# Chapter 2438: Mutual Suspicion
Xu Huo had a "Please Sit" trait, but its activation required being within an appropriate indoor space, so he merely casually invited the two players across from him to take a seat.
The two pursuing players had arrived with aggressive momentum, and their strength was naturally not weak. When they saw Xu Huo restraining the injured player, although somewhat startled, they didn't feel he posed much of a threat—after all, that person was already injured, and their props and instruments had been largely consumed. But at this moment, meeting Xu Huo's gaze, they suddenly realized it wasn't that the injured player was weak, but that Xu Huo was too strong!
Refusal to cooperate meant only death!
The two automatically interpreted Xu Huo's gaze as a threat, so they turned their eyes toward Bubble Bean and the Yin-Yang Master beside them.
Bubble Bean and the Yin-Yang Master's expressions weren't pleasant either. So these two had been playing the pig to eat the tiger all along, not revealing even half their trump cards when fighting them!
"Just sit down. Having a meal is better than nothing." Bubble Bean said irritably to the two. It was still better than eating blades.
The players sat back down, and the banquet continued.
"Which one of you is the Hidden Friend?" Someone suppressed their urge to act. Bubble Bean used a silencing prop to isolate the villagers and went straight to playing open cards, directly asking the two.
The two players who arrived later had formed a temporary alliance and weren't particularly familiar with each other, so naturally they wouldn't coordinate their stories. One of them, who had an eyebrow piercing, directly pointed his chin at the injured person across from him. "He is."
Hearing this, the injured player's face immediately flushed with anger, but when his gaze touched Xu Huo sitting right beside him, he suppressed his fury and said through gritted teeth, "I've said it many times, I'm not the Hidden Friend. It hasn't even been my turn yet!"
"If it's not you, then why were you spying on us, pretending to be an acquaintance to call us over?" The eyebrow-piercing player didn't believe him. "And after being exposed, you tried to kill someone."
The injured player grew even more furious. "I wasn't pretending to be an acquaintance to call you over—I really was calling you! The instance background already made it clear that being alone makes you an easy target. I wandered through the forest for several days without encountering a real person. When I finally found you, of course I had to observe and confirm first. You say I'm the Hidden Friend—I'm afraid you two are the Hidden Friends!"
Both sides stuck to their own arguments, unable to reach a conclusion. Bubble Bean seized the opportunity to ask, "So the Hidden Friend identity really does rotate? None of you have encountered the person whose turn it was?"
"Rotating roles is my guess," the injured player said. "Looking at the instance introduction, this should be pretty clear. If one person was designated from the start, wouldn't the others just be waiting to be killed?"
That had been everyone's first thought upon seeing the instance introduction, which was why the players were suspicious of each other. But none of the people present had received any information notification about the impersonator, so they couldn't figure out the exact situation.
"Friend, you should be a Mental Super Evolver, right? Do you know the inside story?" The middle-aged man beside the eyebrow-piercing player looked at Xu Huo. "This instance has a time limit. Presumably, failing to clear it still allows you to leave. We don't necessarily have to fight to the death. If you know something, I'd be willing to buy the information at a high price—definitely exceeding what you'd gain from clearing the instance."
Eliminating opponents didn't always require brute force. When encountering a tough nut, some conciliatory tactics could work.
Xu Huo drank some fruit wine, giving him a half-smile. "If I really knew the inside story, do you think I'd sell the information to you?"
The middle-aged man fell silent, but then Xu Huo continued, "I'm not a player in this instance. I just happened to pass through here."
The three who arrived later were all shocked: Wait, you're not even an instance player, so why are you getting involved?
Then they turned their gazes toward Bubble Bean and the other.
Bubble Bean shrugged. "We are instance players, but we've gained nothing so far. We've seen plenty of figures in the forest, but none of them were real players."
The eyebrow-piercing player and his companion were the same.
"Let's wait a bit longer. Maybe more players will come here," Bubble Bean said. "Let's eat our fill first."
The group intentionally avoided discussing instance-related matters. Once he brought it up, naturally no one took the initiative to speak further. They ate while listening to the surrounding villagers chat.
The topics of conversation were nothing more than which young person had married and moved away with their spouse, or which elderly person had moved because they missed their children, or where wild vegetables and fruits were in season and they should arrange a time to go picking together. Some who had drunk a bit more would touch on more private topics—the young people gathered around talking about their crushes, while the older ones discussed health conditions.
Even though they had just witnessed players fighting and had nearly become hostages, the villagers still didn't treat the players like monsters.
Bubble Bean and the others deliberately tried to inquire about the Hidden Friend, taking the opportunity to ask more questions. When they asked whether the Hidden Friend would take outsiders away as friends, the villagers mostly gave the same answer:
"Strange people want friends, but they don't necessarily have to be friends from the same place. They'd definitely want to make some friends from outside too."
So even though they didn't know whether the players who suddenly appeared and then suddenly disappeared had been taken away by the Hidden Friend, they didn't really care, because in their view, all of this was perfectly normal.
"Aren't you afraid of players?" Bubble Bean asked a young man.
The young man chuckled. "Players have told us before that they can't harm ordinary people like us, otherwise they can't clear the instance. You all must be the same."
"We all know this."
"No wonder," Bubble Bean sighed.
After the banquet ended, the villagers went home. Although some invited the three newcomers to stay in their homes, they ended up settling into two empty houses instead.
The injured player went to Xu Huo's house, while the eyebrow-piercing player and his companion stayed with Bubble Bean and the other.
Although the injured player feared Xu Huo, worried for his own life, he had no choice but to stay with him.
"Can you just kill anyone if you're not the Hidden Friend?" Xu Huo asked. "How many people are in your instance? If it really rotates randomly, you can't possibly kill everyone else before the rotation happens, can you?"
Outnumbered and having stumbled into the instance area, it was understandable that Xu Huo would be concerned about safety issues.
"The instance requires that the impersonator can't kill the wrong person—that's certain. But that statement isn't very clear and has some ambiguity, so whether you're the impersonator or not, you can't kill people casually..." The injured player paused before adding, "That's my understanding. Anyone cautious would think the same. Who knew those two would be completely unreasonable? I don't think they care at all about clearing the instance. It's a timed instance—even if you fail to clear it, it won't hurt much. That's why they're so reckless."
"I suspect there are quite a few people who think the same way as them," Xu Huo said, stroking his chin. "The more players gather, the easier it is for problems to arise."
But the more players gathered, the more likely it was that the Hidden Friend impersonator would appear.