"What does 'eight doors' mean?" Hao Youfu scratched his head in confusion and asked, "Which one do we choose?"
Liu Kaiwen walked over and tested the hardness of the stone platform. He said to the two of them, "I'll go up and take a look."
He chose the iron door closest to the ground as the target, stepped on the bottom stone platform with his left foot, stretched out his right foot to step on the upper stone platform, but found that there was a little distance left.
Hao Youfu anxiously reminded him from below, "Lean your body to the side!"
Liu Kaiwen adjusted his balance, leaned his body against the wall, leaned to the right and stretched out his right leg, and finally stepped on the stone platform. His left foot had nowhere to go and could only hang outside. He looked up and saw another stone platform above his head. He reached out and firmly grasped it, used his strength to step up to the left upper stone platform with his left leg, and climbed up to the iron door closest to the ground after several attempts.
There was only a small stone platform below the iron door, which was difficult for one person to stand on. Liu Kaiwen's frowning brow did not relax, carefully observing the door and not willing to miss any details.
The iron door was tightly closed without any decoration. A iron ring was welded to the top of the door, hanging a key. He pulled the key, but didn't know what material the rope tying the key was made of. It looked thin, tied tightly with a dead knot, and couldn't be pulled off at all. He pulled the key to the lock hole on the door, gesturing a few times. The length of the key was just right to open the lock.
"Liu Comrade, how is it?" Zhou Xuehai asked honestly.
Liu Kaiwen turned his head and looked at the two people below, jumped down carefully from above.
Hao Youfu sat on the ground, took out the biscuits from his bag and said, "Oh, I'm so hungry!"
Liu Kaiwen sat next to him and took out his own biscuits to chew slowly. He had been thinking about what Mo said about "the game begins". A game? Are they in a game now? What game? A game of live people? What is the cost of this game? Looking at the eight doors in front of him, that sense of disharmony emerged in his heart again. First, nine bags, then eight doors, the number is decreasing. Does this number represent the number of people? Then where will the missing person go? In this era when most people are still relatively simple and crime is particularly severe, he never thought that there would be a game that treats human life as a joke, or a game that uses human life as a bet.
On the other side, the people on the stairs were still waiting for their news.
"How are they? Are they in danger?" Xue Fang nervously stared ahead and tugged at Jia Jing's clothes.
Jia Jing put a small piece of biscuit in her mouth, chewed slowly, shook her head and said, "No! If there is danger, they must have come back."
"But what if they are caught? They don’t have time to notify us..."
Everyone looked at Xue Fang with uncertain faces.
Wu Wei saw Zhou Xuehai's figure and pointed at him, "Look! My brother is here."
Zhou Xuehai stepped up the steps, wiped his sweat, and said somewhat breathlessly, "Let's go! They are waiting below for everyone to come up with ideas."
Several people asked about the situation below, but Zhou Xuehai couldn't explain it clearly, only saying that it was very troublesome.
Jia Jing hung her bag and saw Wu Wei, "Wu Comrade, where is Brother Zhou's bag? Wu Comrade, you ate and drank from his bag. Do you have the heart to take away his food and water while he's running around for us?"
Wu Wei stood up and stared at her.
"Who else is willing to help you besides Brother Zhou with your attitude?"
Wu Wei looked at Jia Jing, then at the other people's disapproving expressions. His eyes were dim, hesitated for a moment, took off his bag from the right and handed it to Zhou Xuehai.
Jia Jing stopped him sharply, "Are you willing? I just saw that you ate and drank from this bag."
Wu Wei glared at her fiercely, took off the bag on his left side, and handed it to Zhou Xuehai.
"Humph! Let's go." Jia Jing achieved her goal, pulled Xue Fang and left.
Zhou Xuehai sighed and patted Wu Wei's shoulder, "Let's go. You eat less and save some for later. I still have more here."
Zhao Yihui and Hu Zili supported Li Zisheng, crossed the two of them, and walked down the stairs slowly.
"What kind of place is this!"
Jia Jing looked around this room in disbelief and held Xue Fang's hand tightly.
Hao Youfu saw them coming and got up, waving to let them gather around.
"There is no way, only these several doors on it. Liu Comrade just tried to climb up and it was difficult. Everyone has been hungry for so long, and their physical strength is not good. The main thing is that you female comrades don't know how to exert force?" Hao Youfu licked his lips, scratched his hair, "Just now, I discussed with Old Liu. There are eight doors here, and everyone chooses one. Old Liu will go to open the door first, and then see how to send female comrades up. Old Liu will pull from above, and Zhou Xuehai and I will pad below to prevent someone from falling down."
"How do we choose these eight doors? Is there any danger?" Xue Fang's eyes scanned back and forth in the iron door.
"I just went up and looked around. There was no danger with the iron door," Liu Kaiwen pointed to one of the doors and said, "Each door has a key, which cannot be pulled out and should be matched with the lock."
Zhao Yihui walked to the wall in everyone's gaze, patted the stone platform, turned his head and said, "I'll try." Then she began to climb up to the nearest door. She climbed very hard, but she could still move by stepping on the stone platform.
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"Zhao Comrade, come down first, don't waste your energy," Xue Fang whispered below.
Zhao Yihui hesitated for a moment, and had to slowly move back.
"You jump directly! I will catch you."
Hearing Hao Youfu's voice, Zhao Yihui relaxed her body and jumped down directly, and was steadily caught by Hao Youfu.
Hu Zili exclaimed, "Zhao Comrade is really capable! It seems that female comrades can climb up too."
Xue Fang looked at Hu Zili and glanced at Li Zisheng next to him, "What about Li Comrade? He is very weak."
Hao Youfu listened and thought for a moment, looking at Liu Kaiwen, “If we can't climb up, we can only stand on our shoulders. If Old Liu pulls us up, do you think it'll work?”
Xue Fang stared nervously at Liu Kaiwen, awaiting his reply.
Liu Kaiwen had some thoughts originally, thinking that the eight doors corresponded to the number of people, which meant that it was impossible for them to pass through one door. But now there were nine people, so it didn't match the number of doors, so he had to follow Hao Youfu's thinking. Thinking about this, he nodded, “No problem!”
Xue Fang breathed a sigh of relief at the answer, “Then let's choose the lowest door. We can save some effort, and you can save some strength.”
Hao Youfu felt something strange in Xue Fang's words but from the literal interpretation, it made sense, so he had to supress his discomfort and agreed with a nod, “Okay, then, um...Lao Liu, have you rested enough? You can go up first.”
Zhou Xuehai walked over and said to them, “Why don't you let me go up instead? I'm used to carpentry work, and my hands and feet are strong.”
As he spoke, he reached into his bag and took out a water bottle, gulping down a few sips.
It was only then that Liu Kaiwen noticed that Zhou Xuehai had an extra bag on him, which was probably obtained from Wu Wei. Suddenly, something came to his mind, and he subconsciously stared at Zhou Xuehai's actions, but Jia Jing caught Liu Kaiwen's gaze and even twisted her elbow to show that it was her achievement. In just a few seconds, the water bottle in Zhou Xuehai's hand fell to the ground with a bang, attracting everyone's surprised gaze.
Zhou Xuehai's body was like a statue, motionless and tense all over. Suddenly his eyes widened, and he bent down, his fingers constantly picking at his mouth. He dry-retched ceaselessly, from his abdomen to his throat, suddenly spewing a large amount of blood.
Everyone was taken aback, and Hao Youfu was stunned, not even caring about the blood splashed on him.
A woman's screaming voice came from his ear.
Liu Kaiwen wanted to go up and help Zhou Xuehai, but a hand stopped him, and he heard Zhao Yihui's calm voice, “Wait! It might be highly poisonous!”
Liu Kaiwen felt as if he had been forcibly filled with lead from the top of his head, and his footsteps were nailed to the ground, only able to watch Zhou Xuehai howl in pain.
When Zhou Xuehai raised his head again, his face was dark red, and the blood vessels in his neck were bulging, especially obvious. His eyes had no whites, just a blood-red color, and drops of bloody tears filled his eyes, flowing down his cheeks. He opened his mouth to say something, but couldn't, his panting voice rolling in his throat, like the sound of wind blowing through old window paper in winter. A large amount of blood gushed out of his mouth, with red and white foam trailing behind it, dripping from his hand on the ground.
Extreme pain twisted his features into a demonic appearance. He stretched out his hands and clawed forward twice, as if trying to grasp something. At this moment, he couldn't hold on anymore and fell down, curling up in pain, his fingers grinding furiously on the ground. Suddenly, his entire body spasmed violently, with his muscles rapidly contracting and trembling. A strong odor of rust mixed with the smell of excrement filled the air.
Someone was retching again. The man on the ground struggled a few more times and all went quiet. It happened too suddenly, so suddenly that this group of young people couldn't accept. Wu Wei trembled as she walked over and stood next to Zhou Xuehai, staring at him in disbelief.
“What's wrong with him?”
Liu Kaiwen didn't know how to answer her. Slowly walking over, he bent down and reached out to feel Zhou Xuehai's nose. Suddenly, he retracted his hand and said with difficulty, “He's dead.”
“'How could he die?”
Wu Wei's face turned pale, and sweat broke out on her forehead, and her legs trembled.
Zhao Yihui kicked the water bottle on the ground, “The water's poisoned!”
Wu Wei heard this and focused on the water stains on the ground. She thought of something and stumbled back a few steps, looking at Jia Jing, “Water?”
Jia Jing was like a puppet, standing in place with cold limbs. Facing Wu Wei's gaze, she shook her head subconsciously, “I don't know...I really don't know...”
Hao Youfu regained his senses, wiped the bloodstains off his face, and gasped for air, “Let's go!”
At this moment, this group of unarmed young people finally began to feel real fear. Previously, they had been full of youthful passion, facing unfamiliar darkness and danger. In fact, they still harbored naive fantasies. Zhou Xuehai's death woke them up, and death was like shadow, like the Grim Reaper always looking down on them, calmly sneering, and they did not know whose head the scythe would fall on next.