Chapter 2190: Cooperation Proposal
"I've heard of a trick for clearing mental-type instances." Fei Xun suddenly spoke. "Not sure if it's useful—someone was bragging about it on the train."
"If the scene makes it impossible to tell reality from illusion, you can imagine something absolutely unreasonable. For example, a deceased relative or a destroyed item. As long as you give yourself a psychological suggestion, these things might suddenly appear when you're being disturbed. Of course, they're not real—they're reminders from the depths of your consciousness."
"But if it's an instance type where illusion interferes with reality, this won't work. Having too vivid an imagination can actually become a problem instead."
"What type do you think this Goddess instance is?"
Judging solely from their experiences in the Interrogation Hall, the hallucinations they experienced had already blended falsehood and reality. Some of what they saw came from past memories, while some was influenced by the temple. From the process of interaction, it was hard to tell whether the things they touched and the people they saw were fake—instead, they felt incredibly real.
"At least it's a B-rank instance, probably not that simple." Ding Jiang stood up. "Let's rest first. I'll try again early tomorrow morning. If it doesn't work, we'll switch locations."
"If it's a blessing, it's not a curse; if it's a curse, you can't avoid it." Huang Mao muttered, then hooked arms with Fei Xun and left.
A Hai stayed behind, hesitating. "I think Mr. Ding has a bit of a temper. Maybe we should split up tomorrow."
"It's fine. Get some sleep." Xu Huo smiled at him.
A Hai had no choice but to return to his own room.
"We won't be going." Fei Xun explained on their behalf. "If Ding Jiang still hasn't succeeded by later, we'll have to rush to the next city immediately. We can't travel with you anymore."
That night passed relatively peacefully.
As soon as the words were spoken, the three adjacent doors all opened. Huang Mao grabbed his messy hair and asked, "Where are you going?"
Ding Jiang leaned against his doorway, casting a slightly mocking glance at Huang Mao before turning around and closing his door again.
"Wait for me, I'm coming too." Huang Mao didn't care at all. He went back to his room, grabbed his jacket, and said, "Let's go, let's go, let's go together. Or should I buy breakfast to take along?"
"Aren't you calling them?" A Hai came out with his backpack.
"To watch the sea of clouds." Ever since he found out Xu Huo wasn't an instance player, A Hai hadn't been as enthusiastic toward them and didn't invite them along.
Xu Huo got up early the next day. According to A Hai's travel plan, they were supposed to watch the sea of clouds before sunrise.
Huang Mao awkwardly walked back, muttering as he went, "Well, I was just taking a stroll. Old Xu, you're injured—don't overexert yourself."
The door closed, but Xu Huo didn't hurry to lie down. Instead, he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes to rest. About half an hour later, the door next to his opened silently. After waiting half a beat, as the person passed by his door, he finally spoke, "Still not planning to sleep at this hour?"
"Alright, then good luck to you." Huang Mao waved his hand dismissively.
With items to skip the mountain-climbing process, Xu Huo and the others went straight to the mountaintop. They picked a good spot to sit down, and the breakfast was still warm.
"I think Ding Jiang is a ruthless guy. It's better to split up from him." Huang Mao said. "I wonder if he really can't enter the illusion or if he's doing it on purpose."
"You suspect he's faking it?" Xu Huo chimed in.
"The pattern on his arm is hard to cover up. I checked—he didn't forge it himself, so he probably wasn't stamped." Huang Mao leaned against a tree, stuffing noodles into his mouth as he mumbled, "But who knows if he's a stranded player? The two players you brought back yesterday didn't have patterns on their arms either."
"Doesn't seem like it."
"Whether it seems like it or not is another matter." Huang Mao said firmly. "If he's not a stranded player, then his instance time limit must be almost up. I'm worried he might drag others down with him."
Xu Huo took a sip of water. When he looked at the sea of clouds on the horizon again, his vision was much clearer.
After finishing their meal, Huang Mao brought up yesterday's topic again. "Is that method Fei Xun mentioned really useful?"
He was referring to the method for clearing mental-type instances.
"I haven't cleared many mental-type instances." Xu Huo said. "But from the information on Under Dimension, unless you're a Mental Evolver, it's best not to rashly give yourself suggestions. In an environment with strong mental interference, ordinary people can't tell whether their subconscious is saving them or if they're seeing a new hallucination."
"So there's really no trick to clearing them?" Huang Mao had clearly read a lot of guides on this. "Many players who cleared them couldn't explain it clearly. Either they stumbled upon the key by luck or had a sudden flash of insight. Who can understand that?"
"Mental-type instances are more flexible." Xu Huo held the Seventeenth Hospital. He knew too well what it was like in such instances—imagined dangers, inner fears, even the fears of others could become reality and affect clearance. In such situations, clearance guides indeed lacked reference value.
Of course, there were people with strong wills who could stay clear-headed and quickly sort out clues in such instances, but the guides from such people often had better places to go and rarely sold them for money.
"Are you... not an instance player?" Huang Mao suddenly asked.
Xu Huo didn't react, but A Hai, who was admiring the scenery nearby, instinctively turned his head.
Huang Mao chuckled. "Actually, I wanted to ask A Hai last night, but you caught me. That's why I guessed you might not be here to clear the instance."
Besides, his injuries were too severe. Unless their time was up, no player would enter an instance with broken limbs. And the fact that he hadn't gained anything in the satellite city and wasn't anxious at all was also suspicious.
"You guessed right." Xu Huo smiled. "So traveling with me won't be much help. It might even waste time."
"Not necessarily." Huang Mao was confident. "Having someone who knows the ropes lead the way is always better than charging in blindly. Especially for someone who knows nothing about mental evolution—it's like having no clue at all."
"Doesn't the final clearance content and mission only get announced when you enter the Holy Land Temple?" Xu Huo asked. From their conversation, this instance only hinted that they needed to go to the Holy Land Temple, which was the real instance venue.
Without useful information, there was no way to be targeted.
"You're entering the temple, so you must be curious about what the Goddess really is, right?" Huang Mao laughed. "How about we cooperate? I'll gather information, and you analyze it. If you can enter the Holy Land Temple later, just give me a hand. If you can't, I can still send you information from inside, and you might find the clues you're looking for."
"That sounds good." Xu Huo pointed to his eyes. "But you're ignoring one premise—I'm injured."