# Chapter 688: The True Square Palace City
The running corpses were initially horrifying to behold, but in reality they didn't have much killing power. Many of them broke into two pieces halfway through their sprint because their upper bodies were too hollow. However, their numbers were still considerable. After holding them off for a while, the players abandoned the idea of completely annihilating the corpse horde, letting the bodies pass by them while they took the opportunity to move closer to the offering eyes.
Xu Huo slowed his pace, kicking aside the corpses crowding around him while watching the two players who had charged to the front.
Although they had used defensive items to cover their faces and most of their bodies, when they were less than five meters from the wooden eye, one of them actually removed his defensive item himself. Not only that, but he also used his own item to open another player's defensive item, causing that player, who had been resisting, to immediately fall into the same numb paralysis as him.
The players who witnessed this hurriedly retreated.
"Not looking, not being hit by the red light—at a certain distance, you still can't avoid the power of the offering eyes!" Yi Pei said as he retreated. "Could it be that the spiritual influence intensity of the instance is increasing? Or is it that having so many eyes together doubles the effect?"
The corpse horde that had run out ahead had already passed by the players. They were all heading toward the same place, including the living people, and none of them regarded the players as targets.
The drum sounds and water sounds were both coming from the direction of the pond. It seemed the offering eye procession was also heading there.
"Great, everyone's going to the pond. The county town is safe!" Wei Xian couldn't wait to retreat to the side, trying to put as much distance as possible between himself and the advancing procession.
Except for those two players who had made eye contact with the offering eyes, all the other players successfully emerged from the procession. They hid in the woods, watching the thousands of living and dead people pass by. Only after all the wooden eyes being offered had gone past did everyone finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"At least the county town is safe now. We..."
Before Fang Penghui could finish speaking, Xu Huo, along with the black-shirted player and the hoodie-wearing player, unhesitatingly followed behind the procession.
"Are they crazy?!"
"Staying in the county town might not be safe either." Fu Danhong and Tian Kunwen hesitated for a moment before also following.
The remaining players hesitated for a few seconds. Most still chose to go to the pond, with only a few completely backing out and turning back to the county town.
Fearful of the power of the offering eyes, Xu Huo and the others didn't get too close. Instead, they followed far behind the procession. When they neared the pond, they realized that the water sounds they had heard earlier were actually the sound of the pond's water level dropping. A stone path had appeared in the middle of the water, leading straight to the opposite shore, and the front of the procession had already stepped onto it.
At the same time, faint red lights appeared in the thick fog, and the sounds of drums, music, and clamor came from that direction, echoing with the procession here.
"There's actually a city on the opposite shore!" Yi Pei couldn't help but exclaim.
"That must be the real Square Palace City, right?" Fang Penghui, who had arrived later, came up behind Xu Huo and lowered his voice. "Should we follow?"
"Since we're already here, of course we should go take a look." Xu Huo said without turning back.
Of course, the other players were more concerned about the possibility of encountering more offering eyes on the opposite shore. But obtaining high-rated good items was the ultimate goal, so taking risks was worth it!
Xu Huo was the first to step onto the stone path. To avoid being too conspicuous, he simply mixed into the offering eye procession and walked along with it.
Before stepping onto the opposite shore, he first found Little Cloud Brother. The other hadn't lost consciousness either, but was simply obediently moving along with the procession.
Little Cloud Brother was lightly tapped by him but didn't turn around. Instead, he slightly waved his hand and pointed forward.
Xu Huo paused slightly, only to find that the people walking around him, whether living or dead, all turned their heads to look at him.
He immediately realized that these people might be mentally unclear but could still transmit information. He couldn't help but smile, keeping his eyes fixed straight ahead.
The players who followed behind saw him also start swaying along with the procession. They slowed their pace and kept their distance from him.
At first, they were just trying to avoid any traps Xu Huo might trigger, but soon they noticed that both the dead and the living were staring at them. Realizing the situation, they also made the same disguise.
The eyes staring at them gradually moved away, and both sides peacefully made it to the opposite shore.
They had thought the abandoned old city would be dilapidated, or at least old and unrepaired. But as soon as Xu Huo and the others approached, they discovered that the scale of this city far exceeded their imagination. Wide streets were lined with medieval-style buildings, all square and angular, looking more like small towers. The eaves and windows were all carved with eye patterns.
These buildings seemed to have just been renovated. The paint smell hadn't completely dissipated yet, but inside and out, they were filled with people wearing exaggerated smiles. Some stood at the doorways, while others had joined this procession.
Xu Huo noticed that on the roofs of some buildings stood people in black armor and helmets. Unlike the state of those in the offering eye procession, they turned their heads to survey the entire procession.
Suddenly, a player walking ahead broke away from the procession and charged sideways toward a nearby building. But before he could even reach the doorway, two black-armored figures on the roof flashed like lightning and appeared in front of him. One kicked him flying, while the other grabbed the back of his neck mid-flight, forcibly pressing him to the ground!
"Emergency escape!" The player waved his hand and slid out from under the black-armored man. Unfortunately, the black-armored man was too fast. He spun in place, and before the player could escape, he grabbed his leg again. With a crack, he directly snapped the leg bone!
Another black-armored man stepped forward and reached for his throat.
Xu Huo had already walked nearby. He discreetly used a small item, but it didn't work. Not only that, but those two men, along with all the black-armored men on the surrounding roofs, instantly turned their eyes toward him!
It wasn't just physical actions—even using items would expose oneself!
Just as he was considering whether to make a move, another drum sound suddenly came from ahead!
Unlike the faint sounds before, this drumbeat struck the ear like an electric shock, instantly making one dazed and unsure of where they were.
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
The drum sounded three times in succession. The players mixed in the procession and the player caught by the black-armored men began to synchronize with the parade.
All kinds of eyes appeared on the walls, the ground, the sky, and even in the distant thick fog, where swirling shapes of eyes emerged. This was no longer a matter of avoidance—as long as one kept their eyes open, it was unavoidable. But if they closed their eyes, the black-armored men and the parade would immediately detect something wrong!
After the drumming stopped, Xu Huo and the others followed the procession for another hundred meters. Then three more players broke away from the procession!
"If we don't run now, it'll be too late!"
At that moment, at least half of the people realized that before they could even see the instance boss, they might be turned into puppets by this eerie drumming and the ubiquitous "eyes." Before they completely lost their sanity, they had to make one last desperate attempt!
(Chapter End)