Chapter 2859: Another Layer of Space
Among the group that arrived, five players did indeed enter, but the spatial portal couldn't remain open for long, and the entrance closed shortly after these individuals went through.
However, this wasn't the end of it. The remaining people entered the building, intending to find a new suitable location to open a portal.
This operation made the six who had been trapped for so long both envious and bitter. Players backed by the government, especially those from large player organizations, had a much higher survival rate when entering instances—a stark contrast to the plight of ordinary players.
Xu Huo didn't plan to stay long. Before the players from different spaces completely mixed together, he intended to explore just how many spaces this instance venue actually had.
Before leaving, he invited Cong Lei and the dark-eyed player who had been there for fifteen days. "I did intend for you to test the rules, but the boundaries of the rules are hard to figure out. Perhaps if you follow me to other spaces, you might actually be safer."
"I doubt we'll clear this instance anytime soon. Do you plan to go without sleep for a whole month?"
"If I can't trust a player organization, can I trust you?" the dark-eyed player said irritably.
"I'm alone; they're many." Xu Huo smiled. "If something's really wrong, can't you just run?"
Facing one opponent was always better than facing twenty or thirty.
Cong Lei seemed to have some grudge with the newly arrived player organization. He couldn't cross spaces on his own and had already been in the instance for over ten days. Even if he managed to stay safely in a small compartment during the first half of the night, walking out in the second half would likely get him targeted by the instance boss immediately.
"I'll go with you," he nodded, then said to the dark-eyed player, "You've been here fifteen days. Can you outlast the others?"
The dark-eyed player looked at the busy members of the player organization, then back at Xu Huo. Neither side was trustworthy, but dealing with one still left a chance to escape. With too many people, he'd be at their mercy!
The two agreed to leave, while the remaining four silently retreated back into the building.
Xu Huo led Cong Lei and the dark-eyed player back into the building. The later-arriving players didn't interfere with them. If they met in the hallway, they would even politely make way.
Finding a concentration point of spatial power in the east wing of the building, Xu Huo opened a portal and stepped through, only to discover that this space was vastly different from the previous ones.
Although players were trapped in different spaces, the research institute they saw was largely the same. This state wasn't one of multiple identical institute spaces overlapping, but rather the venue itself remained unchanged, with players separated by different spaces. Even if they stayed in the same room, they wouldn't interfere with each other.
But now, this newly found space had many more things in it. He still emerged from the east wing, but the room contained not only extra tables and chairs but also various scattered daily necessities—ranging from damaged terminals and cracked door panels to cups, knives, and even robot arms and feet. This layer of space seemed to be a place for recycling defective products.
"I've been to two spaces in between... or maybe two," Cong Lei said. "I've never seen this layer. Have you?"
He was asking the dark-eyed player, who replied irritably, "How would I know? I don't even know how many spaces I've been to!"
"You don't know anything, yet you still entered a spatial-type instance?" Cong Lei was astonished.
"I came in with someone else," the dark-eyed player lowered his voice. "Thought I was going to get rich, but it turned out to be a death sentence."
No need to ask—he was alone now, so his companions must have all perished.
Unlike the other spaces, this layer still had a lingering smell of decay, like food or corpses. As they came down from upstairs, they gradually saw trash bins containing unknown objects, a hand skeleton with only bones left, and several small terminals.
Cong Lei picked one up and fiddled with it. "Only one is working."
"Open it and take a look," the dark-eyed player urged.
A projection appeared in the air. The image showed a very thin person who looked like a child from their height, but their facial features appeared quite mature. They wore numbered clothing, looked nervously ahead, and after a moment spoke cautiously, "Doctor He, I didn't come out on purpose last night. I couldn't sleep, so I wanted to walk around. It's not Xiao Jia and the others' fault—I went to talk to them..."
The response was silence. As the boy's expression changed, even Xu Huo and the other two watching felt the oppressive weight of the tension.
After a long while, a man's voice finally spoke, "You've been at the institute the longest. You're the big brother to everyone, and the most well-behaved. I've always trusted you. But your behavior yesterday was too disappointing. How could you secretly go find Number 0234 just because she was always crying?"
"The new children are always like this. What you should do is calm their emotions during the day, make them take the medicine I've prepared, and let them have a good sleep. Everything will be better the next day."
The boy nervously twisted the hem of his clothes and promised earnestly, "I can do it! I can do it! I'll make sure they don't cry anymore today, and I'll make them take the medicine! Doctor He, can I try again?"
Perhaps his pleading attitude satisfied Doctor He, as the man's voice relaxed and he said cheerfully, "You're my favorite child. That's why I've kept you at the institute. Keep up the good work."
The boy seemed genuinely happy and ran off like a real child.
Then the camera shifted to a desk. The image showed a pale, gaunt man. He was doodling on the terminal with his fingers while muttering, "It's such a shame that the experimental subjects stopped growing. This drug is too risky—selling it would easily get me into trouble... Such a waste of all the time I've invested... But the side effects are quite effective..."
After finishing his notes, he pulled up the boy's file and said smugly to the camera, "This is my greatest masterpiece. He survived one hundred and thirty-one drug trials. He's the best experimental subject I've ever found. When the new drug is successfully developed, he and I will have our names engraved on the monument of medical history!"
Besides this file, the terminal also contained some data that laymen couldn't understand.
"I know this Doctor He," Cong Lei said. "He used to be quite famous, often praised by the district government. He was supposedly poached from another district by the Hexin Research Institute. But when the Hexin Research Institute was attacked, he died, leaving only half a corpse."
The dark-eyed player glanced sideways at the half skeleton covered by tables and chairs. "Looks like the other half ended up here."
Judging by some of the small items in this layer of space, the institute's space had likely shown abnormalities long before the instance was formed. Otherwise, so many institute items wouldn't have been left behind. However, none of the existing records about the institute mentioned this.