Chapter 2269: Shell Instance
"Really?" Tang Yu immediately stepped forward. "How did you suddenly clear it?"
"The number reached..." Zhu Xiaojin stopped mid-sentence and suddenly slapped his thigh. "I knew I must have gained a lot in the game, otherwise how could I clear it so fast? Haha! Looks like I'm the chosen one!"
"Cut the crap," Tang Yu couldn't help interrupting. "Say something useful?"
"I've forgotten everything that happened in the game, so what useful stuff can I say?" Zhu Xiaojin counted the people around him. "Only seven or eight—still far from the number I need to clear. The remaining heads were either killed before or made up in the game. So many people before me couldn't clear it, so it's probably something that happened inside the game. Too bad I forgot—I don't know how heroic I must have been back then..."
"The One-Third Game should be a time-space field," Xu Huo reminded him. "Check if you've undergone Super Evolution. Also, clearing isn't enough—you still need to be able to leave."
Zhu Xiaojin immediately gave a thumbs-up. "You've got a point."
"But what exactly is time-space power like..."
He muttered to himself and went off to try alone. Tang Yu and the other players watched him closely, while some secretly tested whether they themselves had undergone Super Evolution.
After a long while, Zhu Xiaojin said disappointedly, "Looks like I'm really not cut out for Super Evolution. But what's going on? I know my own strength—it's not like I picked up all those items after the other players in the game died."
He turned to Xu Huo again. "How did you know it was a time-space field? Did you evolve?"
Xu Huo nodded slightly. "Try to see if your ticket works. If you manage to leave Buliucheng, just give me a signal."
Zhu Xiaojin suddenly understood. "We must have met in the game."
But the number Xu Huo needed to clear was too high to finish so quickly, so he chose Zhu Xiaojin as a test subject. If, after accumulating kills in the game and then counting the wanted criminals in Buliucheng, he could truly clear and leave, that meant they had found a way out.
"Count how many items you brought out of the game," Mi Qiaonan suddenly said.
"Already counted—36," Zhu Xiaojin replied. "Plus the ones here, it's exactly the number of wanted criminals I need to kill to clear."
This statement gave the others a dose of reassurance. Setting aside the wanted criminals in the game, it meant that applying for wanted criminal status through the City Hall channel was recognized by the instance. As long as they were careful, they could complete the instance task without even entering the game.
The second round of the game could start at any time, so it wasn't impossible to clear before then.
"No time to waste—let's go find wanted criminals now," Mi Qiaonan said confidently. Thanks to Zhu Xiaojin's hint, she found that the number of items she had brought out was also considerable, not far from what she needed to clear.
Most of the players still here were banking on Xu Huo's identity at City Hall. Since Zhu Xiaojin had already cleared, they didn't hesitate to apply for temporary worker status, with the wanted criminal submission ratio following what Xu Huo had previously agreed upon.
"Can you leave Buliucheng after clearing?" Tang Yu wanted Zhu Xiaojin to verify.
But Zhu Xiaojin wasn't in a hurry to leave. Instead, he said, "Brother Xu must have helped me in the game. Returning the favor, how could I just walk away? From now on, I don't need any more wanted criminal slots—everyone I catch goes to Brother Xu. Plus, I'm a living success story. If other players find out, they'll definitely seek cooperation on their own. That'll make it easier for you all to clear too."
"Loyal!" Qiao Jieping slung an arm around his shoulder. "I'm definitely keeping you as a friend!"
"Easy, easy!" Zhu Xiaojin was in high spirits, but when he wanted to go out and hunt wanted criminals, Xu Huo wasn't comfortable letting him wander too far. Spreading the news of his clearance had both pros and cons—players who failed to clear might not take kindly to others leaving safely.
"Stick with me," Xu Huo said. He had the Painting Woman announce Zhu Xiaojin's clearance publicly, making it clear that killing wanted criminals certified by City Hall was absolutely effective, while naturally hiding the game details.
"No problem." Zhu Xiaojin agreed readily.
From then on, everyone raced against time to find wanted criminals. Because the players' unlocked zones overlapped, some areas even saw multiple players fighting over the same wanted criminal.
"I don't get this instance at all," Zhu Xiaojin remarked. "If only City Hall-certified wanted criminals count, then why did the ones we killed before still unlock zones? Isn't that contradictory?"
"That only means the ones you killed were indeed wanted criminals, but they didn't count toward the accumulated number," Xu Huo explained. "This shows that 'unlocking zones' serves the One-Third Game and is one way to increase player participation."
The Buliucheng instance was actually quite clear now—its true core was the One-Third Game, and the instance wrapped around it was just a shell.
A field with such concentrated time-space power, capable of cutting off players' connection to their personal panels, was already beyond B-level instance standards. Erasing players' memories was likely meant to protect the One-Third Game.
It was hard to imagine this was a man-made game. Xu Huo was more inclined to believe it was an accidental miracle born within the Dimension Train game, or perhaps a joke played by the game's creator on the players.
The news of Zhu Xiaojin's clearance spread through various channels. Old Cai and Lou Zigui both came to confirm with Xu Huo.
Xu Huo told them honestly. Both were temporary enforcement officers, and with a confirmed channel, clearing wasn't so hard anymore.
Rejecting Old Cai's proposal to join forces, Xu Huo privately informed Lou Zigui that kills made inside the One-Third Game also counted toward the clearance number, and asked about the player in their team who had only lost her game memory.
Earlier, Lou Zigui had been vague, only saying that this person had lost her memory from the game. After Xu Huo came out, he realized this person might also have won the game. Most people lost some memory upon exiting the game, but this person, like him, had only lost the game memory, making it more likely she had won.
"I'm truly ashamed," Lou Zigui said with some embarrassment. "Mr. Xu has treated me sincerely, but I didn't reciprocate... She did win the game, but she disappeared three days later. The person who witnessed her disappearance was another female player. Both were in the restroom, and the other one only shouted 'Cube' before we went in to look—and both of them were gone."