Chapter 1782: Hidden Reward
No further incidents occurred in the following time. The Golden Eye player did not return after leaving. Upon arriving at District 011, Xu Huo got off the train and, though he didn't see the chains of the "Target Lock" trait appear, he still circled around the city a few times for safety before returning to Rose Castle.
Mr. Dong came out to greet him as usual. It happened to be raining again when he returned. Seeing the umbrella and wet shoes placed by the porch, Xu Huo casually asked, "We have guests?"
Mr. Dong put away the umbrella and opened the door for him. "Three guests came the day before yesterday. They claim to be painters sketching and are very fond of the roses in the castle. They want to stay for a few days."
Xu Huo nodded, took off his coat, and put on clean shoes. "How are the guests?"
"They are all easy to get along with. They usually only move around in the bedrooms, the dining room, and the outer garden," Mr. Dong replied using ventriloquism.
It was late when he returned. Xiao Yuan, Tan Qi, and the others had already rested. Aside from the servants still working, the Painting Woman, and the Ghost Shadow, everyone else was obediently lying in bed.
"How is Meng Cun doing?" Xu Huo asked.
"A doctor has already seen him. He needs continuous medication and won't be in immediate danger, but he should be hospitalized for treatment after a while," Mr. Dong answered, then asked, "Do you need me to prepare some food?"
"Something light, not too much. Please bring it up to me and don't let anyone else disturb me." After giving these brief instructions, Xu Huo went up to the third floor.
The Painting Woman had already sneaked into his bedroom to wait for him and eagerly handed him his toiletries.
"You did a very good job with this. It deserves praise." Xu Huo smiled. It was inconvenient to bring Meng Cun along, so he had the Painting Woman bring him to Rose Castle. She had lived up to expectations and delivered him safely.
"I'll give you another task. We have some strangers in the house, right? Keep a close eye on them without letting them find out."
The Painting Woman immediately nodded, patted her chest to guarantee she would handle it well, and then slid out from the balcony.
After washing up, Xu Huo ate a little something, had Mr. Dong help him treat his external injuries, and then lay down to rest.
Between blood loss, internal injuries, mental trauma, and several days without sleep, he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. He woke up once in the middle of the night with a headache, drank two bottles of medicine, and slept straight through until the next afternoon.
The Painting Woman was guarding his room, stuffing snacks into her mouth while keeping her eyes fixed on him. When she saw him wake up, she immediately stood up happily and played a pre-typed message on the communicator:
"Are you hungry? Does your body hurt? Should I call a doctor?"
Xu Huo stopped her from reaching out to poke at his wounds. "It's nothing serious. Go ask Mr. Dong to bring me some food."
The Painting Woman nodded vigorously, opened the door, and ran out.
Xu Huo stretched his stiff body. Just as he finished getting dressed, Xiao Yuan dragged Tan Qi into the room. The little girl's eyes were red as she choked out, "Uncle, please don't die..."
"It's not that easy for an adult to die." Xu Huo patted her head. "Have you eaten? No class today?"
Before Xiao Yuan could speak, Tan Qi said from the side, "I told you, if he could walk back on his own, he definitely wouldn't die."
Xiao Yuan shot him a glare, then looked at Xu Huo with concern. "All these wounds must hurt a lot."
"It does hurt a bit, but it'll get better soon after I take the medicine." Xu Huo smiled. "Haven't you eaten? When Mr. Dong brings the food up, you two can eat with me."
Xiao Yuan eagerly offered to help him serve the meat and vegetables. Xu Huo didn't refuse her kindness. With the Painting Woman joining them later, the four of them ate together in his bedroom.
After the meal, Xiao Yuan and the Painting Woman didn't want to leave. Tan Qi, who wasn't too keen on staying with him, went off after a while to find Dr. Deng and check on Meng Cun's treatment.
The Painting Woman didn't have a deep understanding of pain, so after sitting for a while, she pulled Xiao Yuan into a game.
Xu Huo leaned back on the soft couch nearby and began to tally up the rewards from this instance.
[Congratulations, Passerby A, on successfully clearing the instance "Ember Maiden." Because you found the painting "Ember Maiden" in this instance, solved the century-old historical mystery of District 019, and fulfilled Master Solan's dying wish, you have received the game's highest rating, SSS. In addition to your personal rewards and all team rewards, you have also received an additional A-grade item, a Subclass Stone with temporal-spatial attributes, three free crafting vouchers from an A-grade Artificer, and one Chaos Time-Space Ticket.]
[Furthermore, because you uncovered the truth behind the century-old mining disaster, directly or indirectly causing the disappearance of nine instances in District 019, you have earned the high praise of "Instance Cracking Master." As a result, you will receive the "Mysterious Person" outfit set, a special gift from all game creators.]
Xu Huo had known the rewards from this instance would be very generous, but he hadn't expected such an unexpected bonus.
The "Mysterious Person" outfit set—whether it was the "Light Gentleman" medal or the "Pure Heart"—were special commendations for a player's human performance within an instance. The rewarder was always the game itself, representing the game's recognition of "justice." Destroying instances, however, was contrary to the game's stance. Unless it was an instance with a clearly evil nature like the Skinner's, logically speaking, the disappearance of an instance would cause a certain loss to the game.
As game creators, they should also have the obligation to maintain the operation of instances. Who would have thought that blowing up nine instances in one go would unlock a hidden reward? It created a subtly contradictory feeling, like a buffet restaurant owner hoping a competitive eater would come every day to wreck the place.
Of course, instances could be upgraded or downgraded based on player actions, or they could disappear because of players. Xu Huo had experienced instance upgrades and downgrades before. Downgrades had no reaction, but upgraded instances gave gifts from the instance holder. As for disappearing instances, the Skinner's instance had yielded a "Light Gentleman" medal, and this time, he had stumbled upon a hidden reward.
From a certain perspective, it seemed the game encouraged players to destroy instances, but only according to its own rules. High-level players destroying low-level instances didn't count.
However, there were countless instances in the game. The disappearance of a few would quickly be replaced by new ones. It wasn't even a minor disturbance, but it showed that the game wasn't as rigid as it appeared on the surface. At least, digging a little deeper could occasionally yield unexpected surprises.
Naturally, opportunities like this were rare. It was only because District 019 happened to have so many instances related to the century-old mining disaster. The fact that these instances still existed or had been born a hundred years later was truly surprising.
Xu Huo first checked the "Mysterious Person" outfit set.
[Mysterious Person: A black cloak, a black mask, and a pair of black gloves will give you an unparalleled sense of mystery, preventing outsiders from discerning your appearance, physique, or habitual small movements. Unless you take off the mask and cloak, no one can accurately identify your identity.]
[Note 1: This outfit set can also conceal information such as your body's evolution state. Please be mindful of the mystery scale and do not play with fire.]
[Note 2: The creator of this outfit set is a person of extremely high moral standards. Please do not engage in lowly acts such as peeping at members of the opposite or same sex while they are bathing.]
Item descriptions could be filled in by the Artificer, and the notes were naturally part of it. This Artificer with "extremely high moral standards" was quite meticulous, even considering the detail of peeping on people bathing, since this wasn't an invisibility cloak. (End of Chapter)