Chapter 2285: Content and Level Mismatch
"How did the talk go?" Zhu Xiaojin and the others were barbecuing outside, and Old Cai had also come.
"Not much progress for now." Xu Huo glanced at Zhu Xiaojin. "Aren't you planning to leave yet?"
Zhu Xiaojin chuckled. "I'm under the least pressure right now. Leaving anytime is the same for me. As long as I don't enter the game, I'm fearless!"
"Is that so? Aren't you afraid you won't be able to leave?"
"Come on, I've already cleared the game!" Zhu Xiaojin felt a bit uneasy at his words.
"Not necessarily. Anyway, hardly anyone under the Dimension has mentioned the One-Third Game. It's possible that very few people have successfully left." Tang Yu added fuel to the fire from the side.
Zhu Xiaojin's expression changed. "Are you two just jealous of my carefree attitude?"
Old Cai couldn't help but laugh. "Local zone players can use other instances to enter and exit, which means the One-Third Game is still under the rules of the Dimensional Rift. Clearing it should be valid. As for no one mentioning the One-Third Game, maybe they forget about it entirely after leaving."
"That's possible." Tang Yu grabbed a card, wrote a line on it, and handed it to Zhu Xiaojin. "Keep this safe."
"Your savior is still in the instance. Remember to remind her that I've already cleared the game." Zhu Xiaojin read the words aloud, then snorted. "You've got some nerve."
"Anyway, you might not remember us after you leave. What difference does it make what I write?" Tang Yu winked at him.
Zhu Xiaojin scoffed. "You? My savior? Are you even my match?"
Tang Yu raised an eyebrow. "Not convinced? We can settle it right now!"
"Bring it on!" Zhu Xiaojin threw down his skewer. "Let's go, let's see who's better!"
The two left one after the other and didn't return until two hours later. Only cold food remained, but Zhu Xiaojin didn't mind and picked it up to hand to Tang Yu.
Old Cai, resting in the hall, gave them an ambiguous look. "Youth is wonderful."
Zhu Xiaojin ruffled Tang Yu's hair and glanced at him. "You guys sleep. I'll take the late-night watch."
Old Cai chuckled and went into the next room.
Early the next morning, Mi Qiaonan and Ban Yuan came looking for them. Besides bringing some breakfast, they also brought news: someone had seen the Water Cube again last night and confirmed it was coming from the city center.
"Confirmed from the city center?" Xu Huo washed his face before asking. "Was he waiting near the city center on purpose?"
Mi Qiaonan couldn't help but nod. "You're quick to react. She was indeed waiting outside the city center specifically. She also has a notebook recording at least five instances of the Water Cube's appearance and state."
"What does she want?" Xu Huo cut straight to the point.
"To trade wanted criminals." Mi Qiaonan spoke quickly. "From what she said, she's only a few people short of clearing the game. She figured you'd be interested, so she proposed the deal."
"No problem." Xu Huo had plenty of wanted criminals on hand and agreed immediately.
After Ban Yuan sent the message, a middle-aged woman soon arrived near the location item. She had an ordinary appearance but was very approachable, not looking like a player at first glance. She politely nodded to everyone, then took out the notebook and tossed it directly to Xu Huo. "This notebook was given to me by another player. It's changed hands several times, and the records haven't been falsified."
Xu Huo opened it, glanced at it, then closed the notebook, blocking the view of Old Cai and Zhu Xiaojin beside him. "How many people do you need?"
"Twelve." The woman said. "As a return, I can tell you after clearing whether I successfully left the district."
Xu Huo readily assigned twelve people to her.
The woman used a needle to end the lives of the twelve, then received the exact confirmation of clearing the game. She smiled and said, "I've cleared the game. Thank you."
She looked at Xu Huo. "I know the game world isn't short on geniuses, but from my observation, the city center occupied by the Water Cube isn't just an ordinary temporal-spatial power field. I learned a bit from a senior before. The One-Third Game is likely an instance created by people who understand the game's rules. Whether for experiments or other purposes, being set within a B-grade instance must have its meaning. My advice is to avoid getting involved in the city center. Losing all memories is beyond a player's comprehension, and since it's not controlled by a person, it suggests there are power laws in the game that players can't understand or resist."
"Under such circumstances, unpredictable loss of control might occur. It's better to stay away."
"Thank you for the advice." Xu Huo nodded in acknowledgment.
The woman gave a slight nod in return, then used her ticket.
As she disappeared from the location item, a flicker of joy passed through everyone's eyes. This proved that as long as you successfully cleared the game, you could leave Buliucheng.
"Now we don't have to worry about being trapped here forever." Zhu Xiaojin said with a grin.
"Hurry up and see what's in the notebook." Old Cai turned to Xu Huo.
"Are you sure you want to see?" Xu Huo didn't open the notebook immediately but asked this instead.
Zhu Xiaojin and the others were curious, but they had no intention of going to the city center. Besides, they weren't Super Evolvers. Even if they knew where the Water Cube came from, what use would it be? So Tang Yu and Mi Qiaonan immediately offered to go out and catch people.
Ban Yuan felt the same way.
"Let me have a look." Zhu Xiaojin was itching with curiosity. "I'm just curious."
Xu Huo didn't say much and simply opened the notebook.
The handwriting on the first page wasn't from the same person. Two people had recorded seeing Water Cubes rolling out from the city center from different directions. In their descriptions, the Water Cubes moved through the city like bouncing balls, varying in size. Anyone accidentally touched by a Water Cube would vanish instantly—whether they died or entered the game was unclear.
Combined with the three subsequent records, the previous notebook holder had summarized two characteristics: "The Water Cubes come out from the city center at night" and "They never repeat the same path."
As for the size of the Water Cubes, it was inconsistent—sometimes large, sometimes small—and their direction after emerging was generally a straight line, without bouncing back and forth within the city.
Old Cai compared it with a map. "The directions are completely unrelated. And it doesn't damage buildings, only seems to affect people. Does that mean the Water Cubes coming from the city center are just a medium?"
"That's possible." Xu Huo was thinking about another issue. On the surface, the Water Cubes seemed to target those who "avoided triggering game rules" or "won the game." This method felt more like patching loopholes. Although the notification upon leaving the game suggested this was a man-made game, given the number of players Xu Huo had killed and the unused items, the game's content seemed mismatched with its level.
Such a venue, more intricately arranged than Dr. Wu's Pumpkin City, couldn't just be for sealing off players' personal panels and killing them, could it?