Chapter 3004: Someone Cleared the Instance
"Ms. Yao" picked up her utensils, preparing to announce the start of the meal, but at that moment, Xu Huo interrupted her, "Where is my doppelganger?"
These words caused the faces of those around the table to change: What was he doing?!
Provoking the doppelganger?!
Most of the people still alive and dining here had witnessed the doppelganger killing, and those it killed on the spot were usually the ones who disobeyed and tried to resist!
The nearby players immediately prepared to use their abilities to stop Xu Huo, but at that moment, a powerful spiritual force suddenly enveloped the dining room. Everyone felt as if their heads had been struck by a dull hammer, instant pain unbearable.
The ordinary people had all collapsed to the floor, and the players weren't much better off. Some supported themselves on the table and looked up, only to see all the doppelgangers in the dining room start to tremble. As they trembled, they lost their human form, then turned back into clumps of shadows. Some couldn't hold their shape and became pools of black substance flowing across the floor... And then they looked at Ms. Yao and Wang Chengren on either side of the table.
"Wang Chengren" wasn't in much better shape, but "Ms. Yao" was like a monster wearing human skin. The outer face split open from the middle, revealing a new face.
"Xiaohui!" Wei Mang endured the headache and reached out, thinking Wang Xiaohui was trapped inside "Ms. Yao." But the next second, Wang Xiaohui's face also peeled away, revealing the face of a young man. This face didn't last long either; after twisting and splitting, a woman's face appeared.
Layer after layer of faces peeled away, and the face at the deepest level actually looked exactly like Xu Huo!
The moment their eyes met, Xu Huo's doppelganger's gaze locked onto him, and it suddenly reached out toward him!
The shadow spread like mist, instantly enveloping Xu Huo. Accompanied by the clattering sound of utensils being knocked over, he and the doppelganger disappeared from the dining room.
At the same time, all the doppelgangers vanished. Although most of them had already turned back into clumps of black shadows, it was only at this moment that they fully retreated into the doppelganger world. Those with sharp eyes could still see them slipping along the reflective surfaces of utensils or decorations, hiding deep into the darkness of the doppelganger world.
With Xu Huo's departure, the pain in everyone's bodies also receded. Except for a few who had fainted, the others managed to stay conscious, though they inevitably had blood flowing from their ears and noses.
Although the doppelgangers had disappeared, the players didn't feel happy. They had realized that the reason the doppelgangers in this instance were so powerful was probably inseparable from Xu Huo. Even if he could kill his own doppelganger and leave, the instance's memory wouldn't disappear. Other doppelgangers would learn and imitate Xu Huo, thereby affecting everyone, making it even harder for them to kill their own doppelgangers and clear the instance!
"At the beginning of the instance, we could occasionally open our personal panels, but now there's no chance at all," Xiao Yang said.
This also meant they had sunk further into the doppelganger world. Perhaps the inability to open the personal panel was just their illusion.
"Who was that person just now?" The middle-aged man immediately stopped him. "You know him, right? What exactly does he want to do?"
Although Xiao Yang's player level wasn't as high as these people's, he wasn't intimidated at all. He brushed aside the man's hand and said, "Get this straight, this is District 014!"
The middle-aged man's face darkened, but he didn't say anything more. Even if he was a newcomer, he knew that District 014 had a very powerful Temporal Evolver.
"Could it be him?" The players exchanged glances, feeling a sense of shock, but at the same time, they thought it unlikely. He was already a Temporal Evolver; could his Spiritual Evolution really be this strong?
Out of caution, they didn't make things difficult for Xiao Yang. Instead, they spoke politely and tried to negotiate, hoping he could relay to Xu Huo not to provoke "Ms. Yao" again.
"The doppelgangers in this instance can't be killed off completely."
The doppelgangers' power source was the venue. As long as the venue didn't disappear, no matter how many times they died, they could be reborn. Why waste time provoking them again and again? It only made it harder for others to clear the instance.
Now, all the doppelgangers had disappeared. They didn't even have the chance to observe them. And if the doppelgangers, fearing Xu Huo, stopped appearing frequently, their chances of clearing the instance would be even slimmer.
"Can you really clear the instance?" Wei Mang spoke up at this point. "I'm not looking down on anyone, but you all know the situation in this instance. The longer it goes on, the more dangerous it gets. If you really have clues, why not state them clearly? Pooling our ideas is the only way to clear the instance faster."
"The clearance tasks don't conflict with each other. Other people dying only makes it harder to clear."
In other words, keeping things hidden was completely pointless.
"Tell you, and you'd be able to figure out how to clear the instance?" the dark-skinned female player said sarcastically. "District 014 has only one decent player."
The other players from outside districts didn't even consider them worth noticing. Besides, who could say that "Mr. Yu" just now was that person?
Moreover, the others present weren't useless. They were pathfinders, vanguard teams. When necessary, they could be used to buy time or as a final means of clearing the instance—after all, the clearance requirement only said to kill the doppelganger, not necessarily one's own. It's just that they hadn't yet found a way to kill the doppelgangers.
Clearly, Xu Huo hadn't used his spiritual power to kill those doppelgangers just now; he had only destroyed their forms.
Unable to reach a consensus, Wei Mang looked at Xiao Yang. "Let's wait here. Besides Mr. Yu, no one else can clear the instance."
It wasn't that the players from outside districts weren't strong, but that he himself hadn't even managed to lay a finger on a doppelganger. Even if they cut off the light sources, those doppelgangers could use other reflective spaces to escape. They simply couldn't catch them.
No one present left, but their gazes unconsciously turned to the spot on the dining table where Xu Huo and his doppelganger had disappeared.
Xu Huo fell through layers of continuous doppelganger spaces for a moment before stabilizing his form. His Book Tower appeared, instantly expanding to completely fill the layer of doppelganger space he was in. The original manor was entirely destroyed under the pressure of the Book Tower. As the buildings collapsed, the black shadows hidden within flew out one after another, quickly darting toward other reflective surfaces.
Taking a step forward, black materialized objects spread from under Xu Huo's feet, sealing off all nearby reflective surfaces. Although this couldn't completely cut off other doppelganger worlds, it bought enough time.
Using his spiritual power to trap two black shadows and bring them close, he removed his glove and swept his right hand through the air.
Power that had already taken form was no longer something invisible and intangible. When they gained physical form and lethality, they also became concrete targets.
The two shadows completely dissipated, and Xu Huo felt nothing special.
But at the same time, a player still waiting outside suddenly stood up, his face filled with shock and joy, and then he disappeared from everyone's sight!
The players quickly realized, "He cleared the instance!"