Chapter 2353: Chapter 2353: Deception and Octopus

"One hundred floors?" Xu Huo’s tone rose a bit.

Reaching the corner of the corridor, the female player stopped and pointed with her chin towards the tightly closed room doors ahead, "Those rooms may be empty or may have players staying inside, but when everyone becomes interested in hunting at night, hiding in the room is relatively safer. The only problem is whether there’s any danger in the room."

"So the rooms aren’t just for guests?" Xu Huo immediately caught her meaning; if the first floor is at the bottom of the food chain, that means the guests staying here won’t be too strong. In the banquet hall, Rank-C players make up at most one-third, with almost no Rank-A players. How dangerous could it get?

"That should be the case," the female player said, "As for what else might be in there besides guests, I’m not sure, just something I’ve heard."

"Anyway, based on the information I’ve gathered, the risk of randomly opening doors and lingering outside is about the same."

"Then what’s the point of drawing lots?" Xu Huo squinted.

The female player, surprised by his sharpness, immediately said, "Because the person drawn can open a safe room, an empty room."

As she spoke, she took the initiative to try the first room’s door. After turning the doorknob, the lock didn’t budge.

"These are all live locks. Anyone can open them from the outside except for the fish masks chosen that day. If someone is inside the room, the person selected by the draw can’t open it."

"So the person selected by the draw has to find a safe room before other players catch up. Once inside, the chances of someone coming to open the door from outside are very low."

"Is there a high reward for killing the chosen fish mask?" Xu Huo asked. If not, then the probability of hunting others for props is the same, so why chase the chosen person?

"There isn’t," the female player said helplessly, "It’s just for the thrill."

She said this while watching Xu Huo closely, as if trying to discern whether he believed her or not.

After a brief silence, Xu Huo said, "Then let’s quickly find a room."

The three split into two groups, searching down the corridors. As the female player mentioned, the first floor rooms seemed to be occupied.

"Let’s go to the second floor." The female player led the way.

The layout of the second floor was the same as the first. Xu Huo followed behind the girl in the painting, checking one room after another, seemingly not even having the time to pay attention to the female player.

The three kept unlocking rooms until the fourth floor. Just when the girl in the painting was getting a little bored, another person wearing a mermaid mask suddenly rushed down from the stairs. Seeing them, his eyes lit up, and he immediately ran towards them, with three players chasing after him.

"Three mermaids!" The player wearing the piranha mask exclaimed in surprise, releasing a prop.

The prop had no effect on the girl in the painting. Xu Huo barely managed to defend, and pulled her towards the stairway at another corridor, heading upstairs since they saw no exits below.

However, upon reaching the staircase, the other two mermaid masks, along with the female player who was heading the same way, opted to escape downstairs without hesitation. Among the chasers, two clownfish masks continued the pursuit, while the piranha player hesitated briefly before deciding to chase Xu Huo and the girl in painting.

Each floor had players in the rooms, meaning each floor had a banquet hall, or perhaps more than one. But the draw results seemed to be the same for all floors, or perhaps shared by several floors. Upon reaching the fifth floor, Xu Huo and his companion were blocked by two octopus players.

Spotting the octopus players, the piranha player promptly turned away without even stopping for a second.

The two octopus players chuckled, with one instantly teleporting behind Xu Huo and the girl in the painting, blocking their way from both sides.

"We’ve got a good vibe going. This mermaid should keep us entertained all night." The two leered at the girl in the painting, then their eyes fell on Xu Huo. One lifted his hand, motioning him away, "Get lost if you don’t want to die!"

"Oh really?" A materialized item suddenly shot up from the shadow on the ground, aiming at the man’s arm, but was blocked by a spatial barrier.

Angered by the attack, the man clapped his hands, causing two invisible forces to close in from both sides of the corridor, pinning Xu Huo and the girl in the painting between them.

The building’s carpeted floor obscure its true design, but the ceiling displayed numerous fine scratches, showing signs of wear from props—though just faint marks, indicating the building was hard to damage, including the floor and walls, making escape almost impossible once caught.

Xu Huo pushed with his Water Cube Barrier, and as the girl in the painting flew towards one of them, he wielded the Black Blade in one hand and manipulated the Secant Line with the other, trying to disrupt the encroaching force. Unexpectedly, even when cut and pierced, these two walls of force didn’t completely break down but held firmly in place!

Yet the more solid and immutable they were, the more apparent their flaws. Xu Huo pushed a Mechanical Being into the middle, then directly charged towards the other opponent!

These two were fairly competent fighters, but fighting in the relatively narrow corridor made it difficult for both sides to effectively use their large props. Xu Huo refrained from employing Time Force, opting instead to wear a close-body defense prop and getting into close combat with the Black Blade.

On the other hand, the girl in the painting was much more straightforward. Lacking props or devices, she only had pre-folded paper animals, tossing them as if they were worthless, resembling fireworks display. Props typically had no effect on her, but Defensive Barriers were still useful, as she was repeatedly bounced back by their barriers. Furthermore, not all of their props were ineffective—she still had to avoid some spatial-powered attack props.

However, her advantage lay in being light and quick, coupled with a low likelihood of injury. Seizing the moment after an attack wave passed, she bear-hugged the opponent’s Defensive Barrier, directly piercing it with her hands, then clung to the player’s back.

Just as others came to grab her, she suddenly felt something strange. Before the player’s prop attack could land on her, she swiftly retreated, putting distance between them. With a beckoning finger, an invitation floated out from the player’s clothes.