Just a Casual Remark

The corridor on this floor was much warmer compared to the upper floor, lined on both sides with all sorts of dormitory doors.

Several players wearing Boyang University uniforms and two in casual clothes were cautiously exploring along the base of the wall. Zhu Yan sprinted past them like a blur, startling the group.

"Why is he running?"

One player looked back alertly. "Is something chasing him?"

He made a hand gesture, and the group keenly prepared themselves for an attack.

However, there was nothing.

It was the same as before; apart from that player's panicked footsteps, everything was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

"Oh, oh, oh, there are always some lunatics in the world."

One of them was the first to straighten up.

His hat was pulled low over his hair. The hair color was originally supposed to be a bright purple, but it had clearly faded to a somewhat grayish hue.

It was exactly Chen Zhaoxing, who had just cleared the instance.

"Let's go, let's find Yang Zhanbai." Chen Zhaoxing chewed his gum happily. "He's a good guy, and his methods are..."

Recalling Yang Zhanbai's mere level-four attack ability, the corners of Chen Zhaoxing's mouth under the brim of his hat twitched downward in disgust. He held it in for a long time before barely squeezing out a compliment.

"...also passable, I guess."

"We said the transformation command for the same floor, so we must be on the same floor."

Another player stared at this eccentric young man, swallowing hard. "Um, who is Yang Zhanbai? Where did you just bring our dorm? What do you mean by a transformation command for the same floor?"

Ten meters away.

Zhu Yan followed behind them quietly with great interest, secretly eavesdropping on their conversation.

He remembered that earlier in the stadium stands, Yang Zhanbai was greatly shocked by the abilities of these two people.

This guy had said they didn't look like new players and that he was going to ask them some questions.

[Humiliation] was still useful. Neither Yang Zhanbai nor Qi Yinming had chased after him; they were probably lying weak in the dorm.

Just now, he only wanted to find the emergency exit or elevator to leave the floor first, to find [Sister Jin's Braised Noodles], and to find [Key Fragment 2].

But as he ran, he quickly realized something.

This was just a plain circular corridor without any tricks, just like the floor where the frog was.

The corridor had no windows. On both sides were different rooms, small shops, and strange places resembling train cars filled with bronze statues.

Next to the small shop was a standing sign marked "100th Floor." This was the only written information about the floor that Zhu Yan saw.

However, he was sure he hadn't seen any elevators or emergency exits.

Neither of those were there.

It seemed to be a very simple circular ring designed to trap people, with no exit.

There weren't even any windows!

And the corridor was obviously not long, because as Zhu Yan ran, he unexpectedly ended up behind these players again.

Apart from these players, there wasn't a single shadow of a living person in the corridor.

Let alone any high-level thriller creatures!

Zhu Yan slowed his pace, pressed against the wall, and alertly stared at the backs of Chen Zhaoxing and Xu Tongguang.

He remembered that before entering the instance, Yang Zhanbai had indeed gone to chat with these two.

What had they experienced, and what did they know?

Going back to interrogate Yang Zhanbai as a [Hunter] wouldn't be easy.

Hiding behind and eavesdropping, however, took no effort at all.

"Yang Zhanbai is the famous 'BreakUpWithGays'." Chen Zhaoxing explained lightly, letting out a string of meaningless shouts from his mouth.

"Oh oh oh! Male budgerigar! Oh oh oh oh ang hang hang hang..."

"There's someone here," another sickly weak voice interrupted him.

Chen Zhaoxing fell silent, but the several players beside him started talking all at once.

"Holy crap, 'BreakUpWithGays'? That big shot who ranked second overall last time?!"

"Is he from [Xishan University]? Our school did broadcast his nickname, but didn't broadcast his school..."

"Big shot, what is his ability?"

Chen Zhaoxing switched to a very serious tone. "Yes, the top three are all from Xishan University. They should be in the same dorm."

Xu Tongguang added, "When we were pulled into the instance, we were still chatting. Our first two floors were together, and both of those floors would spawn thriller creatures."

Chen Zhaoxing corrected him with a grin, "What do you mean 'spawn'? Bro, why are you comforting these newbies?"

What did that mean?

Why was 'spawning' a comfort?

Zhu Yan, following behind, listened even more carefully.

He could hear Xu Tongguang's breathing pause slightly, clearly hesitating.

Two seconds later, he finally said, "It's not spawning. Those thriller creatures seem to have some special method; they can climb directly up the floors."

"No one knows how they come up; we haven't found any passageways."

Zhu Yan frowned.

He remembered Qi Yinming had just told him that they had already changed floors three times.

If every floor was like this...

How did they change those three floors?

Did it have anything to do with the "floor transformation command" Chen Zhaoxing just mentioned?

"Hehe, Yang-the-Sheep chopped up a level-four fake human. Oh, can fake human meat be used for hot pot?"

This time, Chen Zhaoxing seemed to realize his thoughts had wandered too far and hurriedly brought the topic back consciously.

"The level-four fake human told us that every floor has a specific transformation command. As long as you say the specific transformation command, you can go to a specific floor number."

Zhu Yan understood.

If that was the case, then this game was way too treacherous.

Relying solely on these newbie players, relying solely on him, Zhu Yan, when would they ever be able to figure out all the transformation commands for every floor?

Moreover, the commands only allowed players to change floors; it didn't mean they could find the [Key Fragments].

For example, Fragment 1 was on the floor where the [Frog Convenience Store] was located.

But the toad itself had said that the location of the [Frog Convenience Store] would change at any time, and the scenes and thriller creatures on each floor were constantly changing.

How the hell long was this going to take to find?

"If we don't say the floor transformation command, we can only drift with the tide and wait for our room to automatically change to another floor,"

Xu Tongguang added.

"That fake human said that the more abundant the supplies on a floor, the simpler the transformation command. You might hit it just by saying something casually."

"Floors with many high-level thriller creatures have relatively harder transformation commands."

"We've changed floors three times. The last time was truly special; the monsters outside were too high-level, which is why we plunged headfirst into your dorm."

Xu Tongguang's tone was somewhat guilty. "Sorry about that, bringing you guys up too. Fortunately, it's not dangerous here..."

Zhu Yan remembered how Qi Yinming looked when he spoke to him right after returning to the dorm.

This guy had deliberately lowered his voice and signaled Zhu Yan to communicate via phone.

Supplies were indeed abundant here, but...

Was it really not dangerous?

Zhu Yan looked around and suddenly felt a chill down his spine.

If, according to Xu Tongguang, there were truly only supplies here, and a command could be hit just by "saying something casually"...

If you counted what Yang Zhanbai and Qi Yinming had said in the dorm, what he had said in the dorm, and what those people had just been discussing outside...

Just how many things had been "casually said" in total?

Why hadn't their floor changed yet?