Chapter 2304: Backup Plan
"You mean going out through those spatial gaps?" Xu Huo was surprised by his audacity.
Shi Sanjiu, however, smiled and said, "You should have seen the spatial gaps in the city center. They're relatively stable. If we enter the game, they should be even more stable."
"Spatial gaps and spatial portals are essentially the same thing. The difference lies in their opening time and stability. As long as we can find a relatively safe spatial gap, escaping directly shouldn't be a problem."
"A spatial gap might only appear for an instant. In such a short time, how can we determine the situation on the other side? It's unlikely to connect to a calm and peaceful district." Xu Huo said.
Even if spatial gaps could indeed lead to other districts, what were the chances of selecting the right one and succeeding?
Besides, no one had said the passage behind a spatial gap was safe.
This proposal sounded somewhat fanciful.
However, Shi Sanjiu then took out a triangular-shaped instrument. The instrument was entirely metallic, with no display screen on its surface.
Shi Sanjiu released his hand, and the triangular instrument automatically floated up. Then the metal on its surface began to flow, with one corner pointing toward the city center extending forward.
The originally palm-width triangle was stretched into a very slender shape.
"This instrument can detect whether there are stable spaces nearby. When it starts to extend, it means the space it's pointing to is relatively safe. The longer it extends, the shorter the possible passage to another space. Color also plays a role. Look, when it changes, the inside looks like flowing sand. Maintaining its original color means there's no other force mixed into this spatial passage. If it changes color, it means there might be multiple temporal-spatial forces inside. Even if the passage is stable and safe enough, it might not be easy to pass through."
As he spoke, he took out a cross-space teleportation item and activated it. When the spatial portal opened, the triangular instrument almost turned into a straight line, and the constantly flowing metal color remained stable without further changes.
"The passage from a teleportation item is the safest. It's normal for the detection instrument to perform like this." Shi Sanjiu raised his hand. "Unfortunately, even cross-district teleportation items can't take effect in instances or in the game. The interference is too great."
"Since it's a spatial gap, finding a few B-rank temporal-spatial evolvers would be difficult for you." Xu Huo still didn't favor his plan.
"Don't underestimate yourself." Shi Sanjiu was not discouraged at all. "How do you know without trying?"
"It's not a matter of underestimating or not. It's that this method is too risky and unnecessary." Xu Huo said. "For me, gathering wanted criminals to clear the instance is safer and more convenient."
"It might be like that for you, but not for me." Shi Sanjiu sighed. He didn't insist, however. "But the third game won't wait for you. Waiting to clear the instance also carries risks. Why not consider my plan as a backup?"
He wrote down all his speculations and plans regarding the third game on paper and pushed it in front of Xu Huo. "I'll give this kind of paper to every player entering the third game. You can stay in the city center. I'll go find others. If we meet in the third game, you can consider cooperating then."
Xu Huo put the items away. "Definitely."
He saw Shi Sanjiu out, watched him leave, then reopened his communicator. His brow immediately furrowed. "Why has the wanted criminal review been suspended?"
As he spoke, his gaze fell on Old Cai not far away.
Old Cai had been keeping an eye on the situation. Noticing Xu Huo's gaze, he immediately came over. His eyes fell on the communicator in Xu Huo's hand. "The communication channel is unstable. It's always been like this. Sometimes it might disconnect."
"Then find a way." Xu Huo said in a deep voice.
Old Cai looked troubled but didn't refuse. He just gritted his teeth and left.
"So he's also from the city government." Zhu Xiaojin walked over and lowered his voice. "Could he be deliberately stalling your numbers?"
"I'll keep an eye on them." The Painting Woman volunteered.
Xu Huo didn't comment. Instead, he entered the city center again and tried to approach the original site of the city government.
However, within a minute, he returned in defeat. This time, two spatial ray blades had pierced his arm and calf.
Although the wounds healed quickly, the danger of the process temporarily made him abandon the idea of probing again in the short term.
Zhu Xiaojin and Mi Qiaonan were waiting outside. Seeing him come out injured, they tactfully advised him to be more patient. Given the situation, it would be difficult to manipulate the one-third game from within the city center. If it triggered some adverse chain reaction, wouldn't the gain outweigh the loss?
Accepting their goodwill, Xu Huo asked, "Where do spatial gaps usually connect to?"
"I know this one." Zhu Xiaojin immediately said. "I've specifically looked into it. If it's a naturally formed spatial gap, it definitely connects to all sorts of chaotic places. Most of the time, they're uninhabited. Think about it—places with unstable space are definitely unsuitable for living. Even if someone does live there, the environment is extremely harsh. It's probably only high-risk instances and districts completely abandoned by the game."
"Just thinking about it is depressing."
Mi Qiaonan also nodded. "Every time I encounter places and instances like that, I feel that muddling along in the game isn't so bad... What are A-rank wormhole points really like?"
Zhu Xiaojin, being well-traveled, said, "I've been to an A-rank wormhole point once. Not every A-rank wormhole point and its districts are better than those behind. If a district here has been crippled, it's truly crippled."
"Tsk, if people didn't still have a little bit of value, I'm afraid some districts would have been directly cleared."
Such things weren't uncommon in the game. Some unlucky districts that were chosen might have all their inhabitants reduced to plunder. Being ruled and governed by another district was already the best outcome.
"But I've heard a rumor. Back when the game first started, there weren't many wormhole points or districts. The early-developing wormhole points and districts wanted to take advantage of the new districts not being developed yet and just seize the territory outright. This was tacitly accepted by everyone at the time. Plus, everyone was warlike. Several districts would often start wars together."
"It's said that many districts were destroyed, and their numbers had to be reshuffled."
"Fortunately, enough wormhole points and districts were born in the game, and they evolved quickly enough. Otherwise, the later districts would have been in trouble." Mi Qiaonan interjected.
"That's not the only reason. The sheer number of wormhole points and districts made it impossible to manage everything. Another major reason was that a player managed to sneak into the Stellar Corporation headquarters undetected and almost wiped out the company and its boss in one go. That forced the already-evolved A-rank wormhole points to sit down and renegotiate."