Gamers Are Fierce-Chapter 711 - 709

The time was now 01:35. Li Ang slapped his thigh and stood up from his chair.

In the past few nights, players had generally received notes before 00:50. If he hadn't found a note by now, there was a high probability that tonight would be a bye for him.

I wonder how Black Holy Son and Bai Haozheng are doing...

Mumbling to himself, Li Ang searched the room once more. After confirming that no note had appeared, he walked to the door and peered through the Cat's Eye.

The indicator panel above the elevator glowed with a white light. It showed the elevator descending from the twelfth floor, pausing at each level. However, on the tenth floor, the elevator lingered a bit longer than before.

It seems like there's already someone in the elevator.

Li Ang narrowed his eyes, watching the elevator indicator's dial continue to turn. He didn't rush to open his door but continued to observe from inside until the elevator reached the fifth floor.

DING-DONG.

The elevator doors opened, revealing a figure clad in Black Gold Dual-colored Armor.

It was Black Holy Son. The Young Master of the Higan Organization stood with a tome in his left hand and a Serpentine Dagger in his right. A palm-sized mirror floated in front of him, angled at 45° to the elevator doors.

By adjusting the mirror's position and angle, Black Holy Son could stay inside the elevator and spy on both sides of the hallway.

He opened his door, and he's still alive?

It seemed that violating the rules by opening one's room door and stepping into the hallway didn't lead to instant death. Li Ang raised an eyebrow, pulled open his room door, and greeted Black Holy Son in the elevator, "Good evening."

Black Holy Son paused for a moment, then nodded. "Good evening."

Player nicknames floated above both their heads, confirming their identities.

The two had actually met before in the Abnormal World and had been opponents. Black Holy Son had almost died at Li Ang's hands and thus had a strong impression of Li Ang.

However, times had changed. All players trapped in this supernatural copy were now in the same boat. Past grudges naturally had to be set aside for the time being.

Li Ang kept his door ajar, still standing inside Room 0508. He held a mirror in his hand, using it to observe the hallway just as Black Holy Son was doing.

His door was open, but nothing unusual appeared in the hallway.

Black Holy Son noticed Li Ang's actions and said, "When I opened the door earlier, I didn't see any Monsters appear either.

"Perhaps opening the door or leaving the room just increases the likelihood of being attacked.

"Players can also use equipment and skills inside the elevator; there are no restrictions."

Li Ang, still standing inside his doorway, nodded. "Oh." He then took out a life-sized Stone Statue from beside him and, with a THUD, tossed it into the middle of the hallway.

This Stone Statue, which he had crafted from clay using Alchemy, was exquisitely detailed and lifelike. It wore a Dragon Head Mask and a white coat, clearly modeled after Li Ang himself.

?

Black Holy Son, who was holding the elevator's 'open door' button, stared at the Stone Statue in the hallway, a puzzled expression on his face.

What's this for?

The colorful Stone Statue had one foot planted on the ground and the other drawn back. Its torso leaned forward, and its arms were stretched straight behind it, adopting the iconic "ninja run" pose from the anime *Naruto*. Two wooden sticks were even attached to the ends of its arms.

Black Holy Son didn't understand. He hesitated for a moment before lowering his voice to ask, "What are you..."

"Testing," Li Ang said softly, as if it were obvious. "I want to see if a Stone Statue that closely resembles a real person will attract attacks.

"This will help assess the hallway's intelligence, the anomalies' observation methods, and the probability of anomalous attacks."

That... actually seemed somewhat reasonable.

Before Black Holy Son could react, he saw Li Ang, standing in the doorway of Room 0508, raise his hands to his mouth, cupping them like a megaphone, and loudly provide a voice-over for his statue, "HMPH! Is this the so-called anomaly?

"It's truly pathetic.

"With strength like this, there's no way it can keep up with my SPEED!"

??

Black Holy Son was completely bewildered. He almost wanted to remind Li Ang to keep his voice down and not attract any Monsters.

However, he quickly realized the purpose of Li Ang's loud clamor: to attract anomalous entities. Since the door was already open, it was a good opportunity to conduct more tests.

To increase the statue's lifelike appearance, Li Ang even grabbed the two wooden sticks extending from its arms. He pulled them back and forth, causing the statue—which had gears installed in its shoulder joints—to swing its arms. It moved like a puppet on strings, adopting the posture of someone straining to run. All the while, Li Ang provided sound effects from behind, continuously emitting the HUFF, HUFF, panting sounds of running.

After keeping up the pretense for a while, Li Ang picked up his mirror to look left and right down the corridor. HMM. Still no Monsters had appeared.

"Such a high-end, sophisticated mannequin hasn't attracted the aberrations..." Li Ang furrowed his brow and muttered. "I wonder if it's because there's simply no issue with the hallway, or if those aberrations are too cunning and can see through this flawless disguise."

Flawless? Are you sure? The statue's feet haven't moved an inch the entire time! How low would an entity's intelligence have to be to get fooled by that?

Black Holy Son criticized inwardly but showed no sign of it on his face.

Undeterred by the failed attempt—he had only been trying his luck anyway—Li Ang pulled out a sack filled with soil from behind him. He plunged his hand into the soil and used Alchemy to craft a Metal Ladder, placing it on the hallway floor. Then, he casually closed his room door and stepped onto the Metal Ladder, avoiding the carpet. He slowly made his way towards the elevator, even pausing to pat the Stone Statue, reverting it to a pile of mud.

This action was also a test. He wanted to see what effect a real human entering the hallway would have, and whether using extraordinary abilities like Alchemy in the hallway would trigger an attack.

However, even by the time Li Ang stepped into the elevator, he had not been attacked by any aberrations.

Such a pity.

"Where's Bai Haozheng?" Li Ang asked casually.

"I just came down from upstairs," Black Holy Son replied indifferently. "I opened the elevator door on the fourteenth floor, but he didn't react. He might be caught up in an anomalous event.

"Bob on the ninth floor and Yuyi Xinzhong on the seventh floor didn't respond either. 13maek on the eighth floor and Plague Doctor on the sixth floor, however, followed our agreement and slid a piece of paper out from under their doors, indicating they were safe."

The players had discussed during the day that the Patroller in the elevator wouldn't proactively open room doors to help players. The notes' instructions might involve things like keeping doors and windows tightly shut or preventing any outside light from entering. This was unless the players inside a room opened their door themselves to request support.

If players didn't receive a note at night, they could slide a piece of paper under their door when the Patroller arrived to indicate they were safe.

"Did you find anything on the twelfth, eleventh, or tenth floors?" Li Ang asked offhandedly as he put away the Metal Ladder.

Black Holy Son pressed the 'close door' button and shook his head. "I didn't see anything unusual.

"I lingered a bit longer on the tenth floor, waiting for the Red-Clothed Old Woman, but there was no sign of her."

As they spoke, the metal doors slid slowly shut, and the two players descended in the elevator.