Gamers Are Fierce-Chapter 736 - 734
BOOM!
As the clown was thrown into the elevator shaft, its body inexplicably burst into flames. The raging fire didn't damage the wooden floor but, in a matter of seconds, turned it into a pile of Ash. Li Ang, too, received a notification of System reward points.
Li Ang's course of action was primarily to test whether the rules of the Dolphin Hotel were still in effect—it seemed that the elevator, during the safety period, could deal a direct lethal blow to the hotel's aberrations.
Afterward, Li Ang entered the elevator, opened the steel plate above it, and pressed the descent button to lower it to the ninth floor. He then had Liu Wu Dai pry open the elevator shaft door. Liu Wu Dai took the mud eyeball monster out of the Glass Bottle and tossed it into the elevator shaft. Her Glass Bottle had a high Mysterious Degree, which allowed it to shield, to some extent, the elevator's scanning detection of hotel anomalies.
Contrary to everyone's expectations, the mud eyeball monster turned into Ash as it flew into the elevator shaft. Liu Wu Dai also received a System kill notification.
"So," Bai Haozheng, who had been squatting on the floor of Room 1108, stood up. His brows furrowed slightly as he said in a grave voice, "Has 13MARK died already?"
"He probably has," Li Ang said indifferently. "He was already lurking in Room 1108 before last night's curfew, probably operating under the belief that 'as long as I stay on a floor where someone has died, I will be safe.' He didn't care whether his actions would violate the hotel's rules or transfer the danger to others, potentially leading to their deaths."
Li Ang ignored the slightly uncomfortable expressions on the surrounding players' faces and continued, "Actually, this line of thinking isn't odd. After all, players are a group constantly licking blood off the knife's edge. If breaking through moral boundaries can help them survive better, many would choose to do so—especially when facing a group of randomly matched teammates who are neither friends nor family.
However, 13MARK still miscalculated. A mistake occurred in one part of his plan, leading to the red-clothed old woman appearing on the tenth floor. She first devoured the stand-in puppet he had placed in Room 1008 and then went upstairs to attack him.
During this process, 13MARK attempted to call other floors for help but received no answer."
Bai Haozheng sighed upon hearing this and said soberly, "The message I received was rather special, so I didn't hear his call. Black Holy Son and Yuyi Xinzhong were also unavailable because they were assisting the Plague Doctor.
But I have one question: why didn't 13MARK choose to escape when the red-clothed old woman was devouring his stand-in? Even though the elevator car was stationed on the sixth floor, the elevator shaft door was right beside him. He could have pried it open, dropped onto the top of the elevator car, entered it, and gone directly to Black Holy Son and Yuyi Xinzhong.
Or he could have simply run to the other side of the corridor and taken the stairs down—that would definitely have been much faster than making phone calls."
Black Holy Son thought for a moment and said uncertainly, "Is it possible that once his stand-in was released, he couldn't get far from it? Or maybe the red-clothed old woman used some skill to bind his legs? Of course, it's also possible that 13MARK was already controlled by the red-clothed old woman by then. Calling might have just been a way to lure players to the eleventh floor to become her food.
But that's not likely. Based on previous experience, the red-clothed old woman only acts once each night. Besides, before Li Rising arrived, she had already dragged 13MARK's body into the elevator shaft.
If her intent was to devour the players coming to help, she could have just blocked them in the stairwell. Why would she enter the elevator shaft and gamble that supporting players would pursue her down there for 13MARK?"
"That's something I actually know." Li Ang glanced at Black Holy Son. Just as he had observed a few days ago, there was nothing above Black Holy Son's head; his Title Skill, Mystery Delver, didn't reveal any of the other player's inner secrets.
Li Ang took a piece of paper from his pocket. It seemed to be an extremely small fragment of an A4 sheet that Li Ang had previously provided, only about the size of a fingernail, and was densely covered with tiny English words. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚
Upon closer inspection, one could see that the font was neat and clear, as if it were printed.
"This is 13MARK's last will," Li Ang said indifferently. "The red-clothed old woman came through the left stairwell in the corridor, entered the tenth floor, pushed open the door to Room 1008, and used a Naginata to attack 13MARK's substitute item, which was called Mercury Blood Amber.
Compared to the previous night, the red-clothed old woman, suspected of having devoured Ω, had her strength enhanced once again. The Mercury Blood Amber substitute item had no resistance; it was shattered and then slowly consumed.
13MARK first tried to escape through the elevator shaft. However, the red-clothed old woman, who had acquired the skills of Danfei and the others, first blocked the ascending and descending space of the elevator shaft with invisible light. She then used some sort of skill that effectively turned the floor into a prison, forcibly trapping 13MARK. This caused him to march in place the moment he thought of running to the left or right side of the corridor."
"Soul Splitting Nail!" the Plague Doctor called out subconsciously. Seeing the questioning looks from the other players, he explained, "This is a high-level Psychic Skill available for core members to learn within the Demon Scientist Alliance. Its effect is that after obtaining the flesh and blood of another player, the user can implant thoughts and intentions—excluding those that would cause self-harm—into that player from a certain distance.
Its power is slightly less than Mental Control, but if used well, it can kill people invisibly.
This skill is only circulated within the Demon Scientist Alliance. It's taught in person by the vice-chairman of the guild, and a related contract must be signed beforehand. Those who learn the skill can never transfer it to anyone else in any way.
I didn't have enough Contribution Points in the guild to learn it. But Ω might have... If this assumption is correct, then the red-clothed old woman might have indeed devoured Ω and inherited some or all of its skills."
By rights, this information is private intelligence of the Demon Scientist Alliance and shouldn't be disclosed to outsiders. But the Plague Doctor wasn't entirely loyal to the guild. The Dolphin Hotel scenario was fraught with danger, and increasing his teammates' trust might provide crucial help at a critical moment.
"So that's how it is." Li Ang nodded and continued, "Trapped in place, 13MARK called me and hung up after learning I would come upstairs to help. By then, the red-clothed old woman, squatting on the floor of Room 1008, had consumed all parts of the Mercury Blood Amber. Seemingly possessing the liquefaction ability of the Blood Amber Doll, she melted her body. She then climbed slowly up through the hole between Room 1008 and Room 1108, easily breaking through all the wards 13MARK had set up in the room.
13MARK might have realized he couldn't escape. So, he used his Mechanical fingers, each with different functions, to spray-print his will onto a tiny piece of paper and hid it under the telephone's earpiece.
Using the position where his left arm pointed diagonally backward before being dragged away, he signaled the abnormality of the phone to me."
Li Ang had found the scrap of paper beneath the telephone earpiece near the elevator shaft entrance when he had sprouted countless vines to fill the space. The paper detailed not only 13MARK's experiences during his final moments but also recorded all his skills, equipment, the Special Effects of his props, and their respective weaknesses and counters.
If the red-clothed old woman could devour and use 13MARK's skills and equipment, then this information might help the remaining players kill her.
This was 13MARK's revenge.
