The Trembling World
chapter-394-30041322

TL: xDh20, LifeisaJourney

The players that hadn’t reached level 5 yet would soon lose their qualifications to live in The Trembling World. If the players didn’t work hard to reach level 5, they would fall behind other more hardworking players.

Fortunately for Liu Gan, he was able to keep his level one step ahead of the evolution. This was how he was able to live his life comfortably so far.

From this point on, the players couldn’t relax at all. The moment they slack off for even a bit, then even the slow speed of evolution from zombies and monsters would catch up. It will only get harder to survive from now on, and the unqualified players would get weeded out.

Liu Gan and NaNa rushed forward and lightly injured the several Black-Spot Variants ahead of him. As usual, the experience points were given to the other team members. This powerleveling service wasn’t free. A different player volunteered to follow NaNa to the end of the passage. Once he confirmed it was safe, he returned with the news.

At the end of the passage was a staircase down. Right next to the staircase was an elevator, also heading down. This staircase was one of those fire safety staircases. Even if they wanted to take the elevator, there was no way electricity was still being supplied. As a result, the expedition group could only take the stairs.

As they walked down one flight of stairs, they found the door locked. They continued to the next floor, it was locked as well. The group continued down six floors with all locked doors until they encountered a few Black-Spot Variant Zombies. Along the wall were scattered bodies of rotting zombies. These were probably the zombies killed much earlier by Qiu Zi.

They arrived at the sub-7th floor of this staircase, the last available floor. Just like last time, another member volunteered to go with NaNa to scout around. Once it was safe, then the large group followed along.

Passing through the door was another long and narrow hallway. At the end of the hallway was a large lounge. In the middle of lounge were several sofas and a tea table, along the walls were several rooms. Arriving in this room, everyone seemed to have understood why Qiu Zi was the sole survivor. Scattered across the floor were corpses, not of zombies, but of former players. Their bodies were scattered all over the lounge.

A few of these player bodies were beheaded. The others had several indents on their skulls; most definitely an instant kill. These players didn’t even have the chance to become zombies. Nevertheless, the dead players had a rotting stench. The living players had an increased resistance to certain abnormalities, but their enhanced sense of smell wasn’t able to resist the pungent smell of rotting meat.

Upon deeper investigation of these wounds, Liu Gan frowned. These wounds matched the type of wound created by his large axe. This was the same large axe he took from Qiu Zi. So did this mean they were all killed by Qiu Zi?

There was a big question revolving around why Qiu Zi might have killed his close aides. Did they discover some treasure that caused an all out brawl? Was that the reason why Qiu Zi was the sole survivor? No way, the other players knew that they couldn’t compete against Qiu Zi’s strength. So there’s no way they would be stupid enough to fight against Qiu Zi, unless something happened with their cognitive ability to change their judgement. Otherwise, there’s no reason as to why they would want to challenge the impossible.

Then… What could be the other reason why Qiu Zi would kill all of his companions?

It wasn’t only Liu Gan who noticed this strange occurance, other players soon noticed the wounds on the corpses and matched it up with the large axe. Once knowing this fact, their expressions changed. No one knew the answer to the question of why their ex-leader had killed his lackeys. These weren’t his normal lackeys, these were all trusted aides of his former inner circle.

It was at this moment a loud ‘Bang!’ could be heard a distance away. Quickly looking behind them, there was a thick heavy metal alloy door that sealed the hallway the group had came from! At the same time, the room lit up brightly.

The lights had turned on and it was illuminated the room bright enough that the players turned off the flashlights.

“What’s going on?” This sudden noise sounded like an ambush, that made everyone nervous.

Zhan Nan Shan was right, this place was definitely a trap. When Liu Gan came, he had suspicions that something like this might happen, but with a map that clearly pointed in the direction of the laboratory it was just too tempting to not go. Even if he knew it might be a trap, he would still head towards it.

Qiu Zi wasn’t able to escape this trap, but Liu Gan was confident in his wisdom and abilities. What’s the worst that could happen? Worst case scenario would be that he couldn’t get his hands on any treasure, but he would still be able to escape. With this mindset, he knew that he wasn’t going to suffer any loss.

“Welcome, welcome! I welcome you to San Xing Corporation’s Psychological Research Institute,” a voice suddenly echoed through the lounge from overhead speakers.

“Who are you?” Liu Gan looked at the ceiling.

“I am the laboratory mainframe! Once there are intelligent beings here, like humans, then I will activate,” the voice replied to Liu Gan.

“What do you want from us?” Liu Gan asked the mainframe one more time. At the same time, NaNa and Jiang JinYuan began to start scanning the area for a terminal or something similar to terminal that they could use it to hack into.

“You are seeking treasures that lie within this laboratory right? I research human psychology, so I am very knowledgeable about your intentions. To tell you the truth, we do have a decent treasure in here!” The mainframe started laughing.

“So you know our intentions, then hand over this treasure! Otherwise, I will destroy this place until you have handed it over!” Liu Gan declared as he swung around his large axe.

“Hand it over? That I could. Only if you pass through 3 trials!” The mainframe ignored Liu Gan’s threat.

“What trials?” Liu Gan continued to drag out the conversation so Jiang JinYuan and NaNa had more time to search.

“Wisdom, valor, and massacre. A total of three trials! The first trial has already begun. In this location that everyone is in, only the last person alive will be able to pass the first trial. That sole survivor can pass through the metal alloy doors to the next stage of trial. After half an hour, if the amount of people alive is more than two, then I will detonate a vacuum bomb that will use up all the oxygen in this room,” the mainframe responded.

“What do you take me as? Why must I believe everything you say? Do you have proof that you are the mainframe of this area?” Liu Gan swung his large axe around again.