Chapter 58: Phone Call
"Mr. Xu, is that you?" Peng Fengnian's surprised voice soon came through the paper phone. "I'm about to leave Zone 014. If I can't get in touch before I go, I won't know when the next time will be."
"014?" That number had appeared on Xu Huo's return ticket.
"That's right. I'm a player from Zone 009, Wormhole Point E27," Peng Fengnian explained. "Once you rank up to a D-level player, every ticket will have a station address on it. This Skinner instance was in Zone 014."
"Paper phones can only connect within the same zone. Mr. Xu, are you not a native player of E27?"
"I am." Xu Huo then asked, "Besides Wormhole Point E27, are there other wormhole points?"
Peng Fengnian paused for two seconds on the other end before replying, "There should be. My older brother encountered a player from Wormhole Point D13 in a C-level instance, but that's extremely rare."
"Basically, players from a given wormhole point will stick to instances within that wormhole point. I've done several instances myself, and I've never met players from other wormhole points."
"Have you heard of a Temporary Pass?" Xu Huo asked. This was a term the Skinner had mentioned, his exact words being, "If only I had a Temporary Pass, then I wouldn't have to go through the trouble of moving around."
This statement implied that the Skinner's random instance was constantly shifting and couldn't freely travel between stations, and the Temporary Pass seemed to represent the authority to move freely.
The fact that Peng Fengnian's older brother could encounter players from other wormhole points in a C-level instance meant that inter-wormhole point travel wasn't a privilege exclusive to high-level players.
Peng Fengnian's voice was no longer as excited as before. He said, "Temporary Pass? I've never heard anyone mention it."
"Instances have appeared in Zone 009 for over five years now, and there are currently fewer than ten B-level players. It might be some kind of special item."
"What does 'Super Player stationed at a permanent site' mean?" Xu Huo continued asking.
"Some instance bosses were originally players. There are instances like the Skinner's that move around, and there are also those that are fixed at one station and open fixed instances. Players like that are on a completely different level from random instance bosses."
"The Paper Servant Master who made the paper phone is a Super Player from Wormhole Point E27, very famous in the game world. Some instances have item rewards made by him."
"Wormhole Point E27 has many zones, equivalent to many worlds that don't connect with each other. Some zones, including 009, have the game and players publicly known in their own world, including some basic information. Although there's no communication platform between players, once you start doing non-closed instances, you can move around in the station worlds. If you go to places where the game appeared earlier, you can find a lot of information online."
"Mr. Xu, you're not a C-level player, are you?"
The information Peng Fengnian was talking about was almost common sense for anyone who had entered a non-closed instance. The fact that Xu Huo didn't even know this proved he had never been in a non-closed instance. In other words, he was a newbie player.
"I'm an E-level player," Xu Huo said calmly. "It's only been about a month since a large number of Evolvers appeared in my world. According to your ranking, Zone 014 should be a newly developed game field from a dimensional rift."
"Before this, I've only been through one instance. The Skinner instance was my first random instance."
Peng Fengnian's voice rose in disbelief. "Then how did you manage to collapse a D-level instance?"
"I'm guessing it was something like an instance core, just a lucky shot." Xu Huo was somewhat disappointed by his lack of knowledge.
However, instance collapse involved a lot of luck. Whether every instance has a core is unknown. Even if similar items exist, finding them is difficult enough, and even if found, they'd certainly be hard to destroy. Too little information, too many variables.
"You're really amazing. With your mindset and methods, I thought your level was at least above mine." Peng Fengnian hadn't expected this outcome either, but Xu Huo's qualities were excellent, and he might soon rank up to D-level.
"You said instances have appeared in your world for five years. Besides the earliest batch of Evolvers, are there other ways to become an Evolver?" Xu Huo thought for a moment and asked.
"Actually, after the game world connected to reality, people keep becoming Evolvers, just not as many as in the beginning. If someone wants to forcibly enter the game, they can complete the transformation by injecting the blood of an Evolver who hasn't taken an Evolution Agent." Peng Fengnian paused and asked, "You know about the genetic defect of Evolvers, right?"
"If you go more than a month without taking an Evolution Agent, your body will ulcerate all over, and you'll die from weakness." Xu Huo replied.
"That's right. This defect is irreversible, even for Cannibal Players. They must take it regularly. That's why Evolution Agents are so expensive in the game world." Peng Fengnian stated with certainty.
Xu Huo pressed the back of his hand against his forehead. "Is there no other way to improve this?"
"That, I wouldn't know." Peng Fengnian hesitated for a moment before saying, "Because as Evolution Rate increases, the agent level also goes up. P0 is for below 10%, P1 is for 10% to 30%, P2 is for 30% to 50%, and then there are P3 and P4 Evolution Agents. As long as you take them, you can keep evolving. The higher the Evolution Rate, the stronger you are, and the higher the player level. Since P3 and P4 agents exist, it means high-level players also need Evolution Agents."
"But even if there's a dependency on the agents, as your level increases, getting Evolution Agents probably won't be a problem anymore."
Xu Huo didn't comment. This feeling of having someone's hand around his throat was very unpleasant.
"Mr. Xu, what did you mean by that last sentence you said to the Skinner?" Peng Fengnian couldn't help asking. "Did you know the Skinner had a grudge against the Field Clan?"
"Just a bluff." Xu Huo returned the favor. "I learned from the radio beforehand that the highest administrator of E27 had been replaced by someone named Carol Field. I pretended to be a relative through marriage. Even if the Skinner appeared, there was no solid evidence to expose this identity. And the Skinner's trait is very special; he probably doesn't know if the pigs he killed included someone with a significant background."
"I didn't know the instance would collapse. Under the circumstances at the time, the best outcome was for a few players to escape. The other ordinary people couldn't be saved. So I told a lie to trick the Skinner, making him think he had offended the Field Clan or some related faction. This matter would be very difficult to verify. If the Skinner believed it, the most likely outcome was that he would leave E27, or at least leave the instance's location."
"That way, there was a good chance this instance wouldn't continue swallowing people where I live."
"But if he saw through it, that would be another story."
Peng Fengnian let out a short, sharp breath. See through it? Now that the instance had even collapsed, the Skinner would probably think someone was specifically targeting him. Wouldn't he be completely fooled?
For ordinary players, just clearing an instance and leveling up was incredibly difficult. It was hard to imagine that Xu Huo, as a rookie entering the game, could use the game to set traps for the boss with no information, and even benefit the real world. Truly, players and players are different!