The Terrifying Death Elevator

So that was it...

His own head had flown off!

Who did it?

Then, the restaurant owner saw the burly pig-headed man standing behind him, a full two meters tall.

He held a long butcher knife, fresh red blood still dripping from the blade.

He reached out a rough hand, grabbed the headless body in one go, and dragged it with heavy steps toward the kitchen.

Soon, a chilling sound of chopping meat came from the kitchen.

"Ah!!!"

The screams around them grew even louder!

Two people rolled their eyes back, nearly fainting from fright.

"Murder! Murder!"

"Monster! The monster killed someone!"

Bai Zuo stopped, quietly watching the chaos, then turned and walked toward the stairs.

The force that had been restraining everyone, preventing them from leaving, vanished the moment the pig-headed man appeared.

Seeing Bai Zuo leave the dining hall unimpeded, the others finally snapped out of it and scrambled to follow, crawling and stumbling.

That pig-headed man was still here—who knew if, after dealing with that body, he'd set his sights on them.

They fled the horrific murder scene.

Gradually, the crowd recovered from their terror.

"We're inside a horror game instance."

"Why did this have to happen to me!"

"This is too scary! I want to leave this place."

"What do we do now?"

"The instance hint said we need to find a way to escape this hotel."

"There's an elevator!"

Like spotting a lifeline, the group swarmed toward the elevator.

A bespectacled man with a scholarly face saw this and immediately stopped them: "If escaping this dining hall were that easy, the clearance condition wouldn't say 'within seven days'!"

"Let's exchange identities first and figure out how to clear this game together!"

His words calmed some of the panicked people who had lost their composure.

But others weren't having it.

They cursed loudly and shoved the glasses-wearing man out of their way.

"Are you kidding me! There's a murderous pig-headed monster here! Getting out of here is the top priority—get lost!"

"If you don't want to leave, we do!"

The lead man, with a fierce expression, grumbled curses, spat on the ground, and slammed the elevator button hard.

The elevator started moving, quickly rising from the tenth floor to the twenty-sixth.

With a ding.

The elevator doors opened.

The elevator was spacious and clean, with no monster jumping out for a surprise attack—it looked like a perfectly normal elevator.

"You people are just brain-dead from work! There's a shortcut, and you still want to think of other ways!"

Several people stepped in, and two more hesitated before reluctantly entering under the impatient glare of the lead man.

The elevator doors closed under everyone's watch.

One person couldn't handle the pressure and reached for the elevator button, but the glasses-wearing man stopped him.

The glasses-wearing man adjusted his glasses. "Let them try. If the elevator is safe, we'll take the next one."

The crowd sighed in relief.

Bai Zuo leaned slightly against the wall, staring at the group with a strange look, like a predator eyeing its prey.

The malice constantly radiating from humans, richer than usual, made him feel extremely comfortable. Surrounded by it, the heart gu he had contracted opened its appetite and began devouring greedily.

Human malice was truly delicious!

The elevator slowly descended.

It seemed it might actually reach the first floor safely.

The crowd grew more excited, seeing hope for clearing the game.

Suddenly.

The descending elevator slowed to a halt just before reaching the fourth floor, its chains letting out a few hair-raising creaks.

Then, the entire elevator car began to tremble.

Panic erupted among those inside.

They immediately pressed every button on the panel.

But it was useless. The elevator paused at the fourth floor for a few seconds, then, shaking violently, suddenly shot upward at breakneck speed.

"AAAAHHHHHH!!!"

The crowd waiting outside the elevator doors only heard bloodcurdling screams echoing through the shaft.

Then, they watched the display as the floor numbers climbed at an unnatural pace.

In mere seconds.

With a deafening roar, the elevator car slammed into the top floor.

The screams cut off abruptly.

Then, those outside saw blood seeping through the gaps in the elevator, flowing out to pool at their feet.

Many went weak in the knees and collapsed onto the ground.

"Ah!"

They scrambled backward on the floor, kicking their legs, desperate to get away from the blood streaming toward them.

They had almost boarded that death elevator!

Glasses Man's hand trembled, shock and fear flickering in his eyes, along with a trace of relief.

Good thing he had let those people test it first.

One elevator was already destroyed. As for the remaining one, after seeing such a gruesome fate, who would dare try it? They now wanted nothing more than to stay far away from the elevators.

Glasses Man knew this was his moment to speak: "Alright, everyone saw that. Everything in the game is extremely dangerous. If there were really such an easy shortcut, this instance's rank and difficulty wouldn't be so high."

"The game probably wouldn't give us an impossible win condition, but it still judged that we need seven days to escape the cafeteria, not five, three, or one."

"That means there's no shortcut. We'll probably need to find clues and pass through one stage at a time to get out of here."

Glasses Man looked around the circle. "Now there are seven of us left. Let's start with me introducing myself!"

"My name is Li Ke. I'm a team leader at a company. My mind works fairly well, and I exercise regularly, so my physical condition is decent."

A tall, slender girl spoke hesitantly: "I'm Han Shitao, a high school student. Sports are my strong suit, and I usually enjoy reading horror and supernatural novels, so maybe that'll come in handy."

"Just call me Qiang Ge. I'm unemployed right now." Qiang Ge was fairly burly, but there was an unsettling air about his eyes and brows.

A man's expression was evasive. "Introductions aren't necessary, I guess. Just call me Hua Zi!"

A clean-cut man was still shaken, staring blankly at the blood splattered on his hands.

Only when the people around him called out did he snap back: "I'm Du Jiashi. Just an ordinary office worker."

A woman dressed maturely and stylishly, with the aura of a modern urban professional, said: "I'm Xu Rou. A white-collar worker, mainly doing clerical stuff."

Her makeup was a bit smudged, probably from crying earlier.