Chapter 1426: The King's Gem
Taking out the Awakening Puppet, Xu Huo tried to summon Little Pink Hat.
The last time he returned to Zone 011, he had also looked for Little Pink Hat, but she hadn't appeared. He wasn't sure if something had happened to her.
"What do you want me for?" A little girl wearing tattered, dirty clothes appeared in front of the puppet. Her tone was quite resentful until she saw a ship with the Platinum Eye emblem sailing across the sky in the distance, at which point her expression immediately turned to excitement. "Wow! You're at Platinum Eye!"
Seeing her so happy she looked ready to jump, Xu Huo couldn't help but ask, "Aren't random instances free for you?"
"Of course not," Little Pink Hat said. "I can't use tickets. I can only move around at a single wormhole point. Only when someone takes my puppet out can I expand my territory."
"Hahaha! I declare that from now on, the C2 wormhole point is also my back garden!"
Little Pink Hat was a naturally spawned instance boss within the game. However, she was special compared to other instances, possessing human intelligence. She couldn't use tickets, and unlike instances like the Slaughterhouse or the Seventeenth Hospital, which were held by players, players could move instances around with them.
Mentioning this, Xu Huo asked another question, "If an instance holder is a player, how does the instance move between wormhole points without using a ticket?"
"That depends on time or the accumulated number of times the instance is opened," Little Pink Hat turned around, her small face serious as she instructed. "This depends on what level of wormhole point the random instance was originally born at. If it's an E-level wormhole point, after staying at one wormhole point long enough and opening the instance enough times, the game will notify you that you can switch wormhole points. But you can only switch between wormhole points of the same level. Then you have to wait a very, very long time again. It's not convenient at all."
In terms of convenience, of course, a random instance with a mobile medium was better. Xu Huo only needed to bring the Awakening Puppet to the C2 wormhole point, and Little Pink Hat could open her instance there.
"Since I'm at C2, can I still open an instance at E27?" Xu Huo asked again.
"Isn't one wormhole point with all its zones enough people?" Little Pink Hat's eyes widened. "Opening an instance across wormhole points requires a lot of game authority. You generally can't apply for it." She had tried.
Xu Huo understood. An instance born at a certain wormhole point could only operate at that wormhole point for a long time afterward. However, he had opened the Seventeenth Hospital at a wormhole point outside the E27 wormhole point. This showed that players could move random instances around. To some extent, this could also be a way to avoid a high-risk instance once.
Little Pink Hat "thump thump thump" placed several Awakening Puppets on the ground. "I want to buy candy at Platinum Eye."
"No problem." Xu Huo took out the prop little dress he had prepared earlier and handed it to her. "I promised you this before."
Little Pink Hat was good at playing pitiful in instances, but she never refused a pretty dress. Happily, she held it up against herself.
Xu Huo patted her head. "I have a small question I'd like to ask you."
Little Pink Hat was in a good mood now, so anything was fine.
Xu Huo brought up the fairy tale instance in Zone 002. Little Pink Hat listened while holding the dress, then pouted and said, "You adults are so annoying. Kids don't want to play with you at all."
"Do you hate adults that much?" Xu Huo smiled.
Little Pink Hat counted on her fingers. "You adults love to lie, you're unreasonable, some are greedy and lazy, and you're not good to kids. Why should I like you?"
"Not all adults are like that." Xu Huo defended slightly, then rubbed his chin. "Hmm, but what you said makes some sense too."
"So you understand now. The best way is to not go into instances like that," Little Pink Hat said.
"But all kids have to grow up into adults," Xu Huo said with a smile. "Your situation is a bit special."
Little Pink Hat snorted, thought for a moment, then waved him over. "Come closer, I'll tell you quietly."
Xu Huo leaned in as she asked. Little Pink Hat held his head and whispered a sentence, then instructed, "I have to go back. Remember to put the puppets out."
There were also instances at Platinum Eye, but ones with mobile mediums like this were usually moved outside the city. So Xu Huo could only find a nearby place to leave the puppet before returning to Platinum Eye.
The sky was already darkening. Li Kun and Duan Cheng had arrived at the meeting point early. Yan Jiayu had nothing to do and went to work a bit. After Xu Huo arrived, Duan Cheng distributed the tickets to them and told them the specific location of the instance.
They needed to take a ship to leave Platinum Eye, then after arriving at the nearest station, take an aircraft to the city where the instance was located. The trip took over three hours. By the time they reached the destination city, it was almost midnight.
The instance entrance was in an alley behind a children's clothing store. One end of the alley was a dead end, usually used to pile up goods or garbage. Near the end of the alley, there were piles of old waste that hadn't been cleaned up in a long time. The entrance was just a single square meter of space against the wall—a very fairy-tale-like entrance.
Xu Huo followed Yan Jiayu and the other two inside:
[Player Passerby A has entered the Gem City territory, defaulting to participation in C-level instance "The King's Gem".]
[Background Introduction: In the south of the land, there is a city known as the Dragon's Nest. Legend says its gems are the wealth accumulated by an evil dragon. After humans killed the dragon, this wealth was evenly distributed to all the people in the city. The kind and contented people then paved these gems over every part of the city—the city walls that guarded them, the streets beneath their feet, the materials for building houses, and the weapons used to resist enemies. Everything in this city shone with the brilliance of gems and kindness.]
[However, decades later, this beauty was shattered. It turned out that inside the belly of the slain dragon was another piece of the world's most beautiful gem. Only after the dragon's corpse was completely eaten by birds and beasts did this beautiful gem see the light of day again. But this extra gem could not belong to anyone, because everyone in Gem City already possessed equal wealth. After a month of discussion and voting, the entire city finally decided to store this most beautiful gem in the royal palace, to be kept by the king.]
[Three months ago, the neighboring Moon City solemnly sent a letter to the king, borrowing that most beautiful gem. One month ago, a thief who infiltrated the king's castle stole another gem. Having lost one gem, the king repeatedly demanded the most beautiful gem back from Moon City, but Moon City has been slow to return it...]
[Instance Task One: Find the king's stolen gem.]
[Instance Task Two: Return the most beautiful gem.]
[Completing either task will allow you to clear the instance.]
[Instance Time Limit: Ten days.]
After reading the instance introduction, the instance world finally had light. Xu Huo opened his eyes, and the first thing he saw was several corpses swinging beneath a gallows.
(Chapter End)