Chapter 2212: A Proposal
At this time, most of those who would take the initiative to appear before Xu Huo were playing the same game as the yellow-haired man. The scene of all the eyes in the sky and on the ground coming to life had truly stunned them. That terrifying mental pressure, even outside the instance area, had simultaneously affected nearly everyone in the city. The range was vast, and the effect was extremely powerful. It wasn't hard to imagine what the situation inside the instance was like, nor was it strange why the mortality rate for this instance was so high.
So, compared to taking a gamble by entering the instance, it was naturally better to solve the problem from the outside.
However, after the yellow-haired man finished speaking, the one who responded wasn't the player who had come with him, but stranded players from other parts of the city, as well as local zone players who had rushed over from other places.
"I'm afraid that won't work." An old man at the front raised his voice. "You newcomers can't just ignore those who came before. So many players are stranded here. Having stayed for so long, none of us want to go out and face high-risk random instances. So, let's drop this proposal."
The instance's survival rate wasn't high, but over a hundred years, players had been entering continuously. Accumulating over time, even if there were only a few dozen stranded players, they held an advantage against the players who were about to clear the instance recently, because they also had local zone players to help.
As the two sides faced off, an A-level player beside the yellow-haired man said, "You stranded players are barely worth a look. As for local zone players, they're not even worth mentioning!"
Ignoring how belittling this was, regardless of what the local zone players thought, the believers began to grow uneasy. Looking at the numbers on both sides, the local zone players were several times more numerous than the clearance players, and this was just those who could arrive immediately. Yet the clearance players didn't seem to regard them at all!
They habitually turned their gaze toward the Goddess statue, but that humanoid statue covered in eyes not only failed to give them a sense of security but instead filled them with fear.
"Not worth mentioning?" The old man laughed. "You underestimate the strength of this district. You only have one A-level player."
"It doesn't matter how many A-level players there are," the yellow-haired man interjected. "So what if you have dozens of A-level players on your side? We have time items!"
He turned and called out to Xu Huo, "Brother Xu, show them your time item!"
The players present all had grim expressions. Although time-space items might be able to avoid attacks that freeze time, Xu Huo's earlier move had only frozen the area inside and outside the temple, and the range wasn't large. So, players farther away had witnessed the entire process. It wasn't just that he had a time item; his personal strength was also formidable, and he was a Mental Evolver, perfectly at home in this instance!
Xu Huo leaned back in his chair, sweeping his gaze across the crowd, then said with a smile, "I'm not interested in the instance itself. I just want to meet the Goddess. But she won't let me in, and she won't come out herself... Dismantling the instance isn't a bad idea. How do you plan to do it?"
"This instance seems to have gradually formed and upgraded because of the believers," the A-level player in front of the temple said. "If there are no believers, then the Goddess naturally shouldn't exist anymore."
Everyone present was stunned by his words, including the players with him: What did he mean by no believers?
However, that A-level player calmly took out a triangular, transparent item. "The power of this item is enough to cover the entire Holy Land city."
"You want to kill everyone in this city?" the yellow-haired man exclaimed in horror. "Do you know how many people are in this city? Aren't you afraid of becoming a wanted criminal?"
Dismantling an instance was one thing. As long as it wasn't done too excessively, and a high-level player wasn't dismantling a low-level instance, the game wouldn't interfere. But how many people were in this city? Killing so many ordinary people in one go, slaughtering both the instance and the city—the game would definitely put a bounty on them!
"Don't forget, we're here to clear the instance. Massacring a city won't be easy to get away with," another player said.
It wasn't just for that reason either. Unless forced, normal players generally wouldn't use items with such devastating power on ordinary people. They weren't psychopaths who killed for fun. Besides, these ordinary people had no conflict with them.
That A-level player had clearly been planning this for a while, regardless of today's Goddess's Birthday incident.
Xu Huo was silent for a moment before saying, "Since you have a way to destroy the instance and also a way to level the city, why bother cooperating with other players?"
"It's just a proposal," the A-level player said. "Although it's a good method, it doesn't guarantee the instance will be destroyed. If it doesn't work, we might still have to enter the instance. So I'm just considering it. If you have any better ideas, feel free to suggest them."
The clearance players didn't even dare to enter the instance, let alone destroy the Goddess statue. Waking the Goddess would be a loss outweighing the gain. What the A-level player suggested was indeed the method with the least cost for them.
"Are you guys out of your minds?" the yellow-haired man frowned. "If leveling this city could really make the instance disappear, I wouldn't say anything. It's not me bombing it anyway. But since it can't guarantee the instance will disappear, killing so many people for no reason, so many lives—how can you bring yourselves to do it?"
Furthermore, if Holy Land city was razed to the ground, this district would essentially be finished.
No one with a normal mind would think this was a good idea, not even worth discussing. So the players in front of the temple fell silent.
But this attitude made the players of Holy Land city's hearts pound with fear and anger. The old man exclaimed in shock and rage, "You talk about massacring a city as if it's nothing! Do you think there are no players here?!"
Before he finished speaking, he and several companions around him simultaneously took out items. Activating them, three Space Barrier layers rose in succession. The first sealed off the streets around the temple, the second separated the square, and the third narrowed down to the area outside the temple itself. As a result, most people were trapped between the first and second barriers. The believers in the square were confined together with the yellow-haired man and his group of players. Inside the temple were only Xu Huo, the Holy Maiden, one remaining Divine Envoy, and the local zone players who had entered the temple before the barrier went up.
The local zone players had already begun evacuating believers further away, while simultaneously using instruments to repeatedly reinforce this barrier layer. They had a clear division of labor: some evacuated players, some were responsible for dealing with the clearance players in the square, and the rest were tasked with Xu Huo.
The A-level player and Xu Huo, in particular, received special attention.
The old man was in the square, staring at the A-level player and saying, "I advise you not to use that item inside the barrier, or you won't get off easy either."
The A-level player was emboldened, shaking his head. "I said it before, too many people just make things difficult. Now look, how are we supposed to destroy the instance?"
This was directed at the yellow-haired man and the others. Before they could respond, a series of thumping sounds came from inside the temple behind them.
(Chapter End)