Chapter 2202: The Goddess Is Hospitable
"Don't look at me like that." The yellow-haired man scratched his head. "I had no choice. Anyone in that situation wouldn't be able to resist. And don't forget, even though we used all kinds of tricks in the Hall of Inquiry, running and jumping around, we were actually standing still the whole time. Since everything was fake, suicide definitely couldn't be real either."
"Friend, that way of thinking is very dangerous." Xu Huo said. "How can you tell when something is real and when it's fake? What if the earlier part where you fought cannibal players was fake, but when it came to your suicide, it turned out to be real?"
"That's exactly what I'm worried about, which is why I haven't dared to act." The yellow-haired man sighed. "If only there was some resurrection prop."
"Would you dare to use it even if there was?" Xu Huo pressed on. "Didn't you say you couldn't even use props? Can you be sure that a life-saving prop would actually work?"
The yellow-haired man nodded. "Even if there really was a resurrection prop, I wouldn't dare use it outside the illusion. Who knows if the prop would work every single time? What if it happened to fail right when I was trying to kill myself? Matters of life and death—better not gamble on luck."
"But when I came here, I heard some players say that non-ticket players have a much easier time entering instances than clearance players." He looked at Xu Huo. "You'd better not let anyone find out you're not here to clear the instance, or you'll be in for a rough time."
"Unfortunately, they already know." Xu Huo smiled faintly. "Someone has come to invite me several times."
The female player instinctively glanced at the wall, but quickly looked away. "The Goddess's traces—I dare not look directly at them."
Earlier in the instance, Xu Huo had heard other players mention that some districts had plants that could release spiritual power. The plants themselves couldn't think, but the effect was very similar to the temple gate—constantly maintaining a state of spiritual interference, as if it were inexhaustible.
"Who knows?" Xu Huo followed his gaze.
Only Xu Huo would go in the morning, stay until noon to eat, and then go again before bed.
The instance hadn't disappeared and could still absorb clearance players, so the other players no longer dared to try entering.
"You are all believers of the Goddess, yet you don't even dare to look directly at Her traces." Xu Huo chuckled, leaning on his cane as he slowly walked forward.
The patterns inside the temple were probably not simply derived from the instance; they might be props that had undergone special processing.
"You work in the temple. Haven't you noticed that these patterns have any special meaning?"
Logically, instance grounds could absorb non-ticket players; otherwise, there wouldn't be a saying that non-clearance players wouldn't be targeted by instances. But Xu Huo had gone in and out so many times and always came out safely. This made people doubt whether the claim about non-clearance players was true.
Projecting spiritual power to the outside world and preserving it for a long time—this was a direction he was very interested in. Although he already knew about the "anchor" function in the spiritual realm, to use such an "anchor," one had to evolve to a certain level, or else have advanced props to assist.
This operation not only greatly angered the temple personnel but also infuriated those clearance players.
In truth, he wasn't as calm as he appeared on the surface, because instances were uncontrollable. Who knew if the Goddess might take a sudden interest? However, as the number of times he entered the temple increased, he grew calmer and gradually felt that the instance had no intention of dragging an unrelated person into it.
But after visiting the temple many times, he slowly adapted to the pressure inside. Not only that, but by observing those complex patterns for a long time, he could also discern some rules, and sometimes even vaguely make out some shadows.
Of course, some players who had once been stranded firmly stated that non-clearance players had definitely entered the instance. As for Xu Huo strolling through the temple as if it were a garden, either he was very lucky, or the temple really had a problem and had no time to deal with non-clearance players.
With this thought in mind, two or three players tried their luck and went in, but they never came out. From the intermittent garbled messages, it seemed they had successfully entered the instance and couldn't get out.
After saying this, he walked to the window and gestured toward the temple. "Sanctuary City is buzzing with excitement. I wonder if they'll actually fight, or if it'll just be a lot of noise and no action."
Xu Huo didn't say much, just smiled and said, "Taking a chance. I think my luck is pretty good."
Xu Huo had already tested this the first time he came.
The outer zone players in the city had probably gotten wind of it, so in the past few days, few outer zone players entered the temple. They all watched from a distance, near or far.
Xu Huo had once received a prop gifted by the curator from the Art Museum instance. This showed that instance bosses had the authority to dispose of the props generated by the instance; they could decide whether to keep or give away props, and perhaps they also had ways to intervene with props.
Coming every day to receive spiritual attacks—unless one was a masochist, who could endure that?
Xu Huo was in a good mood today. "That depends on what's up there. I always feel there's something up there, but I haven't been able to see it clearly, so I come every day."
Of course, this was a high-sounding excuse. Although believers were protected by the Goddess and wouldn't be attacked by the patterns, staring at them for a long time was still not allowed. Especially some special patterns, like the eye patterns that usually needed to be covered in the temple—even when using them, they had to try to avoid looking.
Nevertheless, the application of "anchors" was also small-scale and personal. Things like the indiscriminate attacks at Fresh Flower City and the temple gate seemed more convenient to use.
And the closer it got to the Goddess's Birthday, the more tense the clearance players became. Even the yellow-haired man worried every time he saw Xu Huo enter the temple. "Aren't you afraid you won't be able to come out?"
The yellow-haired man was first surprised, then reacted and gave a thumbs-up. "You're something else. Looks like I was worrying for nothing."
"Here we go again." A few more days passed, and on the day before the Goddess's Birthday, even the believers coming to the temple were few. They had to prepare all night for the items needed for the Goddess's Birthday, so when Xu Huo went, there was almost no one inside the temple. The players responsible for maintaining order in the temple followed him as usual, monitoring his every move.
"Aren't you tired of coming like this every day?" The leader today was a female player. She said, "These patterns in the temple can put immense pressure on those who stare at them for a long time. What are you trying to see?"
"Looking directly at the Goddess is already disrespectful." The female player followed him. "This is exactly that kind of disrespect. If the Divine Envoy and the Holy Maiden hadn't given the order, you wouldn't even be able to step through the temple gate."
Xu Huo didn't mind her hostility. Instead, he said, "Since I can look directly at these patterns without any problem, it means the Goddess doesn't mind me doing this. Doesn't that count as representing the Goddess's will?"
"Besides, I think the Goddess must be very hospitable."