Chapter 225: Freeload

"You think you could ’mistakenly’ hurt me?" Kaelen asked in amused disbelief.

"Of course. Unless you’re indestructible, but if you were, you wouldn’t have struggled so hard just to survive the Second Floor," Saha said as a matter of fact, rendering Kaelen speechless.

He had always seen the woman as talkative, but her mouth really had no filter, and she said whatever came to her mind without considering the consequences of her actions.

Kaelen scoffed coldly. "So we’ve got the ding-dong-dash girl and the loudmouth. What a great mix of friendship."

"Who are you calling a loudmouth? And who’s the ding-dong-dash girl?" She tilted her head to look at her friend, who was slightly embarrassed. "What’s that? Have you two met before? Is he the childhood best friend with whom you shared your first k—mhmm." Elsa’s hand had already clamped around her friend’s mouth before she could finish speaking.

"I think you’ve said enough. That’s not what we’re here for, so let me handle the talking from now on. Do you understand?"

Saha bobbed her head up and down as she fell silent.

Elsa sighed softly and let go of Saha’s mouth before shifting her attention to Kaelen and coughing lightly to clear the awkward tension.

"Handle the talking? I hope whatever you’re here for has nothing to do with me." Kaelen made himself clear early, still eyeing Saha, who pretended he wasn’t there and kept her gaze everywhere but on him.

Elsa was silent for a moment. "May I ask if you plan to keep ascending?"

"Huh?" Kaelen lazily shifted his gaze to her.

"Isn’t that why you destroyed the lobby? Because you have no plans of returning, and in that case, the only place you could rest outside the lobby would be the Ninth Floor. But in case you don’t succeed, you decided to make your stance clear early by talking about your wife on live and pretending you weren’t aware of that part."

Kaelen was speechless as he stared at the ding-dong-dash girl.

"This is just my speculation, but if I’m correct and you plan to power-clear the higher floors like you did here, may I humbly request that Saha and I tag along with you? And before you refuse, I’d like to make it clear that we don’t plan on getting in your way and will remain in the elevator the entire time. Our intentions are merely to freeload, nothing more, nothing less," Elsa said in a serious tone.

Kaelen stared at her for a long moment. He had never seen anyone being so shameless with a straight face. It turned out the apple didn’t fall far from the tree, and that explained her friendship with the loudmouth.

Freeload?

Kaelen didn’t really have a problem with it, as he still received 100% of the rewards from the floors. But there was also no reason to carry them along, either.

At least, not for free.

"How much are we talking about?"

"I’ll man the elevator," she replied almost immediately, making Kaelen pause.

"Man the elevator?"

"My gut tells me you have no idea how to operate the elevator, which further reinforces my belief that you made that earlier speech as a fallback cushion in case you didn’t figure it out in time and got sent back down. I have a secret way to make the elevator ascend ceaselessly, and when I say that, I mean you could literally skip an entire floor to clear a higher one. But here’s the catch: you get a three-day visa card from the higher floor you cleared to the next. In simpler terms, you’ll still have to clear the floor you skipped to keep living, or your head will implode when your previous three-day visa card expires."

Kaelen’s eyes widened slightly.

That was a great piece of information, and this eased Kaelen’s worries about getting sent back to the lobby. But he wasn’t about to relent so easily.

"And what makes you think I don’t know that?"

"You clearly don’t."

"What makes you think I don’t have someone who knows?"

"You probably do, but I don’t think you got anything useful before you slid into the elevator. Your inbox will also never unlock until the elevator begins its descent to the lobby. So, do we have a deal?" she said sharply.

Kaelen was impressed by her negotiation skills, and coupled with the fact that either of the lobbies that had entered the Fourth Floor earlier should be wrapping up in the boss room if they’d made it successfully, he finally relented.

"Whatever. Just don’t get in my way."

Elsa smiled and turned. The three men who had charged out earlier could be seen running back to the elevator now.

She moved towards the side of the door and placed her hand over its cold surface. Without waiting a second longer, she said the magic words.

"Next floor!"

’Huh? Is that it?’

The doors rumbled and began sliding shut while the three men were still a great distance away. As soon as they closed, instead of going back down as usual, the arrow began blinking upwards as the elevator slowly ascended.

Seeing that the three men had been left behind, Kaelen wanted to ask what their fate would be, but he didn’t want to sound like a total rookie and decided to remain calm and silent instead.

"The elevator will return for them after we step out on the next floor," Elsa said without looking behind. "But we agreed that we’ll be staying in the elevator for every floor you clear, so it’ll only return to them when we get off on the Ninth Floor. Unless you say otherwise."

Kaelen honestly didn’t care even if they were trapped there forever, but he was still curious. "Wouldn’t your Herald be mad at you for leaving your teammates behind?"

"We don’t plan on going back if we reach the Ninth Floor."

Kaelen was slightly surprised. "Do you really think any party would be willing to recruit you if you cleared every floor while sitting in the elevator the entire time?" he asked in amusement.

It turned out she wasn’t as smart as Kaelen had made her out to be. He wasn’t there yet, but he knew the recruitment process was going to be brutal, as all parties would be aiming for the top candidates.

The ones who’d compromise by taking in two girls with no clear battle record because they sat in the elevator the entire time would probably be second-rate or even third-rate lobbies that had lost half their members and just wanted to make up the numbers, because even if the girls chose to leave, no one would be willing to take them in.

"We have a contact," Elsa calmly replied, disrupting Kaelen’s train of thought.

"And does your contact know you’re coming?" Kaelen asked again.

She was silent for a moment.

"Even if he doesn’t, he’ll definitely take his baby sis with him. I can find my way—"

"I’ve told you that he’s not older than me. I was supposed to be first, but he tried to squeeze through before me, and I grabbed his ankle, so we were both pushed out at the same time."

"You did grab his ankle so tightly that your hand came out first after him, but the physician spent a great deal of time trying to get you out safely. So he’s your older brother, and your stubbornness only widened the time gap."

"That’s not what happened. That’s just the fabricated version he made up for himself."

"I think you’re the one with the fabricated version."

"That’s not true—"

"And what happens when he doesn’t make it there on time?" Kaelen interrupted.

"What?"

"If we get to the Ninth Floor today, you have three days before you have to enter the Tenth Floor. What if he doesn’t make it there on time and you end up having to enter the boss room alone?" Kaelen asked with a raised brow to show them the fatal flaw in their plan.

Once again, she wasn’t as smart as Kaelen had made her out to be—

[Lobby #001 has become the first party to clear the Fourth Floor]

"Huh? Lobby #001?" Kaelen mumbled to himself.

"That’s my big brother! Now, do you still think he won’t make it to the Ninth Floor in three days?"

Elsa pitched in. "Y’know, if there’s anyone I believe can reach the ninth floor by tomorrow, it’s him. And when I say that, I mean including us who’s already on the elevator to the top."