Players, Please Board the Train-Chapter 206: Red Man-Eating Flower

Although his hands and face were squeezed together by the heavy pressure, and his head and legs were welded in place unable to move, fortunately the adhesive mucus wrapping him wasn't as powerfully sticky as spider silk. Instead, it had formed a hard shell-like casing on the outside.
He spat out the axe fragment, pinched it between his fingers, and gently rubbed it against the outer shell, quickly carving out a tiny space for his wrist to move.
Once his wrist could barely move, he retrieved a dagger item and chiseled a gap forward.
By the time the dragging force pulled him out of the ventilation duct and flung him upward, Xu Huo had already broken through the membrane. He grabbed the not-yet-fully-detached shell with his backhand and slid downward toward the ground.
He and the shell beside him traced an arc through the air as they fell downward, finally stopping about one or two meters above the ground.
Cutting open the mucus membrane casing that wrapped his legs, Xu Huo jumped to the ground. Looking back, he saw the remaining half of the membrane shell bouncing upward and swaying mid-air, only then realizing what had wrapped him was a massive plant leaf.
It hung about ten meters above the ground in an arc shape, with membrane shells suspended from its tip. The top of each membrane shell connected to a tubular stem linked to the white veins at the leaf's center, and these white veins connected to the main body of this enormous plant.
Walking out from under the leaf's shadow-covered area through the overgrown ground, Xu Huo looked from the side and finally saw that the center of this massive plant was a huge flower pot, similar in shape to the man-eating flowers he'd seen in the elevator shaft, but dozens of times larger.
Several enormous fleshy-colored flower crowns bloomed at the center of the flower pot, surrounded by green leaves. Those drooping leaves hung at varying heights, covered with white membrane shells. Some shells were already empty, but others contained human bones, and there were even some with people whose flesh had half-melted away.
Among them, he saw those who had disappeared from the elevator.
These people were all completely dead.
"Chichi!" A faint sound came from nearby. Xu Huo quickly walked over and discovered the sound came from a human-shaped membrane shell. The bottom of this shell had been melted through by corrosive liquid, creating a hole. Inside, Dai Wenqian, with his eyes open, had a bloody right hand still clutching a glass bottle.
He was still alive.
Xu Huo used his sword to break open the outer membrane shell. As the bent leaf lifted upward, Dai Wenqian slid out from inside. The moment he landed, he gasped for air deeply and nodded in thanks, having no energy to speak.
The two didn't say much, then went to look for other people.
They first found Zheng Liang and Jiang Yihua nearby. After rescuing them, the four split into two pairs to search in different directions.
But this man-eating flower was simply too massive. Its large and small leaves hung at least a hundred cocoon-like membrane shells. With poor visibility, the search progress wasn't fast, so by the time they found most people, six had already died from suffocation, including one player.
Looking at the bodies laid on the ground, Zheng Liang gritted his teeth and said, "Let's burn this damned thing!"
"With what?" Jiang Yihua said softly, "You've seen the size of this man-eating flower. Without supporting materials, it's impossible to burn completely."
"And it's currently in a dormant state. If we startle it awake, we'll all be in danger."
Zheng Liang looked at Xu Huo, "Can't you create fire?"
"Fire can't burn everything." Xu Huo surveyed their surroundings and suddenly spotted some golden-glowing powder not far away.
"This is the poisonous powder that appeared on the thirteenth floor." Wei Bin followed him over and, using the faint daylight, saw the golden powder. Looking back along its trail, he said in surprise, "This is the man-eating flower's root stem."
Zheng Liang took out a small knife wanting to cut off a piece, but Xu Huo stopped him, "Don't touch it randomly. These roots might be alive."
Zheng Liang stepped back and asked, "Those small man-eating flowers in the elevator shaft didn't seem to have poisonous powder. How did the powder here end up on the thirteenth floor?"
"Pipes." Dai Wenqian said, "The Little Flower Red Red Building has been abandoned for five years. This giant man-eating flower is kept in a semi-enclosed massive glass greenhouse. With neglectful management, it's not strange for root stems to enter the building through ventilation pipes."
"From the fifteenth floor to the ninth floor, only the thirteenth floor has specially designed ventilation equipment. Other floors don't."
"So that's why the poisonous powder appeared on the thirteenth floor." Jiang Yihua suddenly understood, then added, "But I don't understand—does this man-eating flower have intelligence? How does it judge how many people are in the elevator?"
"Electronic sensors." Xu Huo said, "There should be sensor equipment on the floors and in the elevator to determine the number of people. Once you reach the fifteenth floor, the people in the elevator naturally become nutrients for the man-eating flowers in the pipes."
"If that's the case, then wouldn't destroying the electronic equipment solve the problem?" Zheng Liang said, "We've basically escaped the elevator game now, so we should be safe."
They had escaped the elevator game, but that didn't necessarily mean they were safe.
Xu Huo looked at the glass room walls already covered densely with indistinguishable plant root stems. The thirteenth floor's poisonous powder came from the giant man-eating flower.
But there were no signs of poisonous powder spraying near the root stems they just discovered, so it was very likely the man-eating flower didn't actively spray poisonous powder.
If that was the case, then solving this trouble would make the thirteenth floor safer compared to other floors.
"I have an idea." Jiang Yihua said, "If the man-eating flower grabs more people from the elevator, we can directly rescue them. That way, no one needs to die."
The several players remained silent.
After a few seconds, Jiang Yihua said, "Am I wrong? Isn't this place safer than inside the building?"
Right after she spoke, the wealthy young girl who was still trembling suddenly said with a sob, "It seems like one person is missing..."
Xu Huo and the others abruptly turned to count the people, and indeed one person was missing.
"How did they disappear without any of us noticing!" Zheng Liang said in shock, "Even if attacked, there should be some sound... How did you discover it?"
He was asking the wealthy young girl.
The girl choked up, "That woman was holding onto my clothes earlier. I just felt my clothes being tugged, and when I turned around, she was gone."
The several players became alert. Xu Huo said, "Let's return to the building first."
Although the glass greenhouse was large and the view was mostly occupied by dense plants, identifying direction wasn't difficult. After Xu Huo went up and came back down, the group headed back toward the elevator building.
The seven players walked in front and back formation, with the wealthy young girl and middle-aged woman among the four walking in the middle.
But even with sufficient caution, someone still disappeared, and right beside Xu Huo.
He, one of the two players Gu Yu had called over, and Dai Wenqian's companion were covering the rear. Just seconds earlier, they could still hear the two's footsteps, but the moment he looked away, the player Gu Yu had called over had vanished!