Chapter 2589: News from the Dungeon Restricted Area
The city of Lanshui Town has been thrown into chaos due to the massacre incident, especially after the city lockdown. The citizens who always believed in controlling their own destiny began seeking ways to survive. Wearing helmets and headgear became common practice, with many people putting iron frames and metal boxes on their heads. Those with organizational capabilities started gathering manpower to actively attack those suddenly appearing in headgear, or they were allocating strength based on physical abilities. This not only facilitated care but also allowed timely control of the scene, preventing sudden reactions when someone was given headgear.
Seeking places to hide was quite standard, while the unconventional ones had already reached the borders of the lockdown zone, trying to break through.
Although the old man was aged, his body was still fine. After hearing Xu Huo’s words, he found a semi-transparent metal helmet to wear, wielded a short beam sword, and while walking, kept collecting people, leading a team towards the location Xu Huo mentioned.
"Where exactly in the southeast should we hide?" The old man fiercely pushed away a young man trying to snatch his helmet and then asked.
Xiao Wu had already provided a larger map projection and zoomed in on the Lanshui Town area.
Xu Huo compared the buildings on the map, thought briefly, and said, "Go to Xinxin Elderly Care Community."
"Xinxin Elderly Care Community has comprehensive elderly facilities, many buildings, densely packed houses, and quite a few service robots."
Unlike the Night Tour with ghost themes, religious-themed Night Tours seemed to favor more open areas for massacre incidents. Several dungeon restricted areas did not like ghost-themed locations with large capacity, instead preferring more open venues. This might be due to thematic characteristics, but no crossovers between themes have emerged yet, so hiding in a pigeonhole-style place like Xinxin Elderly Care Community could somewhat avoid triggering certain conditions.
"Isn’t this religious brainwashing? Wouldn’t a bunch of old men and women gathered together get collectively beheaded?" The old man immediately said.
"Do you think you’re easily brainwashed?" Xu Huo asked.
"Of course not!" The old man answered confidently. "I’ve lived long enough!"
That’s right. In general perception, the elderly are often seen as easily deceived, but in reality, those easily fooled remain so at any age. The reason elderly-related scams are prevalent in news is largely due to their significantly declining physical condition. Once their bodies are no longer healthy, their psychological dependence increases. In areas like District 001, people who have taken Evolution Potions have overly healthy bodies, and barring potion aftereffects, they can run and jump until old age. What’s more, they have service robots and a wealth of entertainment options, so there’s less dependency on others.
Look at how the old man acts, it’s clear — in a district that prizes strength and self-belief, it’s better to trust oneself than anyone else, especially as one ages.
"Let’s go with your plan then." The old man called to others behind him, "Anyone here can drive a big vehicle?"
Air traffic was already in chaos, and aircraft were temporarily out of use. Many ground areas were congested, but there was a dedicated tourist ring road. This route usually wasn’t occupied, and it passed close to Xinxin Elderly Care Community. The vehicle no longer had tourists onboard, but someone had to manually operate it instead of relying on autopilot.
The number of people with the old man rose to over twenty, mostly young people in their twenties, with very few of old age. About half seemed to be students from a certain school, bunching together to follow along.
A young man stepped forward, "I’ve learned a few days but not very experienced..."
"Experienced or not, it’s up to you." The old man pushed him forward, "Drive however, anyway there’s an emergency collision avoidance mode, no one will die."
The young man sat in the driver’s seat, calmed down a bit, and started operating the panel. Though not fast, the vehicle began to move.
The old man called others onboard, and as the car started, he turned back to Xu Huo and said, "I’ll contact you when we reach. Xiao Xu, make sure you don’t die before then; otherwise, any props you’re owed will be saved."
Xu Huo smiled slightly, "If I die, someone will collect the debt."
The Girl in the painting appeared behind him just in time, smiling and waving at the old man.
The old man laughed briefly and then disconnected the communication.
Watching him methodically arrange for Mr. Xi to find a place to hide, and after casually browsing messages on the Collection of Information Terminal, Mr. Wang looked at Xu Huo with newfound respect. Once the communication was cut off, he immediately asked, "Mr. Xu, is our situation similar to Lanshui Town, should we find densely built places to hide?"
"We’re likely the opposite here." Xu Huo replied, "Places like Yangming Building are crowded. It’s safer to spread out a bit."
In both Lanshui Town and Xia City, the conditions for dungeon restricted areas and instance killings were still speculative. A slight difference was that a Night Tour Team had appeared in the suburbs of Xia City, which counts as a small massacre, occurring right under the premise of open but densely populated areas.
"Then let’s stay here." Mr. Wang quickly said.
Compared to the messages constantly refreshed from the Collection of Information Terminal and the situation here in the villa area, apart from the two previous attacks, the villa area indeed seemed safer.
"There’s news from the dungeon restricted area!" The short-haired girl suddenly shouted.
Others received the news too. The dungeon restricted area had been confirmed as a small space overlapping the current space. Those entering might be given headgear directly or be relentlessly chased by others with it. Every two hours, a Night Tour Team would appear. According to messages from players inside, they report being chased almost every second since entering the dungeon restricted area, with no respite, let alone transmitting messages instantly.
Every time a Night Tour Team appeared, fewer players were present nearby. The one transmitting information never directly faced the Night Tour Team, so he wasn’t sure what happened to the vanishing players.
The local government bluntly released the player’s message. Despite its urgency and chaos, it boiled down to two main points: entering the dungeon restricted area meant unceasing pursuit, and facing a Night Tour Team had an extremely high mortality rate.
"Given how many players have entered the dungeon restricted area so far, does the Night Tour Team inside have enough people to deny these players even a moment to breathe?" The short-haired girl couldn’t help but ask after reading, "Is this news true or false?"