Doomsday Elevator

Ethan Quinn pressed his palms against the humming elevator walls as the mechanical voice boomed through hidden speakers. His last clear memory was sprinting across campus to avoid another 8 AM tardy slip—now fluorescent lights glared down at him like sterile suns.

"Where the hell am I? Kidnapped?" He massaged his throbbing temples. The door-open button remained stubbornly unlit despite his frantic jabs. A screen flickered to life beside the control panel, bathing his face in cyan light as the announcement began:

[Welcome to the World of Elevator Survival.]

[Treasures and death await on every floor. At each midnight descent, choose to explore or remain safe. One hour per floor—stay behind at your peril.]

[Meet allies... or eliminate competitors.]

[Upgrade your elevator using scavenged materials. Survival difficulty: Level 1.]

The screen dissolved into a chatroom interface. Ethan's profile glared back—a grainy webcam capture labeled Ethan_L1 beside progress bars demanding 50kg Wood / 100kg Iron.

[User_44]: Anyone alive? What's happening?!

[User_309]: Just won the damn lottery yesterday! FML!

[User_667]: Jumped off my roof thinking I'd died. Joke's on me—hell has elevators.

A chime pierced his skull.

System Activated: Floor Preview Available.

Current Floor: Classroom (Safe Zone)

Loot Guide: Machete (Lectern Drawer), Chocolate Bar (Desk 2-3)

Note: All furnishings dismantleable

The elevator lurched. Ethan's stomach dropped as digital readouts flashed [00:00]. When the doors parted, sterile classroom air stung his nostrils. Sunlight streamed through frosted windows onto the blackboard's crimson motto: Study Hard, Advance Daily.

The machete's grip felt disturbingly familiar in his hands—like he'd swung it a thousand times. By the time he'd smashed twenty desks into splinters (progress: 40kg/50kg Wood), his gaming-calloused palms blistered.

[User_892]: Cleared a construction site! Got shovels!

[User_115]: Restroom floor here. Pro tip: Don't drink the toilet water.

Ethan dragged six mangled chairs into the elevator as the countdown bled to [00:06]. The doors sealed on distant shrieks—children's laughter? Screeching chalk?

[Upgrade Requirements Updated: 10kg Wood / 100kg Iron]

"Forty desks equals forty kilos?!" His shout echoed off steel walls. The chairs' addition had somehow reduced his lumber quota—system logic defying physics.

He collapsed across the makeshift furniture fort, watching chat scroll:

[User_5]: Found 20kg scrap metal! Anyone trading water?

[User_309]: Still mourning my lottery ticket...

[System Alert: Survivor Count -1]

The elevator shuddered. Claw marks suddenly spiderwebbed across the classroom blackboard—fresh grooves oozing black resin. Ethan's chocolate bar crunched in his tightening fist as the floor display reset:

[Next Descent: 11:59:59]