Chapter 2892: Hell-Level Difficulty
Seeing the man breathe his last, the woman who had been kneeling on the ground let out a scream, then turned to the female player in terror and roared, "Who asked you to meddle..."
But before she could finish, her throat was slit in the same manner.
"So noisy." The female player snorted coldly and turned back into her room.
The door closed again, and no one paid any attention to the two corpses in the hallway.
After a long while, the gaunt man from the front desk crept upstairs. With a pained expression, he knelt before the woman, cradling her body and silently weeping. But soon he wiped his face dry, hoisted the corpse, and carried it away. A moment later, he returned and dragged the man's body downstairs.
This was just a minor incident, utterly ignored by everyone. But the next morning, when the Outer Zone Players staying in the building stepped outside, they found that the female player had vanished.
"Has the guest in 603 checked out?" someone asked the gaunt man.
The gaunt man forced a smile onto his face. "I didn't see her leave. She might have slipped out early."
A few of the Outer Zone Players who had also arrived the day before changed expressions slightly, but they said nothing and silently walked out of the small inn.
The drizzling rain hadn't stopped, and the streets were trampled into a filthy mess. Though the sky was overcast, seeing this district in broad daylight was even harder on the eyes than at night.
"That bastard definitely knows where she went," the Outer Zone Players muttered among themselves. "He probably tipped off Scepter City again."
Xu Huo had already used the Under Dimension the previous night to search for basic information about this Instance.
"King's Throne" was a long-standing Instance, and also a famous one in B05-031.
As the Instance description stated, the requirement was simple: become the king and obtain the king's treasure. But the problem was that there was only one king's throne, so the vast majority of people couldn't clear it.
This had led to the current situation in Zone 031, where it was controlled by Stranded Players.
The entire Instance consisted of twelve scattered cities. Becoming king didn't just mean capturing King's City. According to the experiences of previous players, one had to seize at least more than half of the cities to truly claim the king's throne. Among these, King's City, where the throne itself was located, along with Scepter City, Crown City, and Sword City—the symbols of royal authority—absolutely had to be taken. Failing to secure the governments of these four cities meant failure in seizing power, even if everyone agreed to elect someone as king, they couldn't clear the Instance.
So this was an Instance that required cooperation between Ticket Players and local players to clear.
But even knowing this so clearly, Ticket Players still found it extremely difficult to clear it. Most of the players who had stayed behind after participating in A-Class Instances were not weak. Coupled with the fact that this zone had developed poorly in the early stages of evolution, the local players were weak. After the Stranded Players gathered, it became even harder for them to resist. To live better lives, the local players began to depend on the Stranded Players.
The remaining ordinary people and a considerable number of low-level players were all excluded, unable to even enter these twelve cities.
Meanwhile, the players controlling the cities had established extremely harsh policies. Besides mandatory taxation and food supply, those who were pushed out were basically not allowed to move freely. In other words, if anyone wanted to travel between these twelve cities, it was nearly impossible. The locals would strictly check and verify identities.
Of course, they didn't bother later-arriving Outer Zone Players, but due to differing stances, new targeted measures had emerged.
The Stranded Players didn't want Outer Zone Players to clear or disrupt the Instance, so these twelve cities were off-limits to them. To suppress Ticket Players and demonstrate their power, the cities where ordinary people lived, clustered near the twelve main cities, had a set of covertly enforced "laws." Calling them "laws" was more like the Stranded Players' way of passing the time when bored—they would kill anyone who violated the rules they had set in various ways.
For example, the man who had been cursing last night was a local, not living in any of the twelve main cities. But he had pledged allegiance to the players of Scepter City. So when he was killed, the players from Scepter City would come out to deal with his killer.
The one who had tipped them off was indeed the gaunt man. The female player had been silently moved away by a prop in the middle of the night. Where she had been taken, and whether she was alive or dead, was unknown for now.
The situation was extremely unfavorable for Ticket Players. At minimum, six main cities, with an incalculable number of players inside. Launching a power-seizing war in these six cities simultaneously was already difficult, let alone ensuring success.
This was a time-consuming and labor-intensive Instance.
Of course, some players had tried to break through from within, such as bribing the high-level players of the six cities to jointly elect him as king. That way, there would be no need for siege warfare or fighting so many Stranded Players.
But the result was that it came to nothing. The person who proposed the plan never said whether he succeeded or not. Those who tried later couldn't even get past the first step of "bribery" and naturally ended up joining the twelve main cities.
And the reason there was so much information on the Under Dimension was partly because the twelve main cities had released it themselves. They wanted later players to back down.
An Instance with no time limit. If you couldn't clear it, you could only stay here. So even for a Hell-Level difficulty Instance, Ticket Players had to find a way to clear it.
"Friend, since you're here, you must be a player of the King's Instance. How about we discuss how to clear it together?" someone invited Xu Huo.
Xu Huo joined the team.
Sixteen players gathered by the playground near the school. Only after using a prop did they begin to talk.
"To clear this Instance, we'll probably have to convince the local rebels," someone said.
"Didn't most of the players in 031 join the twelve main cities? How are there still rebels?"
"They're just some people unwilling to let their own zone be controlled by others," the buzz-cut man who spoke first said. "Some bow their heads, but others won't accept it. Compared to the Stranded Players, the local players definitely outnumber them. And they have an advantage—there might be informants among those who joined the twelve main cities."
"To be honest, I've been here for ten days. I've already contacted the rebels. They're willing to cooperate with us and agree to elect one of us as king afterward. Of course, we just need to clear the Instance and leave. The zone will be theirs afterward."
"Who gets elected as king?" a green-haired man immediately asked. "There's only one king's treasure."
"Clearing it is already incredibly difficult. Thinking about the king's treasure now is way too early," another female player chimed in. "Clearing doesn't require the king's treasure. Just becoming king is enough. I don't care, as long as I don't get stuck here. Who wants to retire in this godforsaken place?"
Several players who didn't think they had any outstanding abilities shared the same thought. Besides, since becoming king was enough to clear, it was easier to handle. Once a king left, others could vote to elect a new king—ten years ago, the Instance had produced a king, proving that the appearance of a king didn't mean the Instance ended. With enough time, a second and third king could be created.
"But what if, when a new king is elected, the other players who acted together are declared to have failed the Instance?" Xu Huo spoke up at this point.