Chapter 1611: Sleeping Has Risks
"There's only one bullet in the gun." The departing vehicle sent back this sentence.
Xu Huo bent down to pick up the gun, pulled out the magazine to check, and sure enough, there was only one bullet.
But the thugs surrounding him were different; each of them had a gun, and they were carrying several spare magazines.
Holding the gun, Xu Huo suddenly looked up at the pitch-black sky and let out a sigh: "So boring."
He woke up.
The prop hadn't been attacked, the shelter was perfectly fine, and Housekeeping Unit 25 was still sitting beside him.
Retracting his protective armor and "Three Seconds of Life," he opened the door and walked out.
"Out in less than three hours, that fast?" Chi Xian walked over. "Couldn't fall asleep, or did you wake up?"
Three hours included the cumulative time from each previous waking; he had actually slept for less than two hours.
"I woke up. Time to get up and eat." Xu Huo said.
"Brother Xu sure has a sense of humor." Tong Qi, who was gnawing on a chicken leg, opened the window of the transparent rubber shelter covering him and tossed a pack over. "My mom braised these. They're really good."
"Since it's confirmed not to be a fungus problem, eating and drinking shouldn't have much impact." Chi Xian explained on the side.
The game sold disposable protective barriers. Xu Huo went along with the local customs, using a barrier before tearing open the vacuum-sealed bag and taking a bite.
"Not bad."
"Right?" Tong Qi said with a grin. "A lot of times in instances, you can't even find a place to eat. What's the point of living without good food?"
Other players also briefly removed their protective masks to eat something. After everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, Yi Jun asked about Xu Huo's gains this time.
"Same as the others. The dreams were mostly scenes I've seen before, mixed with a few unfamiliar elements. Part of the dream content came from personal experience, and the fictional scenes mainly hinted at the dreamer making a choice."
"The choices have no bias, no distinction between good and evil, black or white. We'll have to wait and see if there are any changes once the dreams deepen."
With that, he said to Yi Jun, "You should go sleep too. Maybe the length of sleep affects the instance progress."
Yi Jun nodded, took out a small location prop, and said with a smile to everyone, "I guess I'm no exception. I won't trouble everyone to wake me up; I'll just fall asleep directly. Good night, everyone."
The players who hadn't slept during the day couldn't hold back anymore. They secretly prepared props and planned to spread out and rest as well.
"Hold on. If you all sleep, who's responsible for security tonight?" Tong Qi interrupted them.
"Just let the people who slept during the day handle it." Mi Yaojia said impatiently. "What's there to argue about?"
"Are you kidding me? Doesn't that mean Brother Xu and the others have to sleep during the day and stay awake at night every single day? You've got quite the scheme going." Tong Qi deliberately made an exaggerated expression.
For players, a short-term reversal of day and night wouldn't be a problem at all. But Tong Qi was dissatisfied with these people only thinking about their own convenience, hiding behind others to reap the benefits—especially Mi Yaojia, who had backed out during the day.
"What right do you have to talk about others?" Mi Yaojia stared at him. "Did you charge into battle?"
"No," Tong Qi said matter-of-factly. "But I made it clear from the start: I won't sleep, and I won't clear the instance. I can help keep watch while others sleep."
"That's what you say, but who knows if you're planning to sleep after everyone else has fallen into dreams." Mi Yaojia said darkly.
Tong Qi snorted with a laugh. "I was dreaming all night last night! I'm ahead of you!"
Several nearby players grew impatient. Scarface Glasses said, "Arguing over such trivial matters is pointless."
"If you want to sleep, just sleep. The rest of us can sleep at night too. We'll just take turns." Liao Xiaorong said. "Instead of fighting over shift schedules, it's better to be careful not to die in your dreams."
Entering dreams could indeed help approach and explore the instance, but it also carried risks. Who's to say the longer you sleep, the harder it is to wake up?
No one could say for sure.
Either way, there were risks.
"But Tong Qi has a point." Chi Xian said. "We're all in the same boat. Who can guarantee that people who aren't working together will share the clues they find?"
That was a bit harsh.
"Alright." Xu Huo interrupted them and said to Mi Yaojia and the others, "Go rest. Don't use location props."
Seeing they wanted to say something, Xu Huo continued, "If you disagree, you can leave."
That shut everyone up.
Since so many people had already tried the waking time, there was no need to test it again. After they fell asleep, Xu Huo turned to Chi Xian. "You're not sleeping?"
Chi Xian smiled. "I can still hold on."
Xu Huo didn't comment.
The night was long, and with so many people around, it wasn't fun to play puzzle balls. So he struck up a conversation with the people from Brown Skin City, asking about the situation there.
Since they had chosen to follow, these people wouldn't resist the players. They answered whatever was asked.
The situation in Brown Skin City was similar to what Xu Huo had learned before. Although there were people in Zone 013 who were worse off than the Brown Skin City residents, few were as burdened as they were.
As they grew up, if a thick, skin-like layer formed on their bodies, it meant they had successfully survived childhood. Once the brown skin formed, fungi and various parasites would reach a delicate balance on their bodies. They could eat the bugs that grew on them to detoxify or stave off hunger, but their average lifespan was short.
"Children die the most." One of them said. "Our Brown Skin City originally had 30 million people. Later, nearly 20 million more migrated in. Now there are less than 2 million left. Most didn't survive the fungal mutation stage."
"Are the players the same?" Xu Huo asked.
"All the same," they confirmed. "We had very few players there to begin with. Many of the old ones left and never came back. Probably dead. The evolvers that appeared later were all children who grew up after infection."
"Originally, we pinned our hopes on the players who left, but they couldn't do anything either. There's no way. The fungal infection on us is too severe. There's no permanent antidote available in the game."
These people understood that players might have a slim chance if they left, but the residents of Brown Skin City could never be saved with antidotes.
So they placed all their hopes on "Midsummer Night Star River."
"Since someone successfully detoxified and left 'Midsummer Night Star River,'" Tong Qi said from the side, "doesn't that mean there's actually a permanent antidote in the game that can cure the Brown Skin City people?"
The people chatting all turned to look at him.
Tong Qi scratched his head. "I'll shut up."
But he wasn't wrong. The only question was whether this hope came from the game or from someone else.