Ita Era

Chapter 204 Rule Challenge
On the second floor of the underground parking garage of the Pearl Building, the bodies of two tattooed men lay on the ground. Ding Shi couldn't understand why anyone would think that someone who did embroidery was a gangster. So he asked them.

Lin Yuan and Bai Yuan were pushed against the wall, their legs broken by Ding Shi's baseball bat, which came from a gangster who had used it to intimidate Ding Shi. In response to the intimidation, Ding Shi pulled out a fruit knife and attacked.

Bai Yuan looked at Lin Yuan, who didn't know how to respond.

So Ding Shi swung his baseball bat and smashed Bai Yuan's head. Red and white sprayed all over Lin Yuan's head. Lin Yuan screamed with his eyes closed, but unfortunately, he had chosen the location. The reason he chose this place was, of course, so that when he broke Ding Shi's leg, Ding Shi's screams wouldn't cause trouble.

Ding Shi said, "Call Bai Yan and my stepmother and ask them to come out."

Lin Yuan said resolutely, "Give up."

Ding Shi pulled out a nail puller from behind him and went over to give Lin Yuan a good beating. After Lin Yuan's left thumb was smashed flat, he finally made a phone call and asked Bai Yan to come to the parking lot on the second basement floor of the Mingzhu Building to meet him.

Lin Yuan contacted Ding's stepmother again, saying he had found a good place and asked her to drive alone to the second basement level of the Mingzhu Building. Lin Yuan was quite good at acting; he was even able to flirt with Ding's stepmother at this point.

Half an hour later, Bai Yan drove to the second basement level. She got out of the car and looked at the dimly lit basement, where there were only a few dilapidated and abandoned cars. So she took out her phone and dialed Lin Yuan's cell phone.

The phone rang behind the wall. Bai Yan walked towards the phone, then suddenly stopped, sensing danger. After a moment's hesitation, Bai Yan decisively turned around and walked back to the car.

Bai Yan opened the car door, but unexpectedly a hand pushed the door shut, and Bai Yan saw Ding Shi.

"Brother Ding," Bai Yan called softly.

Ding Shi gently hugged Bai Yan and asked, "Last night when you were holding me, were you letting the pill in your mouth melt and then exchanging saliva through kisses to make me swallow the medicine?"

Bai Yan: "No, Brother Ding."

Ding Shi held one end of the steel cable in each hand and gently wrapped it around Bai Yan's neck.

Bai Yan was so frightened that tears welled up in her eyes: "Brother Ding, I really love you. As long as you don't kill me, you can do whatever you want."

"Thank you for your love, whether it's real or fake." Ding Shi pulled on the steel cable with both hands and lifted it upwards, causing Bai Yan's feet to leave the ground and kick back and forth.

During this time, Bai Yan reached out her left hand and stroked Ding Shi's face, her expression showing fear, longing, and even love.

Ding Shi turned around, back to back with Bai Yan, and pulled her forward with both hands. After a while, Bai Yan stopped struggling, and Ding Shi released her, causing her to collapse to the ground. Ding Shi bent down, touched Bai Yan's face, and then snapped her neck to ensure she wouldn't come back to life.

He wasn't so gentle with Ding's stepmother when they first met. Ding originally wanted to smash all her bones, but after doing so, he felt it was pointless and simply killed her.

Ding did not extort money from his stepmother because illegally obtained duplicate currency cannot be deposited into the Ita Bank card. The purpose of this rule is to curb crime.

Ding Shi drove Bai Yuan's car and dialed his boss's number: "Where do you live? I've given you the location."

Boss: "What's wrong?"

Ding Shi: "I need to take a shower."

Boss: "I've sent it to you."

……

At eight o'clock on the morning of the third day, Ding Shi had breakfast with his boss. An hour later, the boss might still be living in the city, but she would no longer retain Ding Shi's memories.

Ding Shi picked up a milk straw, wove it into a ring, and put it on the boss's ring finger.

The shop owner smiled broadly, looked at the ring for a while, and asked, "Is something on your mind?"

Ding Shi: "No."

The boss looked at Ding Shi for a while longer and said, "You have it. Your eyes are saying goodbye to me."

Ding Shi laughed and said, "Don't be silly, where else can I go? Let's go."

The boss asked, "Where to?"

Ding Shi: "Go to work."

Boss: "I don't want to come to work today. We can do many other things."

Ding Shi: "I will not go to work tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, or the day after that."

The boss lazily reached out his hand: "Help me up."

Ding Shi picked up his boss, carried her out of the villa, and put her into the driver's seat of the car.

8:59 AM, 80th floor.

The boss looked at Ding Shi inside the elevator: "Aren't you coming out?"

Ding Shi shook his head and beckoned. The shop owner seemed to understand, and leaned his face closer. Ding Shi touched the shop owner's face and asked, "What's your name?"

"Bai Ke".

"Bai Ke, a good name, I'll remember it. If possible, please remember me too, my name is Ding Shi."

"I know, I will remember."

Ding Shi released the open button. After the elevator doors closed, Ding Shi's smile faded, and he sighed deeply.

A voice came from behind: "Bro, you're pretty good. This NPC is high quality."

Ding Shi turned around and clasped his hands in a fist salute to the eight players who had been patiently waiting: "Please excuse my poor performance."

The female player asked, "Is everyone here to participate in the rules challenge?"

Everyone responded and introduced themselves. After all, they were just sitting in the elevator, and had nothing better to do.

Ding Shi took out his phone and glanced at it. All his contacts had disappeared. Relying on his memory, Ding Shi dialed his boss's phone number.

"Hello."

Ding Shi asked, "Excuse me, do you know Ding Shi?"

Boss: "What Ding Shi?"

Ding Shi said, "I'm sorry, I dialed the wrong number."

"How bizarre." The shop owner hung up the phone and then noticed a straw ring on her left ring finger. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't remember where the ring came from.

……

The rule challenges can be divided into two categories based on the participants: group challenges and individual challenges.

Individuals can draw an envelope at the counter at any time to enter the rules challenge.

Groups should register first, and then the bus will depart once the number of participants is reached.

The woman in red grabbed Ding Shi by the collar and dragged him to the counter. Ding Shi scanned the room and saw that there were still many players who had completed the game within two days.

There are two short, group-based rule challenges on the large screen next to the counter; the first is a primary school level version. Note: Entertainment-oriented and lighthearted.

The second one is the silent elevator. Note: Do not choose this if you are not highly intelligent.

Whom do you look down on? Ding Shi said, "High intelligence, only it is worthy of me."

The woman in red hesitated: "So confident?"

Ding Shiyi shrugged: "My strength gives me confidence."

Red-clad: "Alright then."

The elevator where I signed up was silent.

System: Please follow the navigation to the dedicated elevator waiting area and take the dedicated elevator to your destination. The elevator is in the southwest corner. Ding Shi said to Hong Yi, "We don't know each other." After saying that, he threw Hong Yi down, disappeared into the crowd, and headed southwest.

Pushing open the door to an office, one finds an elevator waiting area with a dark elevator silently parked. Ding Shi is the first to arrive; a name appears above his head: Number 1. Then the elevator lights come on.

Ding walked to the edge of the elevator and peered at it. The elevator was similar in style to those used in hospitals: wide, large, and deep.

A large poster was pasted on the wall of the elevator at the deepest part of the building. In the poster, a clown was holding a sharp knife and had an extremely sinister smile.

To the left of the elevator were four large posters, all identical, depicting a man wearing a V for Vendetta mask and holding a short knife. The knife had a wide blade and was only 20 centimeters long.

There are also four posters to the right of the elevator, featuring four beautiful women. According to the labels, they are Bloody Mary, Cleopatra, Joan of Arc, and Mona Lisa.

The top of the elevator is made of acrylic panels with fluorescent lights inside, making the elevator very bright.

Ding Shi felt that his IQ might not be enough; he couldn't figure out the relationship between the clown, the mask, and the four women at all.

Twelve people arrived one after another, each with a number above their head; the one in red was number 7.

After the twelfth person entered the elevator waiting room, the office door was locked, and a mechanical voice said, "Please all enter the elevator." As soon as the words were spoken, the walls of the room began to move, and within a minute, the people left in the room would be crushed into meat patties.

They looked each other over, then silently entered the elevator. The elevator doors slowly closed and then reopened.

And it issued an alarm: "Overweight, overweight."

Everyone looked in unison to the upper right corner, where elevator information was displayed. There was no weight limit, only a passenger limit of 12 people. Someone counted the heads and said, "That's 12 people."

Elevator alarm: "Overload, 30 seconds, 29 seconds, 28 seconds..."

The oppressive feeling of the countdown was overwhelming, and almost everyone panicked. The office door outside the elevator had disappeared, leaving only the walls that kept closing.

Ding Shi reached out and grabbed the hem of the red dress, pulling her inside. The red dress understood and slowly moved backward.

此时3号视线看上了4号，两人一起看向2号，未曾想2号看向他们，在2号目光指引下，3号和4号看向12号。

Eye contact is difficult, yet also easy. Within seconds, numbers 2, 3, and 4 reached an agreement. Number 2 took a half step back, and together with number 3, placed their hands on number 12's back, pushing her towards the elevator door.

Number 12 was a girl. After stumbling, she grabbed the elevator button with her left hand. Number 4 took the opportunity to kick her out of the elevator.

Number 12 fell backward, ignoring her injuries as she hurriedly stood up, only to see the elevator doors closing rapidly. She rushed towards the elevator, hoping to use her hands to stop the doors, but she was too late. Looking at the closing walls on both sides, Number 12 could only sigh and sit down to await her death.

The elevator was going down very slowly, taking a long time to jump to each floor.

Because of what had just happened, the remaining 11 players stood with their backs to the carriage, wary of the others, with player number 4 even pulling out a screwdriver as a weapon.

The first to speak was Number 6: "We need to figure out why it's overloaded." Number 6 was a pretty boy with a deeply furrowed brow, speaking without looking at anyone else, completely absorbed in his own thoughts. His intelligence was unclear, but his swagger was off the charts.

Number 8, a pretty woman in her thirties, asked, "Why is it necessary to figure this out?"

Number 6 didn't look at Number 8. He rested his right hand on his chin, looking quietly at the ground, and said, "Overload means there's one more person in the elevator. This unseen person is definitely the biggest threat we have to face." Judging from his appearance, he seemed to be using 90% of his brain to think and 10% to deal with others and gather information.

Ding Shi leaned against Cleopatra, quietly observing, while also being observed by others.

Number 9 asked: "Is there a pregnant woman among them?"

Everyone looked at the three women.

The women in red (number 7), number 11, and number 8 all denied the pregnancy, stating, "We are not pregnant."

Ding Shi didn't want the conversation to revolve around the woman in red, so he changed the subject: "Is it possible that she's cannibalistic?"

Ding Shi was met with a group of mocking glances: "Can you even finish eating this?"

Number 6 turned his attention to the Joker poster and said, "Everyone, check the poster."

Everyone turned to touch the poster and found that it wasn't pasted on; it was more like part of the elevator itself. The texture was no different from stainless steel, with no raised or recessed areas.

The display screen above the elevator door lit up, explaining the background story and objectives in text form.

In short: A killer named "Fake Man" is hiding inside the elevator. Kill the killer to successfully complete the challenge.

Elevator sound: The elevator is about to enter the maintenance area for the first time. According to the maintenance area rules, no sound should be made during the maintenance period.

Some people interpret the rule as: Don't make a sound.

Some people interpret the rule as: Don't make noises that can be heard.

Some people interpret the rule as: Don't make the loudest noise in a crowd.

Regardless, everyone shared the unanimous belief that the killer was going to commit murder in the maintenance area.

Number 6 calmly said, "Please be aware of the people around you. I think you all understand what the fake man means; the assassin is among us."

Number 8 asked, "Then he only has one person."

Number 6 said, "A fake human, it looks similar to a human, but it is not human. It's possible that it's a pregnant fake human, or that it just devoured some unfortunate brother. Now one thing is certain: the fake human assassin was counted as two people by the elevator."

Number 6 continued, "The rules tell everyone to keep quiet as much as possible. I don't think breathing, heartbeat, and other sounds count as making noise. Theoretically, we can escape this. But I think the fake people will definitely find a way to make us make noise. I hope everyone can be patient."

Number 6: "Furthermore, I believe that the fake humans cannot harm us until we make our voices heard."

"Entering the maintenance area in 10 seconds, 10, 9, 8..."

Number 6 looked at everyone, quickly scanning their eyes, and brought a sense of strength to them.

With the final countdown, number 6 firmly told everyone, "Survive."

"Enter the maintenance area."

The elevator lights went out, and the elevator became very quiet; you couldn't even hear breathing.

Suddenly, the sound of flowing water could be heard, as if water was gushing into the elevator from all directions.

Soon, everyone felt the presence of water; it submerged their feet, filled their shoes, and brought a chill. This chill began to rise.

In less than a minute, Ding Shi's knees were already submerged in the icy water. Ding Shi believed it was most likely cognitive bias; the water didn't exist. Ding Shi assumed most people in the elevator shared the same thought.

No one made a sound, not even the sound of splashing water; everyone stood quietly against the wall.

Another minute passed, and the water had reached his chest. Ding Shi felt something cold and slippery swimming across his chest and up to his shoulders.

snake!
Ding Shi was certain that the thing was a snake; he could even smell the fishy stench coming from its mouth.

A scream mixed with angry curses came from number 2: "Snake, you son of a bitch!" Then came the sound of something hitting the elevator car and a scream, before silence returned.

No one responded.

A strange noise came, and Ding Shi felt something fall on his head, wriggling in his hair.

Ding Shi quickly determined that the creature was a group of small snakes.

A loud thud echoed as the elevator car was hit, followed by the sound of a knife cutting into flesh. Then, voice number 3 rang out: "What the hell does this have to do with intelligence?"

The elevator fell silent again.

Ding Shi determined that it was a cognitive distortion; if the elevator were full of water, No. 3 would not have made the sound of hitting the car.

The elevator display screen showed in red: "10, 9..."

(End of this chapter)