Chapter 779: The Side Effects of Traits
(To be revised later)
Xu Huo went up to the third floor.
The third floor was much simpler than the floors below. Liang Chong and the others who had seen him dispose of the body earlier were very cooperative. After coming down, he went back to knock on the door he had just visited.
Once, twice, but not three times. The two people in the room quickly set up an ambush.
But this time, they were fooled again.
Xu Huo closed the door and returned to his own room.
Lu Zhen was still tense, but she relaxed when she saw him. "Is it over?"
"I'll go out again before eight o'clock." Xu Huo sat down and said, "That Dong Qiu is in a very unstable mental state. I'll tell you the method to clear the instance. If he becomes the temporary owner before you, tell him the complete method. If you become the temporary owner first, find a way to kill him."
Lu Zhen wasn't naive enough to ask why. After a few days together, she could also see that Dong Qiu was the type who wouldn't let others have it easy if he couldn't. She and Xu Huo were staying together. If Xu Huo cleared the instance, others would definitely come looking for her. If she became the temporary owner first, without Xu Huo's combat ability, others might secretly sabotage her clearance.
"They'll definitely try to force me to talk," she said. "Especially those two players across the hall."
"They won't live to see tomorrow morning," Xu Huo said calmly. "Keep your mouth shut. They can't really kill you. You know the method to clear the instance, so it's not hard for you to sabotage others' clearance either."
Lu Zhen's eyes lit up. "That's right! I can use that to threaten them. If I die, no one gets to clear the instance!"
"So... Brother Xu, what exactly is the method to clear it?"
"I'll tell you before I leave." Xu Huo paused, then suddenly brought up another matter. "Why did you get lost in the woods?"
Lu Zhen was slightly surprised, then said, "You noticed."
Xu Huo nodded. He hadn't noticed on the first day, but during these few days in the villa, he realized that Lu Zhen had the weakest presence among everyone. Even the players looking for trouble seemed to unconsciously avoid her.
This kind of weak presence was different from being a passerby. A passerby could still be noticed if they wanted to be.
"My profession is a behind-the-scenes worker," Lu Zhen said with a wry smile. "The kind of background character standing in the last row during the curtain call group photo."
"No one pays attention to the background, even if the host specifically calls out, few people will glance at the background. My first trait is related to this. Its effect is to weaken my presence. But this weakening is relative. To the environment, I am weakened. To me, the environment is also weakened."
"Getting lost is a side effect?" Xu Huo became interested. "Were you directionally challenged before?"
Lu Zhen shook her head. "I used to have a good sense of direction, but after getting this trait, I get lost easily no matter where I go. Sometimes I even take wrong turns while following a navigation app. And if someone walks with me, everyone gets led astray... But you know my trait—weak presence. Even though I unconsciously take the lead, my teammates don't blame me."
Instead, they would take extra care of her because she seemed weak.
Xu Huo fell silent, scrutinizing her.
Lu Zhen quickly said, "Your trait definitely won't work on me. Otherwise, how could you have found this place so easily, right..."
Seeing her guilty look, Xu Huo smiled instead. "This trait of yours is very suitable for being a spy."
This was the first time he had encountered a player with side effects from their trait.
"Very interesting. On the surface, it seems like only one trait, but in reality, it contains two effects."
Lu Zhen sighed. "You don't know how many times I've fallen into traps because of this trait. And... several times I almost led my teammates into traps too. I don't even dare to look up information about my trait online, afraid of being caught."
"When you become a D-level player, you can publish information through the bounty platform and contact me then." Xu Huo casually set a code. "Post a bounty worth five thousand white notes. I'll add two pieces and a bottle of evolution agent to buy it. If I need to find you, I'll use the same method. If I discover information related to trait side effects, I can relay it to you this way."
Lu Zhen was more than happy. "Bounty searches need specific content. How about the title being 'Five Lost Little Dwarfs in the Woods'?"
"Sure." Xu Huo nodded.
"Brother Xu, you're really too kind!" Lu Zhen was overjoyed. "I've never met a player as good as you. Usually, people with my trait don't want to take me into instances. Knowing about the getting-lost side effect, they might even want to kill me. Only you are willing to help me. As expected, the strong are different!"
Anyone else who had been stuck in the woods for days, nearly starving in the rain, would want to kill her.
But this also showed from another angle how strong her trait was. Among those people, there were two not-so-strong D-level players who also got lost. If she became an enemy's ally, it would be very delightful.
Resting until six in the morning, Xu Huo went to deal with the two people across the hall.
At seven in the morning, he started checking the villa from the first floor again, then returned to the guest room to tell Lu Zhen the method to clear the instance.
"Checking the guest rooms doesn't necessarily mean entering every room. That's just for safety. If someone comes to ask you tonight, tell them exactly what I said. Whether the other person can check every room depends on their ability. You can draw your own conclusions from that."
"Don't tell anyone during the day. Only tell the player who can open the door at night."
"Also, choose a cooperative player to respond to you at night, to guard against the other party wanting to silence you. If the other party doesn't want others to clear the instance, then others won't let them clear it easily either."
"Don't sabotage other players' clearance. Whoever can open the door at night, if they ask, tell them everything."
"This game isn't hard to clear, but there are many ways to sabotage it. It's possible to fail at the last step. The sooner you clear it, the better."
"As for Dong Qiu, handle it as you see fit."
Lu Zhen listened carefully and then asked, "If I clear the instance, can I tell the others the method?"
"It's up to you. If you think it's risky, leave a note in the room." Xu Huo glanced at his watch. "It's almost time."
Lu Zhen quickly stood up. "Brother Xu, thank you so much. Let's keep in touch."
The time jumped to eight o'clock. Xu Huo disappeared from the old villa and instantly returned to the previous immigration office. At the same time, the clearance prompt sounded:
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