Chapter 2519: Back to the Starting Point
"There’s no one else nearby." Bubble Bean had already deployed the instrument. Although there were some Metal Beasts in the forest, fortunately the quantity wasn’t significant, and the instrument could avoid them. "If this is the relic area, there should’ve been quite a few District 001 players trapped here, where are they?"
"Have you ever seen a Super Dungeon?" Xu Huo suddenly asked.
"I’ve never even seen a Rank-A Instance." Bubble Bean replied, "How could I know about a Super Dungeon? If you’re trying to get something from me, you should give up."
Xu Huo glanced at him, "You’ve never seen it, so how can you be sure there’s only one Super Dungeon site?"
Instances below Rank-C are regular ones, but once you reach Rank-B, there’s a chance of encountering Spiritual or Space-Time Instances. The difficulty of Super Dungeons is imaginable; they definitely wouldn’t be what players consider a "site."
"So what do we do now?" Bubble Bean asked, "Even if the instance hasn’t started, we don’t know what place this is. Do you have a Spatial Teleportation Device?"
"No." Xu Huo assessed the risk level using Characteristics and chose to walk in a direction with lower risk, "Regardless, let’s find people first."
It’s not like the exit was blocked by Outer Zone players, and District 001 players can’t get out. Therefore, the place where players gather must be close to the exit.
The entirely metallic forest was filled with long, sharp blades that could easily cause accidental collisions. Additionally, there were Metal Beasts prowling and sporadic Metal Rain descending, forcing Xu Huo and the others to slow down and walk cautiously.
Bubble Bean played with a needle-shaped metal leaf, smiling, "You know, just selling the metal here outside could earn a decent sum."
"What falls from above isn’t very useful." Xu Huo pointed to the ground, "It’s what’s underground that’s valuable."
Bubble Bean bent down to have a look, "This path is incredibly difficult to navigate, too flat, pitch-black without being able to see what’s below the surface."
"I think the trees are connected to the ground like they’re growing together. Could there be root systems underneath?"
"A forest this large, with automatic rainfalls, might have mechanisms hidden underground."
Previously, they tried using props to open a path, but unfortunately, even Rank A Props could only leave scratches on the surface, making it impossible to cut through the metal. So even if there were mechanisms underground, they were helpless.
Xu Huo looked up at the sky; with the black clouds now passed, the sunlight was abundant, gradually covering the entire forest with strong light reflecting everywhere — radiant, flickering, sometimes sharp, sometimes weak.
After putting on goggles, Bubble Bean took out a small boat prop for transportation.
"Why does the boat have wheels?" The Girl in the Painting bent down to look at the row of small wheels sliding across the metal ground, curiously asking Bubble Bean, "Isn’t it cars that need wheels?"
"Because my boat is amphibious." Although the boat was automatic, Bubble Bean stayed cautious and paid attention to the surroundings, fearing an accidental collision with trees or grass.
The three of them — well, actually just Xu Huo and Bubble Bean — kept their nerves tightly wound. After two hours without finding the forest’s edge or seeing anyone, they began to consider the possibility of this being a small, enclosed space.
Bubble Bean tested the tickets, which didn’t work, indicating that they were still trapped in the Cat Whisker Fruit instance and still in District 001.
"Where exactly is this place in District 001?" Bubble Bean said helplessly, "I knew those people wouldn’t be reasonable; it would’ve been better to inquire about the situation beforehand and come in on your own, at least you wouldn’t be stuck like this with no solution."
Xu Huo didn’t say anything, as aside from continuing in the same direction, there seemed to be no better option.
With that, the small boat continued nonstop for nearly nine hours before stopping again.
In the Metal Forest, it seemed there was no day or night; ever since the clouds cleared eleven hours ago, it had stayed sunny, with no change in light angle.
"Let’s take a break." Bubble Bean stepped off the boat, stretching and flexing, "It’s likely already dark back in District 001."
"We’ve returned to the starting point." Xu Huo suddenly said.
Bubble Bean’s previously stretched arms halted, "How do you know? Those few Metal Beasts we killed aren’t here either."
"We’re slightly off course." Xu Huo pointed slightly to the left, "The Metal Beasts are over there."
Bubble Bean didn’t believe him and quickly deployed the flying device. Upon seeing the Metal Beast "corpse" unmoved, he was shocked, "That’s impossible! The direction was absolutely right, and my instrument wasn’t interfered with!"
As he spoke, he took out the directional instrument, "This is a foolproof navigation instrument I custom-ordered for special environments. It only points in one direction... Could it be that the directions here are constantly changing? Did we go in a circle and come back?"
Changing directions within the same space sounded unbelievable, but in a game instance, such occurrences were possible — though such instances were extremely rare. Xu Huo hadn’t personally encountered one before. If this Metal Forest had multiple direction determination standards, then it’s highly probable multiple spaces exist here — mere appearances of one unified space.
However, what puzzled Xu Huo was that he didn’t feel any complex Spatial Power from here. He even tested the area with the Cubic Space, and the instrument’s field found no fusion with new Spatial Rays.
"Could the instrument be faulty?" Bubble Bean realized if the instrument was functioning correctly, they were trapped in an unsolvable predicament, where even direction was at fault — how could they find an exit?
"For now, put away the instrument." Xu Huo said sternly, "Let’s walk again, marking the way differently this time."
To ensure the marks are real and effective, they chose the most old-fashioned yet simplest method — writing on trees and the ground.
Every so often, they made marks, with double safeguards on the ground and trees.
Twelve hours later, they returned to the vicinity of the first mark numbered ’1,’ with not much deviation in position.
This time they didn’t use directional instruments, but directly used two marking points to determine the next one, ensuring no deviation. With Xu Huo’s Spiritual World, supplemented by flying devices, it wasn’t difficult, yet they still returned to the origin.
"Could it be we’re moving on a sphere?" Bubble Bean pondered, glancing ahead, "But as far as I see, the entire forest seems to be on a flat plane."
If a circle takes twelve hours, this implies the sphere isn’t large. With the same forest reference, the ground and trees shouldn’t have shifted without any sensation.
However, this wasn’t the most urgent concern. The critical issue was that if moving around led back to the origin point, wouldn’t it mean there was essentially no exit?