Both Xie Ling and Xu Ruosi glanced at Xu Huo almost imperceptibly. For different reasons, both were more or less focused on his decisions. That group showing up so coincidentally earlier made it impossible not to suspect something.
As for Xiao Ling claiming she met Yu Guangnan on the train—no one was naive enough to think that saving someone twice earned complete trust in their character. These days, bonds forged in hardship weren't worth much.
Take Xie Ling for example. Xu Huo had saved her, but that didn't guarantee he wouldn't turn on her later. Did being saved automatically make her his loyal follower?
No one in the game was that naive.
Xiao Ling wasn't as tough as she'd been with Liu Chengyi and his group earlier. She was clearly hesitating. The sneak attack had served as a wake-up call.
"I overheard some news earlier," Yu Guangnan spoke up. "That's probably why those people chased me here."
"What news?" Xiao Ling asked first.
"They mentioned looking for an unclaimed high-grade item inside the dungeon," Yu Guangnan explained before anyone could question him further. "Even I found it strange when I heard it. Unclaimed items might exist when a dungeon first appears, but normally no one can detect their presence in advance. And if they knew about an unclaimed item, why wouldn't they just take it instead of letting word spread? That doesn't make sense."
"But from the way they talked, they seemed very certain."
"But items like that usually have limitations," Xie Ling added. "Low-grade items might be searchable, but high-grade ones are different. How would they know for sure there's a high-grade item? And if they knew in advance, why wouldn't they grab it immediately instead of standing around discussing it?"
The ball landed back in Yu Guangnan's court. He quickly said, "I'm absolutely not lying. You can use a lie detector on me."
Xu Huo could observe his heartbeat and breathing. There were no major fluctuations when he spoke—he probably wasn't lying. But Xie Ling and the others' skepticism was reasonable. A high-grade item that couldn't be taken... He immediately thought of the Wax Figure Hall.
The entire Wax Figure Hall might well be an item. However, when he left in the morning, he'd tried touching various parts of it without triggering any game notifications. Either this item was particularly special, or the real item was hidden somewhere else. Either way, something was there.
Could those people be after this?
A high-grade item was certainly worth fighting over. But he was more suspicious that information about the Perfect Potion had leaked too widely.
Even Dr. Deng, holed up in District 011, had channels to know Dr. Wu had appeared in Zone 009. Who knew how many hands that information had passed through?
"Truth or not aside," he said, "the item is secondary. We need to figure out how to clear the dungeon first."
"Right. If we can't get out, nothing else matters," Xu Ruosi nodded.
The group exchanged glances. The alliance was temporarily preserved.
It wasn't yet dawn, but Xu Huo planned to head to the next venue immediately.
"No need to rush, is there?" Xiao Ling sized him up. "We haven't rested in two nights."
"We can rest near the venue," Xu Huo said. "We might not complete all six progress objectives in seven days. If we can learn about the dangers in each venue in advance, it benefits everyone."
To avoid unnecessary trouble, they went straight down Main Street and picked a good observation spot before stopping to rest.
The central area of Museum City had the most venues, and their layout was complex. The venues at the four cardinal points were mostly left-right divided, regular squares. But the central ones were different—besides having bizarre intersecting shapes, there were also height differences between ground level and underground.
For example, the Corpse Hotel was located in the upper half of a tall central building, while the River Styx Ferry only had its entrance on the surface. The actual venue was underground. According to the tour map's marked layout, the River Styx Ferry venue was long and winding, positioned beneath the entire central venue area.
"Adult Psychological Treatment Room, the Attic Next Door, Infectious Disease History Museum, Terror Scream, Depreciated Wooden Dolls..." Xie Ling read the names on the map. "Which one should we hit first?"
"The Infectious Disease History Museum and Adult Psychological Treatment Room are closest." From their position, Xu Huo and the others could see the exterior windows of these two venues. Parts of the rooms inside were visible through the windows, looking relatively normal.
Xiao Ling had a different view. "These small venues barely connect to the dungeon's background. We're better off hitting the big ones first."
Xu Ruosi and the other two agreed. Nearly two days of seven had passed. Betting on more promising venues was smarter.
Good thinking, but Xu Huo wasn't changing his decision.
"It should be safer after dawn. We can split up," he suggested. "It's faster to search more venues, but big venues aren't guaranteed to hit the mark. Since other players exhausted themselves last night, let's quickly scout out the various venues."
"More players might show up around noon."
"Doesn't that defeat the purpose of working together?" Yu Guangnan said. "Being alone makes you a target."
"Just don't stray too far," Xu Huo said calmly. "A hundred meters apart—if you can't get help in time when something happens, then anyone who attacks is just delivering a free kill."
"Besides, cooperation doesn't mean we have to stick together. The goal is to use manpower to save time and reduce risk."
"I'll do it your way," Xiao Ling said immediately. "I'll take the River Styx Ferry below."
She and Yu Guangnan would go together.
"Then we'll take the Attic?" Xu Ruosi asked for Xie Ling's opinion.
Xie Ling had already wrapped up her leg. She could still move for now. She looked at Xu Huo. "You're going alone?"
"The History Museum and Treatment Room are small spaces. One person is enough," Xu Huo said.
After finalizing the plan, they found a place to catch some sleep.
Xu Huo closed his eyes and sat by the window. Just before dawn, he noticed someone actually coming out of the Adult Psychological Treatment Room. The person looked around first, then quickly used an item to vanish from the street.
He frowned slightly but only glanced once before continuing to rest. When the light outside brightened, he crossed the street and headed into the Infectious Disease History Museum first.
It was an ordinary venue, about a hundred square meters. The walls were covered with theme-related photos—infected patients, treatment scenes, group photos of patients and medical staff... All these photos were black and white, exuding not only age but also a sense of despair.
Times were marked next to the photos. Though it was called a history museum, the time span wasn't actually that long. According to the shooting dates, these epidemics had occurred over a span of ten years.
Ten years. Even though the medical staff in the photos wore protective suits and masks, it was obvious they'd been replaced batch after batch. Xu Huo took down one of the group photos of medical staff and saw several rows of names written on the back.