PTYS Chapter 125

As soon as the system’s voice fell, Xiao Muyu and her companions immediately stopped, looking at each other with vigilance in their eyes.

“What does this mean?” Before Su Jin could get an answer, the staircase beneath their feet suddenly began to bend and twist, the entire space distorting and shaking.

Xiao Muyu stumbled and nearly fell, but Shen Qingqiu, quick on his feet, reached out and grabbed her wrist, pulling her into his arms.

“Everyone, hold on tight, the staircase is rising!” Shen Qingqiu shouted urgently, then whispered to Xiao Muyu, “Hold on to me tightly!”

She quickly looked up through the stairwell. Not only the first-floor staircase was moving, but the staircases on the second and third floors were also rotating and extending.

The lower floors were rising while the upper floors were descending. The whole building seemed like a block puzzle, with each block starting to misalign, rotate, stretch, and reorganize.

If they hadn’t seen it with their own eyes, they couldn’t have imagined such a scene, as if they were in a science fiction movie.

The staircase’s changes were violent, showing no regard for the people standing on it, making it impossible for them to keep their balance.

Fortunately, the handrails on the staircase were still intact. Su Jin and Zuo Tiantian clung to the handrails desperately, while Shen Qingqiu used a dagger to secure himself by jamming it into a crack in the wall, holding onto the railing with his other hand.

Xiao Muyu hugged Shen Qingqiu’s waist, trying to figure out what was happening. This should be a game setting and not a normal change in the real world.

Suddenly, the entire staircase was detached, completely separating from the wall. The nine-story staircase spiraled forward, constantly swaying.

The five of them were like being on a DNA double helix strand, swaying precariously with an abyss below them, one wrong move could lead to their doom.

Shen Qingqiu reacted quickly, pulling out his dagger when the wall detached, sprawling himself onto the staircase.

With one hand gripping the edge, he used his right hand to stab the dagger into the staircase to secure both of them.

Xiao Muyu quickly filtered through everyone’s cards in her mind and decisively shouted, “Don’t grab the handrail, Xiao Zuo, use the red rope to tie the three of you to the staircase, quickly!”

Chen Kaijie and Zuo Tiantian immediately reacted to Xiao Muyu’s words.

Zuo Tiantian’s five-meter-long red rope stretched out like a snake, tying the three of them tightly. She was anxious, “Captain Xiao, Vice-Captain, can you hold on?”

Chen Kaijie’s tang sword couldn’t pierce the steel-reinforced concrete like Shen Qingqiu’s S-class dagger, so he had to help by grabbing Shen Qingqiu’s jacket, stabilizing her.

This all happened within a few seconds. Then the long staircase swung wildly, like a snake despite being made of steel and concrete, making them dizzy as if they were on a roller coaster.

At this moment, the system’s voice sounded: “Player Zou Jinliang eliminated!”

The sound gave them a jolt. Someone had been eliminated; was it the first team to enter this building?

A player’s elimination was a significant shock to them, making them feel heavy-hearted.

They clung to the staircase for a long time before it suddenly stopped rotating and, with a series of continuous clicks, came to a halt.

Seeing something was wrong, Xiao Muyu quickly said, “Let go!”

Shen Qingqiu and the others quickly let go, and the staircase stopped abruptly, throwing Shen Qingqiu out.

Fortunately, Chen Kaijie held onto Shen Qingqiu’s jacket, which slowed her down even though he couldn’t completely catch her.

Shen Qingqiu reacted swiftly, sheathing her dagger and protecting Xiao Muyu’s head. They rolled two meters away, finally stopping just before a red line.

Zuo Tiantian hurriedly untied the red rope, and the three of them got up to help Xiao Muyu and Shen Qingqiu.

Shen Qingqiu immediately checked Xiao Muyu for injuries, “Are you hurt?”

Xiao Muyu frowned and shook her head, glancing at Shen Qingqiu’s hand, which was grazed and bleeding, looking painful.

Xiao Muyu tried to grab her hand, but Shen Qingqiu pulled back, saying softly, “It’s just a scratch, I’m fine. Time is tight; let’s see what’s going on.”

The five of them stood together, looking at the red line in front of them. The staircase had turned into a corridor, and the original steps had disappeared.

To their right was a water curtain-like platform, leading to each floor’s stairwell, with the fire doors closed. They couldn’t tell what was inside.

Nine floors, eight stairwells, with doors facing the corridor, seemed ready to open at any moment.

Their destination was the door on the ninth floor at the end of this corridor.

“Judging by this, it should be a system-created level. Our direction is correct; this company definitely has problems.” Xiao Muyu steadied her breath, looking at the floors ahead.

“What’s this red line for?” Su Jin asked, puzzled by the laser-like line in front of them.

The system had suddenly started the mission and thrown them in without any explanation. What were they supposed to do?

Shen Qingqiu was also puzzled, “We have one hour to explore. We don’t know when the timer started, but if it has, the mission is already underway. Without prompts, we need to trigger the next phase ourselves.

And when I saw this instance, I was puzzled. In previous instances, the system suggested that intelligence was key in the cyber world, but in the apocalyptic instances, combat was primary. So far, puzzle-solving hasn’t been prominent. Could this task be the beginning?”

Xiao Muyu nodded in agreement.

“This scene is detached from the real world. It wouldn’t put in so much effort just for a zombie segment. Even if there are zombies, it won’t be purely combat-oriented.” She looked at the tightly closed doors ahead and then at the red line beneath their feet.

Red lines often signify a warning; this one must have a purpose.

Thinking of this, Xiao Muyu prepared to lift her foot, but Shen Qingqiu had already taken the lead and stepped over.

Everyone was shocked. Xiao Muyu frowned, but before she could say anything, the ground trembled. A hidden platform rose two meters in front of the red line, covered with a black cloth, making it impossible to see what was on it.

At the same time, a large display screen appeared above their heads, showing a timer currently at four zeros. A smaller timer in the top left corner, already at 02:15 and counting, indicated a one-hour countdown.

“Welcome to Game Virtual Platform No. 005. Please relax; this mission only requires you to complete a mini-game to proceed to the ninth floor.

I believe you will love this mini-game. Now, look at the hidden platform in front of you. The items on it are the tools for this game. Don’t stare too hard; you can’t see anything yet.

Next, we will start the first phase, a quiz with rewards. Please answer based on the hints: What is this game?

The rewards are points: 8 points, 4 points, 2 points. Note: Incorrect answers or failure to answer will deduct 5 points!”

Xiao Muyu’s expression became serious, and the others grew tense. Losing points was harsh; each person would need to kill ten zombies to make up for a wrong answer. Moreover, they didn’t know if there were other penalties.

“To lower the difficulty, the first common hint is that this game is a classic traditional hands-on puzzle game. Now, start answering, with a time limit of one minute. There will be three sets of hints, please pay attention!”

Xiao Muyu’s eyes widened in shock.

Before she could react, the surroundings went pitch black. She found herself standing alone under a dim light, unable to communicate with anyone.

Xiao Muyu’s thoughts were chaotic, her eyes darting around, unable to focus.

Soon, a small rectangular display screen appeared before her, with words scrolling across. Xiao Muyu forced herself to concentrate, trying to read the information.

Suddenly, a group of zombies charged at her from the left!

They appeared quickly, their decaying faces closing in on her vision, their nearly falling eyes almost touching her.

The sudden scare made Xiao Muyu gasp, and she quickly retreated.

She felt her heart racing, almost exploding, and she nearly screamed.

A cold sweat broke out on her back, making her shiver.

However, she soon realized it was fake, like a 3D effect in a cinema, too realistic and sudden. If it were real, she wouldn’t have been able to avoid it.

As quickly as they appeared, the zombies sneered and disappeared. Xiao Muyu stared at them, noticing a red curve on one zombie’s chest, possibly part of a circle.

The initial shock prevented her from noticing details, so she only got a glimpse as they turned away, unsure of what it was.

Recalling the scene, she counted: one, two… nine! The red curve—Shen Shiyi was right.

Despite the chaos in her mind, Xiao Muyu wrote three characters and clicked submit.

The system indicated a successful submission but did not end the task, meaning others hadn’t finished yet.

The second hint appeared. Xiao Muyu braced herself, but the system played fair this time: the hint was simply “Gray Code.”

Seeing this, Xiao Muyu was sure her answer was correct.

The third hint had a lot of text, a familiar poem:

“After parting, two places are apart; only say it’s three or four months, who knows it’s five or six years; the seven-stringed zither is not played, the eight lines of letters cannot be sent.”

The poem stopped at eight, which Xiao Muyu recognized from historical anecdotes. Remembering the rest of the poem made this puzzle easy, but without that knowledge, the first hint would mislead people into guessing randomly.

“Ding!” The timer ended.

Xiao Muyu saw everyone else reappear. As the prompt ended, a golden number floated above each person’s head.

Shen Qingqiu: 8 points; Su Jin: 2 points; Chen Kaijie: 2 points; Zuo Tiantian: 4 points;

No one lost points, which was a gain!

When Su Jin and the others opened their eyes, their faces were pale from fright. After calming down, they checked their scores and were pleasantly surprised.

Author’s Note: I’ll add another update tonight, but don’t forget to comment!

I pondered over this for a long time this morning and finally figured it out, which made me excited.

You can guess what this game is, but don’t check the information first. Guess, then check to see if anyone solves this puzzle with their knowledge. Kisses…