Chapter 1599: Good Sleep
Chi Xian waved his hand. "When you're about to die in an instance, anyone who sees the 'Midsummer Night Star River' only has one wish—like a donkey chasing a carrot dangling in front of it, and there's only that one carrot."
"Makes sense." Xu Huo smiled.
Since neither of them planned to sleep, staying active was the best course of action, so they turned back and walked the other way, occasionally checking on the sleeping people.
Only the ordinary people from District 013 could fall asleep anywhere. They weren't of much value to players and weren't worried about being killed, so they could sleep on any spot they found on the street. Some who had been seen during the day were still sleeping now.
"One died here." Chi Xian found someone who had climbed into a second-floor residential unit and snuck into someone else's bedroom to sleep. The person was still covered with a blanket, but they were already cold.
"Poor guy. Looks like he didn't find the 'Midsummer Night Star River.'"
Standing in the bedroom, staring at the bed, Chi Xian felt an urge to lie down and sleep. He quickly shook his head and turned to watch Xu Huo's figure moving through the building across the way, gradually fading away. The silence around him seemed to sink into sleep, creating a vague sense of isolation from the world.
"Are you okay?" A hand tapped his shoulder. Chi Xian snapped awake and instinctively stepped back a few paces before looking at the newcomer. "I'm fine. Just spaced out a bit."
Xu Huo stared at him for a second. "Be careful. Don't fall asleep."
Chi Xian pulled himself together. "Let's find something to do."
He took out a handful of thumbtacks. "We need to figure out both the falling asleep and the disappearances. Let's split up. Mark players with green thumbtacks."
As he spoke, he pressed one thumbtack into his own map. Similarly, a green mark appeared on Xu Huo's map.
"Red means someone has disappeared."
"Black means we've found some new clues."
After confirming the map was usable, he pulled out two paper phones. "Contact me if anything comes up."
Xu Huo accepted his goodwill and said, "Pay attention to the time and any places that especially make people want to sleep."
Chi Xian nodded and left the building first.
Xu Huo looked at the corpse on the bed. Though the person had died not long ago, the fungi parasitic on them had already begun to multiply wildly before the body had completely lost its nutrients. Perhaps in a couple of days, the corpse would be eaten clean.
This was how the particularly dense fungal areas in this city formed.
But no matter where you were in the city, it was a lifeless place. Moreover, the sky-covering fog turned it into a waterlogged sponge. Anyone who entered couldn't help but feel a heavy dampness, a sensation that made people exceptionally tired.
"Cough!" With his back to the window, Xu Huo coughed up some blood—he thought it was blood, but it was actually dead fungal threads.
After a quick treatment, he left the residential building. He hadn't gone far in another direction when he saw two players pulling a prop coffin out of the ground. As soon as the lid opened, one of them laughed eerily and dragged out a female player who had been sleeping soundly inside.
"Not bad looking." One man grabbed the woman's chest, snickering. "The real deal."
The taller one pushed him. "Don't let your dick get the better of you in this hellhole."
As he spoke, he was about to snap the female player's neck.
"Wait!" The pushed player stopped him. "She's asleep and won't wake up anyway. What difference does it make if it's sooner or later? Let me have some fun first!"
The tall one sneered. "You dare to drop your pants in this damn place?"
The shorter one gave him a "you don't get it" look and pulled out a box of tools. "It's not like I have to go in myself."
Xu Huo had seen enough. He swung out three rounds of Space Ray Blades from a distance. The first two were blocked by their defense items, but the third, though not seriously wounding them, cut through their protective suits.
"Skulking around!" The tall one swung his hand into the air. The moisture in the fog instantly condensed into tiny ice crystals, attacking in all directions without a blind spot.
The area was relatively open, and they hadn't seen anyone. Combined with the attack, they assumed Xu Huo was using a concealment item and was nearby.
But unexpectedly, the flying ice crystals hit no obstacles mid-flight, only stopping when they collided with buildings or the ground.
Xu Huo had no intention of hiding. The next second, he moved from a kilometer away, glanced at the female player who hadn't woken up, and with a flick of his right hand, the tangent lines spread across the air shot out, slicing through their defense items and then cutting off their heads.
Their heads hitting the ground added a faint sound to the silent city.
Xu Huo walked over and was just collecting the items from the two bodies when he saw the female player struggling to get up. Not fully awake yet, she said, "I'll give you all my items... don't kill me..."
Then, without waiting for an answer, she started throwing items onto the ground one by one.
It was hard to refuse such sincerity, so Xu Huo didn't decline.
He had already collected the items from the two dead men and simply watched the female player toss out her belongings until she stopped. "Is that all?"
The female player paused, then took out two more items.
Xu Huo efficiently gathered them and pointed at the two bodies. "There's a pit right there. Bury them."
The female player, having regained her strength, immediately got up and did as he said. But as soon as she threw the bodies in and turned around, Xu Huo was already gone. Her coffin was still nearby. After looking around, she put away the coffin and disappeared into the fog.
It was a good time to sleep, but there were also people like Xu Huo who took advantage of the night to search. Occasionally, they would come across people killed in their sleep, but neither he nor Chi Xian witnessed any disappearances.
By midnight, they hadn't made much progress, so Xu Huo chose a few players to follow.
Due to the special nature of this instance, to reduce the risk of sleeping, many players chose not to travel together. Even Bian Lu's group traveled together during the day but split up at night, each finding their own hiding spot. Only those who were either highly skilled or bold enough, or newcomers who hadn't yet experienced the severity of "drowsiness," dared to walk together.
Before experiencing it, probably no player thought they would fall into such a deep sleep that they were completely unaware of their surroundings.
Xu Huo followed these players, watching them go from heated discussions about how to clear the instance to tired silence, and then to low spirits and drowsiness.
"Let's find a place to rest for a while," one burly man said in a deep voice. "If we push it like this, I'm afraid I won't have any energy during the day."
Another player, who stood out by wearing a bright red protective suit, said, "Probably got infected by some fungus. I didn't expect even the protective suit to be useless. I wonder what kind of fungus has such a strong hypnotic effect."
They were worried that even if they forced themselves to stay awake until daytime, the drowsiness wouldn't fade, making them even more vulnerable when other players woke up and started moving around.
The burly man said, "Since the protective suit isn't much help, and there aren't many toxic fungi here, let's all use some antidote and take turns keeping watch."
That was the plan, but half an hour later, both those resting and those on watch were all asleep without exception.
Pushing aside the trap items they had set up, Xu Huo appeared in the middle of the room. After looking around, he sat down on the spot, expanded the coverage of his "Cube Space," layered it with mental power, took out the metal sphere, and gently pressed along its patterns with his fingers.
With the metallic "click, click" of friction, the fog outside the window seemed to grow thicker.
(Chapter End)