Chapter 1757: The Risks of Multi-Person Team Formation
The companion definitely wasn't referring to any district ranking list. The female player extended her hand, making a "2" and a "5" gesture, asking her companion which ranking list it was.
The companion responded with a "5".
At this, the female player and her group finally changed their expressions when looking at Xu Huo. Being able to make it onto a list of fifty thousand people meant being a standout among players of the same level at the same wormhole point. This wasn't tied to a player's personal configuration, but mainly to their clearance results. Being on the fifty-thousand-person list meant Xu Huo had excellent clearance results every time. Anyone who had even a single low-passing clearance rating would absolutely never make it onto this list!
"Are you really just a passerby?" The female player had likely used a truth-detection prop. After hearing an affirmative reply, she immediately said, "We agree. What do you want us to do?"
"Find a factory that can customize puppets," Xu Huo said.
"Puppets?" The three of them looked at each other, not understanding what he meant, but they didn't need to know that much—they just had to follow orders. One male player asked, "Can puppet factories in other cities work too?"
"Yes, but it's best if it's here," Xu Huo said. "Preferably within three days, produce a batch of identical puppets, at least a hundred. Then buy enough resin. I want to turn all these puppets into amber. Prepare the two items separately, and contact me when you're ready."
He gave them a contact method, noted down their player nicknames for easy team formation, and gave them an operation code name: "Puppet Factory."
As for the puppet standards, Xu Huo had already written them down in advance, specifically instructing them to keep the puppets' appearance and condition confidential, especially from the factory. At least until the puppets were finished, no information should leak out. Ideally, the factory's operating system shouldn't be connected to the internet.
In addition to the puppet details, there was also a photo taken with a phone, which he handed over along with the device.
Seeing the content in the photo, the female player was secretly shocked and couldn't help but doubt, "This isn't the Ember Maiden, is it? But why a puppet? Shouldn't it be a painting?"
Xu Huo didn't answer that question, only saying, "If any problems come up during the process, you can contact me."
With that, he left Ember City and headed for Dingding Flower Town, simultaneously contacting the short-haired woman and her companion.
Those two were still investigating the details about the blind old lady and her group, feeling overwhelmed when they received the contact. They got a new "task." Though puzzled, they still followed Xu Huo's instructions to spread the news in Dingding Flower Town that someone had obtained the hiding address of the "Ember Maiden."
So by the time Xu Huo arrived in Dingding Flower Town in the afternoon, nearly fifty players had gathered inside and outside the bar. This was only counting those who had just arrived in the town in the past two days or hadn't left the area yet.
Too many people had come. The short-haired woman and the bald strong man, as the sources of the news, had to both keep people from leaving and couldn't provide more specific information. By now, the atmosphere between them and the other players had grown tense. The two were already at their wit's end. When they finally managed to hold out until Xu Huo arrived, they quickly sent the crowd away.
"Brother Xu? Are you Brother Xu?" Xu Huo had changed his face, so the short-haired woman was a bit hesitant.
Xu Huo nodded and walked into the bar. "My previous face was remembered by an armed robot. It's inconvenient."
The short-haired woman expressed understanding, quickly briefed him on the bar's situation, and signaled for him to handle the problem himself.
The small bar couldn't hold that many people, and the players didn't want to crowd together, so most were outside. When the short-haired woman and Xu Huo were talking, those players moved closer.
Walking to the middle of the bar, Xu Huo looked around at the people nearby. "There shouldn't be any killers hired by the rich merchants of District 019 to clean up instance players here, right?"
The news that District 019 players were slaughtering players from other districts in the instance had already spread on a small scale. At least the players in Dingding Flower Town had mostly heard about it. But it was hard to distinguish player identities, so everyone was just wary of each other.
"Should we flush them out?" the bald strong man asked.
"No need." Xu Huo raised his hand. "Everyone, listen to me. You're all here to find the 'Ember Maiden.' I won't waste words. Let me make it clear: I've already investigated and confirmed the painting's location."
The crowd fell silent for a moment. Those who arrived late showed little expression, but those who had come earlier—especially those whose clearance time was running out—were excited. "So you're saying you've obtained the 'Ember Maiden'?"
"You could say that," Xu Huo nodded.
"Obtained means obtained, not obtained means not obtained. What does 'you could say that' mean?" an older player said bluntly. "But I'm guessing you probably haven't gotten the painting. If you had, this instance should be over, since there's only one painting."
"That's right. There's only one painting, and now only I know where it is. That means aside from me, no one else here has a chance to clear the instance," Xu Huo said with a slight smile. "Unlike instances that suddenly upgrade or get destroyed, if I clear it successfully, that means you all fail. Not only do you come here for nothing, but it also lowers your player upgrade speed."
As he spoke, he turned his gaze to his right. "So I suggest those friends who are planning to ambush me put down your props for now. If you make a move, you'll drag everyone else down and prevent them from clearing the instance."
No one in the crowd moved, and of course, no one felt guilty about being exposed on the spot. Someone said, "Whether someone makes a move or not doesn't matter. You don't need to bother trying to divert the blame. If you really found the 'Ember Maiden,' why haven't you cleared the instance?"
"Because this instance isn't just about finding the painting. The story behind the painting is more important. Improving the rating might require this supplementary part." Saying anything else was useless. Clearance rating was what players cared about most.
These words indeed struck a nerve with others. Someone probed, "So you've figured out the story background of the 'Ember Maiden'?"
"That's right," Xu Huo swept his gaze across the crowd. "But you don't need to think about that now. I'll only reveal it at the final clearance."
Not everyone wanted to reap benefits before doing work. After a moment, a younger player asked, "What do you want us to do by calling us here?"
"Complete the instance's sublimation," Xu Huo said. "Doing this alone would be too slow, so I need to cooperate with all of you. After the task is done, I'll notify everyone of a new time and place to gather. Then, as promised, I'll form a team with you all to complete the final clearance."
"As for why we don't form the team now, everyone should know the reason."
One troublesome aspect of team clearance is the final shared reward. The distribution of team rewards requires all members to confirm "agree" on their personal panels before the distribution is complete. Only when the rewards are fully distributed does the instance truly end. If even one person disagrees, it drags on—unless someone voluntarily gives up the team reward. But team rewards are usually few and high-quality—who would willingly give them up? Moreover, some people, knowing they can't get the reward, deliberately cause trouble to make others give up, dragging things out until someone else caves.
If the distribution isn't successful by the time the instance ends, the game will consider it all abandoned and reclaim the rewards—this applies to C-grade and below instances. For B-grade instances, if the instance time has no limit, an unsuccessful distribution doesn't trigger the game's "all abandoned" judgment. Players have to give up on their own, and it comes down to who has a longer time before their next instance.
Additionally, to increase their share of the distribution, team members often end up killing each other. Few instances end with negotiation. The more people there are, the more this is true. So in C-grade instances, players generally don't gather large teams. And for Xu Huo to organize so many people, he had to consider the risks of final team reward distribution.
(Chapter End)