Chapter 2945: Wisteria
Using the Seventeenth Hospital as an example, the fantasies in a person's mind are projected inside the hospital under the influence of the venue's power, such as the monsters and ghosts that humans fear. However, this does not mean that monsters and ghosts truly exist. When players imagine them, even if other players perceive the existence of these monsters and ghosts through the first player's experiences and descriptions, the things appearing in their "field of vision" will not be exactly the same.
This is more like an imprecise projection of spiritual power. A person releases their spiritual power through a special venue, but they cannot control it as precisely as a Mental Evolver. Therefore, the projected things may appear differently in different people's eyes, each being a re-processed product of their own mind.
Inside the Wisteria Instance, everything people see is maximally close to reality. For example, if someone sees a player being devoured by a ferocious beast, that player was indeed bitten to death by a beast. As for those players killed by ordinary people, the people are indeed dead, but not from sharp weapons like knives or swords—they were killed by the wisteria.
It's unclear how long these people have been inside, so Xu Huo cannot determine whether they died from sleeping too long or because they happened to be killed in their dreams while asleep, causing death in reality. If it's the latter... then this is indeed a hunting game where hunter and prey can switch identities at any time.
When a conscious entity, or spiritual entity, in a dream is killed by another conscious entity or spiritual entity, the physical body in reality dies.
This seems vastly different from other spiritual-type instances.
Generally speaking, mental attacks appear to influence others on the level of thought, but to be directly killed by spiritual power, most people cannot withstand the powerful force assault, leading to brain collapse. For example, Xu Huo's "Mirror Space" is actually a concentrated release of high-intensity spiritual power that overwhelms another person's brain. Whether it's the impact of the force on the brain itself, or the other person being unable to bear this spiritual power, exceeding mental capacity and causing blood vessels in the head to burst, it's still a physical-level attack. Moreover, to achieve this effect, one must have extremely strong spiritual power.
But in the Wisteria Instance, the spiritual intensity of ordinary people is not higher than that of players, yet they can completely kill players through imagined "weapons" or methods. It appears that awake people are attacking sleeping people, but the actual situation is two spiritual entities colliding. The killer may not even know what spiritual power or mental attack is!
Dying in sleep... this instance seems even more fantastical than anything else.
What's terrifying is that the vast instance venue is filled with similar scenes everywhere.
The last time Xu Huo saw such strong spiritual power was in the Goddess Vine Space.
That mutated Goddess Vine developed consciousness, and its main body likely spread throughout the underground of the entire district, allowing it to achieve effects beyond human capability. Is it the same with these wisteria?
Xu Huo's gaze shifted to the place he had destroyed in his dream earlier. The open space he had painstakingly cleared was now restored to its original state.
"The Special Defense Department gave us some spray-type agents," Jin Xiang came over and said to him.
"Let's try them," Xu Huo replied. Since everything that happens in the dream is close to reality, if people repeatedly fall asleep in the dream and are hard to wake, the same is likely true in reality. Whether spray-type agents can achieve better results depends on luck.
A large number of aircraft carrying cameras and agents dispersed, not only to indiscriminately counteract the effects of wisteria pollen but more importantly to search for people.
It was clear that the Special Defense Department placed great importance on the two teams that had entered.
As more and more players woke up, ordinary people found in Zone 014, whether dead or alive, were continuously sent out of the instance through items.
Although some people still suddenly fell asleep, once they did, they were immediately sent out, greatly reducing the risk, so this was no longer a problem.
Since players fell asleep as soon as they entered, most areas of this instance venue had likely never been explored. Xu Huo led a team away from the main group to explore independently.
The reason he brought a team was that the Special Defense Department was worried he might fall asleep again. Of course, Xu Huo didn't refuse this kindness, but he still had two armed robots follow him closely.
Along the way, they rescued some people, but he also discovered the general pattern of wisteria growth.
In the area they passed through, the wisteria all climbed and grew toward the southeast, and the branches in that direction were especially lush. The farther they went, the more obvious this became.
Because these wisteria often grew around trees, the density of hanging vines varied. At first, the density of purple flowers hanging from the trees didn't differ much, but as it became more pronounced, a yin-yang effect appeared, and the area covered by the vines grew larger and larger.
During this time, three of the people following Xu Huo fell asleep. Yes, even fully equipped, some still fell asleep, and the intervals between the three became shorter and shorter, forcing the remaining people to inject themselves with agents in advance.
"Brother Xu, maybe we should find a way out first," Jin Xiang tactfully advised. He had come to understand that the only way to escape was to use a container item. Headquarters' orders were clear: they were to politely and gently explain the pros and cons and persuade Xu Huo to leave early.
Of course, if he could find a way to clear the instance, that would be best, but compared to clearing the instance, the outside needed him more.
Without needing the Special Defense Department to send a special briefing, Xu Huo could guess the situation outside. He had Jin Xiang record a video of himself to send back to the Special Defense Department, then said, "I can't return yet. Have the Special Defense Department rescue the people trapped in the instance as quickly as possible."
Jin Xiang opened his mouth but ultimately said nothing more. He already knew Xu Huo's identity from outside. How to put it... Since he had specifically come in to rescue people, how could he leave when most people hadn't been found yet? What if others fell asleep again once he left? Would he have to come a second time?
Even though many players from the Special Defense Department could now escape, no one could say that the people outside were more important than those trapped in the instance and in Hai City. With hundreds of thousands of people, who dared to make that decision?
The nation couldn't say it, and certainly couldn't decide. They could only do their best to take care of both sides.
Xu Huo not only could, but dared.
He probably didn't care at all about the hopes that those caught in the war outside held for him, nor about the unreasonable resentment they might feel if their hopes were dashed. He didn't think the lives of the strong were more valuable than those of the weak. He simply chose, under the circumstances, to rescue the most endangered group.
Jin Xiang's heart surged as he looked at the man's back ahead. He couldn't help but shout, "Brother Xu, I want to leave the Special Defense Department and follow you!"
Xu Huo turned to look at this forty-year-old man with tears in his eyes and paused for a second.