time is excellent. To be matched into the same Dungeon as a team of Players that strong... and from the way they act, they seem like the type who only care about clearing the Dungeon with the highest possible rating. They don’t appear interested in robbing other Players of their registration rights."

"As long as we’re careful not to offend them, we should be able to clear this Dungeon safely. We might even secure a high completion rating."

What the three of them never noticed was that Kato Megumi, who had originally remained behind in the room, had silently followed after Asagiri and the others once their conversation ended.

From beginning to end, none of them realized that the team they had just met was actually a four person team.

A few minutes later, inside another guest room on the same Hotel floor.

"The locks on these rooms are all invalid..."

Iwanaga Kotoko stood by the door, observing the sensor lock. From the outside, there were no signs of forced damage, yet even when the door was closed, it could not actually be locked. It could still be opened freely from outside.

"Doors that cannot be locked... safety chains... silence... ’they’... something extremely sensitive to sound that appears when the carpet gradually turns red and tries to open the doors of any room that makes noise...?"

While muttering to herself and organizing the information they had so far, Iwanaga Kotoko continued thinking.

Meanwhile, Yuuki Asuna and Kato Megumi searched every corner of the room, trying to find any useful clue, or at least some food and water.

In the end, they found nothing.

"There’s nothing here..."

Yuuki Asuna let out a soft sigh, then turned to Kato Megumi and offered a faint smile.

"At least your exclusive talent let us confirm that those three probably do sincerely want to cooperate with us."

"We still cannot rule out the possibility that they discovered me long ago and simply pretended not to."

Kato Megumi raised a hand and tucked a strand of black hair behind her ear, her voice soft.

"If they are actually very strong Players, then they may have been pretending from the very beginning to lure us into lowering our guard. Once we exhaust ourselves clearing the Dungeon, they could kill us and take our phones. That possibility still exists, right?"

"Yes. It is better to remain cautious."

Asagiri nodded in agreement with Megumi’s judgment.

"After all, any Player who survived long enough to reach the Third Stage cannot be simple. That team of three did not have even a single piece of protective gear on them, and none of them drew a weapon while facing us earlier. That means one of two things. Either they were deliberately pretending to be weak, or they possess very powerful skills or talents."

"No matter which it is, they were still a Player team bold enough to make the first move. They claimed they were looking for other Players to cooperate with, but that is only their side of the story."

"Speaking of which, we’ve searched four or five guest rooms already and still haven’t found any useful information or supplies..."

Yuuki Asuna frowned slightly as she recalled the last time she had been inside this Hotel Dungeon.

"If I remember correctly, the Third Floor of this Hotel is the restaurant. The second floor has the café, and outside the café there are vending machines. There is also a small convenience store on the first floor. Its general layout is similar to that of a normal Hotel."

"Judging from the current situation, there is probably no way to obtain food or drinking water on the guest room floors. If we want supplies, we’ll most likely have to search the first through Third Floors."

"Hm..."

Iwanaga Kotoko walked back from the door, sat down on the soft sofa, supported her fair chin with one hand, and seriously thought things through.

Assuming that Mr. Ichikawa was telling the truth, and that he had indeed received the special hint [The first hour of the Dungeon is safe time], then what exactly was that one hour supposed to be used for if there was nothing valuable to gain on this floor?

This was already the third stage. No normal Player would dare leave their starting floor immediately upon entering and go wandering around the first, second, or Third Floor, right?

Wouldn’t that be suicidal?

"There is one possibility that explains it."

Hearing Iwanaga Kotoko’s question, Asagiri slowly spoke.

"This one hour of safe time was not meant for people like us. It was meant for solo Players to form teams. They need to use that hour to find other Players on the same floor and group up."

"And once the carpet gradually turns red, they must stay inside the same room as those newly formed teammates. Otherwise... they will encounter danger."

.....

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