Chapter 7: Stepping Out

“Next, we must all remain calm,” said Ji Zizai.

She had always worn a gentle smile on her face, but the moment she realized someone had vanished into the darkness, her expression turned serious.

The elevator stopped on each floor for a limited time. 

After a while, when it failed to detect anyone exiting, the elevator doors began to close automatically. 

Without needing anyone’s urging, Dou Wenju confidently stepped forward and pressed the button for the fifth floor.

Dou Wenju tilted his head slightly, speaking casually, “Once we arrive, I’ll leave. After that, you’ll be on your own.”

Xu Dengming lifted her eyes and glanced at the man with a curious look, asking, “Are you sure your plan is correct?”

Dou Wenju arrogantly nodded, then furrowed his brow. 

For some reason, he wasn’t comfortable being watched by the person calling himself Xu Ming. 

There was something strange in the other’s gaze, as though it carried some hidden meaning. 

Dou Wenju caught sight of his own shadow reflected in Xu Ming’s eyes and felt an awkward, almost unsettling sense of someone taking his posthumous photo.

He turned away, pointing to Lin Yunhui. 

“Actually, her idea shouldn’t be wrong, but it will be difficult to execute,” he continued, “Handing out flyers must be voluntary. Now that we’ve lost someone, can you still collect enough flyers for this floor?”

Xu Dengming thought for a moment and shook her head regretfully.

“Not everyone can gather them.”

Lin Yunhui’s eyes flickered for a brief moment, and she silently lowered her head, lost in thought.

The rest of the passengers remained quiet, and as the silence stretched on, the floor number changed from three to four, then from four to five.

“Ding—”

The elevator reached the fifth floor.

Dou Wenju lightly spun the ring on his finger, then looked back at the others in the elevator before walking out, holding the flyer with an air of confidence.

Xu Dengming leaned against the wall, closing her eyes to alleviate the slight stinging sensation caused by her earlier skill use. 

She opened her “Eye of Observation” once more, watching Dou Wenju leave.

Unnoticed by Dou Wenju, the air around him began to swirl with dark gray mist, which playfully intertwined with him until it became impossible to separate.

Xu Dengming felt that Dou Wenju was much more nervous than he appeared. 

He wasn’t as confident as he seemed.

But even though his doubts lingered, Dou Wenju still impulsively stepped out of the elevator, each step increasing the distance between him and the others.

The thick darkness resembled a giant mouth, quickly swallowing his figure. 

In the next moment, the elevator doors closed abruptly, with a sharp “click,” severing Xu Dengming’s gaze.

Lin Yunhui raised her hand. 

“This time, I’ll press it.”

Ji Zizai made the decision for her. 

“You press the seventh floor.”

Lin Yunhui nodded obediently and pressed the button.

The air grew colder, and an unexplainable chill seemed to permeate the atmosphere, sending a shiver down their spines. 

After Zhang Zhiqun’s disappearance and Dou Wenju’s exit, only four people remained in the elevator.

There was little time left for the passengers to think.

Xu Dengming felt that the space they occupied now resembled more of a morgue than an elevator.

Zhao Yilang, who had been silent until now, cautiously spoke up. 

“I think I have an idea.”

Ji Zizai raised her eyebrows with interest and glanced at him. 

“Go ahead.”

Zhao Yilang stammered, “We… we came here to shop, right? Since we’re shopping, we have to consider the shopping process.” 

He held up the two flyers in his hand. 

“One is for a dessert juice shop, and the other is for a furniture store. Although the furniture store is on the third floor and the dessert shop is on the fifth, we’re likely to spend more time at the furniture store. So, we should go to the fifth floor first to get drinks, so we don’t get thirsty while shopping. I think this idea makes sense.”

Ji Zizai didn’t respond immediately.

In fact, she had thought of the same problem, but she found the reasoning somewhat lacking.

For example, with the two flyers Zhao Yilang had, it was a reasonable idea to buy drinks and take them to the furniture store. 

But on the other hand, it would also make sense to buy drinks after shopping, when you’re tired and need a rest.

Ji Zizai tilted her head. 

“Miss Xu, what do you think?”

Xu Dengming, who had kept the vest in her mind, heard her name called and naturally turned around. 

Instead of answering Ji Zizai’s question, she said, “I’m looking at the button panel.”

The other three followed her gaze. 

The button panel was plain, much like the ones in real-life shopping mall elevators. 

Even the stains on it, which no one had bothered to clean, reminded them of old commercial areas that neglected details.

Zhao Yilang looked confused, not understanding what Xu Dengming’s behavior meant.

Xu Dengming stared at the panel for a while. 

Strands of black hair fell over her eyes, obscuring the shifting light in them.

The elevator’s ascent slowed down.

“Ding—”

The seventh floor arrived.

Outside the doors, there was nothing but an impenetrable darkness.

The terrifying feeling of darkness still hung in the air, but inside the elevator, the group started to feel an abnormal attraction to it.

Rationality began to waver. 

A dangerous thought arose—since they would eventually have to leave the elevator, why not do it now?

Lin Yunhui stared blankly at the doors, her gaze becoming dazed.

At that moment, a hand suddenly landed heavily on her shoulder, pinning her in place.

Ji Zizai’s voice came from behind her, as cold as a bucket of water poured over her head: “Are you leaving now?”

Lin Yunhui shuddered, as though awakened from a trance. 

She looked at the elevator doors, which were now very close, and shook her head repeatedly, retreating instinctively. 

“No, I don’t want to leave…”

“Click.”

As if responding to the passengers’ change of heart, the elevator doors slammed shut with a crisp metallic sound. 

The gust of wind created by the closing doors swept past Lin Yunhui’s nose, carrying with it an eerie coldness.

The elevator fell into silence. 

So far, only Zhao Yilang had not pressed any buttons.

Without anyone urging him, Zhao Yilang stepped forward, nervously saying, “Are we going to…”

Xu Dengming cut him off, “We’re going to the first floor.”

Having already visited B2 and B1, everyone understood why Xu Dengming would suggest pressing the first-floor button. 

But unexpectedly, she quickly added another sentence.

Xu Dengming tilted her head thoughtfully, “If my reasoning is correct, the first floor may be where we need to go.”

The passengers fell into brief silence. Some were surprised, others relieved, and some filled with doubt. 

Finally, Ji Zizai was the first to speak.

Ji Zizai raised her right hand, intrigued. 

“Could you explain your reasoning?”

Xu Dengming gestured for Zhao Yilang to press the button for the first floor before she began to explain.

“The Jin Cai Mall has only four floors. When we came in, we were on the first floor. But when we entered the instance, we all appeared on the B2 level.” 

She paused and pulled out a flyer from her pocket. 

“At first, I thought my role in this instance was that of someone just arriving at the mall, ready to visit all the floors. But after checking my belongings, I had a different idea.”

Ji Zizai seemed to be pondering something. 

“You mean…?”

Xu Dengming continued, “Where did I get this flyer from? Maybe it was handed to me on the street, or perhaps inside the mall. Many shops like to have employees distribute flyers outside their stores.”

Ji Zizai nodded. 

“You make a good point.”

She was used to the absurdity of the dungeon but had forgotten to search for any logical reasoning within it. 

Someone like “Xu Ming,” who still clung to the thinking of the normal world, was more likely to discover the key to the problem.

Xu Dengming said, “So, I made an assumption. The passengers in the elevator may not be planning to wander around the mall but are already intending to leave.”

Zhao Yilang, who had been quietly listening, couldn’t help but question, “If they’re leaving, why don’t we just go to B2 to drive away, instead of going to the first floor?”

Xu Dengming smiled. 

“Because we haven’t found the car keys on us,” she continued. 

“Have you noticed that no matter which floor we press, the elevator will stop directly at that floor without any pause?”

Ji Zizai immediately understood what Xu Dengming meant. 

“You’re saying that, besides us, there are no other customers left in the mall?”

Xu Dengming nodded. 

“That’s my guess. The mall is about to close, and we are the last batch of customers leaving. But when we were heading to B2, something unexpected happened.” 

She added, “B2 is the parking lot, but none of the passengers have anything like car keys. So, theoretically, where did the car keys that should be with the passengers go?”

Ji Zizai pondered. 

“Maybe they were accidentally lost in the mall while shopping?”

Xu Dengming shook her head. 

“I remember large malls should have a lost and found or service desk.” 

She pointed to the stain beside the floor. 

“The information sections on the first and eighth floors are missing a chunk. Considering the purpose of this dungeon, the missing content is likely the key to clearing it.”

“If the lost and found exists, it must be on the eighth or first floor. For convenience, the lost and found is usually set up in places where customers are more likely to encounter it. So, I’m guessing we need to go to the first floor.”

At this point, Xu Dengming leaned against the elevator wall, watching the floor indicator slowly change. 

She smiled faintly. 

“This is just an assumption, and I’m not fully confident. Would you like to gamble with me?”

The herd mentality is a strange emotion.

If Zhao Yilang had been alone, even though he understood Xu Dengming’s line of thought, he would never have dared to step out of the elevator until the very last moment. 

But seeing Xu Dengming and Ji Zizai step out and disappear into the darkness outside the elevator, he began to waver.

He glanced at Lin Yunhui, who seemed a bit lost and confused.

He gritted his teeth, suppressing the fear in his heart, and stepped out of the elevator with determination.

After Zhao Yilang, Lin Yunhui also slowly stepped out of the elevator.

From inside the elevator, it was completely dark outside. 

But as they stepped through the doors, the passengers realized that although the light was still too dim, they could just barely make out their surroundings.

Click.

After Lin Yunhui left, the sound of the elevator door closing echoed behind them. 

At the moment they heard that sound, an inexplicable thought flashed through their minds—there was no turning back for them now.

The elevator doors would not open again. 

From here on out, they would either successfully leave or remain trapped forever.

Xu Dengming felt something indescribable. 

It was as though she had wandered into a mall outside of business hours, and an inexplicable tension filled the air.

The surroundings were pitch dark, and although she could see the counters on either side, she found that she couldn’t discern the strange, wriggling “products” within them.

The entire floor was eerily silent.

Xu Dengming originally planned to use her skills to further inspect the surroundings, but just as she was about to activate them, a sudden, sharp, and dangerous intuition stopped her in her tracks. 

The plan was instantly abandoned.

Her heart began to race. 

It felt as if the “products” in the counters had sensed the presence of living beings, and they crowded together in a dense mass.

In certain areas, not being able to see clearly was a form of protection.

After about five minutes, Ji Zizai, who was walking beside Xu Dengming, whispered, “Pay attention to what’s ahead.”

As Ji Zizai spoke, Xu Dengming also spotted their destination.

Ahead, there was something resembling a service desk, where, for the first time, a figure other than the passengers appeared.

Standing behind the service desk was a person dressed in a uniform, all of them wearing smiles, their faces framed by long, dark eyelashes and strikingly large eyes. 

Their skin was smooth and clean, with not a single wrinkle on their bodies. 

There were no pores, no sweat, and no body heat—these were all plastic mannequins that should have been displayed in a showcase.

The mannequins had no joints. 

They could never sit or rest and could only remain in their positions at the counter.

Perhaps they heard the footsteps, as one mannequin stiffly turned its body. 

Its unblinking eyes locked onto the approaching passengers.

The mannequins’ features and expressions were so lifelike, it almost felt as though the plastic shells were concealing the flesh and blood of living humans.

Xu Dengming paused for a moment before calmly walking forward and standing before the service desk.

The plastic mannequin stiffly bowed towards them. 

Because it couldn’t bend at the waist, it leaned forward at an odd angle when greeting, making it look as though it might topple over at any moment.

Xu Dengming’s gaze swept across the floor, noticing that the tiles in front of the service desk were stained with varying shades of brown.