Beating Instances through Words Left by the Dead

Chapter 15: Chapter 15: Unexpected Event

Floating above the altar is an eye the size of a fist, slender and slightly curved, bearing a nine-tenths resemblance to the mark on the Traveler’s Talisman.

Just one glance can confirm it’s the Eye of Leman.

Cursed Gold...

It should probably be called the Cursed Eye instead.

The Eye of Leman on the altar also noticed Wu Chang, emanating undisguised malice from its pupil, conveying a signal with just a look without any sound.

What are you looking at?

Wu Chang was not affected by the provocation in the slightest; he stepped onto the altar and looked at the Eye of Leman, excitedly rubbing his hands together.

Old Deng, no, the esteemed old Knight Order leader Anderson, this time you’re in for quite a windfall of Gold Coins.

The Eye of Leman perceived Wu Chang’s thoughts, with purple light flashing in its pupil; the next moment, Wu Chang felt an inexplicable chill, his head dazed, and he stepped back half a step.

He looked up at the Eye of Leman, only to see that huge pupil full of confusion and bewilderment.

It seemed not to understand why this insignificant person could resist its attack with such strong willpower.

Wu Chang shook his head and continued to approach the Eye of Leman.

With each step closer, the frenzy and malice in the Eye of Leman deepened, releasing a stronger assault on him.

From the edge of the altar to nearing the Eye of Leman, he took a total of ten steps.

The strength of the Eye of Leman’s attack escalated from chilling cold to fiercely punching him in the head.

He was two meters from the Eye of Leman; if things continued like this, even with his willpower over thirty points, he couldn’t withstand it.

The Eye of Leman sensed Wu Chang nearing his limit, adopting the stance of a victor, its malicious gaze like virus-stricken pop-up windows, crazily sent towards Wu Chang.

Wu Chang felt a warm flow rushing in his nasal cavity; he wiped it with the back of his hand, and it was blood.

Casually wiping the blood on his clothes, he grinned at the Eye of Leman, showing a row of neat white teeth.

”Do you think you can win the resurrection match before that one? Haven’t you been elbowed?”

Then, under the Eye of Leman’s frightened gaze, Wu Chang instantly crossed the two-meter distance, striking his elbow like a knife right at the pupil’s center.

”Man!”

Blindness, dizziness, bleeding, weakness, and poisoning alternated flashing, making the Eye of Leman look as if afflicted with keratitis, its pupil suddenly red, swollen and full of blood, tears continually flowing.

”What are you looking at?!” Occupying the upper hand, Wu Chang finally uttered the standard response he’d been holding back.

Wu Chang’s Inspiration Value was too high, causing various negative statuses to last for a full two minutes before starting to fade.

After being elbowed, the malice within the Eye of Leman receded, its gaze instantly becoming much clearer.

Wu Chang thought it had given up resisting and reached forward, only for the Eye of Leman to once again show an attack stance.

He withdrew his hand, revealing his elbow, causing the Eye of Leman’s gaze to clarify again.

This repeated two or three times, and Wu Chang frowned, drawing a Demon-Breaking Crossbow Arrow with his left hand and posing Mamba Iron Elbow with his right, saying with a displeased tone:

”Don’t ignore goodwill for cephalosporin.”

After a moment, the Eye of Leman seemed resigned, no longer resisting, and closed its eyes.

As Wu Chang removed the Eye of Leman, the Moonlight Sanatorium, and even the entire White Stone Town began to shake violently.

The severe earthquake lasted ten minutes, during which buildings in White Stone Town collapsed, cracks spread across the land, and the town descended into chaos.

Followers who converted to the Peaceful Sect gathered on the open ground, praying for the Lord’s salvation, but the solid stone statue shattered before their eyes.

It looked like a scene from the end-of-days.

The clouds that obscured the moonlight over White Stone Town also dispersed unknowingly.

The sky was about to brighten.

The Moonlight Sanatorium was extremely perilous; one misstep and it would be eternal damnation.

However, among the players focused on this dungeon, Wu Chang, who was inside the dungeon, had one of the most relaxed mental states.

If anyone was under the most pressure, it would undoubtedly be Old Gao in the Red Divine Hall.

As the stopwatch numbers changed, the Moonlight Sanatorium dungeon had reached two hours and thirty minutes since opening.

For Old Gao, who was in charge of Wanghai City, these two hours felt as long as two centuries.

His eyes dared not move for a moment, fearing that if he blinked, the light portal of the dungeon would shatter, and the Moonlight Sanatorium would completely lose control.

Not to mention shifting his gaze, he even minimized his breathing and speaking, afraid that from afar he might scare the newcomers in the dungeon, hastening disaster’s arrival.

”Old Gao, how’s the situation?” Lei Huo wasn’t as cautious as Old Gao; he shouted loudly upon entering the Divine Hall.

”The situation is temporarily stable. According to big data analysis, our newcomer friend has a 65% probability of lasting 4 hours.”

Lao Gao rubbed his face, forcing himself to relax, even though he is a veteran, he can’t endure such mental exhaustion and must ease his mind.

”What’s the situation outside?”

Lei Huo: ”The defense and evacuation work of the first-level area has basically been completed. The evacuation and shelter work for the second and third level areas is proceeding in an orderly manner. If that unfortunate newcomer can really hold out for 4 hours, maybe the third-level area can be mostly evacuated.”

”By then, we might be able to reduce casualties to half or even one-fifth of the Sakura Island incident. It’s just that...”

Saying this, Lei Huo paused.

”Encountered trouble?” Lao Gao frowned and asked.

Lei Huo spat and said disdainfully, ”Some guys don’t want us to easily get through the crisis, the hidden rats can’t hold back any longer.”

”Those spreading rumors have been caught through the internet, and a few who sneaked into shelters to cause trouble have been controlled and are waiting for interrogation.”

As the number of Abyssal Game players increases, all veterans can feel that the reality they live in is undergoing a transformation.

Especially in the past two years, bizarre events have occurred worldwide, with all kinds of once-in-a-century natural disasters and major accidents happening one after another, and instances losing control more frequently.

While various countries have held no less than a hundred meetings, the rhetoric about the community of human destiny is almost worn out. However, when a problem really arises, the first reaction of other allies will absolutely not be to lend a hand.

Using the unfortunate ones as guinea pigs and letting the issues fester to gather enough data serves their interests better.

If the problem isn’t big enough, some allies don’t mind helping it escalate.

Sometimes, local forces will even take action personally.

A while back, the B-level dungeon on Sakura Island lost control. Initially, it was controllable. For it to escalate to over thirty thousand dead and missing, both the White Tower and local forces on Sakura Island contributed significantly.

Lao Gao rubbed his forehead; he really had no interest in dealing with those rats.

”They’re all cannon fodder; what can be gained from interrogation? After they’re done, the recyclable ones can be thrown into high-difficulty instances for exploration, and the non-recyclable ones should be eliminated directly.”

Lei Huo sat next to Lao Gao and said irritably, ”When we sealed the instance entrance earlier, it already attracted the attention of other forces. Combined with the actions in Wanghai City, many people outside have guessed that something went wrong inside the instance.”

”Some nosy bastard used Abyssal permissions and found that our instance passage wasn’t open, then deduced that the players currently inside entered through a Trial Passage.”

Lao Gao increased the intensity of his massaging and asked, ”And then?”

Lei Huo: ”Then we became the biggest joke in the Abyssal Game this year or in recent years.”

”Players throughout the Desolate Realm are watching us. The topic of the Moonlight Sanatorium instance on the forums has soared to first place in terms of popularity, surpassing the other nine hot instances combined.”

”The pressure on our bureau is immense now. When our newcomer friend can’t hold on any longer, this pressure will fall on us.”

Lao Gao was speechless, slowly squeezing out a ”Damn!”

Cold Mountain, who overheard the conversation, interjected: ”No need to be so pessimistic, I have a hunch that the guys inside the instance might come out alive.”

Lei Huo pouted, ”You’re overly optimistic.”

Cold Mountain asked, ”A new player, using a soon-to-be-out-of-control B-level instance as a Trial Dungeon, don’t you find that very unusual? At least in my memory, I don’t recall hearing about such a matching method.”

Lei Huo immediately replied, ”I’d blindly guess it’s the White Tower and Sakura Island manipulating things. They enjoyed some advantages recently and reportedly started reaching out to players who worshiped the Evil God, trying to deliberately cause the instance to lose control.”

Cold Mountain hesitated for a moment, but still said, ”I trust my intuition more. There’s something wrong with the guy inside the instance. If he manages to come out alive, he might not only stabilize the instance but also bring out a lot of information.”

Lao Gao exhaled deeply, ”Don’t even mention bringing back information; if he can hold on for four hours, I’ll burn incense in thanks. If he lasts eight hours, it’ll be a monumental achievement, and I’ll personally build a shrine and enshrine a golden statue for him.”

Lei Huo asked, ”What if he comes out alive?”

”Then I’ll eat this teleportation gate...”

Before Lao Gao could finish, they saw on the monitor the pollution level of the Moonlight Sanatorium suddenly dropping rapidly, changing from near out-of-control to lightly dangerous.

With a bit more reduction, it would soon enter the safe zone.

Lei Huo couldn’t believe his eyes and rubbed them, shouting, ”What the hell is happening, is the equipment malfunctioning?”

Cold Mountain maintained ”Absolute Calm,” although shocked, didn’t lose composure and quickly began to analyze.

”Such a significant decrease in pollution level indicates that the player inside the instance has at least completed a main storyline mission and an important plot point. If they maintain this state and clear the instance alive, the instance completion rate won’t be lower than 75%.”

”Do you mean that newcomer player is about to achieve a breakthrough?” Happiness came too suddenly, causing Lao Gao’s mind to temporarily crash.

He couldn’t tell whether Wanghai City’s turnaround or the newcomer player’s breakthrough in the nearly out-of-control B-Level instance surprised him more.

”Barring accidents, yes.”

Lao Gao instinctively asked, ”What if there is an accident?”

Before Cold Mountain could reply, they saw the pollution level on the instrument, originally nearing the safety range, suddenly spike up, racing toward the out-of-control threshold.

Lei Huo stared at the screen dumbfoundedly, then slapped Lao Gao.

”I don’t know what happens to the instance in case of an accident, but if you don’t shut that jinx mouth of yours, you’re going to have an accident.”