It wasn't until the employee disappeared around the corner with Yue Ren that Chi Ting retracted his gaze uneasily.
He entered the elevator and leaned tiredly against the wall. He closed his eyes for a while as he rose up.
Once he received the notification sound that he had arrived at his floor, he was about to step out when he raised his eyes and saw a pink shadow coming toward him. He almost instinctively kicked it away.
Fortunately, Chi Ting retained a trace of reason in this state. This prevented his 'resurrected' team member from dying again.
He retracted the foot that he had raised and frowned slightly. "What are you doing here?"
Ji Xingque had already rushed directly to Chi Ting. He felt a bit aggrieved when he heard this. "Captain, didn't you ask me to come back and wait for you after getting the treasure chests? I've been waiting here for you for a long time."
He soon noticed that Chi Ting wasn't in a good state and instinctively looked behind him. "Captain, why doesn't your face look good? Didn't you say you were just going to do a daily task? Isn't it gaining chests again? Where did your slave go? You didn't entrust it to the hotel, did you? You should've already found it. The matter about the slave should be…"
Chi Ting had already recovered a lot along the way, but he felt his head throbbing again when he heard Ji Xingque's chirping.
He put his hand on his forehead and forcibly interrupted the chatter. "First of all, get to the point. Why are you waiting here?"
Ji Xingque felt the slightly low air pressure around him and immediately stopped talking nonsense. He said seriously, "The other players know we have already obtained the remaining two high-level treasure chests. They have returned to the room and are now in the meeting room. I'm here to wait for you to come back before going over there to take a look."
"Okay, you lead the way."
Chi Ting and Ji Xingque walked to the meeting room, and he briefly asked about the current situation.
According to Ji Xingque, there might be many explorer NPCs staying at this Adventurer Hotel, all players were arranged to stay on this floor. This meant everyone would usually gather in the meeting room to discuss the next plan of action.
Chi Ting heard the noise outside last night but didn't dare to act rashly because he knew there were many NPCs in the hotel. After hearing Ji Xingque's words, he made a decision about whether to save people in the future or not.
He knew this team member too well. Once he saw the little bird trying his best to show his courtesy, he didn't mean to beat around the bush. He continued to ask very directly, "So how many people did you offend before I entered this instance?"
Ji Xingque was exposed and scratched the back of his head with a smile. He showed Chi Ting a finger. "There is only one."'
Chi Ting raised his eyes. "One?"
Ji Xingque nodded. "This person's identity is quite special. His name is Huang Xinjue. He is the only one who obtained a high-level treasure chest in the beginning, so now all the players call him Boss Huang. He has been arranging the action tasks recently."
Chi Ting felt that he couldn't look directly at this person. "It sounds like the one you offended isn't much different from offending all the players."
Ji Xingque was quite optimistic. "It is different. Before, everyone listened to Huang Xinjue due to the high-level treasure chest in his hand. Now that we have obtained the remaining two, the right to speak is completely different. When I came out just now, the players who were at the arena had already started arguing with Huang Xinjue. Listen, they haven't finished the argument yet."
Chi Ting turned a corner and heard the sound of an argument coming from behind the door.
He had just experienced a mental shock. His whole head was filled with excessive information. He couldn't help feeling a bit irritated when faced with such an argument. He didn't listen to Ji Xingque's words. Once he arrived at the door of the meeting room, he directly raised a foot and kicked. He transferred the kick that he didn't have time to strike Ji Xingque with at the door of the meeting room.
Bang—!
There was a huge sound. The moment the door hit the wall, the entire meeting room fell into complete silence.
But it was finally quieter.
Chi Ting let out a long breath. He rubbed his temples while walking to the meeting room under the eyes that came from all directions. He casually pulled out a chair and sat down. "Excuse me. Don't worry about me. You guys continue."
All the surviving players in this dungeon were gathered in this meeting room. There were some disagreements due to the collection of the last two high-level treasure chests. They were arguing until they were red-faced and thick-necked a few seconds ago. At this time, they couldn't respond to Chi Ting and Ji Xingque's sudden appearance.
The group of people on Huang Xinjue's side had never met Chi Ting, but Zeng Yan and Shan Xu knew.
Originally, they were dissatisfied with Huang Xinjue's wrong arrangement, which caused them to lose two players. At this time, they suddenly rejoiced. "Brother Chi, you are here! We are discussing the next action. If you have any ideas, can you say it and let everyone listen?"
Huang Xinjue was sitting in the center of the meeting table. He didn't look very good because he had been questioned by Zeng Yan and the others. As a result, the pink-haired Ji Xingque barged in with someone in a very high-profile manner. Hearing the call of 'Brother Chi', he had to know it was the newcomer who just entered the instance.
Thinking of the previous Zeng Yan and Shan Xu's previous bragging about the arena challenge, Huang Xinjue was already very wary of this new player. He hadn't expected that what he would see was a tired and weak, pretty boy who looked like he could be knocked down by a strong wind at any time.
The appearance was good, but this body didn't look like he could still fight after losing his personal skills.
Huang Xinjue twitched the corner of his lips without smiling. "Zeng Yan, this is the Brother Chi you want to follow? Yes, if you don't believe my words then just follow him. Your Brother Chi looks very tired now. I don't know if he can have the strength to protect you if you are really in danger."
Chi Ting was indeed feeling very tired. If he was asked now, the most important thing he wanted to do was go back and get a good night's sleep.
But no matter how confused he felt, there was no way he couldn't feel this overflowing hostility. He slowly raised an eyebrow.
Before he could speak, a figure flashed in front of him. Ji Xingque rushed forward and slapped the table in front of Huang Xinjue. "Surnamed HUang, I found that you are really ignorant. I'm telling you, it is a blessing of several lifetimes to have our captain protecting you. If you have time to engage in internal divisions here, can you spend more time on clearing the instance?"
"Division? Who is causing the division?" Huang Xinjue laughed angrily. "You know, we have always been very united. If it wasn't for you jumping up and down to shake people's hearts, the main plotline of the instance would've entered the next stage! Why are you pretending to be noble? In this instance, the slaves are a tool for us to pass the instance. Do we still need to protect them one by one as you said? That's fine. Treat them as masters. Then you can do the main plotline in your dreams, right?"
The aftereffects of this copying made Chi Ting feel his temples throbbing slightly when he heard the word 'dreams.'
This made him take another glance behind Huang Xinjue's group of people.
It was obvious that they had participated in many adventure projects in this store. At first glance, most of these slaves were covered in blood and flesh with few intact parts. Their eyes were deeply sunken. They didn't react at all to Huang Xinjue's words. They would be like dead things if it wasn't for the eerie gaze tightly locked on their masters.
Chi Ting slightly raised an eyebrow.
Hearing this, he somewhat understood why Ji Xingque fell out with these people.
Just as he had discovered after entering this instance, it didn't matter if they were explorer NPCs or players. Under the inducement of the city residents, almost everyone chose to use the slaves to complete the challenge projects.
As he walked on the streets, Chi Ting saw all types of slaves who were tortured until they gradually lost their human appearance. It was particularly shocking at first glance. These were all inevitable losses in the process of participating in the adventure projects.
To be honest, even as an NPC in the instance, such treatment was indeed a bit inhumane.
Such a master-servant relationship was inherently pathological.
However, the slaves were a tool-like existence for this instance. No one had ever cared too much about the durability of the consumables or the damage done to the tool during the challenge projects.
Chi Ting knew Ji Xingque. This guy would never show kindness for no reason. Judging from the development of this bird's brain, he probably wasn't able to carefully deduct any clues. The reason why he was so opposed to the inhuman treatment of the slaves was probably simply because he felt the human nature of these slaves.
It was different from the previous Love Apartment where the residents were set up as inhuman existences. Therefore, in terms of the human content, there was basically only around 20% left. Among them, Yue Ren with 68% was the one with the highest human content that he perceived.
In this Lost Treasure instance, the explorer NPCs encountered in this city had a 90% human content. This meant they were close to a normal human. In comparison, the number for the residents of the city was lower and started at around 60%. Among them, the ones with the lowest value were the so-called descendants of demons.
Among the demon descendants that Chi Ting had seen so far, the lowest among the arena defenders was only 20% while most of the slaves encountered on the street were between 30% and 40%
Perhaps it was due to the good protection relationship, but Cao Ji next to Ji Xingque was still maintained at the 50% line. Meanwhile, the problem of the slaves of Huang Xinjue's group was much more serious. It seemed that it was about to fall below the 20% warning line.
In the team, it was Chi Ting who established the rule of using 50% human content as the baseline for judging if someone was human or not.
So now that he heard this, he understands that Ji Xingque was still implementing the team policy despite entering the unlimited game world.
This kid…
Chi Ting didn't know if it was the blessing of a fool. According to his observations in this instance, Ji Xingque's single-celled thinking that single-handedly believed in him was actually only a bit skewed.
Chi Ting cleared his throat after seeing that there was going to be a quarrel in the meeting room again. "Boss Huang, right?"
The moment he opened his mouth, the angry Ji Xingque immediately closed his mouth.
Huang Xinjue had never seen Ji Xingque so obedient to anyone before. He was stunned for a moment before finally looking at the sickly-looking Chi Ting. "Are you finally going to give me some advice, Brother Chi?"
"I don't dare to give you advice." Chi Ting smiled slightly. "I think Boss Huang's words just now are right. Players should be more united. Several days have passed before I entered the instance, but more than half the people are already dead. It is time to catch up."
Huang Xinjue's expression darkened slightly. "Don't talk so sarcastically here. How long have you been here? Are you blaming me for dereliction of duty in leading the team?"
"I don't mean that," Chi Ting said. Then he couldn't help yawning slowly again. Such a lazy and sleepy posture seemed incompatible with the tense atmosphere around him. "I just want to say that we finally got the high-level treasure chests for the main task today. There are only a few low-level and intermediate chests left. Boss Huang is so strong. There should be no problem with you leading a team to clear it tomorrow, right?"
Such words sounded logical at first. Then after thinking about it, Huang Xinjue suddenly felt very uncomfortable.
What was the meaning? Before when he led the team, he only got a high-level treasure chest by luck. Now this person got the remaining two as soon as he entered. Didn't this make it seem like Huang Xinjue didn't do anything serious after taking command?
However, this Chi Ting's attitude was so soft spoken, and he seemed easy to discuss things with. This was completely different from Ji Xingque, who got angry when disagreeing with someone. IF Huang Xinjue kept sticking to this matter, it would be like he was deliberately targeting Chi Ting.
Huang Xinjue paused for a moment. In the end, he could only grit his teeth. "Don't worry. I will definitely push the main task to the next stage tomorrow!"
After speaking, he swept his eyes over Zeng Yan's group, who had obviously defected. He snorted in a low voice, got up, and left.
As he walked out of the meeting room, people could vaguely hear one of the people following Huang Xinjue say something like, "Be sure to tie up those slaves tighter tonight." The words were full of contempt and disgust
Zeng Yan noticed Chi Ting's thoughtful gaze toward the door and explained it. "Brother Chi, don't mind Huang Xinjue. Their group of people actually isn't bad, but they are too impatient. You have also seen their slaves. They were among the first group of people to enter the instance, so they were the most active in collecting treasure chests and received the most damage. The reason why they are so anxious now is mainly because they won't be able to wait until the instance ends, just like the others."
Chi Ting wondered, "Like the others?"
Zeng Yan sighed deeply. "Maybe you don't know that in addition to the players who died in the adventure projects, a large number of people actually died at the hands of these slaves."
They died at the hands of the slaves.
Chi Ting was still thinking about Zeng Yan's last words as he left the meeting room.
However, he already overused his brain today, so he didn't ask any more questions. He planned to go back and have a good rest before learning more about the specific causes of death of those previous players.
Chi Ting walked while rubbing his temples. Then he looked up and saw pink hair suddenly appearing in his field of view.
Immediately afterward, Ji Xingque appeared in front of him with an incomprehensible expression. "Captain, why didn't you persuade that brainless person just now? I should be right. It really doesn't make sense to treat slaves like that, but they don't listen! From the looks of those slaves, they are almost ruined."
Chi Ting pushed away the face that was a bit too close to him. "You already said that they are almost ruined. Isn't it too late to stop it now?"
The flesh on Ji Xingque's face was pushed a bit out of shape, but his eyes looked over eagerly. "Still, I have to give it a try. What if?"
"It isn't necessary. Even if those people were pretending to be calm, they are actually already panicked in their hearts. Now any blow can make them lose their calm at any time. It is just as Zeng Yan said. The essence of Huang Xinjue's mentality is that he is afraid of death. Now, for him, perhaps he can only feel a bit calmer by trying his best to end this game." At this point, Chi Ting looked deeply at Ji Xingque. "Haven't we seen many people like this before? It is better to save some effort where we can."
Chi Ting glanced in the direction that Huang Xinjue's group had left. He paused but didn't try to hide anything from Ji Xingque. "Of course, the most important thing is that with the current situation of their slaves, I feel it is already too late to remind them. We aren't sure about the situation of the slaves. If there really is some type of rule, you and I are very clear about what happens once the human content falls below 20%."
"It is already too late?"
Ji Xingque felt frustrated when he heard Chi Ting say this. "What should we do?"
"We will see when the time comes. If we can, we will try our best to save them. If there is nothing we can do, we can only say that life or death depends on fate. It is true that our team's purpose is to save people, but no one can really take on the duty of savior. Therefore, everyone's fate still depends on their own choices." Chi Ting finished speaking and patted Ji Xingque on the head. "Okay, can I go back to sleep now?"
"Go to sleep, go to sleep," Ji Xingque said while taking out two high-level treasure chests from his pocket and handing them to Chi Ting. He listened to the advice. "I think you are right, Captain. In any case, I have already given them advice. If it really doesn't work, just let them die."
Chi Ting almost dozed off while walking to the door of his room.
He was just about to open the door when he remembered something. "By the way, doesn't that Huang Xinjue hate the slaves very much? Why did he take the slave with him instead of giving him to the hotel?"
Ji Xingque blinked. "Captain, don't you know?"
Chi Ting wondered, "Know what?"
Ji Xingque said, "The hotel's hosting service is free for the first time. Then there are tiered charges. Players who came in when the instance was first opened can no longer afford the hosting now."
Even when he entered through the door and lay on the bed, Chi Ting was thinking about Ji Xingque's last words.
From this point of view, he couldn't waste the free experience of entrusting Yue Ren to the hotel today. He just didn't know if this guy could have fun at night…
He thought like this and quickly fell asleep.
The mental exertion of the copying did leave big aftereffects. Once he fell asleep, Chi Ting felt groggy and as if he had fallen into the legendary story that filled his mind again. He was just about to obtain the treasure of the heroes when he was pulled from his slumber by a huge movement outside.
Chi Ting opened his eyes in a daze. What entered his vision was the mottled starlight outside the window.
Looking at the wall clock again, he found that it was already past 8 o'clock before he knew it.
In the haze of the night, the sound of running footsteps and shouts in the corridor was particularly abrupt.
In stark contrast, there was the deathly stillness.
Chi Ting still had a somewhat confused expression due to being forcibly withdrawn from his sleep.
He rubbed his messy hair and sat on the bed. Then the despair in that cry for help gradually became real.
Why did that voice seem a bit familiar?
The moment he woke up, Chi Ting's eyes lit up slightly. He immediately walked toward the door in his slippers.
Oh yes, the familiarity or not wasn't the point.
The point now was that according to Ji Xingque's meaning, all the explorers living on this floor were real players. This meant that what he heard were humans asking him for help!