Chapter 2970: Unexpected Incidents Keep Occurring
Nie Xuan smiled after hearing this. "Alright, I imagine no matter who ends up in charge of the district government, they wouldn't dare not acknowledge this."
The list provided by the Special Defense Department contained quite a few items, including two Primordial Stones. Although there were no Super Items, there was one Time-type item, seven Single-Use Items, three Mental-type items, and two items with thought energy, similar to Mr. Dong's and Da Mao's items.
In addition, there were some more practical devices.
"These items are all carefully selected high-quality goods, the cream of the crop among what Country X's government has collected. Ordinary items and devices probably won't be of much use to you," Nie Xuan explained. In terms of quantity, the government certainly wouldn't have a shortage of items and devices obtained through various channels, but quantity doesn't necessarily mean quality. Moreover, truly top-tier items are often circulated among players, and the state can't forcibly reclaim them.
Other rare items, such as potions exchanged by different players from the game platform, as long as the government could buy them back, were all written on the list. Xu Huo could take whatever he wanted.
"This time, with the district fusion and the instance outbreak, there might be another batch of items to acquire," Nie Xuan continued. "When good ones come in, you can come pick again."
Xu Huo nodded.
The two didn't continue their conversation, instead silently watching the city shrouded in thick fog.
An A-rank random instance probably wouldn't be so easy to clear.
Time quickly passed to the afternoon of the next day. Despite the government's best efforts to arrange for players to evacuate residents from the city, the number of deaths from suffocation was still rising. Not only that, but there had also been multiple attacks by unaffiliated players against government players. Some of these were naturally outsiders, but most were still domestic players—the hopelessness of clearing the instance was making them lose patience, and the fact that the government was only evacuating ordinary people made them furious.
At first, it was just verbal threats. When they realized the government was brushing them off with various excuses, these people stopped holding back. Their attacks on government players had only one goal: to snatch Container Items. Since they didn't have any, they would just take ready-made ones!
As the city became unstable, the frequency of suffocation deaths began to rise again, and this time the number of players increased significantly—players had become an unstable factor in the city, making them targets for the instance to eliminate and adjust.
Players not in the government system only had fragmented information. They could only see people dying around them, sometimes more, sometimes less, seemingly without pattern. So they didn't understand and had no clue how to clear the instance, mostly just wallowing in panic like headless flies.
At this point, the government publicly disclosed the instance situation, letting these players decide for themselves. If they still wanted to oppose the government, then after the notice was issued, anyone who caused trouble again would face more aggressive measures.
Whether they believed it or not, most players settled down. After all, most people just wanted the government to give them some clarity; if something really happened, they could cooperate.
But in contrast, another wave of despair spread through the city.
Although the notice concealed some information, there were plenty of smart people who sensed the implications. Some who liked to study game information knew very well that if city resources were allocated according to better-off districts, Jing City's population had already far exceeded the standard. And now the government was releasing information to appease players. Compared to players, ordinary people seemed even more worthless at this moment. Although evacuations were ongoing, they still had to coordinate with the instance situation. When would it be their turn... maybe it would never be their turn, or maybe they would suddenly die while waiting!
Evacuation wasn't coming for them, and waiting seemed hopeless. Under the thick fog, more and more desperate people left their homes, gathering at the nearest Special Defense Department office, demanding the government give them a definite answer. Because every minute of delay came at the cost of ordinary people's lives!
"You're players, but don't forget, you were once ordinary people too. Your families are ordinary people too. The way you treat us now is how others will treat your families in the future!"
"The people create wealth and pay taxes every single day. You players have been supported by the nation's resources until now. Do you think you can treat us like pigs and dogs to be sacrificed at will?!"
"I want an answer today! When exactly will you clear this instance?!"
"If you can't clear it and just buy time by sacrificing ordinary people, that's your incompetence! I'll wait right here today. If you have the guts, kill us all!"
"That's right! Waiting like this is just consuming us ordinary people anyway. Why don't you just kill us outright? At least I can make room for you 'capable' people!"
...
When hope is lost, some people despair, while others turn that despair into anger. Besides those taking to the streets, even more people were committing suicide or being killed.
Those who committed suicide mostly felt they were definitely the ones who would be abandoned. Rather than suffocating to death, they would rather choose a dignified way to die, without repeatedly suffering in the anticipation of impending death. The cases of being killed were much more complicated—dying from robbery, from venting anger, and from "being sacrificed." Since people were going to die anyway, if they killed others first, could they survive?
With the fog enveloping the city and such chaos, all kinds of unexpected incidents kept cropping up, giving the already overwhelmed players even more headaches. Besides unnecessary losses from conflicts, there was also the risk of further destabilizing the instance. Players in some areas had already resorted to tough measures, but the public was furious, and there were even cases of people actively destroying the defense devices set up on the streets. This meant some people would inevitably slip out of player control.
Those familiar with the area naturally knew where the devices that had once been used for protection but were now used to restrict them were placed. As a result, some Blockade Barriers appeared and disappeared, with severe cases experiencing multiple fluctuations.
Finally, the government directly arranged for players to use their own devices to divide the city into different zones, separating everyone into restricted areas. They didn't care what people did inside, as long as they didn't come out and run around.
But no one expected that just as the entire city was divided into dozens of large and small blockade zones, in one zone that contained six densely populated residential areas, more than half of the people suddenly suffocated all at once!
When it happened, not only the ordinary people in the same blockade zone but even the surrounding players were horrified. And this wasn't the end. After the first batch died, more people began suffocating one after another.
"Immediately lift the device blockade!" Nie Xuan's voice spread through the city via different platforms.