Chapter 195: Skill Card
"Why do you think we would encounter Dr. Fu?" Hua Yun did not directly answer Yin Chengjue's question, but instead asked one in return.
Yin Chengjue's question was not without purpose.
They had discovered that Dr. Fu had three ultimate experimental subject, and coincidentally, the three people initially separated from the main group were also three. How could such a coincidence exist in this world?
Another point: Dr. Fu should still be alive. Yet, despite searching his laboratory over and over, they never saw Dr. Fu return, which suggested he must be occupied with something even more important.
Putting himself in Dr. Fu's shoes, for someone so obsessed with research, even to the point of fanaticism and madness, what could be more interesting than conducting experiments in his own laboratory?
Yin Chengjue first thought that Dr. Fu had met with these three people, and probably had taken a syringe with him.
"Just asking casually," Yin Chengjue observed Hua Yun's expression but couldn't decipher anything, so he shifted his gaze to Rong Yu.
Rong Yu blinked his eyes, looking innocent.
"You have no idea, we were tied to chairs at the beginning! It took us forever to untie the ropes!" Yang Ji interjected at this point: "But we didn't see any Dr. Fu. We just solved puzzles to get out of the locked room, then ran into those mutants. They were ferocious, howling and roaring. We rushed into the elevator, and they chased after us, desperately trying to get in. We almost couldn't hold them off!"
Getting excited, Yang Ji continued, "Can you believe it? The way to start that elevator was to recite a tongue twister! My goodness, how many times a day would someone using this elevator have to recite that?"
Yin Chengjue thought for a moment: "So, you came down from upstairs, and now the upper floor is full of those mutants. Do they have consciousness?"
Yang Ji: "No."
Yin Chengjue: "Pressing the elevator button alone won't start it; you need to first recite a tongue twister?"
Yang Ji: "Right."
Yin Chengjue: "Then we should be thankful for this setting. Because those mindless mutants can't recite a tongue twister that tests memory and verbal dexterity, they've been trapped upstairs all this time, unable to come down."
So, that strange elevator setup wasn't simply the production team trying to make things difficult for them.
The information the three brought was substantial. At least they now knew that upstairs was a large hall with doors on all four sides, each leading to at least one room.
This meant the space upstairs was vast, and by comparison, the space downstairs must be considerable too, except upstairs was a hall while downstairs was a corridor.
Yin Chengjue counted the rooms they had searched earlier: "Judging by the spatial layout they described, the point where their elevator descended is the center of the upper floor and also the center of this level. There are ten rooms upstairs, so there should be ten rooms downstairs as well. How many rooms have we searched just now?"
Liu Qingling counted: "Three laboratories, one bedroom, one sample room, one study, one storage room."
This left three rooms yet to be explored.
Liu Qingling: "Then let's search for the rooms now. We've already walked this corridor and didn't see any extra rooms. You all arrived just in time; presumably, the remaining three rooms are on the other side of your corridor."
Since there were only two flashlights, no one suggested splitting up, even though their main tasks were different.
"Ooooh..." Walking ahead, Yin Chengjue swept the flashlight beam down the long corridor and heard strange cries.
Yang Ji then remembered that they had encountered a mutant on their way here, but that one seemed rather non-aggressive, as if purely meant to give them a scare.
But this time, as Yin Chengjue gradually approached, the strange cries in the corridor grew louder, clearly becoming much more frenzied.
Following the sound, Yin Chengjue aimed the flashlight beam at the source.
The mutant, suddenly illuminated by the light, immediately let out an angry roar and charged straight toward Yin Chengjue!
Yang Ji screamed, "Ahhh! He's coming right at us! Why is he attacking now? He was completely calm a moment ago!"
Hua Yun made a swift decision: "Turn off the flashlights! They become frenzied when they see light sources."
The reason those mutants upstairs were so frenzied was most likely because the lights up there were bright.
Yin Chengjue and Xiao Xiao promptly turned off their flashlights, plunging the surroundings into complete darkness.
The charging mutant seemed to instantly lose its direction. The "oooh" sounds stopped abruptly, its movements slowed, and it simply walked past Yin Chengjue, seemingly unaware of him.
The rest of the group maintained perfect silence, not making a sound.
Soon, the mutant wandered off like it was taking a stroll, passing by the nine of them and heading in another direction.
Yin Chengjue quickly turned the flashlight back on, glanced around and ahead, then turned it off again as the mutant looked toward them.
Yin Chengjue reached out to his left: "We'll have to walk in the dark. Everyone hold hands, don't get separated."
Soon, Yin Chengjue felt something brushing against his clothes. Following the touch, he grabbed the other person's hand.
Discreetly giving the hand a squeeze, Yin Chengjue confirmed it was Rong Yu's hand, and his mood instantly brightened.
Feeling his hand being kneaded by Yin Chengjue, a tingling itch crept into Rong Yu's heart, and he couldn't help saying, "It's so dark here, maybe we should walk slower."
Yang Ji: "...?" Wait, when you and Hua Yun were dragging me along earlier, one on each side, you didn't say anything about slowing down! Was the corridor not dark enough then?
This is the same corridor!
A chain of nine people holding hands was too cumbersome. Xiao Xun passed his flashlight to Liu Qingling so he could lead a second, shorter line. Those who didn't want to hold hands could simply rest their hands on the shoulders of the person in front. The important thing was to stay connected.
"The elevator should be around here." As they slowly shuffled to a certain point in the pitch-black corridor, Rong Yu spoke up.
Yin Chengjue turned his flashlight on for a brief moment. Sure enough, the outline of a transparent elevator shaft came into view, but the outer door was closed, and the elevator car had gone up.
"Wow! You actually remember that?" Yang Ji expressed surprise.
Rong Yu smiled sheepishly: "I roughly counted our steps from the elevator to the password door earlier and made a rough estimate."
Hua Yun: "In any case, that elevator car upstairs is definitely full of those mutants, so our activity range should be limited to this floor."
Yin Chengjue, however, said: "We can only say we're staying on this floor for now. Even if the detective route and treasure hunting route members don't want to go up and only search for clues downstairs, the escape route members still have to go up. Because this is an underground laboratory; to successfully escape, one naturally needs to go upward."
Hua Yun: "So when are you planning to use this elevator to go up?"
Yin Chengjue wasn't fooled by this leading question: "My point is, everyone needs to be wary of the escape route players, because their task this time will likely attract a large number of mutants."
Yin Chengjue looked at Yang Ji: "Especially you, Teacher Yang. After all, not everyone can recite that tongue twister. The escape route players will definitely try to force or persuade you into going to the elevator to recite it."
Yang Ji: "Hold on! Are you guys still scheming against each other? Shouldn't the nine of us be working together, uniting as one, to deal with those mutants? Can't you have a bit of team spirit!"
Yin Chengjue: "What is our purpose for being here? Although I don't know your character backgrounds or the reasons why you came here, one thing is certain: none of our missions involve dealing with those mutants."
Yang Ji: "..." Now that you mention it, that does seem to be the case!
"Unless…" Yin Chengjue trailed off, toying with his flashlight.
"Unless what? Don't leave us hanging!" Qin Ke urged.
Yin Chengjue wanted to shake his head but remembered they couldn't see, so he said: "Unless there's an unexpected variable. For example, if someone among us is already infected with the mutating virus or something."
Wei Shu chuckled. "Hah, that would be a twist! I wouldn't mind getting that special effects makeup done."
As they spoke, Yin Chengjue's foot bumped into something. He reached down, his hand finding something smooth. Tracing its shape, he realized it was a doorknob.
Yin Chengjue twisted the doorknob, and the door creaked open inward.
Simultaneously, a strong smell of disinfectant wafted out.
Yin Chengjue casually felt around the doorframe and actually found a light switch.
Click. Instantly, everything was bathed in bright light.
Having walked in darkness for so long, they were all blinded by the sudden brightness and closed their eyes.
Once they finally adjusted, everyone began examining this room.
To be accurate, the layout was a small lobby. Opposite them were three separate rooms with closed doors, each secured with a padlock—clearly, three more locks for them to solve.
Everyone, well-versed in the routine by now, entered and immediately began searching without a word. Yin Chengjue opened the drawer of a desk nearest to him and found a pink envelope lying inside.
This was obviously a clue.
Without hesitation, Yin Chengjue opened the envelope and took out the white card inside. It read:
Congratulations on finding the "Wooden Man" Skill Card.
Effect: Upon activation, everything around you except yourself will freeze for 1 minute.
Activation Rule: Hold this card aloft and shout "One, Two, Three, Wooden Man!"
Prerequisite: Within one minute of obtaining this card, you must pick up someone nearby and spin them around ten times. Failure to do so will render this card void.
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