Chapter 1718: Best to Act Together
The short-haired female player concealed her disgust for Zone 019 people, walking through several small shops to inquire about the whereabouts of players who had been in the town earlier.
However, they had no memory of the players passing through, and hadn't even noticed that fewer players were moving around. Instead, they felt busier and more crowded because of the new tour group. As for who was in the tour group, they had no idea.
Dingding Flower Town received many tourists every day, so it was normal for them not to remember. The short-haired female player, seeing they didn't seem to be lying, turned back and said, "I guess these people don't know. If they did, the Zone 019 players wouldn't have to be so secretive. So many people disappeared, and there's no trace left in the town."
At this point, she vaguely sensed something was wrong. "Have these people left?"
"I don't know," Xu Huo said. Although he hadn't sensed that impact force nearby, he assumed it was a prop or instrument used during the fight. If it wasn't to cover tracks, then it must have been a means to forcibly take the players away.
Xu Huo opened his player panel and searched under Dimension for more content about this instance. Aside from the unreliable clearance guides, he also read some travel notes, but no one mentioned Zone 019 cleaning out foreign players—that was the logical conclusion.
If Zone 019 had always had this habit, it couldn't have left no traces at all. Was this something recent? Or some sudden incident?
A technologically advanced zone, also a gem-producing area, naturally wouldn't have weak players. However, when the people were living in peace and prosperity, players rarely showed themselves. For small problems, combat robots sufficed.
Of course, moving the battle to remote areas to avoid affecting more people was also a strategy.
"It might not be the Zone 019 government," the short-haired female player said after calming down. "This makes no sense for them. We're just here to clear the instance, not causing trouble in Zone 019. Why would they go to this effort?"
"Is someone offending a family or faction, or is someone deliberately interfering with our clearance?"
Her guess wasn't entirely unreasonable. Xu Huo thought for a moment and said, "Let's go to the bar."
The short-haired female player nodded. "We need to spread this news."
The townspeople went to bed early, so questions could only be asked during the day. At this hour, the bar should be empty, but that didn't matter. The short-haired female player walked and called out, informing every player she saw that there was important news to share.
Whether interested or not, everyone was willing to listen, since they were just wandering around town anyway. But when they reached the bar, they found only about a dozen people gathered.
"Have the others left?" someone asked in surprise. "Yesterday, there were at least thirty players in town."
"Maybe they didn't come?" another said. "Dingding Flower Town isn't small."
Xu Huo noticed two unfamiliar faces in the bar, then interrupted the conversation, saying, "We might be in trouble."
Everyone in the bar looked at him, and Xu Huo let the short-haired female player take over.
She roughly explained the situation: from the suspected death of the curly-haired woman and the scarred player, to their return to town and the sudden drop in player numbers, and the speculation that Zone 019 was harvesting players on a large scale.
"The biggest problem now is that we don't know who is targeting foreign players, or if it's just for this instance, or if it's the same for everyone."
After hearing her story, the others first found it hard to believe. After all, they had been in town the whole time, and any commotion should have been noticed. Plus, the "Ember Maiden" instance covered a large area with many people, so frequent player movement was normal.
"Did you see any flashes in town?" Xu Huo interjected.
"About three hours ago, they seemed concentrated."
A player immediately reacted, "There were about two high-frequency flashes in different parts of town. I thought it was some instrument or equipment running."
Zone 019 had all sorts of instruments, with dozens just for pest control. Dingding Flower Town, being close to the mountains and forests, had even more miscellaneous instruments, some of which occasionally emitted light.
The speaking player thought carefully, then slapped the table. "Now that I think about it, those flashes were a bit different from what I saw in the past two days. But even if Zone 019 players are strong, they couldn't leave no trace at all."
"The players who came with the tour group today—I saw them. Their player levels weren't high."
"It might not be the tour group," another female player frowned. "Using props and instruments to flash in and out isn't impossible."
These words hung like a dark cloud over everyone. Whether it was the tour group or not, the fact that so many players had been taken from the town without their notice meant that whoever was secretly harvesting them was far stronger than them.
"I thought it was strange..." a bald man sitting in the corner suddenly said. "I've been in this instance for about twenty days. When I first arrived, Dingding Flower Town had a lot of people, but after wandering outside, I barely ran into any other players from the same instance. Logically, this instance keeps bringing people in, even if the area is large, I shouldn't have encountered none at all."
"It seems no one noticed before," the male player who spoke earlier stood up abruptly. "So we've become prey for Zone 019?"
"Not necessarily," the female player said. "They see us as prey, but we're not just passive victims. Zone 019 has always claimed to be peaceful. If we make this public, whether it's the government or someone else, they'll have to restrain themselves."
"Whether they like it or not, as long as they want to keep attracting outsiders, they'll have to respond."
"We have no evidence," the short-haired female player said. "No one will believe us. And to be blunt, it's hard to say if there are Zone 019 players mixed in among us."
Others had thought of this too, but it wasn't the most important thing now. Most of them were C-level players. If they were targeted and trapped in the instance with no way out, they might really end up here.
"So it's best if everyone acts together," the female player said. "First, it reduces the chance of something happening. Second, if something does happen, others can bear witness."
"I never thought that as a player, I'd have to rely on public opinion to survive," a young man said.
"You probably haven't done many C-level instances yet," the female player turned to look at him. "Do more, and you'll know there are even worse things. Some places specifically hunt instance players. Zones like 019, with rules and regulations, are actually more favorable for us."
(Chapter End)