Although there was only this one monster behind the door for now, after dealing with it, Lin Yu didn't feel the corridor was safe yet.
Judging by the sounds he heard earlier, there should be quite a few monsters in this stairwell.
"Up or down?"
Lin Yu asked while maintaining vigilance.
Max glanced at the compass in her hand, then spoke confidently: "Up!"
Although the compass was flat, Lin Yu had no idea how she could tell up from down.
But since it was the other's item...
Lin Yu chose to trust her.
The two looked at the stairs leading upward.
Max wasn't particularly afraid, though. Despite having just escaped a life-threatening situation, she seemed to have a carefree personality.
"Damn, the sounds from above sound fierce... Bro, let me scout again, alright?"
Max picked up the cow cat plushie from the ground, swung it in a full arc, and threw it upward.
"Go! [Cheese Kitty]!"
After Max finished speaking, a sharp cat cry came from upstairs.
"Meow!"
Hearing this cat cry, Max's expression turned serious.
"Only one cat cry... means it destroyed the cat instantly. The monsters upstairs must be pretty fierce."
As Max spoke, Lin Yu looked at Stiller.
"No problem, let Ninja Number One scout the path."
Stiller glanced back at Lin Yu, and after three seconds, he silently walked up the stairs.
At this point, he couldn't bother with ninja characteristics anymore—pressing against the wall, drawing his dagger, he maintained vigilance while climbing upward in a very professional posture.
But he hadn't taken more than two steps when a dull sound suddenly came from above everyone's heads.
"Boom!"
As if something heavy had landed.
Max jumped in fright: "Holy shit, they dropped the tomb-sealing stone!"
Lin Yu was about to retort that this wasn't an ancient tomb, so where would a tomb-sealing stone come from, when he heard the sounds from upstairs like continuous muffled thunder.
Stiller looked up and was utterly horrified.
"Run!"
He jumped down from the steps just as massive stones came rolling down from the upper stairs, crushing and carrying along fragments of many monster corpses, their momentum terrifying!
"There really are stones!"
Lin Yu was utterly shocked and quickly retreated from the emergency exit with the other two.
The boulders were huge, and their size happened to fit perfectly through the stairs—after reaching the corner, they collided with the walls twice before continuing to roll downward.
Fortunately, although the stones looked intimidating, they weren't very fast, and the three had already retreated outside the stairwell by then.
The boulder slammed into the door frame with a bang, then continued rolling downward.
As the stone got closer, Lin Yu realized...
Rather than rolling stones, they were more like stone spheres—these stones were unnaturally smooth and round, forming very standard gray spheres!
And precisely because of this, they rolled so smoothly.
The stone sphere continued rolling downward, and Max spoke with lingering fear.
"What the hell is this... Did we trigger some mechanism?"
Lin Yu stroked his chin: "Something's off, this thing's style doesn't match this asylum..."
Given this building's style, that thing earlier was a bit too "new"... Moreover, such a standard and smooth giant sphere was hard to imagine as something created at this world's technological level.
After all, everything in this building looked quite crude.
And...
Judging by the effect, this thing didn't harm them but instead cleared out quite a few monsters along the way.
After the stone sphere passed, the entire stairwell fell silent.
Lin Yu stroked his chin and looked up.
"This stone sphere also came from upstairs, perhaps..."
Before he could finish, the two heard sudden footsteps coming from the stairwell.
Max pulled out another new plushie, though this time it wasn't a cow cat but another feline creature.
"Bro, let me scout this—go, [Cheese Lynx]!"
Max threw the lynx out, after which human sounds came from the stairs.
"Ouch!"
But there were no other movements beyond that.
Max rubbed her chin: "Seems to have no malice or aggression."
Lin Yu nodded: "Then it's highly likely to be a Player."
The two returned to the stairwell, and Lin Yu waved his hand, giving Stiller an order.
"Maintain vigilance, Ninja Number One!"
"Understood!"
Stiller responded.
Max looked at Stiller with some confusion: "Why doesn't he say 'Hai'?"
"I set the language;
I'm not Japanese."
Lin Yu said seriously.
At the same time, Lin Yu took out the gun in his hand again.
Even though the person coming from upstairs might be a Player, Lin Yu remained cautious.
After all...
You could never be sure.
And even if it was a Player, you still had to be wary.
The footsteps from upstairs gradually approached, until finally...
Suddenly, those footsteps also completely stopped.
The stairwell fell silent, as if the person coming from upstairs also realized there were still living people downstairs after the rolling stone and was wary of Lin Yu and Max.
Just as Lin Yu was thinking about how to break the deadlock...
A periscope slowly descended from above.
Lin Yu and Max looked at this brass viewing device, then at each other.
No mistake about it...
Most likely a Player.
Only Players would constantly pull out such stylistically mismatched items.
And while Lin Yu was still thinking, Max had already waved her hand.
"Hi, bro, can we talk?"
Her voice echoed in the stairwell.
The periscope quickly retracted, and soon footsteps sounded again.
Now that they were closer, Lin Yu could glean some information from the footsteps.
The footsteps were light, probably from a relatively thin male or an average-built female.
Soft-soled shoes, not fast walking frequency.
Not carrying anything particularly heavy or inconvenient to move with.
Lin Yu gripped the gun in his hand.
Soon, a silhouette appeared at the dimly lit stairwell corner—a girl wearing loose gray crewneck shirt and sweatpants walked down with her hands raised.
"You two, you two, I mean no harm."
"I'm also a Player."
A somewhat weak voice sounded, echoing in the stairwell.
Hearing this somewhat familiar voice, Lin Yu felt an ominous premonition rising in his heart.
Sure enough...
The next moment, the familiar figure emerged from the shadows at the corner.
"Um... hello! May I ask if you are..."
Looking at the girl with messy hair who seemed somewhat shy, Lin Yu sighed.
"Well then... looks like this dungeon's difficulty isn't that low either."
Although it wasn't appropriate to directly "recognize" the other person while using the 'May May' identity, Lin Yu knew he didn't need to speak up anyway.
Sure enough, Max beside him—'Wild Boar' from the 'Night Watchmen'—spoke up excitedly.
"'Robin'?! You're Teacher 'Robin'!"
"Hello, hello! Haha, so you're the last Player!"