Chapter 1634: The Instance's Influence
"He's fast," Mr. Mo said after a while. "I wonder if he really entered another space."
Without seeing it firsthand, everything was just speculation, so they couldn't say for sure whether Tong Qi, who had vanished like those before him, had actually taken a step further.
By nightfall, another player had disappeared, and one person from Zone 013 had died.
Aside from Xu Huo and the others, only three people remained in the mall.
When night came, Xu Huo finally took off his protective mask and casually replenished some food.
Sitting around was unbearably boring, and since Mr. Mo was dozing off, he set aside his reserve and actively struck up a conversation with Xu Huo.
During their chat, the topic turned to background, and Mr. Mo suggested that Xu Huo could seek refuge with a major player family. For those with real ability, powerful families would never skimp on resources.
"You're a very smart person. Learning experience shouldn't be difficult for you. There's no need to waste time on instances. Use instance guides to level up quickly. Once your rank is high enough, you can turn back and accumulate combat experience—it'll still be in time."
Mr. Mo's suggestion was indeed a method for rapid leveling, but Xu Huo said, "Rapid leveling also requires the evolution rate to keep up. No one can absorb too many evolution agents in a short time. Taking evolution agents too frequently will have side effects."
"That problem isn't hard to solve," Mr. Mo said. "Many districts now have instruments that can help digest evolution agents. Besides, players rely more on props in combat. As long as you're skilled with props, you can make up for the lack of speed."
This was the mindset of player families. Take Mr. Mo himself, for example. Although he was also a C-level player with limited combat experience, relying on props, he could at least hold his own against players of the same level or even gain an advantage—and that was for someone like him, who wasn't particularly talented.
For someone like Xu Huo, learning experience early or late didn't make much difference.
After hearing this, Xu Huo said, "If someone spends money to train a player, there must be a way to control them, right?"
In a game world where, once someone escaped, you might never see them again in a lifetime, how could you ensure the loyalty of a player who sought refuge?
"There are methods, but for truly powerful players, as long as there's no absolute control, any method is the same," Mr. Mo said. "Besides, if the conditions are too harsh, no one would sign a contract with a player family."
Artificers could use the game platform to sign contracts to ensure players paid for custom props. Similarly, this kind of contract could be used elsewhere. However, employment contracts were different from simple transactions, involving many aspects and inevitably having loopholes, leaving plenty of room for manipulation—unlike straightforward deals.
Judging by Mr. Mo's attitude toward ordinary players, from his standpoint, it didn't matter much whether they were defectors or not.
The conversation eventually turned to why he had come to Zone 013.
"Coming to avenge a dead friend—you're a decent person," Xu Huo said.
"Don't mock me," Mr. Mo replied. "I know this behavior of mine is reckless. Before I came, I really didn't think I might die in this instance."
"I don't think so," Xu Huo said, fiddling with the protective mask beside him. "The other party giving their name might actually be waiting for you to come."
That was just one possibility, but it also showed how risky revenge could be. If such a player was indeed waiting here, even bringing a B-level player might not guarantee success.
Mr. Mo curled the corner of his mouth. "So what? I can't even find the person, and I don't know who it is."
"But that's fine. His family didn't even want to try. After learning about it, they neither asked about the whereabouts of his body nor cared who this 'Midsummer Night Star River' who killed him was."
"They're smart people."
Xu Huo's gaze fell on his sunglasses. "Is there something wrong with your eyes?"
Mr. Mo's sunglasses were a prop. Once worn, no one could observe his eyes from the side.
Mr. Mo paused, then reached up and took off his sunglasses, followed by removing his right eyeball—it was a prosthetic eye.
After showing it, he put it back. "When I was a child, a player broke into my home. After getting nothing, they grabbed me and threatened my family to hand over enough props before they'd let me go. Right in front of them, they crushed one of my eyes."
"It dragged on too long. I couldn't get a fresh eyeball transplant, so I had to use a fake one."
"I see," Xu Huo said. "No wonder you hate other players so much."
"Don't you hate them?" Mr. Mo's words carried a strong sense of self-loathing. "Humans have evolved, but their moral character hasn't evolved along with them. Instead, more people have lowered their bottom lines because they've gained power."
Xu Huo could sense his emotional shift. Probably the instance was affecting his mental state. Under the strain of exhaustion, it was easier to expose one's inner self.
"This is an eternal problem. The bottom line of moral character is relative and has little to do with evolution." He paused and then reminded him, "Watch your own state. You might be influenced by the instance."
Mr. Mo turned a deaf ear and instead pointed at the nearby corpses. "Do you think they were influenced by the instance?"
Seeing that Mr. Mo was stuck on this topic, Xu Huo tossed him a bag of dried meat. "Eat something."
Mr. Mo caught it but didn't eat. Instead, he slowly set it aside, walked over to the corpses still laid out in the mall, and raised a thin sword, viciously stabbing through one of their eyes.
The person was already dead. Even if cut into pieces, there would be no reaction. But Mr. Mo went berserk, repeatedly pulling out the sword and stabbing through the eyes of every corpse one by one. Panting, he then turned his gaze to the three remaining sleeping people.
Xu Huo had no choice but to knock him unconscious.
"You haven't completely lost your mind. You still know to pick on the weak and leave your own alone."
He tossed Mr. Mo into a corner and picked up the bag of dried meat to eat himself.
The lighting prop in the mall was still on, but the vast city seemed to have only him left.
Since he had nothing else to do, he took out the puzzle ball Chang Bei had given him and started to unlock it.
This was made by Dr. Zhang. It was essentially a small prop imbued with some spiritual power. To open it successfully, one had to use spiritual power to unlock it. Chang Bei wasn't a Mental Super Evolver. There must be a reason he gave this puzzle ball—either he acted on his own or Dr. Zhang instructed him. Either way, it was related to Dr. Zhang, so he might as well open it and see what was inside.
Around Dr. Zhang, aside from Xue Lang, the others should have some brains. And before leaving Zone 014, Chang Bei should have been among the relatively normal ones... Thinking of this, he recalled that Chang Bei had appeared in the form of a woman, unsure if there had been some other change.
(Chapter End)