# Chapter 2189: Useful Clues
This wasn't anything unusual, because once you reached B-rank, especially for closed-type instances, the mortality rate was significantly higher than for C-rank and below instances.
What Yellow Hair and the other two wanted to know most was what the instance content actually was, and how the people who died in the instance had died. Only then would they have a reference point.
After a few more bottles of alcohol, these two finally revealed some useful information.
First, don't trust the Divine Envoys. Because when facing ordinary believers, the Divine Envoys represented the Goddess's deputies, but in front of players, they were cleaners—all clearance players were considered enemies.
Second, don't look up in the presence of the Goddess. This sounded a bit like the rules for facing gods in certain mythological systems, but these two said that the Goddess simply couldn't be looked at, not that she couldn't be heard. In fact, the Goddess loved talking with Divine Envoys or believers. Sometimes when she was in the mood, she would casually enter believers' dreams to chat with them.
Hmm, this kind of description didn't sound very realistic.
"Really?" Ahai, however, believed it completely and said with longing, "If only the Goddess would come into my dream and guide me."
The two players staggered away drunkenly. For the time being, no one came to take over the surveillance, so Xu Huo and the others found a hotel nearby to stay in.
"Is what they said true?" Yellow Hair asked.
"I have a deep understanding of the second point." Xu Huo pointed to his eyes. The gauze had been removed now, and although it wasn't bleeding anymore, his vision hadn't fully recovered. Still, it was better than yesterday.
"Did the players who died in the instance all encounter the same situation as you?" Yellow Hair was puzzled. "Then how did those two survive?"
Yellow Hair looked at Xu Huo. "Old Xu, what do you think?"
"Maybe it's because they're simple-minded and easy to submit," Fei Xun said thoughtfully. "Isn't this the same principle as entering a temple to worship?"
"Ninety percent chance it's fake," Ding Jiang said. "These two appeared too suddenly. Advanced players' mouths aren't that loose. But it's still a good thing."
"The first point is hard to say. No one has seen Divine Envoys in the satellite city either. We don't even know if they're human."
"Ding Jiang still hasn't been stamped by the Divine Envoy today," he said, bringing up today's experience.
Since what they said wasn't true, just do the opposite.
Clearly, those two didn't seem very smart, otherwise they wouldn't have been brainwashed into joining the Goddess Cult.
"Surely the more you want to clear the instance, the more you'll be targeted," Yellow Hair said with a laugh, but then the smile faded from his face. Although he hadn't entered the Holy Land Temple yet, judging from the satellite city's temple, the more rebellious you were, the more easily you were targeted.
Yesterday at Purple Lake City, he had seen his past experiences, like a dream. He hadn't even remembered this incident for a long time, but after entering the Questioning Hall, it was as if he had relived it.
Today, this memory had upgraded.
It turned out he had been saved by someone. Today seemed to pick up right after he was rescued, but the experience had completely changed. After escaping, he suddenly fell into a situation where he was being hunted by strangers. On the streets, in the residential areas, everywhere he went, some people would jump out from nowhere to hack at him. Several times he was almost injured. Finally, he accidentally opened a door and escaped from this strange "memory."
"Opening the door ended it. I was still standing in the Questioning Hall." Yellow Hair looked at Xu Huo. "Does this count as psychological suggestion?"
"Of course it does," Xu Huo nodded. "Psychological suggestion can take countless forms. Being hunted is just one process."
Fei Xun's experience was different. After entering the Questioning Hall, fog inexplicably appeared around him. He quickened his pace forward, and with time blurred, he didn't know how long he had walked, but gradually, many pits appeared ahead. Those pits seemed to be prepared for planting trees, but only one pit had tools and saplings beside it.
"I didn't know what was happening at the time. As if possessed, I walked over, picked up the tools, and started burying seeds. I planted a hundred saplings, and only when I felt like drinking some water did everything around me suddenly disappear."
Today, when he entered the Questioning Hall again, those planted saplings had grown a bit.
On the first day, when he came out, he realized he might have been subjected to psychological suggestion, so this time he didn't continue planting trees. Instead, he waited nearby to see when he could get out.
However, as he sat there, he started to zone out. It seemed like only a moment of distraction, but when he came back to his senses, all the saplings had grown to more than double their original size, with lush green leaves.
"Even without planting trees, I still couldn't escape." Fei Xun revealed the second eye pattern on his forearm.
The eye pattern had special significance in this district. It wasn't just a totem but also a medium for the "Goddess." Whether it was the government's seal or the temple's doors, they all used patterns to mentally interfere with players.
"Didn't you see anything?" Xu Huo asked Ding Jiang. He had spent quite a long time in the Questioning Hall too.
Mentioning this made Ding Jiang's expression turn unpleasant. Combined with their previous conflict, he didn't want to share his experience and instead asked Xu Huo what he had seen.
"Hard to describe." Xu Huo rubbed his chin. "More like a bunch of chaotic spiritual power that could also change shape. Pretty terrifying. I only looked once and ended up like this."
Yellow Hair was very curious and pressed for details. "What you saw might be the Goddess's incarnation. Describe it in detail so we can recognize it if we encounter it."
"You won't fail to recognize it." Xu Huo gave him a half-smile. "The moment you see it, you'll understand immediately. But it's best not to see it."
Unlike the measures taken with the instance players, he had gone straight to the real thing.
Yellow Hair thought this made sense and started working on Ding Jiang again. There had to be a reason why he hadn't been stamped.
"Simple. I killed everything that pretended to be my family," Ding Jiang said. "Not just family, but relatives, friends, teachers, girlfriends, benefactors. Anyone who appeared before me—without listening to a single word—I killed them all."
This "failure case" gave them ideas. Fei Xun thought about it and said, "If I see trees again next time, I'll try to dig them up."
Yellow Hair wiped his face and said with some despair, "Do you know how many people live in my city?"
"Is there a way to stay clear-headed while still getting the pattern? Mental defense items don't seem very effective either."
"Did you stay clear-headed in the Questioning Hall?" Ding Jiang said. "What difference do you think there is between what you consider clear-headed and true clear-headed?"
"The biggest problem with mental-type instances is that players think they've stayed clear-headed the whole time, but they've already unknowingly fallen into the instance's trap, without even knowing where it started."