Kaidan Game Train: Abide Rule or Die!
Chapter 753: A Photo

Chapter 753: Chapter 753: A Photo

Seizing the brief gap when the distance to the monster had increased slightly, Xiao Ling and Sun Bo, who hadn’t managed to escape, quickly withdrew from the eighth floor through different passages. By the time the monster shook off the Flying Shield and reached the window, all the escaping players had already hidden themselves on other floors.

"Aooo... Aooo..." The monster’s roar echoed through the hotel, occasionally accompanied by sounds of the hotel being torn apart. Unlike before when it only wandered the corridors, this ravenous beast was now bursting into rooms regardless of whether the doors were shut or not, to check inside.

Xu Huo was on the fifth floor, checking outside the hotel with a tool. It was still impossible to leave during the day, and the street view outside had also been reversed; Beheaded Cemetery was now on the other side. The skeletons seen climbing out the night before had disappeared, leaving many pits in the ground.

He moved up to the top floor and took a careful look at other parts of the Museum City. There weren’t many changes in most places, just a few more destroyed areas than yesterday. In the vast Museum City, he saw no trace of other players.

Looking at Museum City from within the Mirror Hotel felt like the entire city had lost its warmth, like a barren land where life had come to an end.

However, not being able to leave the hotel didn’t guarantee that the scenery he was seeing was real. The time in the Museum City instance was odd, and it was possible that the space was also distorted and changeable.

"The Riddle of the Sphinx..." Xu Huo took out a folding chair from the luggage compartment, set it up, sat down, opened a bottle of water, and casually ate something.

The Riddle of the Sphinx seems, on the surface, to be a riddle about a person, with childhood, adulthood, old age corresponding to morning, noon, and evening—essentially related to time.

If this riddle appeared elsewhere, there might be other interpretations, but in Museum City it seemed to point to something else because there was only one day here, with morning, noon, and night occurring in the same repeating cycle.

The name of the instance often involves hidden content, but judging from the four progress points he had previously completed, the instance tasks requiring the solution of the disappearance mystery and the time mystery didn’t seem to be closely related.

Perhaps it was just a coincidence that they collided with each other?

But now, what was unrelated had become related; without cracking the secret of the Mirror Hotel, he couldn’t even leave this place.

A hand reached out from the edge of the balcony and Peng Fengnian, making his movements as light as possible, climbed up. Seeing Xu Huo sunbathing and eating dry food, his expression visibly relaxed. He gestured for silence and only opened his tool to speak quickly after his feet touched the ground, "My tool’s silent mode won’t last long. You sitting here, do you have a clue yet?"

"That’s exactly why I sat down to rest. Haven’t had proper rest in two or three days; my brain’s a bit sluggish," Xu Huo replied, handing him a can of beer.

"Excellent, this is even better than food," Peng Fengnian said, opening it and eagerly gulping down a few sips before taking a breath and speaking, "To enter the instance, I packed only essentials in every nook of the luggage compartment, didn’t bring any liquor."

"With so many companions, there must be one or two who brought some," Xu Huo said. "Division of labor in cooperation, you don’t need that much supplies."

Under normal circumstances, how much water and food can an instance consume? Including medical supplies and others, the luggage compartment was definitely sufficient, not yet to the point of desperation.

"Was 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. Didn’t expect you to ask only now."

"Since we are cooperating, it’s better for both sides to be frank," Xu Huo said calmly. "But the methods of your Zone 009 are rather extreme, planning to kill off all players who entered the instance?"

Peng Fengnian fell silent for a moment, obviously aware of the events from the leading player who had chased after Xu Huo and the others.

"I don’t make those decisions, it’s determined by the higher-ups," he said. "But we’re allies, not enemies now. You’d better seek revenge on him after we get out."

Xu Huo laughed, "Nice thought, but who knows how many players from Zone 009 are out there."

"I can’t do something like crossing the river and demolishing the bridge. I can discuss with Teacher Pan; after we get out, you can have a one-on-one with Old Zheng, life or death on your own terms..." Peng Fengnian paused, "That’s all I can do. You know I’m not high-ranking."

Xu Huo scrutinized him, "If the thing you guys are looking for is so important, why didn’t you let high-level players come in?"

"They all have tasks and can’t leave at the moment," Peng Fengnian said evasively, but his somewhat mocking expression indicated it wasn’t just because of a lack of people.

That was expected. Zone 009 was fully integrated into the game world, not only players from other zones but also players from their own wanted a piece of the action at the right time, not to mention the factional and power struggles.

"Is there anyone among you who entered with tickets?" Xu Huo asked again.

"None of us in this batch have tickets," Peng Fengnian said, then pointed to his tool to indicate time was up.

Xu Huo looked towards the gates of Museum City in the distance. Without tickets and trapped in the Corpse-Hiding Hotel, it was likely they used some kind of testing equipment or tools to search for something.

Peng Fengnian used his electronic device to type a message, "We’re the first batch to come in. We only learned from Old Zheng that the time limit for the Museum City instance is seven days. We have one or two days left, but it’s uncertain whether the Mirror Hotel space follows the instance rules."

"Also, this instance opens every day, which is very strange. Do you have any idea why?"

If they could leave when the seven days were up, that’d be good. If not...

The first seven days hadn’t passed yet and Xu Huo couldn’t verify his conjecture about the daily cycle. However, since Peng Fengnian and his group had entered the Mirror Hotel from the Corpse-Hiding Hotel without tickets, it was likely that the instance was also operating at that time, suggesting the instance would always remain open. To leave was impossible.

Even more so for non-ticket players.

Players typically leave instances in one of two ways: complete the task and exit the instance or automatically exit when the instance closes. However, because of its clear time pattern, Museum City also had some features of a random instance—unlimited time. But worse than a random instance, only ticket players who cleared within the instance’s time limit might be able to leave.

"On the bright side," Xu Huo spoke in a hushed voice, "perhaps the instance doesn’t restrict non-ticket players."

That gate looked all too easy to enter and exit.

Peng Fengnian’s face was filled with worry, clearly not really taking in this half-hearted attempt at reassurance, before turning his electronic device on again and handing it over.

It displayed photos concerning Museum City, all taken from within the Mirror Hotel.

Xu Huo flipped forward two photos and suddenly sat up straight, taking a close look at the time and lighting of the photos before asking Peng Fengnian, "Are you sure this photo was taken the day before yesterday afternoon?"