Chapter 1422: The Subtle Details
Xin Rong was just saying he wanted to take Xu Huo to see the real Platinum Eye when Li Kun sent a communication request, asking if he wanted to have lunch together.
"You have friends who came along too? Why not call them over!" Xin Rong immediately said.
"I'll get back to you later." Xu Huo asked for a contact method. "I still have some things to take care of."
Xin Rong looked a bit disappointed but still said, "I won't be leaving the Platinum Eye for a while, so feel free to contact me."
The two parted ways after leaving this residential area, and Xu Huo returned to the hotel where he had stayed the previous night to sort through the batch of "trash" he had brought out from the Bauhinia Restaurant.
The trash collected by the raincoat cleaners included various types of surveillance devices, quite a few small props, plus some remnants left behind after players were killed. From these, he could piece together some information, especially items with strong regional characteristics, like the badges he had photographed from the staff dormitory.
Among the most indicative were items left by ordinary people. These people most likely couldn't secure a room, so they had to hide outside and be hunted by the restaurant staff. Their belongings could reveal where the restaurant had been active over a period of time.
Several piles of "trash" were stacked on the floor. Xu Huo categorized them by distance from the garbage processing room entrance, used the Platinum Eye's Message Collection Terminal system to search, and also selected a few items that looked somewhat special to look up on his Personal Panel and Under Dimension.
Props and instruments had high circulation, so there weren't many useful clues. However, some progress came from ordinary accessories printed with manufacturer names.
But this progress didn't come from the Platinum Eye's Message Collection Terminal, but from Under Dimension.
The Bounty Platform was open to the entire game, but it was more suitable for finding important information. The Platinum Eye had a wide range of news, but for information to circulate here, if it came from other districts, it needed to have some degree of fame.
Xu Huo could currently only view some messages from the E27 Wormhole Point and other E-level Wormhole Points on Under Dimension, so when posting, he deliberately narrowed the scope to the E27 and E19 Wormhole Points first.
The first feedback came from the E19 Wormhole Point. Someone recognized an accessory, saying it was a New Year's special edition made by a gem merchant in their district. The price wasn't expensive, but this district wasn't District 023.
The people who entered the Bauhinia Restaurant had vastly different clothing styles, so it was obvious they couldn't all be from the same district. Xu Huo had already known this back at the restaurant—when the restaurant opened its doors, it could cross different districts. The reason the Bauhinia Restaurant appeared in District 023 was likely to send the Gentleman players from other districts over.
Later, several other items were recognized one after another, coming from both the E19 Wormhole Point and the E27 Wormhole Point.
Having E27 wasn't surprising. Back when the Skinner was supplying "suckling pigs" to the restaurant, the restaurant should have been active in E27. Moreover, the most recently accumulated "trash" in the restaurant and the Fresh Flower City badges from the staff dormitory all indicated that the holder of the Bauhinia Restaurant was still in E27.
It was already confirmed that the same Wormhole Point could cross different districts. Now Xu Huo suspected whether this Random Instance could also cross different Wormhole Points.
The portals of Random Instances varied. Some had fixed triggering mediums, like Little Pink Hat's puppets. Others involved spatial overlap, turning a certain area into a passage connecting the district and the instance, like the Seventeenth Hospital.
For instances like Little Pink Hat's, wherever the triggering medium was taken, that place could become a new target. That was why many players from other districts had been seen inside back then. Instances like the Seventeenth Hospital, on the other hand, could only move with the holder.
The Bauhinia Restaurant didn't seem to have a portable medium. It was more like the Seventeenth Hospital type, capable of crossing districts and even Wormhole Points. Was this a privilege of the Instance Holder, or were there naturally types of Random Instances that could open doors everywhere like this?
Although he hadn't experienced higher-level Random Instances, Xu Huo leaned toward the former. After all, most Random Instances seemed to exist in these two states. Based on the situation inside the restaurant and the Gentleman player incident, either the boss was likely someone with both strength and background, or when the instance opened, would the boss be inside it?
With so many hired employees, the boss might not necessarily be the Instance Holder either.
Thinking this far, Xu Huo paused slightly and searched the photographed badges again. Besides the Fresh Flower City badge he had found earlier, several others were also from the E27 Wormhole Point. Most of the rest couldn't be traced in a short time, but the Platinum Eye's Message Collection Terminal identified two of them—one from the C1 Wormhole Point and one from the B5 Wormhole Point. They belonged to two families with some fame within their districts.
This already spoke volumes about the Bauhinia Restaurant's range of activity. Presumably, the remaining badges also came from these Wormhole Points, but because information was difficult to transmit between different Wormhole Points, very few people recognized them.
Unfortunately, these badges couldn't show the time they were collected.
He then examined the Gentleman player's belongings again.
This person had quite a few good props, especially the Staff Notation. Even if it didn't match Xu Huo's traits, as an A-grade prop, its lethality was enormous. Its effect range could extend to an entire space, like a complete building. The impact from the prop's musical notes could instantly demolish a building, not to mention the vibration damage a person would endure once entangled. It could also be used as a small-range defense prop.
Of course, it would only be stronger when combined with traits, like the Gentleman's sound wave attack.
There was also an A-grade defense prop called "Starfall." This defense prop had a coverage range of one hundred meters. Although the range wasn't large, any attack entering this range, whether prop or weapon, would be intercepted. If a small collision couldn't knock out the attack, there would be a second collision. It was like an invisible spatial force tracking the enemy within this hundred-meter range. Unlike other spatial defense props, it was point-to-point. For large-scale attacks, an all-around barrier was still more effective.
The other props were also practical but not particularly outstanding. Whether defense or attack props, they overlapped with Xu Huo's existing props.
However, there was one very interesting special prop called "Look at My Back." This prop could mimic the holder's body shape to create a fake that looked like a real person to confuse enemies. But it could only be used when the two parties maintained a distance of more than three meters. Simply put, it was a time-delaying prop that could withstand a certain amount of damage.
Xu Huo had used "Look at My Back" on the train. When the fake appeared, it took him two or three seconds to recognize it. This was based on his ability to perceive subtle spatial changes. The fake even had breathing and chest movements, making it very realistic.