Chapter 214: The Ticket Is the Most Critical Gate
Kang Hong roughly knew what they wanted to do, so he said, "I'll go to other floors to find electrical wires."
"Be careful. Other floors might hide mutant animals," Xu Huo said.
Kang Hong called Chen Shu along, and Xiao Ba and Zheng Liang also followed to help.
"What are you going to do?" Jiang Yihua walked over, looking at them with confusion.
"Send that man-eating flower a big gift," Xu Huo said.
Jiang Yihua hesitated for a moment and said, "Are you trying to kill that man-eating flower with electricity?"
"That man-eating flower has a very high energy value. I don't think electricity can kill it."
"Whether it can kill it is secondary," Dai Wenqian interjected. "If the man-eating flower takes over this building, then the mutant animals in this building will eventually be eaten clean. If we can block the elevator shaft, even better—this instance will be finished sooner or later."
Jiang Yihua suddenly understood. "If the rules of this instance itself no longer hold, then it can't swallow people anymore!"
"This is also a way to benefit others, right?"
Gu Yu walked over, picked up the dismantled small fan, took out a whetstone, and rubbed it against the blades, instantly making them as sharp as knives. "In that case, let's go all the way."
She smiled at Xu Huo as she spoke. "Learned from you. Even the most inconspicuous method is still a method. It might come in handy unexpectedly."
Xu Huo yielded his spot to her.
"I'll help too." Jiang Yihua helped dismantle other small fans and said with a smile, "Since becoming a player, this is the first time I've felt such a sense of accomplishment."
Gu Yu looked up at her, then turned to glance at the two men who had already gone to the electrical panel. Her gaze first fell on Xu Huo, then shifted to Dai Wenqian, and she let out a soft sigh.
"Sister Gu Yu, can we help with anything?" Zhang Biao and the bald player came over.
Gu Yu looked at them coldly. "Get lost."
"Sister Gu Yu, we're on the same side. When we get back, you have to testify for Brother Qiao about Dai Wenqian killing Brother Tie," Zhang Biao said. "Although Brother Qiao won't do anything to him... but who can feel safe following someone who casually kills his own companions? Anyway, if I ever find a ticket to the same instance next time, I definitely won't go with him."
Gu Yu sneered. "Do you think Dai Wenqian wants to take a dead weight like you along?"
"And you want to enter the same instance? Unless you cooperate with the government, where are you going to find two identical tickets? Complaining about others, and you've got some nerve."
Zhang Biao and the bald player were left embarrassed and also faced hostility from the other non-players. They exchanged a glance and ran off to find Zheng Liang and Xiao Ba.
On Xu Huo's side, they connected wires to the electrical panel. Kang Hong and the others brought up the dismantled wires and also found some practical modification tools on other floors. They connected a few more lines, deciding to go all the way and dismantle the elevator as well before leaving the instance.
"But those two, Zhang Biao, have gone out," Kang Hong said. "I saw them find something."
From upstairs, it was completely impossible to see what was happening outside the building. Xu Huo said ambiguously, "They've got some nerve."
Nearby, Zheng Liang was also telling Gu Yu about this, but he knew what Zhang Biao had picked up—it seemed to be a leftover item from a previous player. Zhang Biao had also called him out, saying the man-eating flower vines outside seemed to have stopped moving.
Hearing Xu Huo's words, Zheng Liang's eyelids twitched, and he changed his words mid-sentence: "...Forget it, going out is still unsafe. It's not worth risking your life for a few items of unknown use."
Kang Hong and Chen Shu were also a bit tempted, but before going out, they tacitly came back to ask Xu Huo's opinion. Hearing what he said, they didn't say anything more.
Time quickly reached evening. According to the correct floor, they should go to the fifth floor. Although no mutant animals had been seen since the man-eating flower invaded the building, to avoid unnecessary trouble, the group descended to the fifth floor via the elevator shaft ahead of time.
The elevator soon came down from upstairs, opened on the fifth floor, and then returned upstairs.
Night made little difference to Xu Huo compared to day, so while the others rested on the fifth floor, he went to the fourth floor alone.
On the fourth floor, aside from a few mutant animals that had been crushed to death, the rest was filled with the crowded flower vines of the man-eating plant.
His gaze lingered on the skeletal animal carcasses for a few seconds, then he turned and went to the third floor.
The third floor seemed to be a leisure area, with sofas, bookshelves, and some old, abandoned magazines.
Xu Huo picked one up and found that these magazines were not from the same place, nor even from the same wormhole point.
His eyes paused. The Little Flower Red Red Building and Decibel Town seemed to be fixed-location random instances, placed in a certain spot, simply waiting to lure players in.
This was different from the Skinner's instance.
The Skinner was the master of his instance, which could move between different districts, so it was normal for items from different places to appear in his instance. Another example was Block Fairy Tale City, which had been completely assimilated into the game, with forces from other districts stationed there, allowing items from other districts to be brought in.
However, the background of the Little Flower Red Red Building mentioned Professor Hao trying to contact Stellar Pharmaceuticals Research Group, along with these entertainment magazines from different places, which might represent another existence—the complete fusion of the game world and the real world.
Outer zone players arriving in Zone 014 all came with tickets, so they might have two layers of restriction: first, the ticket, and second, the fact that the game world and the real world were not completely overlapping. But if Zone 014 were to fully integrate into the game world, then Hai City might become a station city like Block Fairy Tale City, where players could freely enter and exit.
In that case, there would inevitably be a power gap between the old and new districts, making it easy for players in the old district to do whatever they wanted.
To some extent, the ticket had become the most critical gate. Without a ticket, one couldn't travel between different station cities.
Thinking of this, Xu Huo couldn't help but recall the "temporary pass" the Skinner had once mentioned. It seemed that with that item, traveling between stations would become much easier.
Perhaps the outer zone players invading Zone 014 relied on that so-called "temporary pass"?
But there were also people who could freely travel between stations without a ticket.
He casually flipped through the magazines and put them back, then stood up and headed to the second floor.
Dai Wenqian had been to the second floor before—it was Professor Hao's bedroom, with signs of a struggle and fresh bloodstains, along with another dried-up mutant animal carcass.
Picking up a fountain pen stuck in the flower vines in the corner, Xu Huo turned and threw it toward the doorway. "This is yours, right."
Dai Wenqian, standing in the darkness, caught his own item and said in a low voice, "What are you looking for?"
"Something useful." Xu Huo was about five meters away from him, a distance that allowed him to clearly see the subtle expressions on Dai Wenqian's face. He raised an eyebrow. "Thinking of making a move on me?"