Chapter 422: Elevator shaft
"I didn't attempt to repair the elevator because someone went into the elevator shaft before, but that person has already disappeared."
Bessie was devouring the food from the meal box at lightning speed;
she was practically starving to death.
"Slow down, are there other people here?"
Andrew asked curiously.
"Of course. It's said that originally there weren't this many floors here;
many floors were added later. Some survivors remain in these floors, but now almost all of them are dead."
If she hadn't run into them, Bessie wouldn't have been able to hold on much longer either.
"Do you know how to deal with the anomalous creature in the emergency stairwell?"
Thinking of that monster, Andrew still felt a bit physically uncomfortable.
"No, otherwise I would have gone up long ago, and wouldn't have to stay here waiting to die."
Bessie didn't dare to get close to the emergency stairwell at all. As soon as you enter the emergency stairwell, that monster appears very quickly. They simply couldn't get to the next floor through the emergency stairwell;
many survivors died inside it. "Is there any other way to go up?"
The elevator was continuously ascending. In a little while, they would reach Floor 3941.
"It's said there are connecting passageways between floors other than the elevator shaft, but that might just be a rumor to lure people into exploring the floors."
Bessie didn't dare to wander around randomly at all;
otherwise, she wouldn't have survived until now.
"What's on Floor 3941?"
If the elevator really stopped at Floor 3941, then they only had three paths to take: the emergency stairwell, the elevator shaft, and Floor 3941 itself.
The emergency stairwell was very dangerous, and the elevator shaft probably wasn't much better, so information about Floor 3941 was crucial.
"I don't know, because no one who went in has come out..."
Bessie said helplessly.
"Even if we could get to Floor 3942, it wouldn't be meaningful, right? We can't possibly climb over fifty floors this way."
Forget over fifty floors, Andrew felt he couldn't even manage ten.
"Then have you been to Floor One? How do you know the exit is above?"
Lin Ye wasn't sure where the exit was either.
"No, but it's said the lower floors are extremely dangerous, especially the first hundred."
Bessie knew a lot of information whose truth she couldn't verify.
"Do many people use the elevator here?"
Lin Ye asked.
"Not many, almost none now. But it seems it's not just survivors who use the elevator here;
sometimes the elevator gets very busy."
Usually, the elevator wouldn't pass by Bessie's floor more than a few times a day, but sometimes it would frequently pass by her floor.
"Later, you two get off the elevator at Floor 3940. I'll go take a look at Floor 3941. After I get off, you bring the elevator back down to Floor 3940."
Lin Ye planned to check the situation in the upper elevator shaft.
"Okay, be careful. But when should we go back up?"
It would be best if they could find a way to communicate between them so their coordination wouldn't run into problems.
The Communication Device couldn't be used in a place like this.
"We can communicate by shouting through the emergency stairwell. As long as we don't enter the stairwell and close the door promptly, there shouldn't be a problem."
Lin Ye wasn't sure if this would cause other issues either, but it was a relatively safe method.
The two quickly agreed on a communication time. The elevator smoothly arrived at Floor 3940. Andrew and Bessie got off, and Lin Ye rode the elevator up alone. Just as Bessie said, the elevator stopped at Floor 3941.
Lin Ye got off, and Andrew brought the elevator back down to Floor 3940.
The pitch-black elevator doors were tightly shut. Lin Ye used spiritual energy to pry open the doors. He didn't stick his head into the shaft but used his mental energy to sense the situation inside.
However, he quickly discovered that the interior of the elevator shaft had an even more severe effect on mental energy. He couldn't even be sure if what he was sensing was accurate.
The elevator shaft was pitch dark. Lin Ye tried to control the tumor-like structure to probe deeper inside, but as soon as the tumor-like structure exceeded a certain distance, it would sever its connection with Lin Ye and become completely uncontrollable.
'What a pain.'
Lin Ye took out the multi-functional, detachable heavy firearm equipped with the Heavy Armor from his spatial item, switched the firearm to shotgun mode, and fired a shot into the elevator shaft.
*Thump!*
The bullet was swallowed by the darkness, like throwing a stone into water, creating only a faint ripple.
*Thump thump thump thump thump thump thump thump!*
Lin Ye carved collapse runes onto the bullets and then fired continuously upwards. At the same time, he sent his mental energy probing into the darkness. The intense spiritual energy fluctuations and the rune effects disrupted the stability of that darkness. Deep within the darkness, Lin Ye faintly sensed something alive.
That thing also noticed Lin Ye. It seemed startled awake and quickly approached the elevator doors!
Lin Ye used spiritual energy to close the elevator doors while rapidly retreating to the floor entrance. This thing might not be any easier to handle than the anomalous creature in the emergency stairwell, so Lin Ye wasn't planning to fight it head-on.
The anomalous creature didn't open the elevator doors. Perhaps, like the one in the emergency stairwell, it also had a specific area of activity.
When the agreed-upon time arrived, Lin Ye quickly opened the metal large door of the emergency stairwell. After the communication ended, he swiftly closed the metal large door again.
Even so, he sensed that anomalous Phantom rapidly approaching.
The elevator soon arrived at Floor 3941, and the three of them regrouped.
Lin Ye briefly told the other two about his recent discovery. They were trapped here now.
"Can we lure the anomalous creatures from both sides together to deal with them?"
Andrew came up with a very clever idea.
"Of course we can. This arduous task is all yours."
Lin Ye felt Andrew was trying to drag them all to their deaths.
"There is indeed some risk, but neither of them can enter the elevator lobby. That's our advantage. As long as they are affected by each other's power, we'll have a chance to deal with them."
Andrew said seriously.
"How do you know they can't enter the elevator lobby? Maybe they just don't want to come in. Besides, we know too little about these two types of anomalous creatures. Recklessly engaging them carries too much risk."
Lin Ye had no intention of executing such a completely uncertain suicide plan.
"Alright then, what do we do? Explore the floor?"
Andrew asked.
"That seems to be the only option left."
With both paths blocked, Lin Ye temporarily had no other ideas.
"But this floor might be dangerous too. We still have food;
we can think of other methods."
Bessie wasn't too keen on going in to take the risk.
"Food... you're right, we still have food... maybe we can give it a try."
Lin Ye opened the small bag and began making 'food'.