ATFBETIBM Chapter 646

“My original plan was to find the Queen of the Azure Lion faction, tie her up, and keep her by my side. This way, I could increase my attributes without being controlled by anyone,” the Little Overlord changed the topic. “But after seeing you, I changed my mind. I want to take you somewhere.”

Bai Lixin: “…”

Outside was noisy and chaotic. Bai Lixin looked through the broken bar door and saw that the sky was now filled with a swarm of monsters. The blood of the red spiders had attracted these monsters, and they were screaming and fighting madly. Players were running in all directions, and the scene was extremely chaotic.

Bai Lixin spotted another player with the Queen’s symbol in the crowd.

She couldn’t attack the monsters and could only dodge awkwardly.

There were only three players from the same faction around her, struggling to fend off the monsters attacking the Queen.

Bai Lixin watched as the sharp tentacles of the monsters brushed past the Queen’s body several times. If she had moved a bit slower, she would have been dead.

The Little Overlord also noticed the isolated Queen, and greed flashed in his eyes.

He tightened his grip on the meteor hammer, ready to make his move when he heard Bai Lixin behind him ask, “Where are you taking me?”

For once, the Little Overlord didn’t chase after the distressed Queen. He put away his meteor hammer and said, “Don’t you want to see your licentious bed partner?”

Bai Lixin: “…”

‘Licentious?

Why was the Little Overlord’s mouth so filthy?’

‘Slander, absolute slander!’

Seeing that the Little Overlord was about to take Bai Lixin away, the three players prepared to follow, but the Little Overlord shot them a look: “If you don’t want to die, don’t follow.”

The three of them froze in their tracks, not daring to take another step forward, and could only watch helplessly as the Little Overlord took their Queen away.

Once they were gone, one of them took a deep breath and said, “That scared me to death. I thought I was going to die under the Little Overlord’s gaze.”

“You’re right, Brother. I think he’s scarier than the monsters.”

“That high and unattainable flower is too far out of reach. We’d better stay away from him. Didn’t you hear him say that he doesn’t even care about his own guild members’ lives? If he goes crazy, he might really kill us too.”

“At least with him guarding the Queen in this round, we don’t have to worry about the Queen being killed. We just need to hold on for six hours.”

“Six hours? Ha, you’re wrong, buddy. It’s seven days and seven nights. It’s insane.”

…

The numbers changed rapidly as the elevator slowly ascended. When the first digit of the three-digit display turned into a 9, nearing the 999th floor, the elevator stopped at the 900th floor.

The elevator doors opened, revealing a dark and eerie escape room.

The Little Overlord stepped out of the elevator leisurely with his chin raised and urged Bai Lixin, “Hurry up and get out.”

Bai Lixin looked at the blood-soaked eyeball decorations strung into garlands and said, “That person is in this creepy place?”

“What, scared already?” The Little Overlord chuckled, “Coward. Just follow me, don’t worry, I won’t harm you. I’m not crazy enough to risk my own life.”

Bai Lixin: “Is that so? Sounds reasonable, but there’s a flaw in your words.”

“You currently have enough Honor Coins to exchange for a substitute doll. You could kill me and use the doll at the same time, so there’s a good chance you won’t die.”

The 900th floor was quiet, with not even a single copy monster.

Bai Lixin looked at the empty escape room floor and formed a hypothesis.

Perhaps the number of monsters appearing on each floor was based on the number of players present.

When there were more players on a floor, the number of monsters increased accordingly.

“When danger strikes, humans instinctively seek familiar places. Few players make it to the 900th floor. Even if the floor barriers are opened, most players wouldn’t dare to come to such an unfamiliar environment, so there are no people on the 900th floor,” the Little Overlord said as he kicked a stone and walked on. “That’s what you’re thinking, right?”

Bai Lixin: “…”

Little Overlord: “But don’t you find it strange? Even so, there shouldn’t be no one on the 900th floor, right? After all, there are some players above the 900th floor. What is it that makes everyone avoid this floor like the plague?”

Bai Lixin: “What is it?”

“Because of me.” The Little Overlord suddenly turned around, half of his face hidden in darkness, the other half exposed to faint light. The light and dark were intertwined, creating a sinister and eerie contrast. “Nian Suihan prided himself on being noble. After accepting my gift, he unlocked the restriction on the 900th floor, but he never truly submitted to me—until the day he came with me to the escape room on the 900th floor.”

“I saw him kneel before me, breaking all his pride, trampling his dignity underfoot.”

“The 900th floor is my territory. Unless I allow it, no one can approach, and no one can leave.”

“You’ve finally fallen into my trap, Bai Lixin.”

The pebbles underfoot suddenly loosened, and white, thread-like substances shot out from the ground and all directions, wrapping Bai Lixin in an instant, rendering him immobile.

The white threads were like silk spun by silkworms, cocooning Bai Lixin and suspending him in mid-air.

Inside the cocoon, Bai Lixin couldn’t move at all. His vision was filled with crisscrossing white threads, but he could still hear sounds.

“Bai Lixin, just stay here and wait until I get bored and come back for you.”

Laughter mixed with footsteps gradually faded away until they disappeared completely.

There was something in the white cocoon that made Bai Lixin feel like his brain was filled with paste, muddled and foggy.

[Lord Host,] S419M’s electrical sound seemed to come from far away, [Don’t be afraid, I’ll help you!]

The next second, Bai Lixin’s body jolted violently, as if he’d been electrocuted with high voltage, and he became fully awake.

S419M’s voice buzzed in his mind: [Lord Host, are you awake now? Do you need me to zap you again?]

If the Little Overlord didn’t kill him, S419M would electrocute him to death.

Before S419M could deliver another shock, Bai Lixin hurriedly said: [I’m awake, thank you.]

S419M: [Are you really awake? The white silk contains neurotoxins. Just in case, should I…]

Bai Lixin replied firmly: [No need, I’m fine, absolutely.]

‘The toxin only paralyzes nerves; your shock could kill me.’

The paralysis in his body faded, and Bai Lixin raised his hand with difficulty to open a hole in the white cocoon.

In front of him was a field of white cocoons.

Many white cocoons hung in mid-air, and he was just one among many. Each cocoon was connected to the ceiling by a single silk pillar, resembling countless silkworm cocoons hanging from mulberry trees.

He had been attacked by the white silk near the elevator on the 900th floor, but now, he couldn’t see the elevator, indicating that he’d been moved after being cocooned. He had no idea how far he was from the elevator now.

The surroundings were pitch black, with very low visibility.

The cocoons were suspended about four meters high, and below them was a marble floor glowing faintly.

Bai Lixin estimated the distance, then widened the small hole in the cocoon until it was big enough for a person to crawl through, and he carefully climbed out, landing steadily on the ground.

His body was still covered in the white threads, but as he pulled them off, Bai Lixin noticed that they were no longer sticky and were easy to tear. It seemed that they’d lost their vitality.

As he adapted to the darkness, his eyesight gradually improved, and he could see more around him.

It was then that he noticed the tops of the white cocoons weren’t flat stone ceilings but were covered with small protrusions.

They looked like a cluster of barnacles, with threads connected to the protrusions. A gelatinous fluid was slowly seeping from the barnacles’ mouths and into the cocoons.

He found himself in an oval-shaped space, surrounded by curved walls. In the corners, several cocoons were haphazardly piled up.

Bai Lixin walked over to the cocoons, took out a small knife, and sliced one open, revealing a human face.

The person’s face was deathly pale, with sunken cheeks and skin clinging tightly to the bones, resembling a skeleton wrapped in human skin.

Bai Lixin studied the person carefully. He felt that he had seen them somewhere before.

As he compared the face to those he’d encountered, he finally remembered where he’d seen this person.

This person had been a member of the Shentian Guild.

No wonder it took him so long to recognize them. The person he’d met was tall, strong, and muscular, as if their muscles were about to burst out of their clothes at any moment. How could he compare to the emaciated skeleton in front of him?

He had seen this man earlier today.

But judging by this person’s current appearance, he must have been here for a long time.

Suddenly, the skeletal figure’s mouth twitched.

Bai Lixin frowned slightly, focusing on the skeletal mouth, and saw that the other party’s lips twitched again.

He was actually still alive.

Bai Lixin took out a healing card from his backpack and used it on the man. A faint green light flashed over the man’s body. The man’s lips twitched again, but there was no sign of recovery.

Bai Lixin took out three more healing cards, and the green light continued to flash and fade on the man’s body. After persistent treatment, the man finally opened his eyes with difficulty. His eyes were clouded like those of someone with cataracts, and he stared blankly ahead, seemingly trying to recognize who was in front of him.

His lips were cracked, forming deep grooves, and he struggled to make a rough, raspy sound from his throat: “Ah… ah… help… me…”

He tried hard to stretch out his hand to crawl out of the white cocoon. Bai Lixin wanted to reach out to give him a hand, but saw that the man’s stretched out hand was withering quickly, leaving only a small, dried-up piece of flesh.

The man no longer had the strength to show any expression. He could only stare numbly at his arm being consumed by the air.

He no longer attempted to escape and maintained his stiff posture, burying himself back into the white cocoon.

Those white cocoons seemed to come alive. When the man sank back into the cocoon, they began to stretch and spread, trying to close the opening that Bai Lixin had just torn apart.

Bai Lixin quickly reacted, using both hands to hold onto the edges of the cocoon, preventing it from sealing shut. “Hey, at least tell me something.”

The man’s cloudy eyes blinked, and his cracked lips slowly opened and closed, but no sound came out.

In the end, just as the cocoon was about to close, Bai Lixin heard two faint words: “Run… quickly…”

If that strong man was here, then who was the strong man he saw in the game lobby?

This cocoon contained the strong man, so what about all these other cocoons?

What were they holding?

Bai Lixin moved to the nearest cocoon and tore it open, revealing another shriveled and emaciated face.

He stared blankly at the face inside the cocoon, and for a moment, he even forgot what expression to make.

Unbelievably, this face was also the face of the strong man from before!

The same pale face, skin and bones, nostrils faintly moving—still breathing.

If there were two strong men, could there be a third?

Bai Lixin opened a third cocoon, and inside was yet another face of the strong man.

What was going on?

Were they all the strong man? Could they be clones?

If they were clones, then where was the original? Was the one he saw in the game lobby the clone or the original?

Could one of these three be the original, or were these defective clones that were discarded here?

The Little Overlord said this was his territory? Was all of this his doing?

Right, Little Overlord.

Bai Lixin quickly opened the chat window and found Xia Chi’s avatar.

Xia Chi’s avatar was still lit. Bai Lixin clicked on it and quickly typed a message: [Xia Chi, did you find your queen?]

Xia Chi’s reply came in under three seconds: [Yes, Brother.]

Bai Lixin: [I’ve been separated from Little Overlord, and I’m currently trapped on the 900th floor. He’s probably out hunting other queens now. If you meet him, don’t engage in a fight. Run immediately.]

Xia Chi: [Got it. Brother, what about you, are you okay?]

Bai Lixin looked around at the sea of white cocoons. No matter how he looked at it, it didn’t seem okay: [I’m fine. I’m his faction’s queen, so he can’t harm me. I’ll meet up with you after I get out.]

Xia Chi: [Okay.]

Bai Lixin glanced up at the white cocoons above him, pulled out his sycthe, and swung it. Two cocoons immediately snapped and fell to the ground.

He cut open the two cocoons one after another, and once again, he was stunned by what he saw.

Inside these two cocoons were—unexpectedly—two Little Overlords.

Their fiery red hair seemed ready to ignite the surrounding white silk, wild and powerful.

Unlike the three weak and skeletal strong men, these two Little Overlords had ruddy complexions, strong facial features, and thick, stiff hair—they couldn’t have looked healthier.

Bai Lixin almost instinctively wanted to sew up the two white cocoons that had just been cut open, and at the same time cement them to seal them completely.

The long silk threads above the cocoon still dripped with a gel-like liquid.

The gel dripped down a tube that extended to Little Overlords’ necks.

As the last bit of gel entered the tube, the Little Overlords, who were sleeping, suddenly furrowed their brows.

Their eyelashes fluttered, eyelids twitched, and their expressions grew impatient, as if they were about to open their eyes at any moment.

S419M: [Lord Host, run!]

The words had just fallen, Bai Lixin quickly grabbed the cocoons with both hands and, with a sudden force, pushed the two Little Overlords face to face.

The two Little Overlords opened their eyes simultaneously. There was no white in their pitch-black eyes, staring at each other without blinking.

In the next second, like two mad beasts, they tore into each other.

An ear on one side was bitten off, and a neck on the other side was ripped open.

When dogs bite each other, both get a mouth full of fur.

S419M: [Um… Genius, Lord Host, maybe running isn’t necessary?]

An Azure Lion emblem gradually appeared above the two Little Overlords. When the emblem fully materialized, the two Little Overlords stopped biting each other at the same time.

They turned their heads in unison, staring at Bai Lixin.

At this point, Bai Lixin noticed that the black pupils of the two Little Overlords had now shown some whites and a hint of clarity.

Little Overlord A, who was missing an ear, said, “Bai Lixin.”

Little Overlord B, who had blood streaming from his neck, said, “Where do you think you’re going?”

A flash of white light passed before the eyes of the two Little Overlords. Before they could react, their vision flipped, and then they fell heavily to the ground, witnessing their bodies collapse.

Not far away, the young man held a white sycthe. “Who said I was going to run?”

Little Overlord A was furious: “Bai Lixin!”

Little Overlord B: “I won’t let you get away with this!”

Little Overlord A: “You’ve completely pissed me off!”

Little Overlord B: “You won’t escape from here!”

Once again, Bai Lixin felt the familiar tremor under his feet.

Having suffered a loss once, Bai Lixin wouldn’t allow a second mistake. Before the white threads could emerge, he leaped back, and his body vanished from the cave.

His eyes had already adjusted to the darkness, and he had previously scouted the terrain, so he knew there was an exit.

Seeing Bai Lixin leave the cave, the white threads spun in midair and hurriedly chased after him through the cave entrance.

This escape room seemed to be based on an amusement park theme. After leaving the cave, he saw many abandoned amusement facilities.

The terrain was vast, and the threads behind him pursued relentlessly.

Bai Lixin didn’t stop and kept charging forward.

In an escape room, naturally, there are scary NPCs.

While the threads chased him unremittingly, he saw a bear mascot by the carousel waving at him.

This bear mascot wasn’t a cute character with a headpiece from a cartoon. It was two meters tall with sharp fangs, teeth, and claws that could easily pierce through human flesh. The fur on the bear mascot was stained with blood, and it held several colorful balloons, waving its arms vigorously at Bai Lixin, saying, “Young man, balloons for you…”

Bai Lixin didn’t even look and brushed past the bear mascot.

The bear mascot joined the chase, yelling, “Balloons for you, balloons for you, balloons for you.”

Bai Lixin: “…”

As he passed by a broken forest cabin, he saw seven dwarves doing something on a table.

The dwarf in the red hat held a saw and was cutting repeatedly.

The dwarf in the blue hat held a bamboo basket, and a slender arm with red-painted nails dropped into it.

Among the dwarves, he vaguely saw a head of black curly hair and a blue princess dress on the table.

“We love the princess.”

“But the princess only loves the handsome prince.”

“We love the princess.”

“But there are seven of us, and only one princess.”

“So, we’ll divide the princess, so each of us can have a piece.”

“If only there was another princess.”

Bai Lixin passed by them.

The seven dwarves simultaneously turned their heads.

“Black hair.”

“Snow-white skin.”

“Lips as red as blood.”

“It’s the princess!”

“Snow White, please share your love equally among the seven of us.”

The seven dwarves, holding saws and hammers, joined the chase.

After that, Little Red Riding Hood, the Big Bad Wolf, and the Three Little Pigs also joined the growing chase.

Seeing the massive crowd chasing behind him, S419M lamented, [Lord Host, you truly are a beauty that brings disaster.]

Bai Lixin: “?”

‘Are you alright?’

The escape system: [Running like this isn’t a solution.]

S419M: [If only the Lord Host were a lowly soldier and not a queen, these disrespectful monsters wouldn’t dare act so recklessly.]

The escape system: [Master Bai Lixin, I see an elevator! Cross the rose garden ahead, and you’ll reach the elevator for the 900th floor.]

Bai Lixin took a sharp turn and charged straight into the rose garden.

The chase behind him suddenly slowed down.

Bai Lixin faintly heard the voices of the crazy monsters behind him.

“It’s the rose garden.”

“That’s the Mad Hatter’s territory.”

“The terrifying Mad Hatter.”

“Run, run, the Mad Hatter has gone mad.”

As Bai Lixin stepped into the rose garden, he paused for a moment.

He looked back and saw that the monsters, who had been chasing him relentlessly, had already scattered and fled. Even the threads had stopped moving. They didn’t leave immediately like the other monsters but maintained a distance, hovering in the air and poised to strike.

It seemed that as long as Bai Lixin left the rose garden, they would swarm him and wrap him back up.

Bai Lixin could already see the elevator at the end of the rose garden.

The elevator was covered by rose bushes, a stark contrast to what he had seen when he first entered.

The theme of the 900th-floor escape room appeared to be a fairy tale theme.

He remembered the Mad Hatter as a key character from Alice in Wonderland.

Anyone who could scare off so many monsters was definitely not someone to be trifled with.

Behind him were the threatening white threads.

Deep within the rose garden was the visible elevator exit.

The rose garden was eerily quiet, and he didn’t see anyone around.

He decided to take a chance and risk it all.

Running for a few seconds was surely better than staying on the 900th floor and getting wrapped up into a cocoon and cloned.

Bai Lixin stepped fully into the rose garden.

In the next moment, he began sprinting through the rose garden.

Beautiful rose bushes quickly passed by his side, and the sweet, fragrant scent of roses constantly stimulated Bai Lixin’s senses.

The elevator was clearly in sight, and he ran swiftly.

But the distance between him and the elevator didn’t shorten at all. On the contrary, the surrounding rose bushes seemed to grow larger.

No, it wasn’t that the roses were growing larger—it was that his body was shrinking!

By the time his body was about the height of the grass, the elevator still stood behind the rose bushes, but it was now towering and distant.

“Look who it is, it’s the lovely Alice,” a sharp voice came from above.

Bai Lixin looked up and was met with a pair of blood-red eyes.

It was a gray rabbit, taller than he was, dressed in a waistcoat, wearing a tie, and sporting a gentleman’s hat. It’s blood-red eyes were fixed on Bai Lixin. “Oh, dear Alice, the Clown’s Tea Party has been waiting for us.”

It scrutinized Bai Lixin up and down, its long rabbit teeth moving as it spoke, “But you can’t meet the Clown dressed like this. It’s too rude. Change into this outfit.”

With a flick of its paw, a bunny girl outfit appeared in the rabbit’s paw.

Bai Lixin: “…”

‘Wouldn’t it be more rude to wear this?!’