Chapter 1432: The Mystery of the Vanishing Artisans
Facing the boss's smile, Xu Huo also smiled. "This is truly a beautiful world."
The people around him also turned their heads, everyone showing sincerity without any pretense.
Xu Huo pushed his cart away and heard more news along the way about the players from last night. Generally, it was word of mouth among the residents of Gem City about where they had been seen, or that they had committed new crimes. So far, none of the three had been caught. The guards had sealed the city gates, so they should still be inside the city, just hiding.
Although the residents of Gem City had the ability to identify criminals with their naked eyes, that didn't mean they could see through walls or houses. If the players really hid in places where few people went, they wouldn't be easily found for a while. But this also meant they couldn't wander around the city, because once they came out, they might trigger a city-wide manhunt. Forget about clearing the instance; even sneaking around to find items would be impossible.
Hmm, from the looks of it, there should still be some players who had no idea this was a newly born instance.
The three who had run out would occasionally cause disturbances. By noon, the number of criminals in the city had increased to five. It was said that two outsiders had taken advantage of the chaos while everyone was chasing the criminals to sneak into a jewelry store and steal, and one of them had had an arm broken by the boss.
That sounded interesting. A player could have an arm broken by an NPC in a fairy tale instance who wasn't much stronger than an ordinary person.
In half a day, Xu Huo had already walked through the busier streets of Gem City. When he arrived at a residential area near the city wall, he found that some of the houses were empty, or only one or two elderly people were there.
"Grandma, do you know where the people from this family went?" Xu Huo asked an old lady basking in the sun on the street.
The old woman was knitting a sweater and said, "If you're looking for them to make jewelry, go somewhere else. Several artisans on this street have gone out to make a living and haven't come back for a long time."
Xu Huo looked at the glowing houses. "People in Gem City are so well-off; do they still need to go out to make a living?"
The old woman kept her eyes on her hands, which were constantly moving. "I heard it was to learn a special craft. They sold all their family's gems to outsiders, but in the end, they didn't learn the craft and lost their money. The neighbors could help, but they didn't want to cause trouble, so they quietly left."
"I see." Xu Huo paused, then asked where else he could find craftsmen, and went to look for them.
As a fellow craftsman, these artisans had a different story. They said that the families who left had all been deceived by outsiders. The outsiders had a kind of pitch-black stone, claiming it could be used to create toys that could move on their own, like real people, and then traded it for their gems. But that pitch-black stone was completely useless. Some of them had even gone to the King's Castle, hoping the King would fund their continued research, but they were driven away by the guards.
Since then, those who had been bewitched had gradually left Gem City, and there had been no news of them since.
"Customer, what kind of jewelry would you like to buy? We have finished pieces here, and we can also customize according to patterns." The boss brought the topic back.
Xu Huo's gaze swept over the jewelry, and then he said with a slightly embarrassed look, "Sorry, I don't have enough money on me. But I'll be performing at the showground tonight... I'm just not sure if I can earn that much."
The residents of this beautiful fairy tale world would never look down on a guest who was short on cash. The boss kindly patted him on the shoulder. "No problem, you can come and take a look anytime."
Before he left, he even gave him a fruit, saying he would come to support him in the evening.
Holding the fruit, Xu Huo walked out and looked at a middle-aged man standing at the door of a shop not far away. When the man met his gaze, he smiled at Xu Huo like the other residents in the city, showing goodwill, and then turned around. But the moment he turned his back:
[Player Passerby A has triggered a side quest — The Mystery of the Vanishing Artisans. Failure to complete the side quest by the time of instance clearance will affect the instance rating. It is recommended that the player complete the side quest while ensuring instance clearance.]
A side quest with no hints... Xu Huo's gaze fell on the departing middle-aged man, then he casually continued walking slowly along the street.
At the same time, at the other end of the city, Duan Cheng and Yan Jiayu had another disagreement.
The two had originally come for the three escaped players. The best method was actually to pay attention to the movements of the city's residents, because the locals scattered throughout the city were like ubiquitous surveillance cameras, and they also had a certain ability to recognize disguises — this was Duan Cheng's initial suggestion.
But Yan Jiayu didn't think so. She felt that when the players couldn't hold out any longer, they would definitely try to escape the city, so it was best to wait by the city wall or at the city gate.
Duan Cheng found it baffling. Why? First, because Gem City wasn't small, and the two of them couldn't possibly cover it all. Second, if they could escape, why would those players go through the city gate?
However, although Yan Jiayu looked young and harmless, she was very stubborn. Even after Duan Cheng laid out his reasoning, he still couldn't convince her, and in the end, the two had to split up.
Their first confrontation ended on bad terms. Duan Cheng subsequently tracked the places in the city where disturbances occurred, but each time it came to nothing. Because even though he was there to help, he still couldn't violate the laws of Gem City. That is, he couldn't damage houses or streets while chasing players — although he didn't know if breaking a resident's house counted as a crime, there was a precedent. If he did, he might not be able to clear the instance, and he wouldn't even get a single item.
With his hands tied, he simply couldn't fight freely against players who had already taken on the label of "criminals." The end result was, of course, no gain... not entirely nothing. The residents of Gem City gave him a bunch of consolation prizes, thanking him for his bravery.
When Duan Cheng finally arrived at the city gate carrying several bags of fruits and vegetables, he saw Yan Jiayu wearing a dinosaur costume, playing Eagle Catching Chickens with the nearby children. Seeing him, she waved enthusiastically. "I thought since there are 'evil dragon' stories here, they might hate dinosaur costumes, but they actually like them!"
"Run, run! The evil dragon's companion is here!" The children held onto each other's clothes, forming a chain, laughing and shouting.
"Roar!" Yan Jiayu put on a completely non-threatening scary expression, and only took off the costume to talk to Duan Cheng after scaring the children away. "You're pretty popular in Gem City."
Then she reached out, took a fruit, rubbed it on her clothes, and bit into it.
"I didn't catch anyone. Did you have any luck at the gate?" Duan Cheng asked.
"A little, but the time was too short, not enough." Yan Jiayu said leisurely.
Although Duan Cheng was a bit skeptical about the value of her words, he still said, "Then I'll come and wait by the gate too."
"Alright," Yan Jiayu chewed and swallowed the fruit, skin and pit and all, then clapped her hands. "You wait here. I'll go into the city."
(Chapter End)