Chapter 564 Splitting Up

Chapter 564: Splitting Up

The stairs leading to the fifteenth floor were blocked by a layer of fine-mesh wire, though it appeared weak. Outside the doors of both the fourteenth and thirteenth floors lay heat no human could endure.

Amidst this oppressive silence, the faint sound of a baby's crying filtered in. Not just Su Bai, everyone heard this bone-chilling cry.

Yet, no one spoke.

They simply stood in silence, warily looking around. After all, no one knew what uncanny and horrifying thing they might encounter if they truly followed the source of that crying.

At the moment, Xiang Feiyu was standing on the thirteenth-floor landing, leaning over to peer further down.

"It's fog," Xiang Feiyu's voice echoed in the narrow stairwell. "Can't see anything down there, just a thick fog. Probably the same as the fog outside, the kind you warned us not to enter."

Since entering the nightmare world, the fog seemed to have been an invisible confinement, hemming them in at every turn, preventing them from ever truly escaping.

Chi Yan withdrew his gaze and turned to look at the heavy security door before him.

It was a thick, sturdy metal door, with light from the corridor seeping out behind it.

Yet, the edges of this very metal door were already deformed.

This deformation wasn't caused by external impact, but rather by the intense heat from outside, gradually warping the edges, even leaving faint scorch marks, like the traces left by melting wax.

The smell of something burning lingered in the air.

Su Bai's eyes were still blind, but the vision from the blood butterfly painted this scene clearly in his mind. He raised a hand to rub his temple, to ease the dizziness caused by the blood butterfly's peculiar overlapping vision.

Clearly, the temperature outside had reached a level unbearable for a normal person.

"Is it just me?" Feng Xuelan's voice suddenly spoke up. She repeatedly touched the metal railing of the stairs, the sensation under her palm feeling hotter than before, making her frown. "The temperature in the stairwell seems to be rising as well."

"Maybe it's just from you rubbing it for so long," Tian Yue said, crouching down to touch the stairs. "I don't feel any obvious temperature increase."

"But the possibility of it rising is still there," Chi Yan sighed. "It's unlikely this stairwell could completely seal off the spaces of the fourteenth and thirteenth floors."

"So it seems..." Chi Yan's expression darkened slightly. His gaze fell towards the direction of the fifteenth floor, and he said in a low voice, "Going up seems to be our only remaining choice."

"Maybe we chose wrong earlier; we should have entered a patient room," Tian Yue sighed softly, a troubled look on her face as she rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"No matter what we choose, that entity will force us onto this path," Chi Yan's expression grew even more resolute at this point. "Before the stairwell gets hotter, I'll go check the situation on the fifteenth floor first."

Here, Chi Yan paused, his gaze slowly turning towards Su Bai. After a moment of hesitation, he still spoke: "Brother Su, I'd like to ask you to come with me to check the fifteenth floor. After all, according to the rules, I can't be alone."

In Chi Yan's mind, Su Bai, having traveled together before, was probably the most suitable teammate.

"Alright."

Su Bai gave his answer almost without hesitation, his tone as calm as ever.

Keeping a low profile and being a coward are two different things. Su Bai wasn't impulsive, but he was definitely not a coward. What allowed Su Bai to survive in the nightmare world was the "Evil Ghost Puzzle," but what kept him walking this path alone also included his quest for the unknown.

Moreover, he had enough trump cards to support his actions, so there was no reason to refuse Chi Yan's proposal. Besides, back at the "Joyful Inn," Chi Yan had provided him with a lot of information about Qingliu City.

Just as Su Bai was putting down Le Shiya, whom he'd been carrying, letting the girl wait to the side, he suddenly felt someone tugging at the corner of his clothes.

In the blood butterfly's vision, the girl standing there continued to grip his clothes, her clear eyes stubbornly fixed on him.

"Brother, we are teammates," she said seriously, with a tone that suggested it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Staying here would be safer," Su Bai tried to persuade, his voice softening a bit.

"I think staying by your side is safer," the girl's voice was resolute, without a hint of hesitation, even carrying a touch of stubbornness.

Su Bai sighed helplessly, he thought wryly. He wasn't sure what he had done to make this little one feel so secure by his side.

"While we're scouting ahead, don't waste time either; continue your Meditation," Chi Yan said, as if afraid he might hesitate. As soon as the words left his mouth, he decisively stepped forward without hesitation, ascending the stairs to the fifteenth floor.

Su Bai also walked up, his little shadow choosing to follow closely by his side.

Su Bai wasn't too surprised when Jie Ying also followed.

Le Shiya had noticed before that Jie Ying had a particular interest in the fifteenth floor, so there was no way she would miss this chance to go there.

As Chi Yan tore through the fine wire mesh blocking the stairwell and stepped onto the stairs, he still paused on the steps, looking back at Tian Yue, Xu Rui, and the others who remained standing where they were, his look seeming to ask if they were willing to come along.

After a brief silence, Xu Rui shook his head, forcing a bitter smile at the corner of his mouth, his tone carrying a hint of self-deprecation: "Brother Chiyan, I won't go up and cause trouble."

Although his legs could barely move, every step sent a piercing pain shooting up his nerves, almost tearing him apart.

Xiang Feiyu scratched his head, speaking with a helpless expression: "I still have to stay here with Xu Rui. Otherwise, I'm afraid when I recover my memories, I'll beat myself to death."

Tian Yue and Feng Xuelan also exchanged a glance, both showing hesitation in their eyes, ultimately shaking their heads.

They all knew that splitting up in a horror movie was often the most dangerous choice. A team acting together could maximize each person's strength. Yet, even so, they still made the decision to stay here.

Perhaps it was caution at play in their hearts, or perhaps other, unspoken concerns.

Chi Yan didn't insist either, finally withdrawing his gaze and stepping upward.

Only after their figures completely disappeared into the darkness did Xu Rui slowly lower his head, frowning slightly, his gaze falling on his powerless legs. He clenched his fist and slammed it hard against his thigh.

"Dammit."

Feng Xuelan anxiously reached out to feel the temperature of the stair railing, her fingertips lightly rubbing the metal surface, an uneasy look appearing on her face: "Yueyue, will they stay upstairs for long? We can't stay in this stairwell forever."

Feng Xuelan hadn't had another episode during this time, or perhaps she hadn't tried to lie either, so her condition had remained relatively stable.

"Don't worry, they're not novices. Most likely, they're just going to check the situation upstairs and should come back down soon," Tian Yue paused, her tone lowering slightly. "If they really don't come back down... it would only prove our decision to stay here was correct."

"Xuelan, this game has just begun. We can't take risks," Tian Yue's gaze was steady, her eyes showing no trace of wavering. "We're not 'Deep Divers' who would risk our lives just to uncover the truth. Our goal is to clear as many games as possible and bring the information from these game scenarios back to the Special Operations Group's database. Only by proceeding step by step, steadily and surely, can all of us live longer."

Feng Xuelan pursed her lips and said nothing more.

Tian Yue took a deep breath, trying to completely steady her emotions: "So for now, just focus on Meditating."

After saying this, her eyes unconsciously drifted upward again, and she murmured softly, "...I wonder why Brother Chiyan insisted on inviting that Brother Su upstairs."

What Tian Yue and Xu Rui didn't expect was that Su Bai and the others would truly not return from this trip.