Death Train: SSS-level talent right from the start!

Chen Ye's gaze lingered on those two words for a moment.

Su Jin, ranked second on the leaderboard, in carriage number one, the woman with chin-length short hair.

Chen Ye and he had no connection whatsoever, yet now he suddenly received a group chat invitation.

Zhao Hai leaned closer and saw the content on the screen. He frowned slightly: "Su Jin? What is she trying to do?"

"We'll find out soon enough."

Chen Ye accepted Su Jin's group chat invitation.

The group chat interface unfolded before his eyes.

The group member list in the upper right corner only showed five people in the group chat, but the number of people was constantly increasing, and in no time the number of people in the group became ten.

Chen Ye glanced at the group chat members; the ten people in the group were the top ten players on the ranking list.

Wen Ning, Gu Qinghuan, and Jiang Ning were also in it.

Qin Zhaoyang leaned closer: "Holy crap, a group from the top ten of the rankings?"

Wang Shuo, Li Zheng, and Zhou Yating all gathered around, the six of them huddled together, staring at the semi-transparent blue light screen in front of Chen Ye.

The first message has already been sent in the group chat.

[Su Jin: I'm sure everyone saw that guy selling information at his stall in Infinite City. You all basically know how tough this trial is. Right now, everyone in the group has a chance to reach level 10 after this trial ends.]

A few seconds after the message was sent, someone replied.

[Lei Xing: What are you trying to say?]

[Su Jin: What I mean is, should we all keep our levels down? As long as no one is above level 10, the next trial will still be one and a half stars. This way, both our teammates and the other passengers on the train can have one more one and a half star difficulty survival trial to improve their strength.]

[Tang Jingxin: Su Jin, you're being a bit naive. Who would willingly slow down their leveling up to wait for those behind them? As long as the number of survivors on the train falls below a certain threshold, the merge mechanism will most likely be triggered again. What we need to do is level up as quickly as possible, not wait for those burdens.]

[Su Jin: Aren't you thinking about your teammates? Can you guarantee that everyone in your team will survive the two-star survival trial? The difficulty of the two-star survival trial is incomparable to that of the one-and-a-half-star trial.]

[Tang Jingxin: You don't need to worry about that. As long as I'm strong enough, I can naturally lead the team to survival.]

[Li Tianran: Su Jin's words do make some sense, but who can guarantee that everyone will follow the rules and suppress their rank? The ideal is beautiful, but the reality is harsh.]

[Tang Jingxin: Everyone should focus on improving their skills as soon as possible, instead of wasting time here.]

Tang Jingxin left the group chat.

Sean left the group chat.

Jiang Ning left the group chat.

Three exit messages popped up in succession.

[Su Jin: In that case, just pretend I didn't say anything.]

Su Jin disbanded the group chat.

The blue light curtain disappeared in front of Chen Ye.

The six people stood still for two seconds.

Zhou Yating was the first to speak, her tone thoughtful: "This Su Jin is really too idealistic. Although what she said makes a lot of sense, it's just a choice between a red and a blue button. Most people would choose to press the red button, not the blue one."

"What red and blue buttons?"

Qin Zhaoyang looked completely bewildered.

"A game to test humanity," Chen Ye continued, his gaze shifting from where the light screen had disappeared. "You can think of it as the blue button for suppressing your level, and the red button for not suppressing your level. As long as the top ten on the level leaderboard all choose to suppress their level, the next trial will still be one and a half stars, and most people will survive."

"But if even one person in the top ten of the rankings chooses not to suppress their level, their level will reach level 10, and the next trial will be two stars, which will make those who suppress their level suffer."

Chen Ye turned to Qin Zhaoyang and asked, "If you were in the top ten of the level rankings and had the chance to level up to level 10 in this trial, would you choose to suppress your own level so that more people could survive the next survival trial?"

"Of course I won't suppress my level! Suppressing my level is like putting my life in someone else's hands, isn't it? If I'm the only one suppressing my level and no one else is, wouldn't I look like a clown?"

Qin Zhaoyang blurted it out without even thinking.

Chen Ye smiled and looked back at the three passages: "So the class monitor is right. People are selfish, especially in the current environment. But if one person levels up too fast, it will drag down the people behind. That's the cruelty of this death game."

Zhou Yating nodded slightly: "If someone's level is significantly higher than others, unless they have enough strength to suppress everyone, they are easily targeted and may even be killed by others working together."

Chen Ye glanced at Zhou Yating; this class monitor was quite farsighted.

The top group is currently at roughly the same level: one is level 9, one is level 8, and three are level 7. They all have a chance to reach level 10 in this trial.

However, if Tang Jingxin is level 9, and the second-place winner and the others are all level 5 or 6, then the situation Zhou Yating described could very well occur.

The second to tenth ranked players will team up to kill Tang Jingxin, so that they won't be forced to participate in the two-star difficulty trial due to insufficient strength.

Zhao Hai stood to the side, his arms crossed over his chest. He didn't speak, clearly processing the conversation between Chen Ye and Zhou Yating.

"That's all for later. Let's focus on improving our strength as quickly as possible. Our ranking is low, so we don't need to worry about that now." Chen Ye's gaze swept over the three passages. "Let's take the middle passage and continue searching for elite monsters to kill."

The group stepped into the middle passage, and Zhou Yating once again drew her short knife and made a mark at the entrance of the passage as a sign.

Qin Zhaoyang turned around and asked, "Squad leader, there have been so many forks in the road along the way. Can you really find your way back using all these markings?"

Zhou Yating inserted the dagger into the leather sheath at her waist: "Yes, I have all the forks in the road in my head, and with the marks I made, I'll be able to find the entrance we came down from 100% when we go back."

Wang Shuo clicked his tongue in amazement: "No wonder he's a top student, his memory is just amazing."

Chen Ye and his group moved quickly through the underground insect nest tunnels, their footsteps echoing in the empty underground space.

After clearing out several waves of ordinary bugs, they found the second elite monster. Chen Ye didn't have to do much for this elite monster, allowing Zhao Hai to get the kill points.

The monster dropped a pair of green-quality Tiger Fingers, made of silvery-white metal with raised spikes on the knuckles and a faint green sheen.

Zhao Hai put the tiger-shaped finger rings on his hands, clenched his fist, and nodded in satisfaction: "This thing suits me."

"Hai Ge is addicted to boxing."

Wang Shuo walked at the back of the group, carrying an axe, his tone filled with envy.

Zhao Hai smiled but didn't say anything, but the curve of his lips was much wider than usual.

Qin Zhaoyang walked at the front of the group, side by side with Chen Ye, holding the Swift Wind Crossbow in his hand, his eyes scanning the area ahead warily: "Brother Ye, it seems there's another large space ahead."