If the previous instances were like being slowly ground down by a blunt knife, with dangers progressing gradually, then this instance specializes in the element of surprise; you simply never know where danger might strike.
Having already experienced falling into a sewer by accidentally stepping on a manhole cover, and being impaled by suddenly sprouting thorns while walking, Xu Xi felt that even if he encountered the most bizarre death method again, he could remain utterly unfazed.
He just hadn't expected that the later cycles in this instance would require items from earlier ones to pass.
Coupled with the rule forbidding turning back, Xu Xi thought about it—if he didn't have the reload ability...
Actually, no, that hypothetical shouldn't even exist. Without reload, he would have died in the very first instance; how could he have survived until now?
Xu Xi shook his head, dismissing these pointless thoughts. Currently, he only had one idea, which was—
He decided he would never step on a manhole cover again!
——
[...Which one of you secretly put my stream on fast-forward?]
[Xu Xi: Human-powered fast-forward, get the scoop.]
[Why did the cycle layer number reset?]
[Maybe it means entering the next stage?]
[There's a weird point. Floor 4 didn't seem to have any abnormalities, right? So why did Master Xu Xi choose the alley on the right?]
[You can go check the replay of the second player before. He stepped on a manhole cover, the lid loosened, and he fell right through.]
[Ah, wasn't it said he got trapped and died in a later cycle?]
[Because he had items on him; the things in the sewer couldn't do anything to him. He found a chance and climbed back up.]
[Actually, if he hadn't failed to pick up the banknotes, that player probably had a chance to clear the instance too.]
[Does that mean this instance can only be cleared by luck?]
[Maybe a little? As long as the player doesn't like stepping on manhole covers, then Floor 4 is a breeze.]
[That's quite friendly to us folks over here. Where we're from, stepping on manhole covers is unlucky; we basically always step over them when we see them.]
[But if you don't step on the cover, wouldn't you not know there's an abnormality on that floor?]
[...Oh, right.]
[Right your head! Are you all blind? Look carefully! Were there any manhole covers in the earlier cycles at all!!!]
[Huh?]
[Holy crap, you're right! Damn it, watching too many cycles has scrambled my memory.]
[So Master Xu Xi didn't avoid it because of a habit of not stepping on covers; he directly knew there was a problem.]
[I thought I finally had one thing in common with the master. Turns out it was just my delusion (not really).]
[For Floor 6, you can also observe carefully. Just walk in an S-shape right down the middle, and you can avoid all the growing thorns.
As for the banknotes, they're probably related to the instance's background.
The three NPCs in the first major cycle ended up taking a group photo at the supermarket entrance, but there was an anomaly at the Sunny Day Department Store on Floor 1.
If nothing goes wrong, each major cycle should represent a story. Ponder that carefully.
Besides, the banknotes appeared twice; that's the real, subtle hint the instance gives.
The first time, the banknotes were bundled up, so you definitely couldn't touch them. The second time was different.
Each banknote has a face value of 100. I think taking one or two is enough. The number of Little Black Figures should correspond to the number of banknotes you take.
Their characteristic is appearing silently, but their weakness is being slow. Players can completely outrun them.]
A barrage comment analyzed a great deal in a lengthy and flowing manner.
[You wrote a lot; I'm with you.]
[Why couldn't you take them the first time? Wouldn't taking them also make Little Black Figures appear? And there was only one then.]
[The combat power of the Little Black Figures on those two floors is completely on different levels. One's an elite monster, the other's a regular monster. Can they be compared?]
[Master Xu Xi: One or two? If the remaining banknotes weren't covered in blood, I'd have taken them all.]
[Who understands? Watching Master Xu Xi go through these cycles really feels like watching a streamer play a game, and the kind that does a no-damage, one-life speedrun. The relaxed vibe is absolutely maxed out, okay?]
In their eyes, the young man seemed to know where the problem was with just a glance, the entire process smooth and fluid as if he were taking a leisurely stroll.
Just him standing there, that aura of having everything under control, made them feel exceptionally at ease.
——
When Xu Xi suddenly realized there actually hadn't been any manhole covers on the street originally, he couldn't help but click his tongue.
The endless stream of abnormal cycles had scrambled his memory.
Before him, a woman with big, wavy permed hair, wearing a high-slit cheongsam and sky-high heels, stood smiling at the end of the street, smoking a cigarette.
She ignored the approaching young man, until a stack of banknotes appeared before her eyes.
Xu Xi, having successfully passed Floor 9, relaxed his body.
Good, he was worried that not taking the remaining banknotes wouldn't be enough.
'Congratulations, your judgment is correct.'
'After sinking deeper and deeper into the mire, she chose to lose herself.'
Seeing this slogan, thoughts flashed through Xu Xi's mind like lightning.
He carefully recalled. The figure of the woman who just asked for the banknotes was extremely similar to the silhouette of the woman on the second floor of the Sunny Day Department Store.
So... the pair of embracing figures on the second floor of the Sunny Day Department Store in the first major cycle, Floor 1, weren't that couple?
After the cycle reset, he had vaguely sensed that the abnormality of each cycle layer revolved around a story. Each progressive layer was also unveiling this story layer by layer.
A reset meant the previous story had ended. The new cycle was the beginning of a new story.
But the previous story clearly told the tale of the supermarket owner's family of three.
Connecting it with those slogans about roses, transactions, etc., Xu Xi had a bold guess in his heart.
The cheongsam woman was most likely the owner of the Sunny Day Department Store and possessed some special professional identity. The embracing pair were probably her and the supermarket owner.
The supermarket owner had an affair with the cheongsam woman, betraying the dress woman.
The dress woman, perhaps because her husband cheated, gambled, and even mortgaged all their assets, became disheartened and hanged herself.
A barrage comment analyzed a great deal at length.
As for the supermarket owner who jumped to his death in the end, his own actions not only led to his family's destruction, but he probably also owed a mountain of debt. Whether he regretted it in the instant he jumped from the high building is unknown.
Currently, this second story should be about the cheongsam woman.
Judging from the same sound of chips, the cheongsam woman was still secretly engaged in some kind of work.
He even reasonably suspected that the supermarket owner's contact with gambling had something to do with her deliberate guidance.
In one of the cycles, the Boy sitting at the entrance of the Sunny Day Department Store—he didn't know what his relationship with the cheongsam woman was.
Most likely a mother-son relationship.
It's just that these cycles were even more cryptic than the first story.
What happened to these two people, he currently couldn't deduce.