Chapter 691: The Key to Clearing the Instance
(To be revised later) The palace was built on a giant platform rising more than ten meters above the city. A plaque engraved with the three characters "Si Fang Palace" hung above the main gate. The structure had four floors in total, each guarded by black-armored men holding swords. Six black-armored men stood guard before the main gate, and a large drum that had been sounding intermittently earlier sat on the broad platform in front of the gate, with one black-armored man standing on each side.
Beneath the palace platform, a crowd of fanatical believers had gathered. Though clearly people who had lost their reason, they still attempted to climb up the platform and charge into the palace.
Of course, they were all beaten back by the black-armored men. If any were accidentally killed, their bodies were dragged into the palace in full view of the crowd without causing the slightest disturbance.
Xu Huo stood on a building not far from the palace. Seeing this scene, he raised an eyebrow. He took out the "Similarity Scanner," 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 were C-grade props at that. There were also two props at the main gate of the palace—one C-grade and one B-grade—which couldn't be seen from outside, presumably placed inside the hall.
A set of overlapping prop data suddenly appeared at the edge of the screen. Following the direction, he spotted a black-armored man walking toward the palace.
A genuine black-armored man would only carry two or three props, but this one had mostly D-grade and E-grade props on him, clearly a player disguised as a black-armored man.
Xu Huo stood by the railing, watching the man swagger through the main gate. However, 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 a hammer. The sound waves released by the drum caused dizziness and disorientation, and even wearing headphones to block out hearing made everything go black before one's eyes.
Overcome by vertigo, 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 moving. The suddenly walking players became particularly 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 was instantly ripped apart limb from limb. Not only that, but the crowd surrounded them and began biting and devouring them!
With physical strength reaching this level, these were definitely not ordinary people in the instance—these were all players!
Xu Huo, having regained his clarity, immediately retreated until he stopped at the city's entrance.
Given the drum's sound 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.
Several more sets of overlapping prop data appeared on the Similarity Scanner. Xu Huo turned and moved toward the woods outside the city.
The black-shirted player, Fu Danhong, Yi Pei, and Fang Penghui were currently 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 clearing the instance boss, planning to retreat to the county town and wait out the instance's time limit. However, the city had black-armored men patrolling from high vantage points in all directions, and the stone path was visible from every angle. Walking on it would make them easy targets, so they had been lurking nearby until now.
It was just getting dark. As the sacrificial center shifted, fewer people were coming to the entrance, and the black-armored men's visits were decreasing. They decided to wait until nightfall to see what happened.
But just as they were about to make their move, several figures suddenly appeared on the stone path in the thick fog. Hearing the rhythmic footsteps, their expressions changed. As the figures drew closer, they turned out to be several black-armored men, each carrying corpses—the very players who had earlier retreated 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 last until the sacrifice ends before we lose control." Yi Pei's expression was grim.
"Who knows what other tricks the instance has in store," Fu Danhong said. "Instead of 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, her eyes sharp as she stared at the woods behind them.
The others quickly spread out. If not for the nearby black-armored men, they would have attacked immediately.
Xu Huo put away his invisibility prop and stepped out from behind a tree.
Their expressions instantly relaxed. Fu Danhong said, "I didn't expect you were still alive too."
Yi Pei couldn't see clearly, but with Xu Huo standing in front of her, she could distinguish his silhouette. She asked, "Did you come from Si Fang Palace?"
Xu Huo gestured for them to lower their bodies. "I saw the black-armored men coming from the county town too. That path is blocked. We can only stay in Si Fang Palace City."
They all 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, but 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 in front of Si Fang Palace, waiting to eat people. They've already divided up three living people."
Fang Penghui's expression went blank. "That information doesn't help me at all."
"This is very important information," Xu Huo said. "Those three dead players entered the instance before me. They would have cleared it tomorrow night. Compared to me, they had a harder time staying 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 Si Fang Palace right now, I'd be dead anyway."
"There are intervals between the drum sounds," the black-shirted player said. "I roughly estimated that the intervals between each drum sound are about the same."
"About ten minutes," Yi Pei said.
"But each drum strike hits us harder than the last," Fu Danhong said. "And we can't guarantee that the drum can only be struck every ten minutes."
"The drum sound is secondary," Xu Huo said, delivering even more despairing news. "The thing that truly affects people should be inside Si Fang Palace. There's a red light inside the palace, and it's highly likely that the eyes capable of causing hallucinations are inside Si Fang Palace, or perhaps the entire Si Fang Palace itself is a prop."
*
The night breeze stirred slightly. The few people crouching in the grass fell silent in unison.
After a moment, Yi Pei spoke. "So, whether we hide or try to destroy the prop, we're basically dead either way?"
"High risk, near-zero reward," Fu Danhong sighed deeply. "I don't want to become a living corpse. The thought of eating people makes me sick."
"That's not so bad," the black-shirted player suddenly interjected. "If it were a man, he'd also have to bear the burden of reproducing for Si Fang Palace City."