Chapter 753: A Single Photo
Taking advantage of the brief distance from the monster, Xiao Ling and Sun Bo, who hadn’t managed to escape yet, quickly retreated from the eighth floor through different passages. By the time the monster shook off the flying shield and reached the window, all the departing players had already hidden themselves in other floors.
“Roar... roar...” The monster’s howls echoed through the hotel, occasionally accompanied by the sound of the building being torn apart. It seemed that today’s hungry monster was not like the previous one that only paced the corridors—it would charge into every room, whether the door was closed or not, to check inside.
Xu Huo was on the fifth floor. Using a prop to inspect the outside of the hotel, he found that it was still impossible to leave during the day. However, the street view outside was also reversed left and right. The Decapitated Cemetery had now shifted to the other side. The skeletons that had crawled out the previous night were gone, leaving only a number of pits in the ground.
He went up to the top floor and carefully observed other parts of the Museum City. Everything seemed largely unchanged, except that there were more damaged areas compared to yesterday. In the vast Museum City, there was no sign of any other players.
Viewing the Museum City from within the Mirror Hotel, the entire city seemed to have lost its warmth, like a lifeless dead zone.
However, since he couldn’t leave the hotel, he couldn’t be sure that the scenery before him was real. The time in the Museum City instance was abnormal, and space might also be twisted or altered.
“The Riddle of the Sphinx...” Xu Huo took a folding chair from his luggage compartment, set it up, sat down, opened a bottle of water, and started eating something.
On the surface, the Riddle of the Sphinx is a riddle about humans: infancy, adulthood, and old age correspond to morning, noon, and evening—essentially related to time.
If this riddle appeared elsewhere, it might have other interpretations, but in the Museum City, it seemed to point to something else. Here, there was only one day, with morning, noon, and night cycling within the same day.
Instance names often involve hidden content, but based on the four progress stages he had completed so far, the instance task’s requirement to solve the mystery of the disappearances had little to do with the mystery of time.
Perhaps it was just a coincidence that the two collided?
But now, even if they were unrelated, they had become connected. Without cracking the key to the Mirror Hotel, he couldn’t even leave this place.
A hand reached out from the edge of the balcony. Peng Fengnian, who had climbed up as quietly as possible, saw Xu Huo basking in the sun and eating dry rations, and his expression relaxed considerably. He made a shushing gesture, then, after both feet were on the ground, activated a prop and quickly said, “The silent time on this prop isn’t long. You’re sitting here—have you figured something out?”
“It’s precisely because I haven’t that I sat down to rest. I haven’t had a good rest in two or three days, and my mind is a bit sluggish.” Xu Huo handed him a can of alcohol.
“Great, this is even better than food.” Peng Fengnian opened it and eagerly took a few gulps, exhaling in relief before saying, “To enter the instance, every corner of the luggage compartment is filled with necessities. I didn’t bring any alcohol.”
“With so many companions, at least one or two must have brought some,” Xu Huo said. “With a division of labor, you wouldn’t need that many supplies.”
Under normal circumstances, how much water and food could be consumed in an instance? Even including medical supplies and other items, the luggage compartment was more than sufficient—there was no shortage.
“Is the player who entered before me and Xiao Ling also one of your people?”
Peng Fengnian smiled and said, “I knew I couldn’t hide it from you. I didn’t expect you to ask only now.”
“Since we’re cooperating, being honest with each other is better for both sides,” Xu Huo said calmly. “But isn’t the method of your 009th District too extreme? Do you plan to kill all the players who enter the instance?”
Peng Fengnian was silent for a moment, clearly already aware of the situation from the leading player who had pursued Xu Huo and the others.
“I can’t make that decision—it was an order from above,” he said. “But for now, we are allies, not enemies. If you want to take revenge on him, it’s best to wait until we get out.”
Xu Huo let out a laugh. “You’re thinking too optimistically. Who knows how many players from the 009th District are waiting outside.”
“I wouldn’t burn bridges like that. I can discuss it with Teacher Pan. After we get out, you and Old Zheng can settle it one-on-one, life and death on your own heads...” Peng Fengnian paused. “That’s the best I can do. You know, my level isn’t high.”
Xu Huo scrutinized him. “Since what you’re looking for is so important, why not let high-level players come in?”
“They all have tasks and can’t break away for now,” Peng Fengnian said vaguely, but his slightly sarcastic expression indicated that it wasn’t just a matter of insufficient manpower.
That was natural. The 009th District had fully integrated into the game world. Not only players from other districts, but also local players wanted to seize the opportunity to get a share, not to mention the factional and power struggles.
“Is any of you holding a ticket to enter?” Xu Huo asked again.
“None of my batch have tickets,” Peng Fengnian said, then pointed at his prop to indicate that the time was up.
Xu Huo looked toward the distant gate of the Museum City. Without tickets, and all of them trapped in the Corpse Hotel, they were probably using some testing equipment or props to find something.
Peng Fengnian typed text on his electronic device and said, “We were the first batch to enter. From Old Zheng, we learned that the time for the Museum City instance is seven days. In another day or two, our time will be up, but I don’t know if the Mirror Hotel space also follows the instance rules.”
“Also, this instance opens every day—it’s too strange. Do you have any ideas?”
If the instance ended after seven days and they could leave, that would be fine. But if not...
The first seven days hadn’t passed yet, so Xu Huo’s speculation about the one-day cycle couldn’t be verified. However, since Peng Fengnian and the others had entered the Mirror Hotel from the Corpse Hotel without tickets, it was highly likely that the instance was still running at that time. In other words, the instance would remain permanently open, making it impossible to leave.
This was especially true for non-ticket players.
There were only two ways for players to leave a fixed instance: complete the task and exit, or have the instance close and be automatically ejected. But because of its time rules, the Museum City clearly also had some characteristics of a random instance—unlimited time. However, what made it worse than a random instance was that only ticket players who cleared the instance within the instance’s time frame could possibly get out.
“Look on the bright side,” Xu Huo said in a low voice. “Maybe the instance doesn’t restrict non-ticket players.”
That gate looked far too easy to pass through.
Peng Fengnian’s face was full of worry, clearly not taking Xu Huo’s half-hearted comfort to heart. He then opened his electronic device and handed it over.
Inside were photos of the Museum City, all taken from the Mirror Hotel based on the timestamps.
Flipping through the first two photos, Xu Huo suddenly sat up straight. He carefully examined the time and lighting of one photo, then asked Peng Fengnian, “Are you sure this was taken the day before yesterday in the afternoon?”
(Chapter End)