Gamers Are Fierce-Chapter 576 - 574: Failure

His muttering echoed through the corridor, followed by a series of noises not his own.

BOOM, BOOM.

It sounded as if countless bricks and stones were grinding against each other, producing a shower of rock dust.

Li Ang's expression changed abruptly. Turning, he saw a faint light flickering at the end of the corridor, casting an immense shadow on the stone wall.

I've already memorized the entire layout of this corridor, he thought. The sound must be coming from... the stone wall next to Room F!

Li Ang made a split-second decision. He dimmed the kerosene lamp to its faintest setting, cupped his hand over the flame, and gripped the screwdriver. Crouching low, he lightened his steps and moved silently along the wall, hurrying toward the end of the corridor.

As he rounded the corner, he saw the bricks on the wall next to Room F rapidly rearranging themselves.

Through a gap in the wall, about the width of two palms, he could vaguely make out a figure in an identical rubber suit to his own, carrying a lantern. This figure was slowly approaching a white-haired woman in a luxurious gothic black dress and a white cloth blindfold, who stood at the edge of the corridor.

"Wait!" Li Ang sprinted, shouting loudly.

However, with a loud BOOM, the stone wall sealed completely, leaving not even a crack.

"..."

Li Ang stood before the stone wall, holding up the kerosene lamp, gasping for breath. The run had left him winded, his limbs aching and numb as if they were sugarcane stalks wrung dry.

But what concerned him more was the rubber-clad figure that had vanished behind the wall and the white-haired woman who had been waiting there.

What on earth is going on... Why is that person wearing the same clothes as me? Is he a contestant like me, or the dungeon designer himself...

As the corridor gradually returned to darkness, Li Ang, leaning against the wall and muttering to himself, realized that the kerosene lamp, turned down to its lowest setting, had quietly gone out during his run.

Li Ang subconsciously reached for the envelope. When his fingers touched the matchbox he had hidden inside, his hand paused inexplicably.

There were two matches in the matchbox in Room B. Could the dungeon designer have known I would dim the light and rush out, causing the kerosene lamp to go out...

Li Ang pursed his lips tightly, struck a match, and relit the kerosene lamp.

In the lamplight, he re-examined the stone wall. He had checked before; there were no hidden bricks on the wall, nor did it respond to commands like "Open Sesame."

The cylindrical groove seems to have been used just now... there's residual moisture inside...

Li Ang reached out and wiped the groove on the stone wall with his gloved hand. After a moment's hesitation, he brought the gloved fingertips to his mouth and licked them.

A bit sweet... And a hint of rust? Could it be...

Li Ang's expression shifted slightly. He wiped the glove with the remaining scraps of cloth, glanced at the stone wall once more, then turned and left, heading back to the door of Room C.

If I hadn't deciphered the code on Room C's door earlier, I would now have to set up the kerosene lamp in complete darkness and decode the password by referring to the letter. Now that I know the password requires light, combined with this pitch-black corridor, it means they want me to use the kerosene lamp right now...

Muttering to himself, Li Ang lifted the kerosene lamp and brought it close to the eye pattern on Room C's door.

The light shone on the pattern, but nothing happened.

Hm? No reaction?

He frowned and turned the knob, adjusting the wick to make the flame brighter.

Finally, when the light reached a certain threshold, the metal door began to slide open to the right.

Like Room B, Room C also had two doors. He stood in the middle of the circle, waited for the inner door to open, stepped inside, and the inner door closed behind him.

Perhaps to synchronize with the corridor, there was no light inside the room.

Holding the kerosene lamp, Li Ang advanced cautiously, only to discover that Room C was empty, with a large red button on the wall.

There were three items on the floor: a gold-rimmed cup with "5L" engraved on the bottom, a plastic pipe with a diameter of five centimeters, and an envelope.

He opened the envelope, just like before. The letter inside read:

"Aha, Morgan, you've made it to the third room!

Should I congratulate you on your progress or chastise you for your slowness?

Given that you managed to barely decipher my code (though it was really simple), I'll generously give you some hints.

The button on the wall is connected to the entire corridor's water supply system.

You must press the button to open the inner door of Room C and activate the water supply system for 5 minutes.

You'll need to perform some additional actions to lead the water to the door of Room D—you know what to do.

A final reminder: listen carefully."

Almost the instant Li Ang finished reading the last word, the sound of a door opening came from the ceiling above.

The footsteps of a man's leather shoes and the click of a woman's high heels approached, one after the other, stopping in the center of the ceiling.

"It's failed! It's failed!" a man's distraught voice cried out. "It's failed, it's failed, it's failed..."

"Father, please pull yourself together," a clear, youthful feminine voice spoke up, sounding more immature than the woman's voice he had heard in Room B. "Mother and Sister both need you to save them. If even you give up, then there will be no one left in this world to save them."

"Save them..." The man's voice sounded like a somnolent murmur. "I've tried every possible method, but I still couldn't produce the right potion... I need more time... time..."

After a prolonged silence, the man spoke again. "Alice."

"I'm here."

"What's the time now?"

"It's 9:30 p.m. on the 7th."

"Is there still time?"

"Are you referring to that? There's time."

"...I'm preparing to go down the well."

"Is that so? I'll get ready at once."

"You don't need to come..."

"What nonsense are you talking? Without me, you'd surely mess up the lab, not even remembering where you put the test tubes and beakers."

"...Thank you."

The sound of their footsteps grew fainter, eventually fading away.

It's the same as before, Li Ang thought, taking a deep breath. Alright, another female voice this time. I can tentatively assume she's the Alchemist's eldest daughter. She said it's 9:30 p.m. on the 7th. Judging by the battery consumption on my left arm, I must have woken up at 9:00 p.m. on the 7th, left Room A at 9:10 p.m., and entered Room B at 9:15 p.m., where I overheard the couple's conversation upstairs. Wait a minute... just fifteen minutes ago, the Alchemist and his wife were discussing how to solve their problem. How could he have decided he had already failed in such a short time? And now he's talking about going down into the well to save his wife and younger daughter...