Chapter 2252: Disappeared in the Night
The indiscriminate paper attacks caused cracks to appear in the defensive barriers of these players one after another. And because there were so many, the attacks never ceased. Over time, the weakness of the defensive barriers became apparent—whether switching defense items or reactivating items, there was always a brief gap.
The people who had been locked in the room were all gone. It was an obvious trap. The players who had barged in immediately scattered and fled in different directions.
However, the area outside the location item had already been sealed off by a barrier. Xu Huo, Zhu Xiaojin, and the others, who had originally left, were all waiting outside.
"Drive them out," Xu Huo said to the Painting Woman inside the item.
The Painting Woman's ability to control paper had improved. She mobilized some of the paper, smashing it into the players like small artillery shells. Inside the location item, the power of these transformed papers wasn't apparent, but when a single paper flower sent a player, along with their defensive barrier, flying out the door and carving a deep groove several meters long in the street, the players no longer underestimated the power of the paper. To avoid being hindered by the paper, they simply dodged outright.
Killing these people wasn't difficult. Xu Huo unleashed his Spiritual Realm, stacked mental-type items, instantly maximizing his Spiritual Power. He quickly took control of these people, capturing or killing them. With Zhu Xiaojin and the others assisting, the battle ended in less than five minutes.
"Three got away," Zhu Xiaojin said, dragging over a heavily injured, unconscious player. He glanced at the empty room and couldn't help but ask, "Did you move everyone out in advance?"
Xu Huo glanced at him, then released all the people he had stuffed into the "Staff Dormitory." The ordinary people had no ability to resist. Two players, who had decent drug resistance, were slowly waking up, but the Painting Woman gave them two more injections as soon as they came out, and they went back to sleep.
"It's never safe to keep people inside a location item," Zhu Xiaojin suggested they be separated and guarded, preferably kept in container items for easy carrying.
"Do you have large-capacity container items?" Xu Huo asked.
Zhu Xiaojin didn't have any container items, so he planned to buy some on the spot. Container items were rare among the various items and had many usage restrictions. They couldn't hold many people either.
Xu Huo's Picture Frame had no time limit but could only hold two people. The "Staff Dormitory" could hold multiple people but had a time limit and couldn't be used for long-term storage.
Keeping so many people was indeed a problem.
"Has the warrant application from the City Hall still not been approved?" Qiao Jieping asked.
To avoid anyone interfering with the communicator, Xu Huo usually kept the communicator linked to the City Hall separately. Hearing Qiao Jieping's question, he entered the location item and checked again.
Still no reply.
"Maybe there are too many applicants. Let's wait a bit longer," Cheng Zhongzhi said. "The instance clearance time is thirty days. With our progress, we have more than enough time."
That was true, but the captured people still needed to be watched carefully.
So Xu Huo and the others split into two groups, each taking half a day to guard. As for the newly hired temporary workers, they weren't allowed to step into the temporary law enforcement building until they had some "results."
With more players helping, the number of warrant review submissions increased several times over. Of course, half of them were held by temporary workers scattered in other areas. The ones gathered at Xu Huo's place barely accounted for half, but progress was still progress.
However, the City Hall's lack of response was starting to cause anxiety.
That night, Xu Huo and his group gathered in the hall of the location item for dinner. The dozen or so players who had joined later stayed in the shops across the street—neither side wanted to get too close, so this arrangement was best.
That day, aside from capturing some people, there was no further progress on the one-third game. Players were still suddenly disappearing in plain sight, going to unknown places, but it didn't look like they were clearing the instance and leaving.
"No one has seen the Water Cube?" Tang Yu had asked this question many times. Many people had seen players suddenly vanish, but none of them had ever seen the Water Cube. This included Lou Zigui and Old Cai's group, who also said they had never seen it. As for the "Ding Dong Bleeding" message, there was still no reply.
"Could it be related to time?" Qiao Jieping speculated. "Old Cai and the people following Lou Zigui haven't reached their instance time limit yet. The ones who told us about the Water Cube were stranded players. Maybe after enough time, even if you don't actively trigger the one-third game, you'll still be randomly selected into it."
"So failing to clear the instance still means you can't leave the instance," Shen Fu said dejectedly. "Whether you stick your neck out or keep it tucked in, it's the same. Might as well enter the game early!"
The others didn't speak, but they felt much the same.
"Get some rest early. We have work tomorrow," Xu Huo said, clapping his hands.
Tang Yu couldn't help but laugh. "Who would have thought we'd be working in an instance? Does this count as being law-abiding?"
"Compared to most players in the instance, we're all law-abiding good people," Cheng Zhongzhi nodded. "Hope good people get good rewards."
Whether good people get good rewards was unknown, but that night, Cheng Zhongzhi and Shen Fu disappeared.
Xu Huo woke from a light sleep and noticed that the people in the location item had decreased. He immediately got up and called over Zhu Xiaojin and Shi Meng, who had been sleeping near the two missing men, asking if they had noticed anything.
Zhu Xiaojin had been sound asleep and knew nothing. He was only woken up by his own defensive barrier when Xu Huo called him. As for Shi Meng, he had been awake the whole time, but he hadn't seen Shen Fu disappear. He just felt that the person behind him was suddenly gone. He was about to get up and call someone when Xu Huo arrived.
Qiao Jieping checked the recorder in the room and handed it to Xu Huo. "I can't see anything unusual. It looks like he just suddenly vanished while lying there."
Xu Huo took it and looked. The recording device had its limits. All he could see was what the recorder had captured. He couldn't sense whether any other force had intervened.
The recorder was passed around the group and eventually returned to the table.
"This should be the one-third game, right?" Tang Yu's eyes held a hint of worry. "I hope they come back with something useful."
It wasn't just their group that had people disappear. Among the captured wanted criminals, two players and one ordinary person had vanished. Across the street, one of the temporary workers had also disappeared.
The captured players were all heavily injured and drugged. There was no way they could survive.
But since things had come to this, everyone understood that the one-third game was unavoidable. It was only a matter of time. The best course of action was to clear the instance as quickly as possible.
Zhu Xiaojin glanced at Shi Meng, who was standing stiffly behind the others, and gave Xu Huo a meaningful look.
(Chapter End)