"Big brother, the people above are making a move," Little Saint Qi Tian said, having immediately noticed the change in the position of the corpses on the third and fourth floors. "They moved the charred corpse to room 403, but they didn't directly move it to 303 to help us eliminate our two."

Renle Mountain observed the movements on the third and fourth floors. "They're conceding. It seems they don't have the corpses they need on the fifth and sixth floors."

At this moment, the activity on the third and fourth floors didn't cease.

Two headless figures were constantly moving, finally stopping in rooms 304 and 404.

The implication was clear: the third and fourth floors needed headless corpses. They wanted Renle Mountain and his team to move the headless corpse from room 104 up to their floors to form a three-in-a-row.

"It seems the people above need headless corpses. Why don't we move the one in room 104 up and help them eliminate their corpses first?" Little Saint Qi Tian suggested to Renle Mountain.

Renle Mountain, gazing at the screen, remained unmoved. "No."

"They need us, and we need them, so why should we be the ones to compromise first? The third and fourth floors showed hostility towards us earlier. If we help them eliminate their corpses first, they might not help us after theirs are gone," Renle Mountain said to Qi Tian. "This is a negotiation. Whoever gives in first will be at a disadvantage."

The current situation was extremely awkward.

Fatty was intently watching the screen, paying close attention to the situations on both Chu Changge's and Renle Mountain's sides.

He could tell that both sides needed each other: Chu Changge needed Renle Mountain's headless corpses, while Renle Mountain needed Chu Changge's charred corpses. But neither side would loosen their grip on their "hostages," resulting in a stalemate.

Fatty, who had watched plenty of soap operas, imagined a scene:

Chu Changge and Renle Mountain, each holding the other's wife hostage, stood face to face on a cliff edge.

Chu Changge, holding a Tetanus Blade to the neck of Renle Mountain's charred wife, declared, "Your wife is in my hands! Release my wife!"

Renle Mountain, however, merely smirked coldly, pushing Chu Changge's headless wife closer to the cliff edge. "Your wife is also in my hands. You go first."

"You go first!"

"No, you go first!"

"I'll count to three, and we release them at the same time!"

That's generally how it played out in TV dramas.

Unfortunately, Chu Changge and Renle Mountain were separated by a floor so solid that not even a ghost could penetrate it. They couldn't communicate, let alone act out the "release at the same time" scenario.

Right now, both sides considered the other deceitful and untrustworthy. It was a contest of patience to see who would crack first.

Brother Chu isn't an impatient person, and he's next to the Doctor. Maybe there's a headless corpse on the Doctor's floor that could help Brother Chu, Fatty clung to this hopeful thought.

Suddenly, 007's voice came from the side. "There are no headless corpses where Gu Mian is."

Chu Changge had arranged the two headless corpses upright in a pair, the message "I need headless corpses" practically written all over his face.

If there were any headless corpses among the three unrevealed bodies on Gu Mian's floor, Gu Mian would have moved them long ago to help Chu Changge.

But since the two corpses remained, it meant Gu Mian's floor didn't have the corpses Chu Changge needed.

Little Saint Qi Tian, unaware of the relationships between the others, hesitated as he looked at the screen. "But Big Brother, aren't there still three corpses unrevealed on the fifth and sixth floors? What if someone completes another task, and a headless corpse appears there? If the third and fourth floors see it and decide to cooperate with the fifth and sixth floors, what will we do?"

They would be abandoned at that point.

His words had barely left his mouth when, as if to confirm his fears, the screen showed that a player from the fifth and sixth floors had completed another task, unlocking six more corpse positions.

Qi Tian's eyes widened as he stared intently at the screen, afraid his prediction had come true.

No way… It's impossible for a headless corpse to actually appear on the fifth or sixth floor.

He swallowed nervously, his heart pounding, as he scanned the newly unlocked corpses one by one.

"'802 drowned, 805 strangled, 701 died from overeating...' The remaining three unlocked corpses were all in room 406, and like the first three, were drowned, strangled, and died from overeating, respectively."

None of the six newly unlocked corpses were from the fifth or sixth floors.

Upon seeing another six corpses appear, Renle Mountain's heart had lurched. But after reviewing these new corpses, he calmed down. Looking at the third and fourth floors on the chart, a faint smile touched his lips. "It seems you still need me."

"They haven't moved below. It seems they don't intend to make the first move," Chu Changge mused after watching the screen for a while, then looked back at the pile of corpses. "We're short two dismembered corpses and one headless corpse."

He wasn't in a hurry to eliminate the headless corpses; as long as the dismembered corpse was removed, dealing with the headless ones would be straightforward.

But no dismembered corpses were displayed on the floors above or below, nor even on his own. This meant he couldn't emulate the players on the seventh and eighth floors, who had hinted to others by carrying a dismembered corpse back and forth.

Chu Changge quickly scanned the situation on the first and second floors. If there happened to be two dismembered corpses lined up vertically below, he could directly connect his own floor's dismembered corpse to theirs for elimination.

Unfortunately, the first and second floors didn't show any dismembered corpses. Instead, they showed two strangled figures lined up, but Chu Changge could eliminate the three strangled corpses on his floor independently, without needing any corpses from below.

With this in mind, he stepped back several paces to the wall, pointing at one body and addressing Old Liu, who was waiting for orders nearby, "Move this one to 408."

Old Liu grunted in acknowledgment, then crouched by the corpse to lift it.

Chu Changge walked past the crouching Old Liu to the front of the screen, his gaze fixed on the first and second floors. To be in such a standoff with me... it seems unlikely Fatty is on the lower floors.

Damn it, only forty-six minutes left! Look at these two, neither moving an inch. They'll both be doomed at this rate! Fatty anxiously monitored the situation below. The standoff between the groups on the first and second floors and those on the third and fourth floors remained unbroken, with both sides waiting for the other to concede first.

Fatty was so anxious, he felt like he was about to lose control of his bowels. Time was running out, and they urgently needed to eliminate the corpses on their floor.

Even as Fatty dragged the bodies, he kept an eye on the situation via the screen. The two sides were still locked in a stalemate, and in what felt like no time at all, only forty minutes remained.

Chu Changge was looking at the forty-minute countdown.

The people on the first and second floors seemed to be growing impatient, repeatedly shifting the charred corpse downstairs. This was a clear indication that they wanted Chu Changge to first help them eliminate the charred corpse. Only after that would they help Chu Changge eliminate the headless corpses.

But Chu Changge wasn't in a hurry to dispose of the headless corpses.

The headless corpses... it doesn't matter whether the people downstairs help or not. The real problem is this dismembered corpse. Chu Changge stood by the foot of this dismembered corpse, his brow furrowed. There are still three corpse types unrevealed on the fifth and sixth floors, and two unrevealed on the first and second floors. The two dismembered corpses I need... are they on the upper floors or the lower ones?

"Shouldn't we do something?" Old Liu asked, growing unsettled by the decreasing countdown numbers. "At least let's eliminate the corpses on our floor that we can deal with ourselves first. We're running out of time!" 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Just as Old Liu spoke, there was a change on the screen.

It was the players on the fifth and sixth floors; they had completed another task, unlocking six more corpse positions.

Will there be a dismembered corpse this time?

Chu Changge immediately looked at the screen and spotted what he needed.

A dismembered corpse, in room 607.

The dismembered corpse I need is on the fifth and sixth floors!

The others were a charred corpse in 808, drowned corpses in 602 and 207, a headless corpse in 102, and a charred corpse on his own floor, 406. These five weren't important.

Chu Changge quickly came up with an idea to signal Gu Mian. "First, move the dismembered corpse to 407. Then, take any corpse whose position is displayed on the screen and move it up and down between 407 and 307."

The charred corpse on their floor wasn't unlocked on the screen, so they could only use another unlocked corpse as a signal to Gu Mian.

"All right." Old Liu quickly picked up a strangled corpse, preparing to move it.

Chu Changge, however, stopped him and pointed to a nearby Binge-eating Ghost. "Use this one."

Old Liu was a bit puzzled, not understanding why they were opting for the heavier corpse instead of the lighter one, but he scratched his head and did as he was told.

Soon, Gu Mian noticed that right below the dismembered corpse in 607, a chubby little figure was continuously moving up and down between the third and fourth floors.

It was clear that the person below was moving this corpse with great difficulty, and their speed was very slow.

He quickly scanned the types of corpses on the third and fourth floors. They're constantly moving a Binge-eating Ghost up and down, but the third and fourth floors already have three Binge-eating Ghosts displayed; they can eliminate them on their own. They don't need another Binge-eating Ghost. This movement started only after the Dismembered Ghost in 607 appeared on the screen. And it's moving directly below the Dismembered Ghost. Could it be that they, like the seventh and eighth floors, are also short of Dismembered Ghosts?

There were only thirty-five minutes left at this point.

Gu Mian didn't hesitate and immediately went to drag another dismembered corpse that wasn't displayed on the screen.

"Do you think the people upstairs will understand what we're trying to say?" Old Liu asked, panting heavily as he carried the big-bellied corpse down the ladder from the fourth to the third floor.

As soon as his feet touched the ground, Chu Changge's voice came from above. "No need to continue."

"Huh?" Old Liu, caught by surprise, quickly realized what had happened. The people on the upper floor must have understood their message and helped them eliminate the Dismembered Ghost.

Just as he was about to drop the corpse he was carrying and take a break, he heard Meiren Chu instruct him to bring that Binge-eating Ghost back up.

"Fine." Old Liu had no choice but to, GRUNTING WITH EFFORT, hoist the corpse and climb back up.

Once he reached room 407, he saw that, sure enough, the dismembered corpse they had placed there earlier was gone. The people upstairs had indeed helped them eliminate it.

As soon as he entered, Old Liu dropped the corpse and sank to the floor, catching his breath. "Phew, that dismembered corpse is finally dealt with. Brother Chu, what about the two extra headless corpses? The people downstairs still haven't helped us."

This Brother Chu doesn't seem worried at all, Old Liu thought, as if it doesn't matter whether the people downstairs help or not.

"I have my ways." Chu Changge glanced at the countdown. Only thirty minutes remained. With the dismembered corpse eliminated, the other two extra headless corpses were no longer a major concern. "Let's first eliminate the corpses on our floor that we can deal with ourselves."

"You got it!" Although he didn't know what Brother Chu's plan was, Old Liu trusted him.

Agreeing, he patted the dust from his pants and stood up, ready to carry out Chu Changge's instructions.

Just then, he noticed a piece of folded white paper on the ground where he had just sat.

"Hey!" He instantly recognized it, bent down, and carefully picked it up and unfolded it.

Chu Changge looked over. It wasn't a piece of paper, but a photograph. Three people were in the photo, all posing with professional smiles for a family portrait.

Old Liu tenderly traced the creases on the photo, gently brushing away the dust. "It must have fallen out when I sat on the ground earlier. Sigh, and I even creased it..." he lamented, his heart aching.

He carefully cleaned all the dust off the photo and, as if it were a precious treasure, tucked it back into his pocket.

"Alright, Brother Chu, I'll go eliminate the corpses on our floor that we can handle ourselves now." Remembering Chu Changge's instructions, Old Liu carefully put the photo away and then hurried towards the other rooms.

Just as he was about to step through the doorway, Chu Changge's voice came from behind him, "...Actually, hold off on that for now."