Chapter 2187: Survival Instance
The two players sitting at the nearby table didn’t deny it, essentially confirming Xu Huo’s claim.
“Are you stranded here, or are you staying willingly?” Xu Huo asked again, but then added on his own, “Either way, it’s pretty much the same.”
Once stranded for a long time, even outer zone players had no choice but to side with the local players. Otherwise, when they left, they would face high-risk instances far more dangerous than this district.
But judging by the expressions of these two, they didn’t seem forced into it.
Dropping the subject, Xu Huo changed the topic. “Tomorrow we’ll head to the next satellite city. If you don’t trust me, you can persuade Ahai to go with you.”
After finishing his meal, he went back to the hotel to sleep.
The group of four, led by the blond-haired man, didn’t return until the middle of the night. The player who had entered the temple for the second time still hadn’t received “approval”—no pattern appeared on his arm—so he planned to try his luck in another city the next day.
The following morning, they got up for breakfast. During the meal, a local did come to talk to Ahai, but he left quickly.
“Why don’t you go with them?” the blond-haired man at the table asked. “Compared to outer zone players, your own countrymen should be more trustworthy, right?”
“It’s different,” Ahai said quietly. “When you’re out and about, not everyone you meet is worth trusting.”
“Otherwise, she wouldn’t be called a goddess,” another player, Fei Xun, chimed in. “I searched for information about this instance under the dimension for days and found nothing.”
“Sigh, why do the locals all get flower patterns, while we get eye patterns? Maybe I should try pretending to be a local next time?”
“So, does that mean you trust us now?” The blond-haired man patted his shoulder. “Friend, for that trust, I’ll definitely get you to the holy land. I’m going there anyway—it’s more fun with company!”
“It’s a survival instance,” Ding Jiang said. “Just getting out alive is good enough. Why worry about how to clear it?”
Although the town was isolated, the news still reported that some outer zone players impersonated locals to scam people. Hermaphrodites were common here but rare in other districts, so even if nothing else was at stake, people themselves had value for trafficking.
“You know the real content of the instance?” The blond-haired man was surprised. “Doesn’t the instance only truly trigger after entering the holy land temple?”
“But once you get to the next city, you must remember what you saw in the Hall of Inquiry. Tell me about it then—I’ll use it for reference.”
“Do you think no one’s tried that?” Ding Jiang, the player who had failed twice, had a grim expression. “Even if you succeed, you still come out with the eye pattern. The goddess distinguishes very clearly between locals and outsiders.”
“Logically, since there’s only one instance here, there must be people who cleared it. But no one will say how they did it.”
If transportation between cities were smooth, Ahai would rather travel alone.
“The goddess can’t be omniscient, can she?” the blond-haired man said. “This is an instance, not a god’s world.”
“I used some methods to pry it out of a local player,” Ding Jiang paused. “But don’t expect too much. That’s all I know.”
Still, that was enough. Everyone had been inside the Hall of Inquiry in the satellite cities. Each person’s experience was different. If this was a survival instance, the most likely scenario in the holy land temple was a mental trial—survive until the instance ends, and you win.
“No specific clearance requirements?” The blond-haired man looked around. “With so many outer zone players, there must be some stranded here.”
“Do you think stranded players would want newcomers to clear it?” Fei Xun raised an eyebrow. “They’d probably mix in with us and hold us back.”
That was true. In public, they couldn’t just attack any player at random. If they got expelled for it, things would become even harder.
“Spend some money to buy information,” the blond-haired man fiddled with the city network for a while. “We just want to know the clearance requirements, nothing else. Someone should be willing to earn that money.”
The other two didn’t stop him, but they knew well—this was exactly what Xu Huo had said yesterday. Whether entering the instance or being stranded in it, it was all a process of contradiction and compromise.
To start clearing, you had to enter the temple, go through the Hall of Inquiry, and get the stamped pattern. That was a compromise. And to clear the instance, players had to let down their guard.
The stranded players were the same. The more times they entered the temple, the greater the influence on them. These people hadn’t cleared it precisely because they knew too little about the instance. With constant brainwashing, some might have already become indistinguishable from the local believers.
But trying wouldn’t hurt.
After the meal, they set off for the next satellite city. Xu Huo still brought Ahai along. The blond-haired man, Ding Jiang, and Fei Xun each had their own teleportation tools, and since their estimated arrival points differed, they agreed to meet at the temple.
After the three left first, Xu Huo asked Ahai if he wanted to play for another day.
“I’ve already been to the places I wanted to see,” Ahai said contentedly. “But since you didn’t get the divine envoy’s approval, you might not be able to enter the holy land temple. Will that affect you much?”
“Not entering is fine. I’m not a clearance player anyway,” Xu Huo said.
Ahai was taken aback. “Then why are you still going with Huang Shuai and the others?”
Huang Shuai was the blond-haired man’s self-proclaimed full name.
“It’s not that I want to go with them; they came to me,” Xu Huo said. “The road is wide open—I can’t exactly stop them from following me.”
Ahai was momentarily speechless. After a moment, he said, “Isn’t it a bit wrong to deceive them like this? If they get angry, you can’t fight all three alone.”
“People who want to clear the instance don’t have that kind of time,” Xu Huo said, pulling out a teleportation item.
Soon, the two arrived at the next satellite city. They took care of business first, going straight to the government building to get their stamps. Then Ahai entered the temple and came out with a second pattern. After that, there were no other plans—just fun.
The blond-haired man and the other two had no idea where they had teleported to. When Ahai came out of the temple, they still hadn’t arrived. Xu Huo didn’t wait for them. Following the travel guide, he headed straight for the first attraction.
It had to be said, the atmosphere in a city that worshipped the goddess cult was excellent. Even though Xu Huo was an outer zone player, locals along the way offered him help. At the attractions, people let him go first because of his injuries, without treating him differently due to his player status.
As for the two players from last night, they kept their word and actually tracked him down nearby—even though they had changed their faces and clothes, the color and size of the numbers floating above their heads hadn’t changed much. It was hard not to notice them.
While Ahai was participating in a game, Xu Huo bought two bottles of water and brought them over. “Do you have to keep an eye on every outer zone player like this?”