"Uncle, why are you so confident?" He Xin asked awkwardly.
"Because I believe in everyone's ability, He Sheng, don't you think so?" Xiao Yuan De asked me.
"Everyone, cheer up, it will be alright, we still have other ways!"
Hearing me say this, Du Qi Tai didn't mock me but said, "Alright! What I admire most is someone like you who is incredibly brave, Detective He, haha, you don't need to draw lots anymore, go upstairs and accept the next round of challenges!"
As soon as Du Qi Tai finished speaking, a wall not far from us automatically opened, revealing an elevator that we hadn't noticed before.
We all walked into the elevator and found that it only had buttons for 18 floors. He Xin pressed one without hesitation, and Du Qi Tai's voice came through again, "Alright, now you go upstairs. When you get there, I'll tell you what to do!"
"What exactly are you trying to pull, Du Qi Tai!" I said, a little angry.
"I'm not trying to pull anything, it's just more exciting than before. Weren't you a bit disappointed? I'm just giving you back some hope, otherwise, I'm afraid you'd die of boredom, you know?" Du Qi Tai said matter-of-factly, as if he were helping us.
"Don't think your little games are creative. I'm telling you, you damn mongrel, your games are more boring and childish than what we played in kindergarten! If you weren't making things difficult for us, we would have beaten you up long ago!"
"Oh really! He Xin, you're the one with the biggest mouth here. I really want to see if you'll pee your pants when you face the new challenge later!"
Du Qi Tai replied disdainfully. I waited as the elevator slowly ascended. Perhaps because it was the 18th floor, it took a long time to rise and didn't stop.
We were all getting impatient, wondering if the elevator was malfunctioning when I couldn't help but ask, "Du Qi Tai, how much longer will this elevator go up?"
"Almost there, we're on the 16th floor now."
Not long after Du Qi Tai replied, the elevator slowly stopped. The next second, it opened slowly in front of us, revealing a strange passage covered entirely with glass. The path looked quite wide but was incredibly deep, as if we could never reach the end. I had this feeling even before we started moving.
As we stepped out of the elevator, I noticed that although it was glass, it was rather dim. This was probably the highest point in the tourist area. Looking down, everyone was startled because the ground beneath our feet was transparent!
We had initially thought we were floating in mid-air, but when we realized we were supported by glass, we breathed a sigh of relief. However, He Xin still cursed, "Go to your grandma's, you piece of trash! What the hell are you doing, Du, you scumbag!"
"If you keep insulting me like this, I'll deal with you immediately!"
He Xin really was something, coming up with a new insult for Du Qi Tai every so often. If it were me, I'd probably be furious too.
"It's my freedom to curse you. If you have the guts, come out here and fight me one-on-one! I'll cut off those two lumps of yours and feed them to the dogs!"
"You, say that again!"
"What if I say it again?"
"Fine! You have guts. Now, you have 15 minutes to run out of this glass passage. Ahead, there's a narrow path covered in plants. Be careful, if you delay too long, you'll fall into an abyss!"
I immediately understood what Du Qi Tai meant, and everyone dared not delay. As soon as the 15-minute countdown sounded from the announcer, we all started running with all our might.
Behind us, the glass suddenly began to retract. We all gasped. In this situation, if we were any slower, the glass on the ground would move faster than us.
No wonder Du Qi Tai had said earlier that we couldn't waste time.
All we could think of now was to run, swinging our legs with all our might, with immense force and extreme speed. The only sound around was the rushing wind. As I ran, I noticed the glass on both sides contracting together. This challenge, unlike the previous one in the room, was truly different.
I don't know how long we ran, but no one dared to look back. A slight delay could have led to unknown consequences for anyone.
During the run, we saw many sights of the tourist area below, but who had the mood to appreciate them at this moment?
It was probably getting dark again. I wondered if Du Qi Tai would give us any rest later.
I admired myself for still being able to think about such things at a time like this. Just as we saw many vines tied to the glass not far ahead, I thought we had likely reached the area with plants that Du Qi Tai had mentioned.
The vines were initially still, but when they didn't hear footsteps approaching, they all started moving, slowly detaching from the glass above, as if to entangle us!
These plants weren't entirely unheard of. I remembered a plant in Africa, similar to a Venus flytrap, that would react when people passed by, opening its mouth and extending vines to pull people into its maw and devour them.
Having never seen a man-eating plant with my own eyes, everyone thought it was a myth. But now that we were experiencing it firsthand, we realized such plants actually existed.
The vines before us were likely similar in principle. We reacted quickly, but it was still too late to avoid being entangled by these plants.
We struggled with all our might, but the vines seemed to tighten relentlessly. He Xin immediately became nervous, "This is bad! Are they going to crush us?"
"Everyone, calm down, we can't just give up!" At that moment, I wasn't sure what to do either. I just tried to break free from the plants with all my strength, but the more we struggled, the tighter the plants seemed to bind us!
"How can such plants exist in the world?" Gao Ming Qiang struggled and shouted.
At this moment, Yuan He Zhi also yelled, "Bastard, I don't want to die! Help!"
"I don't want to die either! But there's nothing we can do, what's going on?" He Xin cursed.
We were becoming increasingly unable to move. But for some reason, Liu Yu Ning suddenly relaxed. She looked as if she had given up. But the next second, I saw the vines loosen. Only then did I realize that these vines, after binding us, couldn't be struggled against!
I imitated Liu Yu Ning's actions, and we quickly broke free. The others didn't know what was happening, but I said, "Everyone, relax. The more you panic, the tighter the vines will constrict! Do you understand? Time is running out, we need to hurry!"