Chapter 223: Rooms and Alarms
"Give you a chance. Tell me everything you know about this place, and I'll spare your lives."
Lin Ye didn't actually like killing, but some people always forced his hand.
"Haha, did you hear what he said?"
The explorer blocking Lin Ye's path suddenly threw a punch at his head, while the two explorers behind him simultaneously launched their attacks. Being able to survive in such a place meant they weren't fools—Lin Ye's calm demeanor made them uneasy.
But unfortunately, they chose the wrong way to respond.
Three invisible spiritual energy blades pierced through their vital points from behind. Their attacks crashed against the spiritual energy shield, failing not only to break it but even to cause the slightest ripple on its surface.
Three corpses fell to the ground, and all the explorers standing on the second-floor ring-shaped platform witnessed this scene.
Lin Ye smiled as he looked at the burly man, hoping this one would be smarter than those three idiots.
The three corpses only had a few low-quality, low-tier spiritual energy weapons—nothing of real value.
Lin Ye didn't bother picking up those weapons; he didn't even have space left for waste stones. The burly man froze for a moment, then quickly rushed into the room behind him and locked the metal door.
But after just a few seconds, the burly man reopened the door. He still needed to survive here for a long time, and hiding now would only delay the inevitable—unless he never opened the door again, Lin Ye would eventually kill him.
"Big brother, I spoke out of turn earlier. I'll tell you everything I know. You can take whatever you need. Could you please spare my life?"
The burly man hurried over to Lin Ye with an armful of miscellaneous items, bowing his head in apology.
"Fine. I actually don't like killing—they brought it upon themselves."
Lin Ye didn't take the burly man's things; he was even poorer than those three paupers.
"Right, it was all those three morons' fault. Please come with me—the lookout period is almost over."
The burly man said with an ingratiating smile.
"Big brother, do you still want these corpses?"
A pale-faced man suddenly approached and asked.
"No."
Lin Ye glanced at the man and replied.
"Hehe, thank you."
The man hastily stacked the corpses together and dragged them back to his room. He hadn't had a proper meal in a long time.
The burly man watched enviously as the man dragged away the corpses—he also wanted to eat some real food.
Woo woo woo woo...
A piercing alarm suddenly sounded from above. The burly man's expression changed dramatically, and he quickly ushered Lin Ye and Number 43 into his room.
Only after locking the door did the burly man finally relax.
The shrill alarm continued for ten minutes. During this time, Lin Ye didn't ask the burly man for information about this place, instead silently organizing his loot space.
This was somewhat similar to packing a suitcase—if you squeezed things around, you could always make some extra space.
"Speak."
Only after the alarm stopped did Lin Ye look at the burly man.
"Big brother, I don't know much either. Some information was told to me by others, and I'm not sure if it's true."
"First, about the alarm. I don't know what's outside when the alarm sounds, but once it goes off, we must enter our rooms and lock the doors, or we'll definitely die."
"The alarm sounds once every hour, but it's not regular—sometimes a bit early, sometimes a few minutes late."
"Then about the rooms. Opening a room and obtaining the key inside makes you the room's owner, but each person can only hold one room key at a time. Otherwise, they'll die inside the room when the alarm sounds."
"Opening a new room might encounter unknown dangers. The higher the floor, the more dangerous it is. However, every new room contains one item. The higher the floor, the better the item. The second floor basically only yields some food. It's said that some higher floors can yield portals to leave this place, though these portals can only be used once."
"As long as no one is in the room when the alarm sounds, the room will automatically become a new room."
"Every day, the room automatically generates one portion of food. On the second floor, it's nutrient paste—that stuff tastes terrible."
"That's all I know. Can you spare my life?"
The burly man felt some regret, wondering if he should have hidden in his room instead of going out to apologize.
"Fine."
Lin Ye took Number 43 and left the room. He truly didn't like killing—it was just unfortunate that these people didn't believe him.
After leaving the room, Lin Ye took Number 43 straight to the third floor. He planned to first secure a room on the third floor, then explore higher floors.
Seeing Lin Ye approach, nearby explorers quickly made way for him, with some directly retreating into their rooms.
No matter where you are, the strong must be respected.
Lin Ye soon reached the third floor. The explorers here were somewhat stronger than those on the second floor, but only marginally—they were all third-tier spiritual energy users.
If not forced by circumstances, no spiritual energy user would willingly enter the Waste Zone to risk their lives, so these explorers were basically the weakest among their tier.
Lin Ye randomly chose a room and opened the door. Inside was only a table and a bed, with a key and a bag of food resembling eyeballs on the table.
'That's it?'
Lin Ye didn't take the key or the eyeball bag, instead taking Number 43 straight to the fourth floor.
There were about thirty minutes left until the next alarm—still enough time.
A few minutes later, the two reached the fourth floor. Very few explorers remained here.
Lin Ye randomly selected a room and opened the door. Inside was actually a narrow hotel room without windows. On the table lay a key and an A4 paper printed with three lines of text.
'What's this?'
Lin Ye first used the key to lock the room door, then picked up the A4 paper to read its contents.
Room 903 contains a powerful mid-tier spiritual energy item.
Room 904 contains a green portal.
Room 905 contains a very dangerous fourth-tier creature.
'Are these hints? But these rooms don't have room numbers. Is the room closest to the stairs 901? No, it shouldn't be that simple.'
Lin Ye put down the A4 paper. If the information on this paper was accurate, then he could at least leave this place through the portal on the ninth floor.
However, Lin Ye hoped to find a white portal here. For this event, he had already collected a batch of waste stones—this harvest was already quite good.
Lin Ye: How are you all doing? I'm waiting for the alarm and have nothing to do right now, so I can chat with you.
Zhou Yi: No news from Xiao Te yet—might already be dead. I'm currently searching for a portal.
Charlotte: I'm also looking for a portal. If you encounter a phone booth, it's best to stay away from it before the ringing starts. If you hear the ringing, you must answer if you're alone. If there are other people nearby, you can have someone else answer. If no one answers until the ringing stops, the phone booth will choose one person among you to kill.
Lin Ye: What happens if you answer the phone?
Charlotte: That depends on whose call it is.