Life Game In Other World
Chapter 733: Whisper of Temptation (Seeking Monthly Votes)

Chapter 733: Chapter 733: Whisper of Temptation (Seeking Monthly Votes)

Newland City-State · Core Island

"What, someone opened their door and took to the streets?"

Kodo looked blankly at the walkie-talkie in his hand, "How many people? Where are they? Why wouldn’t they listen to warnings and take to the streets?"

"There are many people," came the crackling reply through the walkie-talkie, "from every district on all five islands. We don’t know how they came to be on the streets, but we are now having the gendarmerie persuade them to go back."

Kodo lifted his head and glanced outside the window, indeed seeing a few figures wandering around the exterior of the building.

"Did you ask them why they suddenly went out into the streets?"

Chen Lin suddenly leaned over and asked into the walkie-talkie.

There seemed to be a pause on the other end of the walkie-talkie, then the voice quieted, likely from the person reporting starting to run; then came the low murmur of conversation. After a while, the walkie-talkie transmitted an answer with hints of breathlessness,

"I just asked, and most people who came out say they heard calls from missing loved ones or saw their lost pets outside the door."

"Missing loved ones and pets?"

Kodo asked, slightly puzzled.

"Yes,"

responded the voice over the walkie-talkie, "that’s what they’re saying."

Chen Lin pondered for a moment, then said softly, "Maybe it’s related to those disappearances that Wester has been creating."

"But this time it’s not Wester..."

Kodo instinctively continued, but then he quickly realized that Wester’s issues might not be unrelated to what they were currently experiencing.

So he picked up the walkie-talkie and began to inquire about other important points, "Has anyone entered the world opposite the door because they opened it?"

There was a pause on the other end of the walkie-talkie, seemingly also making inquiries. After a while, the reply came, "The gendarmerie reports some missing person cases, saying family members vanished right after stepping out the door, while others returned home to find no one there. It seems there are many disappearances, but it’s too chaotic here right now for them to compile a specific possible number of missing."

"Tell them to prioritize persuading those on the streets to go home," Kodo quickly ordered, "These people are easy targets for the roaming monsters in the streets, and they also interfere with our efforts to clear out the monsters."

"Understood!"

The person on the other end of the walkie-talkie nodded.

Kodo turned off the communication, he looked up at Chen Lin with a trace of irritation, "It seems to be some sort of strange creatures or items ’luring’ people out of their homes."

"Or maybe it’s the ’traitors’ hidden within the city-state causing this mischief."

Chen Lin conjectured.

"Shall we go down now for investigation?"

Kodo stood up, resting his hands on the table, and glanced out the window, "More and more doors are opening, and the monsters we’re facing are getting stronger. The people below probably can’t hold out much longer, but if we go down, no one will be left up here."

"We really should go down,"

Chen Lin said gravely beside him, "and we need to be quick about it."

"Why?"

Kodo looked towards him.

"We need to give the impression that someone is always here, or at least give the impression that we have support behind us."

Chen Lin looked at him and replied sternly, "If we keep hiding up here, it might make those lurking in the dark suspect something’s up on this side, or doubt the whereabouts of those two."

At this, he paused, "Of course, if the enemy can manipulate such strange ’luring’ powers, they might already know our exact situation, which is the worst-case scenario. Therefore, once we go down, we still need to be ready to protect ourselves."

"Things are getting worse,"

Kodo sat back down in his chair, raising his hand to his forehead and pinching the bridge of his nose. After a moment, he dropped his hand and let out a sigh, "Let’s hope those two succeed."

"If only that were the case."

Chen Lin looked out at the starry sky through the window, heaving a sigh as well.

They both knew the chances of success were slim, but at least there was a hope.

Kodo, too, gazed out the window.

The inky night sky outside the glass reflected Kodo’s face as it revealed the night scene beyond.

The somewhat disheveled reflection in the mirror, seated at the window, stared outward at the Kodo outside with an identical expression of stern concern.

It curled the corner of its mouth, revealing a deep, enigmatic smile.

——

Underground Palace

"There should be a gate here."

At the end of the pitch-dark corridor, in front of the narrow elevator entrance, He Ao stopped and looked up.

Feiya raised her flashlight, illuminating above their heads.

The faint light fell upon the two people’s heads, revealing walls covered in green vines, and in the gaps between the vines, a metallic gate embedded in the wall could barely be seen.

"There is one,"

she said with slight surprise, nodding her head. "What is the purpose of this gate here? To isolate something?"

"It’s likely some kind of emergency safety mechanism,"

He Ao turned to glance back. In the fathomless darkness of the corridor behind them, the faint lights from the top of the commercial street outside could just be discerned, "There’s probably not just one gate in this passageway."

Feiya swung the flashlight’s beam to the ceiling behind them.

Not far from the two of them, through the sparse gaps in the vines, a few things that appeared to be gates could be glimpsed, and further back, the entire top of the corridor was obscured by dense vines, leaving nothing visible.

Then she turned back around to face the claustrophobic elevator hall, which had only one entrance to the passageway where they stood.

She hadn’t initially realized the significance of the location, but after He Ao mentioned the existence of the gates, she gradually began to understand something.

Looking up at He Ao, she asked, "Are these gates meant to isolate the elevator? If a hazardous situation arises, will the gates in this passageway automatically lower to isolate this elevator from the outside space? But what’s the purpose of such a design? Is it to isolate the first level from the lower levels?"

"To be more precise, it might be to ’protect’ the first level,"

He Ao walked into the sequestered elevator hall, staring at the dimly lit elevator screens, slowly speaking, "Do you remember what Kalin told us? To go from the second to the third layer, one can’t just take the elevator directly from the first to the second level; instead, they have to pass through a corridor with a gate before heading down another passage.

"If there is a fourth layer within the Underground Palace, I suspect it also can’t be accessed through the passage from the second to the third layer; we would need to find a different way down.

"Judging purely by convenience and efficiency, according to our previous conjectures, if the first level is the living quarters, then at least one of the lower levels should be a work area, if not all of them.

"For a worker living on the first level to reach the lower levels for work, the most efficient method would undoubtedly be to build an elevator that goes directly to the lower levels,

"If the builders of this Underground Palace chose not to use the most efficient method and instead made a convoluted design that disrupts direct access between floors, it can only mean one thing: they had a compelling reason to do so.

"Just like workers entering a hazardous area need to pass through a buffer zone and don appropriate protective gear, these intentionally ’prolonged’ passageways for descending might serve as artificially created buffer zones. When necessary, the gates in these passageways may also lower as a ’defensive line’ ringing the first level’s living quarters."

"You mean the lower levels of the Underground Palace, by original design, are very dangerous? So they need to be isolated from the ’living area’ of the first level?"

Feiya moved next to He Ao. "Is that the reason the Underground Palace is more dangerous than other parts of the ruin? But what are these dangers coming from?"

As they spoke, she swept the flashlight across the surrounding area of the elevator hall. The elevator hall contained nine elevators, five of which still glowed faintly. In the corner near the corridor, an open stairwell door was surrounded by densely intertwined vines spilling out from within.

"Transcendent creatures, transcendent items, like our ’warehouse’ where we store transcendent items, anything is possible."

He Ao whispered.

Of course, ordinary transcendent items and creatures are found everywhere, and they wouldn’t be stored in a place like the Underground Palace, which seems cut off from the world. So there are probably even deeper secrets hidden here.

While speaking, He Ao reached out and quickly pressed all five of the glowing elevators one after the other.

Before coming here, Kalin had mentioned that all five elevators were operational, and so were the stairwells; but now it seemed that the stairwells were overgrown with vines, which might make passage a bit problematic.

"Do we need to check each elevator?"

Feiya looked at He Ao, puzzled, as the five elevators all displayed upward arrows.

"No,"

He Ao shook his head. He glanced at the bloodstains in front of one of the elevators, then turned around, found an elevator that wasn’t lit, and thrust his sword into the gap of the elevator doors. With a forceful levering, there was a loud ’bang’ as he pried the doors open,

He peered into the elevator shaft and said, "We’ll go down from here."

With that, he jumped down.

Feiya was momentarily stunned, then followed He Ao and leaped down as well.

Bang, bang—

With two echoing thuds, they landed on top of the elevator cab stopped at the second basement level.

He Ao signaled Feiya to take half a step back, then lifted his sword and stabbed it through the top of the cab, drawing a circle with a light slash before forcefully stepping down.

Boom—

The circular piece of the elevator cab’s metal roof suddenly fell, crashing inside the cab. Accompanied by a splash of fresh blood, a small creature lurking inside the cab was instantly crushed.

"How did you know there was a creature down there?"

Feiya asked, somewhat surprised.

"I didn’t," He Ao shook his head, "It was a precaution."

It was like when passing by a bush in a game where Old Six frequently hides—throwing a skill into it could often bring a surprise.

Speaking, he jumped into the elevator cab, and Feiya followed him down.

She looked curiously at the young man’s profile beside her.

He appeared young, yet seemed to possess an exceptionally rich combat experience.

Ding—

Meanwhile, as the two got into the cab, the five elevators on the first floor almost simultaneously arrived, and tendrils shot out like swords the moment the elevator doors opened.

The five tendrils pierced through the void, then met other extending tendrils, thinking they had caught their prey, and quickly entwined around each other.

With the elevator doors fully opened, five monsters hidden within the elevators, with bodies covering the walls and constantly writhing, revealed their forms.

After a brief pause, the elevator doors slowly closed, only to be jammed by the outstretched tendrils.

······

He Ao used the bone sword to pry open the elevator doors that already had a slight gap.

The lights in the second basement level’s elevator lobby seemed to still be functional, casting a faint glow that illuminated the space filled with dried bloodstains. Under the dim light, the entire lobby seemed eerie and blood-stained.

Beside the blood, the most abundant feature here was the vines sprawling everywhere.

He Ao’s gaze swept over everything as he stepped out of the elevator, with Feiya close behind.

Not far from the two of them, the screens of the five elevators they had taken up were all lit with a red light, indicating some sort of malfunction.

Feiya walked over and glanced at the content on the screens.

All the elevator screens displayed animations of the doors being jammed by an object. She frowned slightly, then turned around, looking bewilderedly back at He Ao, "Is there something inside those five elevators?"

"Hmm," He Ao nodded, "It must be some kind of monster."

"You are," Feiya blinked in surprise as she looked at He Ao, "how did you know?"

He Ao had never even seen what those elevators inside looked like.

"Firstly, the last time Kalin visited the second floor was half a year ago, which doesn’t guarantee that all five elevators are operational,"

He Ao explained casually while observing the surroundings, "Secondly, one of the elevators has bloodstains in front of its door that are relatively fresh,

"Those bloodstains blend into the dried blood on the floor of the elevator area, and although they are not easy to distinguish, they definitely exist. This proves that recently a creature, or even a ’survivor’ who wandered in here, was attacked at the elevator entrance.

"Lastly, remember our reasoning about the residential area? If the first floor is the main living area, then to ensure that people could smoothly ’go to work’ on the lower floors from the first floor, most of the elevators would default to stopping at the underground first floor,

"The probability of all five elevators simultaneously stopping on the underground second floor is very low, but as you just saw, all five elevators were ascending from the second floor, so it’s very likely that some other factor interfered with them and caused them to stop on the second floor.

"Considering all this, it’s highly likely there’s a problem with those five elevators, so I chose to go through the abandoned elevator here."

Feiya turned her head in a daze, looking at He Ao’s back.

So how did he explain the use of the ’gate’ to her while figuring out so many details in such a short amount of time?

How can someone be so intelligent and strong at the same time?

Is he really human?

However, He Ao didn’t pay attention to her lost gaze but instead looked toward a damaged alloy plate with bloodstains at the entrance of the outermost elevator.

He walked over and picked up the alloy plate.

The alloy plate looked like some kind of identity tag, with only the words for First District and a six-character phrase. He Ao recognized the first four characters as ’Transcendent Being’,

And the last two characters, he had seen them in the commercial district, on a sign written in five languages that said ’Research Institute Commercial Area’. Those two characters were exactly the ones he needed.

If He Ao’s guess about the grammatical relationship was correct, the last two characters should mean ’Research’.

So the complete phrase on the alloy tag would be ’Transcendent Being Research’.

There was a fracture at the end, indicating some missing text.

He Ao looked around in the vicinity but couldn’t find any other fragments of the tag. It appeared that the creature that had come here might have taken them away.

Transcendent Being Research, huh.

He Ao pocketed the tag.

This tag looked like an identity tag for the ’staff’ of the Underground Palace.

"Did you find something?"

Feiya, who had been following behind He Ao, came over and looked at him with a puzzled expression.

"Found an identity tag, but it’s in the language of the relics."

He Ao replied softly and at the same time, he looked up ahead.

There were two corridors outside the second-floor elevators.

The corridor on the left was covered from the floor to the walls in dense vines, seemingly very long and without a visible end.

The corridor on the right had fewer vines and was pitch-black, making it impossible to see into its depths.

"Kalin said that the stairway going down to the third floor seems to be to the right."

Feiya also glanced at both corridors and finally focused on the right one, speaking softly.

"Mhm,"

He Ao nodded and stepped over the vines on the floor, heading straight for the right-hand corridor, "Watch your step."