Chapter 1386: The Backdoor Instance
Xu Huo almost wanted to praise him for his boldness, but he clearly hadn't grasped the situation.
He had been through several C-rank instances before. Aside from those that spanned large areas and brought players together, instances confined to closed spaces generally didn't feature so many powerful NPCs. The Lame Butcher, the Raincoat Cleaner, and the High Heels—any one of them alone could beat an ordinary C-rank player into submission. Otherwise, so many people wouldn't have died that night. Such strong individuals, each capable of being a boss in their own right, gathering freely—Xu Huo had only seen this happen in one place before: the Dimension Train.
The employees on the train generally didn't fight players, but anyone with eyes could tell they were all incredibly strong. Whether their strength came from themselves or from the game's enhancement, these unpaid workers gathered on the train because of official endorsement.
The "official" here referred to the game itself. Unlike the clueless players from various wormhole points who struggled to survive in the game, these people had already risen above the lowest rung of the player order and become part of the periphery of the game's core.
A C-rank random instance having so many powerful players was clearly abnormal. Of course, these people could have been hired by the instance holder, but the game definitely had a hand in opening a backdoor.
The last backdoor instance was the Skinner's slaughterhouse. Instances that were both fixed and random were rare, but Xu Huo had entered that one as a random player, while another group of players from Zone 009 had gone in with tickets.
The Skinner didn't have that kind of ability, so someone must have opened a backdoor for him.
The Bauhinia Restaurant, which he supplied, was in the same situation. And the internal staff of the restaurant were so special... so it was very likely that the holder of the Bauhinia Restaurant was either a member with authority within the game, or a game business partner like the Yongxing Restaurant—though it was also possible that the owner of the Yongxing Restaurant was one of the authorities.
Of course, those who could obtain game authority weren't necessarily at the level of controlling the entire Dimension Rift game. The district governments and district game base governments of powerful game zones were also included. The difference was that the Skinner's slaughterhouse was in wormhole point E27, while the Bauhinia Restaurant seemed to have been everywhere.
In this situation, Xu Huo wondered if the actual instance holder would be staying in the restaurant.
He didn't go into detail with Li Kun about all this, only asking, "How many restaurant employees can you take on?"
Li Kun waved his hand. "If I got cornered in a room, I'd probably only have a path to death. Who knows if the restaurant will change again?"
Even though this might be a backdoor instance, the most basic instance rules should still be followed. Since it wasn't a mental-type instance, the venue probably wouldn't change constantly.
"Hiding in the staff dormitory is impossible, but we can go in and take a look." That was Xu Huo's goal for this trip. "Maybe there are items inside."
When it came to the restaurant staff's items, the first thing that came to mind was the Raincoat Cleaner's rubber bucket that could never be filled, and the curved blade that slid across the ceiling. In their own territory, they might very well have a couple of items stored there.
Li Kun was tempted. He had come to rob the New District Government City just to recoup his losses. Wouldn't it be even better to make back his investment here?
Dai Song had no such thoughts. He just wanted to reach the New District Government City as quickly as possible.
Higher risk meant higher reward... Clearly, they weren't the only ones thinking that way. Other players had already caught up.
"Do you need my help?" Li Kun asked.
"No need. Just send me a message when you find the place." Xu Huo stood still, watching the two leave before turning his gaze to one end of the corridor. A red line swept out from the darkness, heading straight for his neck.
"Gentleman's Poise" lifted him into the air, dodging the attack. But the next second, two players attacked him from above and below simultaneously.
"Boom!" The collision of the item with "Inviolable Domain" sent out vibrations. Xu Huo then adjusted his position in mid-air, using a gravity item to press the two players back to the ground, and stepped out of the corridor in one stride.
"Trying to run?!" The two followed closely, forming another pincer attack with a third player lurking nearby.
The female player who arrived later held a magic wand. A pink light ring sprayed from it, covering nearly twenty meters of the corridor. As the red light passed through him, she pointed the wand at Xu Huo's right hand—like being hit by a bullet, his entire arm was flung backward, and the item he was holding slipped from his grasp.
The female player's eyes followed the falling item. The magic wand, which seemed to have both long-range striking power and suction, directly pulled Xu Huo's item toward her.
"You're strong, but unfortunately, this hunt isn't one-on-one. It's twenty-two against one."
Choosing to go after a strong person definitely carried risks, but with so many players attacking in turns, someone was bound to get lucky.
"I'm not like those people who just wait. I'll take whatever I can get." The female player seemed to only intend to grab one item and leave. But unfortunately, the item was intercepted mid-flight by a space barrier and flew back into Xu Huo's hands.
"Your item is quite interesting..." Before he could finish his sentence, two other players who had also entered the pink ring flashed behind him, their faces full of determination.
But the moment they entered the pink ring, they also entered the spiritual realm. Xu Huo, with his back to them, moved his fingers. The tangents in the air converged, effortlessly slicing one of them into several pieces. The other was luckier, managing to pull back and escape at the last second.
But escape wasn't so easy. A small door—he only needed to cut off the opponent's path ahead. The tangents passing through the doorway blocked his way.
The player stopped his charge, slid his foot back to retreat and avoid the tangents, and at the same time used an item to forcefully push Xu Huo back.
A moving shield wall appeared between Xu Huo and his target. As he advanced, the other retreated, maintaining the same distance between them.
Having learned his lesson, the player didn't dare to prolong the fight and immediately pulled back. But to his surprise, he almost collided with someone as he turned around. The person greeted him, "Hi."
A flicker of confusion crossed the player's face, but reason made him suppress the instinct to turn back and confirm. He suddenly threw a red bucket onto the ground: "Disposable Foot Bath Bucket, guaranteed to satisfy!"
Xu Huo's legs were fixed to the ground by the item, with a five-second countdown appearing above him. He looked up, only to find that the player had already slipped away along the wall, with no intention of taking the opportunity to attack.
With a hint of regret, Xu Huo waited until the countdown ended before stepping out. By then, the player, the female player who had appeared in the middle, and the two who had been watching nearby, were all gone.
"Ah!" A scream came from a distance. A severely injured player stumbled into this corridor, shouting at him from afar, "Get out of the way!"
(Chapter End)