Chapter 108: Xishan Residential Area (28) [Arc 3 - END]

  [The instance <Xishan Residential Area> is temporarily closed due to an uncontrollable error. It’s currently under adjustment. Please stay tuned.]

The game system’s cold and ruthless announcement played three times consecutively in the game’s main city area, catching the attention of players who hadn’t yet entered an instance.

Some players were shocked and exclaimed, “The instance is closed? What happened? Which top player broke the instance?”

There’s generally only one possibility for an instance closure, and that’s the instance crashing.

This had happened before when high-level players entered low-level instances and completely crashed them.

Back then, there were no restrictions on players entering instances, but since then, the game system restricted players from entering instances with a level difference of less than two, and they must participate in an instance of their own level periodically.

All to prevent players from maliciously crashing instances.

But now, an instance crashed again?

What’s going on?

Players flooded the game forum with questions and confusion, and the forum suddenly exploded.

[What’s happening?! What’s going on?! Why are instances suddenly closing left and right?]

[Does anyone know? Which top player broke an instance again? Who’s that top player?]

[You guys are so slow; ‘Xishan Residential Area’ is the instance where that Magician was. It was all over the forum. Later, I heard the legendary top player Su Zhen also appeared. With both of them in one place, isn’t it normal for the instance to break?]

[Wow! Two high level players in one instance??? How scary is this instance? Is it a new high-level instance? No, I checked; it seems to be an intermediate instance.]

[It’s not about the instance being dangerous; it’s the boss and players directly fighting each other, causing some chaos. It seems like a fight over someone. There are already videos on the forum about the live screen recording of ‘Xishan Residential Area.’ Go check it out!]

There were forum posts alerting that ‘Xishan Residential Area’ instance had a top-ranked player appearing, and many players immediately paid three times the fee to watch the live stream.

Many players also recorded the live stream videos and uploaded them to the game forum.

Players rushed to the forum to watch the videos upon hearing, and they stared at the screen in silence.

[To be honest, I’m shocked that I can watch these high-ranking players live, but I’m also shocked at how strong their taste are. Maybe I just don’t understand their taste; is this really good looking?!]

[It looks good, but I always feel like it’s an exquisite puppet no matter how I look at it. It’s just off somehow. So, top players like this style, huh?]

[He doesn’t even look better than me. Are these big shots attracted to his soul?]

[But the problem is, I always feel that this young man looks empty, like he has no soul, just like a strange mannequin. It doesn’t matter where you put him in the instance; he’s like a boss-level character. This is indeed a terrifying instance.]

[Maybe that young man is just a smokescreen, and these big shots just want to kill each other. Isn’t that normal?]

The players who uploaded the video, and the accumulated viewers watching the livestream were somewhat bewildered.

Was everyone’s sense of aesthetics so distorted nowadays?

Didn’t they find that young man attractive at all?

The players who uploaded the video watched it with doubt and were immediately dumbfounded.

The young man in the video looked like a delicate mannequin. Although beautiful, it was difficult to generate any affection for him.

It was too artificial, as if it had been excessively photoshopped, to the point where it no longer looked like a person, with a slightly twisted and bizarre feeling.

How could this be!?

He’s so beautiful!!! Why did it turn out like this!?

They immediately went to the forum to watch videos uploaded by other players and found that they all looked the same.

It was as if what they watched on the livestream was fake.

Players who had seen the livestream immediately left comments.

[No! This person/NPC is really beautiful, stunningly beautiful, indescribably beautiful! This is the first time I’ve seen someone look this beautiful!]

[Yes! That NPC is really beautiful to the point where I can totally understand why the big shots are fighting for him. I really want to claim him for myself because he’s so beautiful. I just don’t know why it turned out like this when I recorded the screen; it’s really strange!]

Players who hadn’t seen the livestream looked at the fake-looking person on the screen and then at the overly praised comments, feeling somewhat speechless.

[And you find this indescribably beautiful? Are you sure your sense of aesthetics is normal?]

[Actually, I can’t appreciate it, maybe it’s because I’m not a big shot (collapsed.jpg).]

[No, I’m not doubting you, but are you sure that when you watched the livestream, what you saw was real?]

The accumulated viewers watching the livestream were stunned; were they contaminated when they watched? Did they only see what they wanted to see on the screen?

Some players who watched the livestream became uncertain. Indeed, that young man’s beauty didn’t seem like that of a real person at all.

If it was just due to the influence of the livestream, it could be explained.

Players were annoyed; damn, they actually got influenced. When did that happen?

The tall player submitted the answer that the fat guy had told him when he blew up the laboratory, and he successfully cleared the instance.

Unlike the advanced male player, he knew that he was hypnotized, and he willingly let himself be hypnotized.

When they were blocked in the laboratory, the tall player knew that even if they really handed over that fat guy, the boss, Xia Wuyan, wouldn’t spare them.

And even if he agreed, the advanced male player wouldn’t agree. He would only put himself in an even more difficult situation.

So he stood on the side of the fat guy and the advanced male player.

He just didn’t expect that the fat guy would give him a surprise.

The tall player realized after the explosion’s source that the fat guy was definitely an intelligent player.

In the world of Infinite Horror Games, having strong combat power alone was not enough. For some instances, physical strength was of no use unless you could kill the biggest boss.

Even the top-ranked players wouldn’t dare to say such a thing.

So, intelligent players were also indispensable, and most players were willing to team up with players like this for instances.

In this instance, they directly offended the big boss, clearly facing a desperate situation. It was impossible for him to clear it on his own.

Therefore, when the tall player noticed that the fat guy was hinting at hypnotizing him, he accepted it without any resistance.

The fat guy told him that he wasn’t the type of player who would exchange lives for clearing the instance.

The main reason for his survival was still the weak, fat guy. He couldn’t even contribute. If the other died, he wouldn’t survive either.

So he would definitely do everything to ensure the other’s safety to the maximum extent.

Finally, when he received the fat guy’s order to take Yang Muqing and blow up the laboratory, the tall player didn’t understand why he had to do it, but he went without any resistance.

After all, he had no way to clear the instance, so he might as well take the gamble.

The fact proved that he made the right bet.

After the instance ended, memories of what happened before the instance restarted also came back to him. The tall player, comparing the two situations, realized the horror of intelligent players for the first time.

No wonder higher-level players were more likely to cultivate an intelligent type of player.

It’s really terrifying.

If it were only the players at the beginning, not to mention going into that laboratory, it would probably be difficult to detect the problem even if it was thrown in their faces.

Afterward, like fools, they each walked towards death holding a little red flower.

After all, they had also flipped through the monitoring when they first entered, and not a single player noticed anything wrong.

The tall player also heard the game’s cold and ruthless system announcement, and he was not surprised at all.

With such a fierce play style, it would be strange if the instance didn’t collapse.

The tall player looked at the forum that had exploded, then looked at the questions from others, preparing to upload his gameplay video.

But the upload failed.

The tall player initially thought it was a bug, but after trying several times, he couldn’t upload it to the end.

Even his attempts to post comments about the fat guy didn’t work.

Not that they didn’t work, but when he posted them, they disappeared instantly, and he couldn’t see them himself, let alone other players.

But if he wanted to send something else or upload something else, there was no problem, only things about this instance couldn’t be uploaded.

The tall player was stunned; this was the first time he had encountered such a situation.

Was it the game system’s doing?

In a certain place in the game’s space.

The man furrowed his brows slightly. What’s going on? Was there a part of him that couldn’t be retrieved?

This was the first time the man had encountered such a situation. After all, even if a copy of him died in the instance, he should still be able to retrieve it.

His split body was just a strand of his soul, and it shouldn’t have a big impact on him even if it couldn’t be retrieved, but if it was taken advantage of...

The man used an item to track his own aura and entered the instance.

Before the man could react, an attack that came at him almost hit him.

He quickly dodged to the side, and then he looked at the devastating attack and was stunned.

What’s going on?

Su Zhen?

Lu Rufeng?

The man’s gaze fell upon the twisted corpse drenched in blood; that seemed to be his copy, right?

How did he merge with the boss of this instance?

The man looked at Su Zhen, who was being beaten around, and with a hint of Schadenfreude in his tone, he spoke, “Su Zhen, I told you before, doing immoral things too often can lead to divine punishment.”

“Look at yourself. You look so miserable. I bet it’s all been in vain, wasn’t it?”

Initially, the people fighting in the battle paid no attention to the man’s sarcasm. However, it seemed that these words had provoked some of them, and they looked at the man with murderous intent.

Even the twisted corpse covered in blood was no exception.

The man: “???”

Su Zhen gritted his teeth fiercely, avoiding Blood Shadow’s attacks in embarrassment. Wasn’t it just a wasted effort?

He lost the super S-tier reset instance item and let someone pass the level right under his nose. He wouldn’t even get the ‘Demon’s Eye’ item the system promised him.

Without the ‘Demon’s Eye’ item, finding Ye Qing was like searching for a needle in a haystack.

Not only was Su Zhen infuriated, but even Lu Rufeng and others were also furious.

For a while, the battle became even more fierce, and the intent to kill was almost tangible. Every move was relentless, aiming to kill the other.

However, at the moment, nobody could kill anyone.

A few minutes later, the system’s cold and heartless voice resounded.

[Due to uncontrollable factors, the instance <Xishan Residential Area> will be closing soon. All players, please evacuate the instance immediately.]

The man, who had been watching the show, was shocked and immediately separated his copy from the boss.

Because there was not much time left, the man quickly glanced at his copy’s memories.

Seeing that his copy was still a romantic fool and had been deceived by the instance boss, the man disdainfully erased his copy’s memories and then absorbed it.

He had no need for such memories; it was just an embarrassment to him.

If the instance closed, it was almost like being temporarily separated from the Infinite Game, forming a separate closed instance.

If players couldn’t leave the instance before it closed, they wouldn’t be able to leave it afterward.

The others didn’t care about anything else, carrying their full hostility and murderous intent. They left the instance before it closed.

The ‘Xishan Residential Area’ instance closed completely.

T/N: It's the end of another arc! If you're enjoying the story, please do donate if you can. It will help in buying raws and maintaining the site. Thank you!~

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