Kaidan Game Train: Abide Rule or Die!
Chapter 686 Offering Eyes

Chapter 686: Chapter 686 Offering Eyes

The players couldn’t help but be stunned. That’s right, so many players had gone missing before, and no bodies were found. Who could say for sure that they were dead?

Players were forcibly teleported to random instances for three months. If the missing players were controlled by the instance boss, even if they managed to survive the seven-day limit, they might not wake up. That left at least two more months they could stay in this instance. Players are different from ordinary people; who knows what they could do?

"No way," the player in the hooded jacket was no longer so adamant, hesitating as he said, "If the missing players are all still alive, then where did the eyes in the wooden cabinet come from?"

"There aren’t many young adults in the county town," Xu Huo said. "And not only players died in the instances."

Wei Xian swallowed hard, "So you’re saying we might eventually have to face not just the instance boss but also a considerable number of missing players?"

"Thinking about it that way makes much more sense," Fang Penghui said. "To make all players fail all at once relying solely on the instance rules seems a bit difficult. After all, there are still many players who haven’t been in there long enough, and the hallucinations aren’t severe."

"That’s a good thing," the player in the black shirt added. "If it’s just players, we can manage. It’s far better than a sudden change in the instance."

"But this instance has revealed very few rules to begin with," Tian Kunwen took over the conversation. "With such a high death rate, the instance shouldn’t look like it does now. I wouldn’t be surprised by anything that happens later."

The worst outcome would be just as Xu Huo said; the corpses were alive.

"All this talk, and we can’t kill anyone," the player in the hooded jacket shook his hands, "I hope you won’t regret it when the time comes."

The night passed in this way. As dawn broke, the residents of the county town awoke from their deep sleep. Unlike the gloom of the past few days, every household was opening their gates wide, starting to clean and repair their yards, setting out sacrificial offerings and incense, as if preparing for a grand ritual celebration.

They seemed unconcerned with the houses that had burned the previous night, only taking away those who were injured and casually covering the charred, unsightly parts with some fabric.

"What are you doing?" Xu Huo asked a little girl washing rice, "Is today a festival?"

"Yes," the girl beamed with a smile, "Today is the Eye Sacrifice!"

"Shared Vision?" Xu Huo’s eyebrows moved slightly.

"It’s an offering of eyes, naturally," the girl said as if it was the most obvious thing, without the fear shown two days ago towards the locked rooms, and she added, "Wait until tonight, everyone in the city will carry the idols out for a procession. Today, all of our family members will come back, it’s the busiest day!"

"Will your parents come back too?" Xu Huo casually added water for her.

"Yeah," the girl said longingly, "I haven’t seen my mom and dad in a long time."

She excitedly ran back to get a photograph, "Look, this is my mom and dad!"

Comparing the date on the photo with the instance time, the photo was at least fifteen years old.

"Do they come back to see you every festival?" Xu Huo returned the photo to her.

"Of course," the girl said with a smile. "Anyone from Sifang Palace City will come back on the day of the Eye Sacrifice."

She happily went back to her busy preparations. Xu Huo walked out of the yard. Outside, colorful ribbons and lanterns could be seen everywhere, and groups of children were running around. He stopped the boy who had taken him to the pond the day before yesterday. The boy seemed to have forgotten what he had said and cheerfully spoke, "My mom and dad, they will definitely come back today. Do you know them, uncle?"

Xu Huo gave him some food and sent him away, then he went alone to Xiao Yun’s house near the bus station.

Xiao Yun was also preparing things for the ritual; however, her brother remained seated in the yard working on his woodcarving. Seeing Xu Huo, he said in an expressionless tone, "You paid, so delivering on time is only right."

Xu Huo sat down opposite him, "My scheduled time still has two days to go, no need to be in such a hurry."

Xiao Yun’s Brother raised his head to look at him, "It’s going to be more or less done tonight."

"You’ve been through almost half the city, and you seem to be the only one a bit sober. Why don’t you leave Sifang Palace City?" Xu Huo asked.

Xiao Yun’s Brother was carving the wood one slice at a time, "Everyone who tried to leave had died, even if turned into corpses, they would return..."

"Brother!" Xiao Yun shouted loudly, stopping him, her face showing anger as she said, "What nonsense are you talking about! Today is the Eye Sacrifice, talking like this is disrespectful to the gods!"

Xiao Yun’s Brother was indifferent to his sister’s anger, instead retorting, "Gods? Then do you know what god it is you’re offering sacrifices to?"

Xiao Yun’s expression turned blank for a moment before she said, "Gods are gods, and to discuss gods is also disrespectful."

Xiao Yun’s Brother visibly became more irritable, suddenly throwing down the wooden mirror he was holding, got up, rushed into the room, and brought out the wooden cabinet for the gods, raised it, and smashed it to the ground!

"Brother!" Xiao Yun’s expression twisted in an instant, and as she let out a piercing scream, she astonishingly stabbed towards her brother with the knife she had been using for cutting vegetables!

Xu Huo grabbed her wrist and said to Xiao Yun’s Brother, "Smashing the divine image won’t help, give it to her."

The veins on Xiao Yun’s Brother’s forehead throbbed, but eventually, he compromised. Watching Xiao Yun happily hold the wooden cabinet and leave, he looked up in despair and helplessness.

"The young men who disappeared in the county town, is their situation the same as yours?" Xu Huo asked, "Where are their corpses? This place shouldn’t be the original Sifang Palace City, right?"

Xiao Yun’s Brother sat down once more and started carving wood again, saying, "What’s the hurry, you’ll know tonight."

Xu Huo frowned slightly and asked a few more questions, but the other party repeated the same sentence.

"You think I’m a dead man walking."

"What does it matter if you’re dead? What does it matter if you’re alive? You guys leave and won’t come back anyway," mocks Xiao Yun’s Brother.

It looked like he or the people of Sifang Palace City had begged players for help. Leaving aside those who had died, even if they survived, the players could not change the current situation of the instance.

Report back to the game base? Not to mention that the game itself doesn’t have much of a concept of right or wrong, even if it did, it wouldn’t be used on a low-level instance.

This instance didn’t have a fixed start time, so the city was always in instance time. Some people were muddled, and those who sobered up and tried to save themselves couldn’t leave Sifang Palace City, which led to it becoming a city of the dead.

"So you’ve seen the real Sifang Palace City, is it across the pond?" Xu Huo said, "Can you maintain clarity and draw a map of Sifang Palace City?"

It was only then that Xiao Yun’s Brother seriously looked at him, "No one can remain clear-headed inside Sifang Palace City."

Upon finishing his statement, he spoke no more.

Xu Huo smelled nothing useful and could only leave first. Outside, he encountered Yi Pei and the player in black, who had also just finished checking the surroundings, their hands filled with grass wreaths and flower crowns gifted by children, and fruit presented by adults.

If one were unaware of the reasoning behind it, today’s Sifang Palace City would truly resemble a paradise.

Moments later, several parade floats appeared on the streets again. The locals offered fresh flowers and fruits, decorated them, and then hung cloth banners with eye patterns in the middle. The moment they saw the eyes, the expressions of Xu Huo and the others changed slightly, and in unspoken agreement, they averted their gazes!