Chapter 690: High Risk
The music continued until nightfall without stopping. The people who had come from the county town and those already living in this newly appeared medieval city paused their parade and began sacrificial celebrations.
Whether dead or alive, everyone walked through the city like normal people. At first glance, it looked no different from a regular festival, except that half-eaten corpses could occasionally be seen lying at street corners and alleyways.
Xu Huo arrived near the square palace.
The palace was built on a massive platform rising more than ten meters above the city. Above the main gate hung a plaque inscribed with the words "Si Fang Palace." It had four floors in total, each guarded by black-armored men holding swords. Six black-armored men stood guard at the main gate itself. The large drum that had been sounding periodically was placed on the broad platform in front of the gate, with one black-armored man standing on each side.
There were also quite a few fanatical believers gathered beneath the palace platform. Though clearly people who had lost their reason, they still attempted to climb up the platform and rush into the palace.
Of course, they were all beaten back by the black-armored men. If anyone was accidentally killed, the body would be dragged into the palace in plain sight without causing any disturbance.
Xu Huo stood on a building not far from the palace. Seeing this scene, he raised an eyebrow. He took out the "Similarity Detector," and the distribution of props within a two-hundred-meter radius immediately appeared on the screen.
Although the palace ahead couldn't be fully covered, the information he could obtain was sufficient.
The drum and the black-armored men were, unsurprisingly, props, and all of them were C-rank props. There were also two props at the main gate of the palace, one C-rank and one B-rank. They couldn't be seen from the outside, so they were likely placed inside the hall.
Suddenly, overlapping props data appeared at the edge of the screen. Following the direction, he saw a black-armored man walking toward the palace.
A real black-armored man would only have two or three props on him. This one, however, had mostly D-rank and E-rank props, clearly a player disguised as a black-armored man.
Xu Huo stood by the railing, watching the man swagger through the main gate. But the moment he stepped inside, the gate automatically closed behind him. Then, a red light seeped through the wooden lattice windows. The next second, the black-armored man suddenly struck the drum with his hammer. The sound waves released by the drum caused dizziness and disorientation. Even with headphones blocking the hearing, it made everything go black before one's eyes.
Under the dizziness, Xu Huo involuntarily began walking toward the palace. Several other players mixed in the crowd also moved forward.
Under the drum's sound, the sacrificial crowd had stopped their movements. The suddenly moving players became extremely conspicuous. The crowd turned their heads in unison, staring fixedly at these players, then reached out to tear at their bodies. One player who hadn't yet regained his senses had his limbs ripped off on the spot. Not only that, but the crowd actually surrounded them and began biting!
With physical strength reaching this level, these couldn't be ordinary people in the instance—these were all players!
Xu Huo, having snapped back to his senses, immediately retreated until he stopped at the city entrance.
Based on the drum's propagation range, this was the safest place in the entire city.
Of course, in terms of distance, entering the county town would be safer, but the now-deserted county town likely held other dangers now.
Several more overlapping props data appeared on the Similarity Detector. Xu Huo turned and moved toward the woods outside the city.
The black-shirted player, Fu Danhong, Yi Pei, Fang Penghui, and the others were now hiding in the grass, watching the stone path shrouded in thick fog.
When they had escaped from the black-armored men, they had given up on strategizing against the instance boss, planning to retreat to the county town and wait out the instance's time limit. However, the black-armored men in the city were patrolling from high vantage points, able to see the stone path from all directions. Walking on it would make them a sitting target. So, the group had been hiding nearby until now.
It was just getting dark. As the sacrificial center shifted, the number of people near the entrance gradually decreased, and the black-armored men came less frequently. They decided to wait until nightfall to see.
But just as they were waiting for an opportunity, several figures suddenly appeared on the stone path in the thick fog. Hearing the rhythmic footsteps, their expressions changed. As the figures approached, they turned out to be several black-armored men, carrying several corpses in their hands. They were the players who had previously fled back to the county town!
The black-shirted player used a silencing prop and said to the others, "It seems no matter where we hide, we can't avoid the black-armored men. The instance will definitely harvest all the players during these two days of sacrifice."
"Every time the drum sounds, the dizziness increases. I'm afraid we won't be able to hold out until the sacrifice ends before we're completely controlled," Yi Pei said with a grave expression.
"I wonder what other tricks the instance has in store," Fu Danhong said. "Rather than waiting to die, why don't we join forces and poke the hornet's nest..."
"Who's there!" Before she could finish, Yi Pei suddenly leaped up, staring sharply at the woods behind them.
The others quickly spread out as well. If not for the nearby black-armored men, they would have attacked immediately.
Xu Huo put away his invisibility prop and walked out from behind a tree.
The group's expressions immediately relaxed. Fu Danhong said, "I didn't expect you were still alive."
Yi Pei couldn't see clearly, but with Xu Huo standing in front of her, she could distinguish his figure. She couldn't help asking, "Did you come from the Si Fang Palace side?"
Xu Huo gestured for them to lower their bodies. "I saw the black-armored men coming from the county town too. That road back is blocked. We can only stay in the Si Fang Palace city."
The group naturally understood. Fang Penghui pointed to his bloodshot eyes and said, "The longer we stay in the instance, the deeper the instance's influence. I was lucky to make it here. I'm afraid I won't last until the seven days are up."
"You'd better hold on," Xu Huo said. "The players who didn't die earlier are now all gathered at the Si Fang Palace gate, waiting to eat people. They've already divided up three living players."
Fang Penghui's expression went blank. "This information doesn't help me at all."
"This is very important information," Xu Huo said. "The three players who died entered the instance earlier than me. They would have cleared it tomorrow night. Compared to me, it's harder for them to stay clear-headed under the drum's sound."
"In other words, there are two factors to reduce risk. First, the shorter the time you've been in the instance, the better. Second, it's best not to hear the drum sound."
Fang Penghui understood. "If I were standing in front of the Si Fang Palace right now, I'd be dead waiting too."
"There are intervals between the drum sounds," the black-shirted player said. "I roughly estimated that the time between each drum sound is consistent."
"About ten minutes," Yi Pei said.
"But the impact of the drum sound on us gets stronger each time," Fu Danhong said. "And we can't guarantee that this drum can only be struck every ten minutes."
"The drum sound is secondary," Xu Huo said, delivering information that made the others even more despairing. "The thing that truly affects people should be inside the Si Fang Palace. There's a red light inside the palace. It's highly likely that the eyes capable of causing hallucinations are inside the Si Fang Palace, or perhaps the entire Si Fang Palace itself is a prop."