Chapter 1596: In the Midst of Sleep
"What do you mean by that?" The player glared angrily at Xu Huo.
"Did I say something wrong?" Xu Huo's expression remained unchanged as he reiterated, "Didn't you only join forces after entering the instance? How can you be sure that the missing people are as obedient as you think?"
Bian Lu stopped a few companions who were about to lose their temper and said, "Brother Xu, even if you don't trust us, there's no need to resort to such conspiracy tactics. To be honest, fighting alone might not get us out of this instance. Who knows who the next missing person will be?"
"Forget it, since we can't see eye to eye, let's part ways here."
With that, he turned and left without looking back, taking his companions with him.
"Why deliberately provoke them?" Chi Xian asked. "Having someone to lead the way wouldn't hurt."
"They came to fish for information about the instance," Xu Huo said. "This is a dream-related instance. Even if it sounds absurd, every line of the background introduction is important in an instance."
Maybe some hidden information is buried in a single sentence—it could be a very simple phrase or word that doesn't catch attention at first glance, only becoming relevant after acquiring certain instance information.
Even if a high-level player isn't particularly smart, they've accumulated some experience. In a situation with no leads, no one would dare assume the game's background introduction is useless or outright dismiss it.
"I think so too. They kept circling around without getting to the point. The drowsiness here isn't anything special—it's the same outside the instance." Chi Xian found it reasonable, then paused and looked at Xu Huo with hopeful eyes. "This happens to be your instance?"
Xu Huo didn't hide it and nodded. "The instance task is to find the Midsummer Night Star River."
Then he briefly explained the instance background.
Chi Xian found it baffling. "Didn't those earlier people say the Midsummer Night Star River is a player?"
Xu Huo had guessed the same, thinking the Midsummer Night Star River was a player's nickname.
"Now it seems it's a codename for something else," Xu Huo said. "But that doesn't rule out it being a player's nickname. Game names are all kinds of bizarre, and the Midsummer Night Star River is a legend—it's perfectly normal for someone to use it as a nickname. Besides, if Young Master Mo and his group came specifically for a player called 'Midsummer Night Star River,' maybe someone deliberately used that name to mess with them."
Chi Xian let out a scornful laugh, a bit gleeful.
"But this gives me an idea. The legendary 'Midsummer Night Star River' might be a hallucination seen by the dying, or something else entirely."
"Didn't you say 'Midsummer Night' is a type of fungus?" Xu Huo looked around. "Is there any here?"
Chi Xian waved his hand repeatedly. "I learned the name of that fungus from a local who died at the Suffocating Rainforest Station. He said it exists, but I couldn't find any information about it under the dimension."
"Besides, if the 'Midsummer Night Star River' is as miraculous as the background introduction claims, this place would be packed with high-level players by now. So many people suffer from evolution aftereffects—who wouldn't want to recover their health?"
"Let's find a local to ask," he added. "This Midsummer Night space might be constantly moving. I think those guys earlier didn't seem to know that people outside also experience intermittent drowsiness."
"I'll go find someone," Xu Huo said. "You know about fungi, so observe more. Don't end up getting tripped up by something inexplicable."
Chi Xian made a gesture to indicate no problem.
He didn't need to go far. Fungi also grew among the buildings here. Since both the instance space and the outside city had the drowsiness problem, comparing the fungi on both sides might yield surprising results.
Xu Huo tried to wake up people who had hidden themselves to sleep, but with little success. Not only could he not wake them, but even using pain stimulation wouldn't make them open their eyes. They maintained a strange smile the whole time.
Without attempting further, he walked farther away and found someone wandering in the instance.
The person was elderly, in a state somewhat like Cong Yu. Every visible patch of skin was covered in pollutants and fungi, with pustules densely packed like raised fish scales, instinctively causing discomfort.
"...Star River... Star River..." He dragged his legs forward, repeating the two words. His eyes, nearly covered by mutated skin, stared blankly ahead with no spark, as if he didn't see the person standing in front of him. He didn't even shift his direction and walked straight into Xu Huo.
Xu Huo actively stepped aside. When the man passed by, he took out a pack of dried meat.
The scent of food made the man instinctively turn his head, his gaze locking onto the dried meat. Gradually, a glimmer of light appeared in his eyes. He couldn't help swallowing, and a second later, he suddenly reached out and snatched the meat, gnawing on it while shouting, "Star River! My Star River! I found the Star River!"
He spoke urgently and somewhat slurred, but the people here were very sensitive to the word "Star River." Two players hurried over from a distance. Seeing the man crazily chewing on meat, they looked disappointed, gave him a glance, and left—clearly they had encountered him before.
Xu Huo wasn't in a hurry. He only gave a small amount of meat. After the man finished, he handed him a small bottle of water.
The man drank half of it in one go, regaining some composure. Holding the bottle, he sighed emotionally, "The water outside is sweet."
Xu Huo had only given plain water.
"Ask what you want to ask. I ate your food, so I'll tell you what I know," the man said. "A lot of people have asked me—what is the Midsummer Night Star River, where can it be found... Ridiculous. I'm a dying man. If I knew where the Midsummer Night Star River was, why wouldn't I save myself?"
"If you're going to ask that too, I really don't know."
Probably because previous questioners hadn't been as polite as Xu Huo, the man was quite willing to cooperate.
"Where are you from?" Xu Huo asked.
"Brown Skin City... I don't remember what it was called before. Everyone there has this strange disease like me. Outsiders call it that."
"How long have you been here?"
"Seven or eight days. There's not much to eat here. I've been hungry for a while."
"Do you fall asleep every day? Did you have this problem before?"
"Of course not. Before this stuff grew on me, I couldn't sleep at night from the pain. It's only since coming here that I've had a few good sleeps. I'm not the only one—everyone else is the same. Dreams are the real good place. If only I could live in dreams forever..."
"Do you remember how long you sleep each day? Tell me the duration for each day if you can."
"This... I really can't recall clearly. I only know that the first day I seemed to sleep until midnight, and the last couple of days I've been sleeping until morning."
Xu Huo paused at this. "Have there been any deaths during sleep?"
(Chapter End)