Chapter 573: The Situation Inside the Instance
After Tan Han managed to escape the control of that player during a brief moment, she found herself “lost” in this instance made up of pixel blocks.
She walked through various locations, navigating different spaces, realizing that it resembled a chaotic maze.
So far, she was alone, encountering only the occasional monsters conjured by the pixel blocks and nothing else moving around.
The only presence accompanying her was the Knowledge Shadow.
At that moment, the Knowledge Shadow played a significant role.
Tan Han initially just wanted some company to ease her boredom, as traveling alone in such an unknown place only accumulated fear; she needed companionship, even if it was just another subconscious version of herself.
However, after summoning the Knowledge Shadow, she discovered many unexpected delights.
With the information from the Earth Vein Identification Technique, it could directly anchor and share descriptions of the current information with the Great Knowledge Tree!
Along the way, she obtained a lot of useful information from the Knowledge Shadow, as if someone had deliberately organized it for her.
For example, there was more than one player; they seemed to have been laying out plans for the entire hotel for a long time, and the place she found herself in was an instance created by those players, also an independent space.
Furthermore… she learned that the purpose of this entire scheme was to harvest the “fortune” possessed by the Child of Fortune, like herself!
Upon realizing this, Tan Han understood why she had been so unlucky; it was all part of the players’ deliberate targeting of her.
In fact, she could tell from the last attack that those players had ulterior motives towards her.
But she never expected that they not only wanted the so-called “Extraordinary Knowledge” but also aimed to harvest her fortune!
“Who!”
Suddenly, Tan Han sensed something.
She was quite confident in her perceptive abilities, and the feeling she got from the presence did not resemble those players, so she called out first.
“Is it… Tan Han?”
Before long, a voice came from the opposite side. Upon hearing it, Tan Han let out a sigh of relief; if the person had hostile intentions, she would have immediately escaped through the nearby crack.
“Yes.”
Stepping out from behind a pixelated obstruction, she could tell from the voice that it was Ninglan Qiuyue, and coincidentally… she was also a Child of Fortune.
This mere coincidence led Tan Han to speculate that Ninglan Qiuyue had likely encountered similar special treatment from the players as she had.
At that moment, both seemed to share a sense of mutual understanding, and meeting in such an environment felt like fate.
After exchanging a few greetings, they quickly decided to team up; in the face of the unknown, any assistance was invaluable, especially a companion.
Moreover, Tan Han didn’t feel any conflict with her; she doubted that Ninglan Qiuyue would betray her at this critical juncture.
Thus, after deciding to travel together, they quickly established a good level of trust and began sharing their intelligence.
After all, knowing more information in this unknown place greatly aided their current situation.
As they walked, they exchanged insights and stories about their experiences, and eventually, they gained a rough understanding of the current situation.
Likewise, both were filled with lamentations, not only for themselves but also for each other’s predicaments.
Ninglan Qiuyue’s treatment was even harsher than Tan Han’s; if not for an unexpected incident, she might have despaired here.
The two soon shifted their conversation from this intelligence to lighter topics, a natural reaction to relieve their inner tension in such a serious environment.
However, it quickly turned to how to leave this place.
They moved forward, constantly facing dangers, trying to find a way out, but all their efforts seemed to confirm that conventional methods, including what they were currently doing, provided little help in getting away.
“Are we really going to wander aimlessly in these gaps forever?”
“No… the instance space isn’t infinite; it can’t be.” Tan Han shook her head, her mindset far more optimistic than Ninglan Qiuyue’s at that moment.
With the help of the Knowledge Shadow, she projected the structure of the instance’s space, which displayed a series of data and images. She deliberately showed it without hiding anything from Ninglan Qiuyue, knowing that she too had a Great Knowledge Seed, although it was clear she wasn’t as adept at utilizing it.
“What is this…”
“This is a visualization of the space structure of this instance, where the cracks connect. There are just many of them, but they’re not infinite. I mentioned earlier that I would lead the way for you; I have my considerations as well. This at least proves one thing.”
“What does it prove?” A spark of intrigue flickered in Ninglan Qiuyue’s eyes.
She had felt despondent due to the sudden anomalies, but after traveling together for a while, she was shocked to find that Tan Han was not just wandering aimlessly.
It seemed that this teammate had this line of thought from the beginning.
She had to admit that having a teammate like this, quietly working diligently, gave her a sense of security.
“It proves… this!” Tan Han walked to a specific spot and kicked aside a pixel block. The shifting pixel blocks rose and fell, sometimes stacking upon each other.
As she reached down to touch a pixel block that was exposed below, a magic mark appeared.
This was a small spell Tan Han had mastered, designed to leave a detectable magic mark, distinguishing between marks.
“We’ve been here before.”
“Are we going in circles?”
“Right, I’m intentionally going in circles, but we haven’t really returned. This is the first space we’ve come through, this one.” Tan Han manipulated the imaging on the Knowledge Tree and finally marked a spatial node.
“Now we’ve confirmed the overall anchor point of the instance, meaning we are currently at this location.”
“Can your Great Knowledge Seed do such things?” Ninglan Qiuyue was astonished, as if a door to a new world had opened at that moment.
“Great Knowledge Seeds can accomplish many things. As I mentioned before, much of what I communicated with you was obtained through the identification technique on the Great Knowledge Seed. Now that we understand the situation we’re facing, we need to utilize every means available.”
Having confirmed the coherence of this space, they transformed from aimlessly buzzing like headless flies into exploring an unknown area with an escape route.
Many people were trapped in the instance, but until now, Tan Han had only encountered Ninglan Qiuyue, which was naturally unreasonable.
So their best move was to find the larger group, the place they had initially stayed, and at least get away from here for now.
Of course… Tan Han also had a simpler method to add another teammate.
That was the summoning business card, directly summoning Xiao Han…
At this auction, Tan Han naturally knew that Xiao Han had come and created such a commotion that it was hard not to notice.
Perhaps at this moment, Xiao Han was also trapped somewhere… or had already managed to leave this so-called instance space.
In this urgent moment, rationally, she should use it without hesitation. The more people, the more protection.
As they traversed through multiple instance spaces, not every space was devoid of threats; many spaces contained pixelated monsters that posed a huge threat to them.
However, her sensibility instinctively kept her from using it; she didn’t know why she felt this way, as if using it would be akin to admitting defeat.
She didn’t know when it started, but Xiao Han had become seemingly omnipotent in her heart. Whenever she came, all problems would be solved, as if nothing could stymie her. Even now, she had a vague sense that this was still true.
“What’s wrong?” Ninglan Qiuyue noticed that Tan Han seemed lost in thought and asked.
“Oh, it’s nothing…” Tan Han instinctively replied, then realized, “What do you think… how is Xiao Han doing now?”
“Xiao Han? Yang Yuelan? Why are you suddenly asking this?”
“I just thought of it and got curious; do you think she might be trapped here too?”
“I don’t know. Honestly, I’m not too familiar with Xiao Han’s strength. Even though I heard about her achievements as soon as I arrived at this auction, I know she is very strong, indeed very strong; perhaps… she is rampaging somewhere…”
“Rampaging… maybe that truly is the case.” Tan Han sighed and then asked, “If I told you I have something that can summon Xiao Han over, would you use it?”
“Summon Xiao Han?” Ninglan Qiuyue looked at Tan Han, then quickly realized, “If you’re joking, I’d prefer you use it directly. If you really have it… I think it’s better to use it at a critical moment.”
“Why? Why would you also hesitate to use it immediately?”
“So this isn’t an ‘if,’ but you actually do have it, right?”
“……”
“Alright, perhaps you and I both share a reluctance to rely on others, and… deep down, you’ve excluded Xiao Han from your acknowledgment. You can unhesitatingly cooperate with me to face the unknown at this moment, but hesitate when it comes to Xiao Han. Maybe… it’s also due to a bit of competitive spirit within you, I guess…”
Ninglan Qiuyue spoke at length and soon realized she had overstepped, so she stopped.
Actually, she too had some reluctance in her heart about using it; as for why… perhaps it was due to her confidence in the Witch Academy…
She had seen too many impossibilities at the Witch Academy.
Even the dead could be resurrected; despite her strong aversion to d*ath and resurrection, this implication constantly influenced everyone’s choices.
Just like now, having escaped the inevitable d*ath, even though the road ahead remained unclear, they had regained confidence and courage to overcome difficulties.
Moreover, not using it now wasn’t due to an urgent need? This feeling of having a fallback provided them, those elevated to the forefront, with their ambitions to assert themselves…
No one wanted to constantly depend on others or live in someone else’s shadow, right?
Though she enrolled late, she had still heard of the “grievances” between Tan Han and Xiao Han.
“Just a guess…”
“You could have made a better choice to reach this conclusion. Just recently, you told me to make good use of the Great Knowledge Seed when faced with difficult decisions… why not ask your subconscious, which has turned into the Knowledge Shadow? Maybe she will tell you the answer you most anticipate.”
……
At this moment in the upper instance space.
Many people were stuck here, facing the most numerous attacks from the monsters within the instance.
They not only had to deal with the continuous assaults from so many instance monsters but also be wary of traps that were everywhere.
Those who lacked extraordinary power ran around madly, swallowed by a sudden pixel, merging forever into the pixel blocks-like substance.
There was no time to save them.
They vowed this was the last auction they would regret participating in! If there were a next time, even if begged, they wouldn’t come again!
However… it was clear that they had no next time.
Those without power were truly lamentable; in the face of overwhelming circumstances, their lives could not be controlled by themselves.
“A massive tremor just occurred, and the space here has started to fragment…”
“What about the players?”
“Players? What players?”
“I’m not too certain either. I only learned recently that the group responsible for this disaster is called players… I heard it from a senior who’s older than me. They seem to know something…”
“Why didn’t you say something so important earlier? Did they know about this disaster in advance?”
“How would I know?”
At that moment, amidst the bickering, not everyone was like the majority, a scattered bunch, some even had the leisure to argue.
Those with plans were methodically clearing monsters, exploring areas, looking for breakthroughs, and actively searching for those players.
The number of players wasn’t too large; compared to all the students here, it was negligible. The only real threat came from the monsters created by those guys.
Whether it was an illusion or not, within a short period, the power of these monsters had become increasingly terrifying.
But they had to find those players; to leave here, those players were undoubtedly the breakthrough point in the current situation.
“Should we go in and test those openings formed by the damages?”
“Isn’t that too dangerous… we don’t know what’s on the other side; what if it’s instant d*ath?”
“Shouldn’t… that be unlikely?” At this moment, a student from the Witch Academy reached out to touch that deep vortex, but nothing happened, and her hand wasn’t torn apart by energy.
Everyone visibly relaxed.
She had already prepared for healing options, so it seemed they could pass through.
“Hey! What are you doing, trying that risky move barehanded?”
“It’s fine! I have a healing spell… even if… ahhh!”
The girl carelessly played around, flicking her hand in that spot once more. She possessed such a rare spell; even lacking the Undying ability, she felt secure.
However, before she could finish her sentence, she let out a bl**d-curdling scream as she felt something grab her wrist!
Terrified, she fell to the ground, desperately pulling her hand up, but that force was surprisingly strong!
Seeing this anomaly, those nearby rushed to help her.
Many eyes were drawn to the unusual occurrence.
Until that hand was pulled up, everyone realized that the girl’s wrist was gripped by another hand!
At first glance, the delicate, snowy white hand was clearly that of a girl.
Then, as a figure poked its head out from the crack, shock filled everyone’s eyes upon recognizing the person.
“Tan… Tan Han? How can it be you?”
“Finally found the larger group…” Tan Han, seeing so many people now, let out a complete sigh of relief. “Everyone, please lend a hand… I have another person below…”
