# Chapter 194: Killing in the Instance Isn't Illegal
The corridor was very crowded for over a hundred people. They didn't dare enter the glass rooms, nor could they touch the potted plants along the walls, so they had to rest pressed against the glass room walls, standing for a while and then taking turns sitting.
In the absence of fresh air, Gu Yu and the others stopped searching and conserved their strength after finding nothing.
Seeing Xu Huo still pacing around the glass rooms, Zheng Liang couldn't help asking, "What is he looking for?"
"Who cares what he's looking for? None of us could find anything, how could he?" Wei Bin wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Too many people, too hot."
Before long, Xu Huo entered a glass room alone. He found a handcart inside and moved some potted plants out.
"What are you doing with those flowers?" Kang Hong came up, wanting to lend him a hand.
Xu Huo motioned for him to step back. "Better safe than sorry."
Then he crouched in the corridor, carefully lifting two pots of plants that sprayed poisonous powder and placing them in the cart.
Kang Hong couldn't help stepping back. Seeing him continue reaching for more, he said, "If you bring these along, how will you take the elevator later?"
Xu Huo didn't speak until the cart was full before stopping.
"Is he planning to use those plants against the mutant animals?" Wei Bin said in surprise from the other side.
"He's crazy, isn't he? A few potted flowers to deal with mutant animals? Haven't we seen how terrifying those things are? Before he can even shake out the poison powder, his own life will be forfeit," Tie Ge said sarcastically.
Dai Wenqian glanced at them with slight disdain, nodded to his companion, and then the two of them also followed suit, getting handcarts to load with potted plants.
Xu Huo noticed their movements too. He left his cart with the flower-selling girl and her companion, then returned to continue pacing around the glass rooms.
Of course, he wasn't taking these things to smash mutant animals with in actual combat. Rather, compared to the two floors they had passed earlier, the thirteenth floor was very clean. Apart from a few traces left by people, there were no signs of other species having rampaged through.
Mutated plants and animals must have been able to move around the building, yet there were no traces here. Perhaps these plants had played a role. In the current situation where they knew little about the instance, bringing some along couldn't hurt.
"These cultivation scientists seem particularly fond of colors," Dai Wenqian said, walking up beside him and looking at the gaudy flowers in the glass rooms. "Apart from the green plants in the corridor, all the other flowers are bright red and deep purple."
Xu Huo turned his head to look at him.
"I'm Dai Wenqian." Dai Wenqian extended his hand. After waiting two seconds without a response, he withdrew it, smiling unconcernedly. "Don't mind what they say. After all, that's the normal state of people."
Xu Huo withdrew his gaze, looked at a few withered potted plants in the glass room, and said, seemingly a beat slow, "Maybe the scientists at this research base all like bright flowers."
Dai Wenqian laughed instead. "Everything in nature has its evolutionary rules. Some disguise themselves to avoid being preyed upon, others display colors to attract prey. This has nothing to do with human choice—it's the fairest competition."
After a pause, he added, "If the number of people here remains the same by the tenth floor, we might consider cooperating."
Xu Huo turned to look at him again. "You don't want the ready manpower you already have?"
Dai Wenqian adjusted his glasses, speaking meaningfully, "Evolutionary competition is cruel, but it's fair."
With that, he walked away.
Xu Huo returned expressionlessly to where Kang Hong and the others were resting. As soon as he sat down, the flower-selling girl came over and said, "That Dai Wenqian has even higher energy value than you, and he doesn't seem like a good person. Don't fall for his tricks. Earlier, when his companion died right in front of him, he didn't even blink—he had the leisure to wipe his glasses. When fighting the spiders, I clearly saw that guy named Wu Kun protecting him."
"Afraid I'll cooperate with him?" Xu Huo said flatly.
The flower-selling girl gave an embarrassed smile. "I'm just a little curious. Why did he say you'd cooperate if the number of people stays the same by the tenth floor?"
"Go ask him." Xu Huo looked down at the record book he had brought.
The flower-selling girl bit her lip, looked disappointedly back at her companion.
The burly man patted her shoulder reassuringly. "Don't be afraid. I'll protect you."
The flower-selling girl forced a smile.
Six hours passed quickly. Compared to the two floors above, when the elevator doors opened this time, the crowd became somewhat anxious.
Xu Huo pushed his cart into the elevator, only allowing three people in.
After arriving safely on the twelfth floor, the first thing they smelled was a strong stench of decay. Someone turned on a flashlight, revealing numerous corpses lying in the illuminated area. Some had died not long ago, with maggots writhing on their bodies.
Those with weaker stomachs knelt to the side and vomited. Xu Huo found the light switch and, after turning it on, was startled by the blinding red.
The entire floor looked like a murder scene. Blood was everywhere—on the floor, walls, and ceiling. The time of death among the bodies wasn't far apart. Only a few had intact bodies; the rest had been chopped into pieces, about twenty people in total.
"Why are there so many dead people here?" the flower-selling girl asked, covering her mouth.
"This was originally a dining and rest area," Xu Huo said, looking around. Besides the round dining tables, there was a room with a window on one side, and vending machines on the other. But now everything was riddled with holes and covered in meter-long chopping marks.
The floor and walls also bore similar chopping marks.
Dai Wenqian's group checked the personal belongings of the corpses and said, "These people all entered the instance later. None of them are staff."
"They died so horribly..." the rich young girl sat slumped on the floor, staring blankly. "Will we end up like them too, dying here with maggots and no one knowing?"
"I can't take this anymore!" Someone clutched their head and rushed to the window, prying it open to look down. "There are windows here. Let's find a way down from the windows. Maybe if we leave this building, we can survive!"
More than one person had the same idea. Several others rushed up, taking off their pants and tying them together.
Others were also tempted, but at that moment, Dai Wenqian took a dagger from his companion, grabbed the person at the window by the hair, dragged him back, and with his face toward the room and back to the window, slit his throat in front of everyone.
When the blood sprayed out, even Gu Yu and the others changed color, looking at him in shock and uncertainty.
Dai Wenqian flicked the blood off his blade and said coldly, "I won't cause you trouble, and I hope you won't cause trouble either."
"It was made very clear on the fifteenth floor. There might be things beyond our understanding in the fog. If anyone brings danger from outside in here, don't blame me for being ruthless."
He looked at the people who had stripped off their clothes. "Stay put. You only have one life. And killing in an instance isn't illegal."