Chapter 1604: A Signal Arrow in the Sky
Upon hearing this, Tong Qi looked at him in surprise. "You actually believe that?"
"Believe it or not, if we want to clear the instance, we have to find a way to locate 'Midsummer Night Star River,'" Xu Huo said.
For someone like Tong Qi, who had already backed out from the start, his desire to clear the instance wasn't as strong. He said directly, "I'm not familiar with any fungi, toxins, or antidotes. I won't be participating."
That said, he didn't leave either.
Mi Yaojia looked at him. "Then why are you still hanging around here?"
Tong Qi grinned. "You guys need to sleep if you want to find 'Midsummer Night Star River,' right? You'll definitely need someone to take shifts. I can help."
Mi Yaojia didn't say anything. What a joke—even if there was a need to sleep and dream, who would entrust their life safety to a stranger they just met? Even a blood brother standing here couldn't guarantee absolute safety.
The group exchanged ideas, sharing what they had seen and heard since arriving in the "Midsummer Night" space. Finding little useful information, they were stumped.
Without another breakthrough, they could only do as Tong Qi suggested—take the risk and fall asleep.
"The instance entrance should already be closed," Liao Xiaorong said at this point. "We all arrived yesterday. The others should be the same. Since everyone wants to get out alive, we're all in the same boat. Why not unite all the players in this instance?"
"Not necessarily," Mi Yaojia said. "When I arrived yesterday, I ran into a few players. They didn't seem like ticket players. They claimed they'd been here for two or three days already."
"I ran into some too," Xu Huo added.
"This is just a small-scale fixed instance. The instance opening and closing should follow a pattern. If people keep coming in, the game can't function properly," Liao Xiaorong thought it was off.
Normally, that was the case. If an instance could continuously admit players, it wouldn't be fair to those who entered earlier or later, and it wouldn't necessarily be good for the instance either. It would effectively extend the instance's clearance time and give later players an advantage.
There were instances that remained operational once opened, but those were relatively complex ones that required at least a sufficiently large space to unfold.
"The instance doesn't have clear rule divisions," Tong Qi said, sitting on a desk and swinging his legs lazily. "Besides, the instance's objective isn't fixed or singular. Everyone can find 'Midsummer Night Star River.' It's not strange that people keep coming in."
The group fell silent. If that were the case, the risks of this instance would multiply.
"It's not certain that the players we met were telling the truth," Xu Huo said. "They're not ticket players. Claiming to have arrived two days earlier might just be a ploy to extract instance information."
"Should we find those people?" Mi Yaojia asked.
"Finding them won't do much," another player said. "Regardless of numbers, since they're not ticket players, they definitely won't prioritize clearing the instance."
That was true. Thanks to the people from Zone 013, whether they had tickets or not, players should all know about "Midsummer Night Star River." If they couldn't find the target, killing a few sleeping players on the side to pick up some items would be the easiest profit.
After waiting through the night, Xu Huo still had no gains. Moreover, with the King Fungus protecting him, his vigilance was far lower than usual. He wondered if, after falling asleep, he would also be like these players—unable to wake up even if someone moved them around.
But one thing was certain: the disappearances that occurred during players' sleep might really require a bit of luck.
After a moment's hesitation, he said, "Find a way to gather the people in the city together. With enough people, we can figure out the rules."
Whether it was falling asleep or disappearing, with no knowledge of the pattern, the most convenient approach was to gather as many people as possible in one place.
None of the other players present objected. For them, the greater benefit of gathering was being able to confirm the status of other players. Many had surely died in their sleep last night.
"This city isn't too big, but it's not small either. Finding everyone will probably take some time," Liao Xiaorong said, looking at Xu Huo.
"Making them come to us is much easier than searching for them one by one," Xu Huo said.
Half an hour later, a massive explosion erupted in the center of the city. The large commercial plaza, along with the buildings on three surrounding streets, was obliterated. Before the surging dust and smoke could clear, a semi-transparent mushroom cloud floated above the city.
The buildings in the city were densely packed. Areas outside the collapsed blocks were still affected by the blast. A large amount of building debris created a secondary shockwave, pockmarking old, decayed walls and even hitting some players hiding inside.
Those affected players were the first to arrive.
The commercial block had been blasted into a large crater, spacious with a good view. Anyone nearby couldn't miss it. As the two sides met, they found eight people gathered in the crater. The players who arrived later slowed down, stopping to observe from a distance.
The eight included Xu Huo, the six players he had moved out last night, and Chi Xian, who had rendezvoused with them after leaving the school.
Chi Xian looked outward. "How many people can this attract?"
"Not all, but more than half," Xu Huo said. "The main thing is to see people."
In fact, the situation was better than he had estimated. Besides being drawn by the explosion, many players were also looking for a breakthrough. Someone started it, and the others naturally gathered.
In total, nearly fifty players had assembled.
Most of these players were C-rank, with a few B-rank players like the scarred glasses wearer. Their levels were higher, but the difference in strength wasn't significant. Bian Lu and his group were also among them, but one fewer than when they had encountered Xu Huo.
"Friend, since you've gathered everyone, you must have something to say. We can't just stand here," a player outside the crater shouted through a prop loudspeaker. "Do you have any ideas for clearing the instance? Share them with us."
Xu Huo and his group stood on a platform Mi Yaojia had built with a prop, keeping at the same height as the other players. After scanning the surroundings, Xu Huo called out to a Zone 013 person hiding behind the ruins in the distance. "Friends from Brown Skin City, since you're here, stay and listen too."
Besides the players, a few ordinary people from Zone 013 had also come nearby. No one had paid them any attention earlier, but now that the players were getting down to business, they instinctively tried to leave.
A burly player nearby kicked the two who were trying to run, sending them tumbling. "Damn it, lucky I'm wearing a protective suit, or I wouldn't know where to step!"
The Brown Skin City people were all in a state similar to Cong Yu. These two had slightly better mental states, not as weak. After being kicked out, they ignored the pain and fell to their knees, begging for mercy:
"Please, have mercy! We won't eavesdrop again. We'll leave right now, right now!"