Xu Xi didn't expect the selection to be held so quickly.
At this moment, he was standing at a street corner, facing what looked like an ordinary and unremarkable street.
The quiet night was thick as ink; there was no clear glow from a bright moon nor twinkling starlight in the sky. Only the street lamps on both sides emitted a soft, faint light.
What kind of instance was this?
Even though Xu Xi had prepared himself for the solo instance to be highly difficult, facing a deserted street now still left him utterly baffled.
However, participating in a solo instance again, he was already far from as panicked and flustered as the first time.
Just as he planned to start by observing this street, several lines of blood-red characters suddenly emerged on the ground about a meter ahead of him.
『Some interesting things happened here. Please continue forward.』
『If everything appears normal, turn left at the end. If you discover an anomaly along the way, please turn right at the end.』
『Please judge carefully. There is no turning back here.』
The few short lines of text displayed for only a moment before disappearing again.
Xu Xi understood; these were the initial rules this instance gave him.
Look for anomalies on the street. If there are none, go left; if there are anomalies, go right. Once you choose, you cannot turn back. It didn't sound particularly difficult.
But Xu Xi didn't dare be the slightest bit careless.
One had to remember, this was a high-difficulty instance personally acknowledged by the God Hunt.
——
【He's here, he's here! Master Xu Xi is truly a workhorse. How long has it been since the last instance ended, and the master is already diving into another one?】
【Whoa, a solo instance! Did Master Xu Xi sign up for the team competition too?】
【No way, has it already been three months again???】
【Time really flies. In the blink of an eye, it's been a year since the God Hunt descended. I'm almost forgetting what peaceful life used to be like.】
【Holy shit, holy shit! Have you guys seen the hot search? Flash Play was finally taken down!!!】
【What?!】
【Really? WTF! Weren't they supposed to have super hard backing, still holding the show even after being cursed out by the entire internet, and reports didn't work?】
【They had no choice but to take it down. The entire production team got selected into an instance.】
【HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! The dumbass production team is finally gone!】
【What is this, karma?】
【Something's fishy. Master Xu Xi just broke Flash Play's curse, and then in the blink of an eye, the whole production team gets neatly selected into an instance.】
【Little birdie says a few big shots have fallen. You'll probably see the news in a few days.】
【Huh? Why do I smell a whiff of conspiracy?】
【So it really was human scum?】
【Careful with the ban hammer, everyone.】
【Why does this instance look familiar to me?】
【Ahem, the person ahead is changing the topic a bit awkwardly.】
【No, I'm serious! This damn instance appeared in the selection rounds for the last two team competitions!!】
【……Huh?】
Officials once stated that the God Hunt game's instances aren't one-time use. Instances that players fail to clear will repeat until a player successfully clears it, after which it disappears completely.
The chance of a repeated instance appearing is actually not small. It's just that due to the sheer number of instances, it's impossible to keep track, leading netizens to mistakenly think they're all new instances.
This time, a netizen who had watched all the selection instances from the previous three rounds recognized it.
【I remember this instance was named something like 'Weeping Street' or something. You can search the official website. Not sure if it only appeared these two times.】
【I searched. It's there. Only appeared during selection matches.】
【……So, two players both failed to clear this instance?】
Anyone daring to participate in the selection must be a player confident in their own abilities.
Yet, both failed to clear this instance?
【What kind of instance is this? Is it that hard? Don't scare me.】
【It's not just about being hard or not. Ugh, I don't know how to describe it. It's just weirdly eerie.】
【Find anomalies? That doesn't sound too hard.】
【Buddy, just make sure you don't end up hiding under your blanket later.】
——
Xu Xi looked back behind him. It was a wall.
It seemed the instance only gave him the option to move forward.
Perhaps because he had died too many times, he, who used to be quite afraid of supernatural things, could now stand alone on a deserted street in the middle of the night, expressionless, braving the cold wind.
Not far away stood a rusty street sign.
Xu Xi walked over to look. It read 'West Yongning Street,' with a 'Floor 0' marked beside it.
Not understanding what it meant, Xu Xi simply continued walking down the street.
On both sides of the street, shops and residential houses stood intermingled, but all were tightly closed.
The instance hint mentioned there would be anomalies inside the street, so he observed with extra care, checking the signs as he walked.
'Mist Valley Tea House'—sounded like a tea shop.
'Sunny Day Department Store,' 'Huarong Supermarket,' 'Sha County Snacks'...
'First-Class Spicy Hot Pot,' 'Sweet Island Forest Castle Cake Shop,' 'Huimin Pharmacy'...
'Five Blessings Fruit Store,' 'Plant-Based Hair Care,' 'Old Street Barbecue'...
There were also shops selling ready-made clothes and ones for lock-picking and key duplication, etc.
The rest were residential houses.
Xu Xi walked the entire length of the street and found they were all very common shops from the real world, nothing strange.
No anomalies means turn left at the end.
Reaching the forked road at the end, both left and right were old, narrow alleyways. Without much hesitation, he chose to go left.
The alley wasn't endless. He hadn't walked long before seeing the exit.
But when Xu Xi emerged from the exit, he instinctively froze on the spot.
An identical street appeared before his eyes.
Xu Xi immediately turned around and saw the place that was just an alley had turned into a familiar wall.
So, this was what the instance meant by 'no turning back'?
Was this a looping-type instance?
Xu Xi pondered thoughtfully.
That made sense. If it were just a simple single layer, wouldn't it be too easy to clear?
He seemed to understand a bit where the difficulty lay.
Just as he was about to start walking forward again, his peripheral vision suddenly caught that the number on the street sign not far away had changed.
The 'Floor 0' above had become 'Floor 1'.
Huh?
Xu Xi stared at the number for a while.
This number... did it represent his loop count?
He'd verify that later.
The shops on the street showed no change at all. Xu Xi looked around; everything was exactly the same as before.
Could there be no anomalies again?
However, just as he looked up, two shadows on the second-floor window of Sunny Day Department Store caught his eye.
It seemed there was a light on inside. The warm yellow light was especially conspicuous in the dark night.
Two people seemed to be embracing; their shadows overlapped, clearly imprinted on the window.
Xu Xi waited for a moment. Seeing the shadows still maintaining the embracing posture, he walked towards the end of the street.
This should count as the so-called anomaly, right?
He decided to try going right this time.
The alley on the right was no different from the left one; he still walked for a bit before reaching the exit.
But this time, Xu Xi wasn't in a hurry to go out.
Because he had discovered something different.