Chapter 1022: Forced Cooperation
At this moment, a new note was most likely to appear. As soon as Xu Huo mentioned it, the players stood up one after another, preparing to search from the top floor down again.
When going upstairs, the muscular man could walk at the back. Using an item, he spoke to Xu Huo, "Everyone is focused on who got the note, as if they've forgotten about the person written on it. You were the first to notice the correspondence between the note content and the books—you wouldn't have thought of trying it with the note yourself, would you?"
If the premise of this instance was really a game, then the normal game flow would be for the question-setter to give the notes and the answerer to find the items corresponding to the note content. If Xu Huo were an instance player, he could have verified whether this idea was correct just now.
Of course, Zhou Yuanzhu had just mentioned the correspondence between the book content and the note content. Thinking of this layer wasn't difficult. The fact that there was no result so far could only mean three possibilities.
First, the person who killed the long-haired female player was the note's target. They either hadn't thought of this or had secretly tried it and couldn't clear the instance.
Second, the note's target had secretly cleared the instance but hadn't left the instance.
Third, someone else killed the long-haired female player, meaning the player on the note couldn't clear the instance.
The reason Xu Huo and the muscular man in front of him hadn't made this clear was fear that in the end, no one would be able to clear the instance.
If they couldn't get the notes while acting together, the players would eventually have to split up. If everyone knew that the clearance method might involve the player themselves taking the note with their corresponding number to find the relevant book, then there would be no need to risk killing—making it harder for the note-holder to expose themselves.
And given the current situation, the possibility of a player getting the note with their own number was very small. In the end, a situation might arise where everyone hides things from each other for self-preservation.
At the very least, one note had to appear to verify the feasibility of the clearance method.
The muscular man specifically came to say these things, of course, to directly indicate that he suspected Xu Huo wasn't an instance player.
Xu Huo glanced at him. "Wouldn't it be better to clear it harmoniously?"
The muscular man's eyes were deep. "Better? Of course it would be better. I wish there were more players like you."
Xu Huo smiled slightly. "With more people, the situation would be different."
For non-instance players, the best way to speed up the instance process was to artificially reduce the number of instance players.
The muscular man laughed heartily. "I understand, I understand. But one against ten is still a bit difficult. I'm curious, why didn't you kill that person?"
He gestured with his chin toward the player who had ambushed Xu Huo.
"Killing him would mean one less person."
"Simple. He got the note but didn't successfully complete the content on it." Xu Huo said. "The clearance direction is one thing, but game misdirection is another. As a loser from the previous round, his number might appear on the note in the next round."
"I see." The muscular man looked ahead. "It seems the chances of finding the fourth note from him are high."
"If you have something to say, say it to my face." The lip-piercing player turned back. "We're all clearing together; there's no point in hiding things."
The muscular man smiled amiably and put his item away.
The group searched from the fifth floor to the first floor again but still didn't find the fourth note. Wasting time like this was pointless, so everyone eventually returned to their own rooms.
Around the time approaching dawn on the second day, there was movement on the second floor. By the time the other players went, Xu Huo took Teacher Fan upstairs—the other players didn't want to miss the chance to get a note, so no one was willing to stay in the same room as Teacher Fan.
The muscular man had caught the freckled player and successfully taken his note. The one who had ambushed Xu Huo was still alive but had been injured again.
"Let me go!" The freckled player's ankle tendons had been severed. He angrily shook off the foot pressing down on his shoulder.
The muscular man didn't show the note's content to the others but directly stored it in his luggage compartment. He then said to Xu Huo, "You've got two in your hand. It's not too much for me to hold one, is it?"
Xu Huo understood his meaning—this was to guard against the final exchange phase: if they wanted the note in his hand, they'd have to trade with a note corresponding to his number.
The other party seemed certain he wouldn't reveal this possible clearance method.
"You're wrong about one thing," Xu Huo said. "Only one new note is needed to verify the clearance method. Regardless of whether the second note is in Player 10's hand, at most it would only create one more player who might not be able to clear. Including you, that's two—you're still in the minority."
"Really the minority?" The muscular man kicked the person at his feet. "Count carefully. No one knows who's written on the note Player 6 got. There are still four people alive ahead of her. The chance of this note reappearing is very small. Even if it does, the killing player might have swapped it with another note, and in the end, it could fall into some unlucky person's hands."
"Not considering the latter case, at least four people might not be able to clear. Who will it fall on? If you knew you might not be able to clear in the end, would you let others clear? Or wouldn't you try every means to find the note?"
"Would new notes still appear then?"
"In that case, when will the instance end? Can you kill everyone?"
If they couldn't think of this clearance method, most players would likely follow the note's content and kill people as before, which would benefit everyone.
"You're wrong again," Xu Huo said with a faint smile. "I'm just very interested in this instance's clearance method. Whether others cooperate or not doesn't matter much."
"Like now," he suddenly appeared behind the muscular man, "I can also force you to cooperate."
The muscular man's face showed shock. Before he could even turn around, he felt a prick on the back of his neck. The next second, he swung his weapon to drive Xu Huo back, leaped to the window, and was about to escape outside when he suddenly stiffened, clutching his neck. He then pulled out an antidote and injected it into his arm.
Some of the players present didn't understand what was happening, but seeing the muscular man trying to run with the note, their first reaction was to stop him.
Items sealed the window. The man, already affected by the toxin, fell backward to the ground—the antidote hadn't worked. His neck and face turned blue-purple, and veins instantly crawled across his skin.
"Anti... antidote..." He struggled, reaching out to Xu Huo. "Note... for you..."
Unfortunately, before he could finish speaking, he breathed his last.
Xu Huo walked over, picked up the note that had fallen to the ground, opened it, and showed it to everyone. "Please help find the books that correspond to the pattern content."
The others looked at each other, maintaining a subtle silence.
After a moment, Chi Minghong asked, "What's going on? I don't quite understand what you said earlier."
"The corresponding number plus the book indicated by the pattern content might be the clearance method." Xu Huo announced.
(Chapter End)