Chapter 1758: Strength Speaks
"We can't just do things for you based on an unverifiable claim," a player said. "You have to provide convincing evidence."
Xu Huo didn't say much. Instead, he gestured toward the door with a "please" motion.
Anyone unwilling to participate could leave at any time. If they wanted to hitch a ride, they had to agree to his proposal.
"Do you take us all for fools?" A burly, scar-faced player stood up and headed for the door. "Whatever you say goes, huh?"
Xu Huo didn't stop him. He simply watched him leave.
With someone taking the lead, others followed one after another. These people not only left but also tried to persuade the players outside to leave with them. However, the vast majority chose to stay. Regardless of what they thought privately, Xu Huo was at least a tangible lead. His words might not be true, but killing a single player together wasn't a difficult task. What if the "Ember Maiden" really was on him?
"This doesn't look good," the short-haired woman whispered, slowly edging closer to Xu Huo. "Did you ever consider that we might end up being targeted by everyone?"
No sooner had she spoken than three players burst out from the crowd. They led with traits and props, then surrounded Xu Huo and his two companions from different directions—everyone wanted to claim the kill, so those who acted were also racing for speed.
In the blink of an eye, a player in a white coat broke through. After his prop gun repeatedly struck the same spot on the defense barrier, a thin sword flew out from his sleeve and stabbed heavily into the bullet-ridden area.
The effect was decent. At least it shattered five or six layers of the Flower Bloom barrier's petals. The white coat let out a wild laugh, then waved a hand in front of Xu Huo's eyes: "How many of me do you see?"
This trait took effect—at least on the short-haired woman and the bald man. As they blinked, the area around them was suddenly filled with white coats. For a moment, they couldn't tell which one was real, so they had to stand back-to-back in a defensive stance.
But in an instant, the white coat had shifted positions, cutting to Xu Huo's left side and stabbing again from there, completely breaching a section of the Flower Bloom barrier. Unfortunately for him, what awaited wasn't a ready-made level-clearing painting, but a black long blade.
The black blade circled his neck once, and the severed throat instantly gushed blood, dyeing the white coat red. But this wasn't over, because four more players were closing in. Xu Huo sidestepped left and directly pierced the chest and abdomen of the nearest player. As the black blade swept horizontally, it neatly severed another player's throat!
As for the remaining two players, they were still separated from him by the short-haired woman and the bald man, which wasn't too inconvenient. But Xu Huo didn't move. In the next second, one was shot in the head, and the other inexplicably crossed the distance between the two middle players, only to have his head lopped off by something invisible when he faced Xu Huo.
In just a few seconds, all five players who had attacked were dead. They were also C-level players, likely carrying high-grade props, but they died before they could even fully unleash their abilities. This was no longer a matter of luck—it was that the five of them had no means of fighting back against Xu Huo. Their personal defense props were as useless as air!
At this point, everyone looked at the murderous figure standing in the middle of the bar, unable to suppress their fear and dread.
Xu Huo flicked the blood off the black blade, then raised his head to look at the crowd. His expression was no longer as amicable as before. "Those unwilling to cooperate can leave now."
Team rewards posed another kind of risk for players, but Xu Huo had displayed overwhelming strength. That meant he alone could exert immense pressure on everyone else in the group. Cooperation was one thing, but players were more afraid of being discarded after use. Defending against other players might be easier; defending against him? That would be difficult.
In the end, some players left. About thirty remained, and all of them agreed to Xu Huo's proposal: no team formation until the task was done. They would regroup when Xu Huo decided to clear the level, then confirm each other's player nicknames.
With the thirty-two here plus the three instance players still in Ember City, the "Ember Maiden" instance would have a total of thirty-five people in the team.
"Appearances are easy to change. Since we're not teamed up now, it might be hard to recognize each other later," the short-haired woman suggested. "How about we come up with a code? When the time comes, everyone says the code, and we'll know we're on the same side."
"Puppet Factory," Xu Huo said. "Please remember this code."
Once all thirty-five people were in the same chat channel, he added, "If there's an unexpected communication breakdown, I'll find a way to announce my location. Two kilometers to the right of my announced position will be the gathering point."
Everyone nodded slightly. Then someone finally couldn't help asking, "You said you want to elevate the instance. What exactly is the method of elevation?"
Xu Huo contacted the female player and immediately obtained the first completed puppet.
The puppet had no head—this was something Xu Huo had specifically requested. The body largely restored the appearance of Shashi Doriti, including the steel needles driven into her hands and feet. The stone slab was also replicated using the same materials.
"Is this the Ember Maiden?" The crowd stared at the puppet for a few seconds before someone spoke up. "The Ember Maiden was a murder victim?"
"This method of torture looks like some kind of religious ritual."
"Forget the religious ritual. Look at the text on that stone slab."
The players hadn't ignored the stone slab, but what it said clearly had nothing to do with their instance. They were just looking for a painting. The slab's text, however, immediately elevated the matter to a historical legacy issue.
Over a hundred years ago, mining accidents were frequent. It wasn't strange for people who had lost loved ones to be unable to find peace. Given the timeline of the "Ember Maiden," this was all a very long time ago. Even if it were exposed now, what would be the point? What did it have to do with elevating the instance?
This was because most people didn't know about the high frequency of mining accidents a century ago. Xu Huo didn't elaborate. Instead, he explained one by one what they needed to do and, as he received the amber puppets in succession, had some players leave Dingding Flower Town to take action.
*
Green Sun City had a station and was a major tourist city. Its days and nights seemed to repeat like a copy-paste. Whether robots or human sales staff, they all maintained the same smiles to satisfy visiting tourists. Since the city had good income, it occasionally held welfare events, like today.
Yesterday, the weather monitoring instrument predicted that today's weather would be especially good, with a cloudless green sky and exceptionally pure colors. So, the afternoon before, Green Sun City issued a notice inviting citizens and tourists to the city center square and the seaside square to watch the green sky.
Those with money and time naturally wouldn't miss this. So, as soon as dawn broke, people began heading to the squares. By the time the morning sun had fully risen, the squares were packed. Everyone was waiting for the "most beautiful sunlight" time announced by the city government. As the time drew near, most people were looking up at the sky when an object suddenly appeared in the air and crashed down. Although the armed robots took action immediately, because the square was so crowded, the object appeared suddenly and wasn't too high up, it landed right in the middle of the small fountain in the square, in full view of everyone.
(Chapter End)