# Chapter 692: Truly Shared Eyes
The group exchanged some practical small items with each other, though naturally each kept some back. Therefore, when formulating the detailed division of labor, they chose their respective roles based on their own traits and items.
The plan had two key points: first, attracting the Black Armored Men at the entrance of the Si Fang Palace City, and second, launching a feint attack on the Si Fang Palace City itself.
The Black Armored Men were too numerous and were not constrained by ordinary traits and items, putting players at a disadvantage in direct combat. Therefore, the best approach was to lure them out of the Si Fang Palace City.
Of course, it was impossible to lure all of them away. So after creating chaos at the entrance, someone would immediately launch an attack on the Si Fang Palace City side, drawing the fire of another portion of the Black Armored Men.
This would maximize the containment of the Black Armored Men, and it was also the best cooperative approach given the limited manpower.
After that, Xu Huo would set the fires.
The process of setting fires was also quite delicate. Simply burning down a few buildings might not attract the attention of the Instance Boss, but if the threat of the fire was too great, he would become the primary target for the Black Armored Men. Therefore, the scope of the fire needed to be large, but the duration could not be too long.
This involved advance preparation.
While it was convenient to use the people and corpses in the Si Fang Palace City to carry accelerants, it was not practical. There were many open flames within the city, and accelerants within a fifty-meter radius of any flame would spontaneously combust. If the fires started bit by bit like that, even without the Black Armored Men being deployed, the puppet-like corpses and residents could extinguish them.
Therefore, the accelerants had to be placed slightly away from crowds, and the fire had to start from the center.
"Our targets are the eye totems inside the city and that drum in front of the Si Fang Palace, especially the drum." Fang Penghui looked at the Black Shirt Player. "Whether we destroy it or steal it, once we succeed, we must retreat immediately. Don't blindly enter the Si Fang Palace. If the entire palace is an item, going in would mean certain death."
The Black Shirt Player nodded. "Before approaching the Si Fang Palace, I will first seal my vision. If that doesn't work, you all will need to be even more careful."
Everyone nodded. Apart from Fang Penghui and one of his companions responsible for the entrance, the others would all head toward the Si Fang Palace, setting up accelerant items along the way, then provide support for the Black Shirt Player and Yi Pei, who were responsible for the area in front of the Si Fang Palace.
Setting the fires fell to Xu Huo and another player, with the two of them splitting up to handle one street each.
However, given the city's considerable size, two people were indeed insufficient. But for now, this was the only option.
"Everyone, though we've met by chance, we are now in the same boat. I won't waste words—I hope we all survive and clear the instance." Fang Penghui looked around at the group and continued, "Also, I hope everyone understands that our life-risking plan only aims to destroy part of the instance's mechanisms. This instance's danger level has long exceeded D-rank. If we anger the Instance Boss, we might face even greater risks. So don't think about letting others die while you hide behind. Those who fall behind alone will only end up worse. Only by working together do we have a slim chance."
"Anyone who still can't see clearly at this point isn't worth talking about." Fu Danhong said. "This Instance Boss doesn't follow the game rules. Those who die early might at least get a quick death. If we really piss it off, it might even torture the players to death. Haven't you all seen those players whose brains and organs were eaten?"
Though she said this, before the operation even began, a sense of inevitable defeat permeated the players.
"Sorry, but I don't plan on dying here." Xu Huo ignored their "pre-battle pep talk" and checked the time. "Can we start now?"
"You're a devil." Fu Danhong rolled her eyes, took the initiative to synchronize watches, then stood up. "I'm off first. If I'm unlucky and get killed by the Black Armored Men before support arrives, you all need to be strong and avenge me."
Yi Pei couldn't help but laugh. "You're really interesting."
"Anyone who could escape from the Black Armored Men and make it here won't die that easily." Xu Huo said. "Just be careful."
Fu Danhong refused to talk to him, nodded to the other two players, and slipped back into the Si Fang Palace City, avoiding the Black Armored Men's line of sight.
Next were Yi Pei and the Black Shirt Player, who could go directly to the Si Fang Palace.
Xu Huo and the other arson player lagged a few steps behind, first hiding near the city entrance, waiting for the signal from Fang Penghui and his companion to begin.
Xu Huo put on his Invisibility Cloak and arrived at a position he had scouted in advance. Unexpectedly, through a window, he saw Little Cloud Brother, who was sitting expressionlessly in a corner of the room, his eyes vacant as he watched the people celebrating without rest.
Xu Huo tapped lightly on the wooden wall, and sure enough, Little Cloud Brother stirred. However, he didn't turn around immediately. Only when Xu Huo tapped a second time did he stand up and face the window with his eyes closed.
"I can't see you." He said. "The ritual isn't over yet, so you're not considered a person of the Si Fang Palace City. You can speak to me with your eyes open."
"Once the ritual is over, can your god use everyone's eyes?" Xu Huo asked in a low voice. "Truly shared eyes... Do you know what exactly it is you're worshipping?"
"I don't know." Little Cloud Brother answered very bluntly. "It's probably some kind of monster."
"I know you're players, and this place is an instance. Many, many players came before you. Some people also told me about the outside world, and some wanted to save us, but in the end, they all died."
"I want to know, is this instance really breaking the rules? Why doesn't anyone come to stop it? We're not players—we're just ordinary people."
"Under normal circumstances, it should count." Xu Huo said. With the Spiritual Interference and the Box Carrier's puppets, the instance should have been upgraded long ago. But "the outside world is so big—probably no one cares about a few small instances."
In fact, the game generally didn't care what happened inside instances, unless someone seriously violated the game rules. Even instances like the Skinner's, which slaughtered living people for food, could be "wildly popular." That alone showed the game didn't really care how many people died in instances, let alone cases of bending the rules to kill people.
"But you can also look at it from another angle." He continued. "With all this heavy fog and heavy rain, all this concealment shows that the 'god' ruling this place isn't that strong."
For high-level players to destroy low-level instances was a serious violation. Of course, the Box Carrier's puppets didn't count as a high-level player directly entering a low-level instance. But since this instance had introduced his puppets, the danger level was different.
Generally speaking, fixed instances had slightly stricter rules than random instances. If an instance had an actual holder—meaning a real person acting as the Instance Boss—then after the instance upgraded, the holder's authority would increase. Judging by the appearance of this instance, it was highly likely that the Instance Holder didn't want to upgrade the instance.
There could be multiple reasons for this, but Xu Huo believed two possibilities were most likely: either the Box Carrier, as a notorious wanted criminal in the game, would bring negative consequences, or the Instance Boss wasn't strong enough and just wanted to stay in one corner, killing people to their heart's content, deliberately avoiding an upgrade.