Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 776 - 351: Level 3

Chapter 776: Chapter 351: Level 3

The elevator returned to the second floor once more, this time bringing four people sent by Maya and her team. Only then did they learn that NPCs were hiding not only from zombies but also from players. There was no helping it—the hijacking of the elevator had to continue, and without exception, all the NPCs’ cell phones were dead. But when Little Knife tried to snatch a bracelet, the female NPC desperately resisted, claiming it was a keepsake from her deceased mother.

Hearing this, Lin Wu rolled his eyes. "You, a bunch of zeroes and ones, have a mother too? I, an actual carbon-based being, don’t even know who my mother is, and you’re telling me about yours? Do you deserve to live or not?"

However, the next sentence spoken by the female NPC made Little Knife let go of the bracelet. The NPC said, "I’ve heard there is a huge door in the hotel that leads to hell."

"Oh?" Little Knife released the NPC and asked, "Where?"

"I only heard the hotel manager mentioning it." Apparently, there had been a small disturbance during mealtime, and the hotel manager came to apologize. During the conversation, the witty and humorous hotel manager recounted the legend of the door to hell.

This piece of information indicated that the hotel manager held specific clues about the Hidden Portal.

After dropping the people off at the rooftop, armed personnel came to pick them up. Lin Wu casually snatched the bracelet and headed back to the elevator. Little Knife took the bracelet and examined it closely, noting a row of pale green gemstones embedded in it. Little Knife asked, "She didn’t resist?"

Lin Wu replied, "Her purpose in resisting was not to protect the bracelet but to convey information. That’s the role of NPCs." When Dawn portrayed an NPC as a cute and beautiful girl with a delightful backstory, many players hesitated to harm her. However, if Dawn made the NPC a greasy, foot-picking big guy, the players felt much less psychological resistance. And if Dawn had fashioned an NPC into something incredibly ugly and fierce-looking, that NPC’s death rate would skyrocket.

Judging NPCs by their appearance and treating all beings of the same species fairly, that was Lin Wu’s principle. You can’t just not rob someone because they’re pretty.

Taking seven minutes to escort people back and forth by elevator, Shadow Squad turned the bright area upside down but couldn’t find any NPCs. Lin Wu asked, "Can’t we connect the power like we did on the 54th floor yesterday?"

Snow Egg replied, "No, it’s different this time."

Shana said, "There’s no need to explain, a ’no’ is enough."

Lin Wu glared at Shana, who smiled back and asked, "Do you want to hear it?"

"No." Lin Wu turned to Maya. "What’s the plan? Abandon the second floor?"

Maya countered, "We’ve eliminated a portion of the Night Demons, the majority of zombies, and we’re in control of the on-site information. In this situation, it would be very unwise to abandon the second floor in favor of other floors. We’ve prepared combustibles and plan to use the light from the fire to segment the area."

Snow Egg added, "The fire can’t be too big, or it will trigger the sprinklers."

Lin Wu looked at the dozens of candle bundles on the ground. "Light candles?" These things can only illuminate the size of a butt, right?

"We’ll light several candles," Maya instructed. "Lin Wu and Shana will stand guard while Snow Egg and I light the candles."

Little Knife asked, "What about me?"

"Stay at the elevator base."

They knew the Night Demons were the smartest among the zombies, but it was still surprising when, as they placed candles on the restaurant tables, the Night Demons on the edges of the darkness began blowing out the candles. Thus, the candle hunting plan commenced.

Light candles, wait, the Night Demon appears at the edge of the light, shoot it in the head from ten meters away. Continue waiting, a second Night Demon appears.

The limits of their intelligence led Night Demons to walk out of the shadows into their doom one by one, making everything hilariously simple. When no Night Demon appeared after a minute, Maya confirmed the completion of the first step of their combat plan.

The group of four immediately headed to the restaurant kitchen, unplugged all the appliances, and Snow Egg successfully disconnected the power. The kitchen lights split the darkness in two. Next, they unplugged all the electrical sources in the restaurant area, successfully restoring power. The last area was the corridor and the rooms on either side of it—nearly ten Night Demons were squeezed into this space and swiftly eradicated by Shadow Squad. Afterward, Snow Egg turned on all the lights on the second floor.

Next was a game of hide and seek as they began searching every nook and cranny for NPCs. The first to be found was a skinny girl inside a large decorative vase, followed by a man on the restroom ceiling. Suspended by ropes in the space inside the stove, behind curtains, inside refrigerators, there wasn’t a place where people couldn’t hide. In fifteen minutes, Shadow Squad dug out 7 NPCs.

In the end, Shadow Squad rescued 12 NPCs and the amount of valuables taken from them was countless.

After taking account of the restaurant’s spoils, Lin Wu felt that the act of robbing was justified because there were no valuable jewels or cash to be found in the entire restaurant. This meant the game had been designed for players to acquire valuables from NPCs. After all, the vault in yesterday’s Instance 334 had at least had a safe.

...

The battle on the second floor ended with 12 NPCs saved. Compared to rescuing NPCs on other floors, Shadow Squad was more concerned about the location of the hotel manager. Based on their understanding of the game mechanics, the fact that an NPC could talk about the hotel manager meant he was still alive. But where could he be?

Shana opened up the hotel plan, discussing with Maya, "The first floor is the lobby, the tearoom, the travel department. The lobby is the department with the most issues in the whole hotel and is quite troublesome, so there’s a separate manager for the lobby. Unless there’s a major event or VIP reception, the hotel manager rarely goes to the lobby."

Shana continued, "The second floor is the restaurant, similar to the first floor."

Maya asked, "Why would the hotel manager stay away from areas with lots of issues?"

Shana replied, "It makes it easier for him to deal with matters later. For example, if you’re dissatisfied with how the lobby manager handled something and make a scene in the lobby, then the hotel manager could intervene as a higher authority to better calm the situation. Besides, the hotel manager’s main focus isn’t on the hotel’s day-to-day trivialities. Take complaints, especially room complaints, for instance; most hotel profits, often more than 70%, come from guest rooms. The restaurant is just a supplementary facility."

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