Vol. 3 Chapter 30: Completion of the Instance

Chapter 30: Completion of the Instance

Lu Li held the flower bud and gazed into the distance. An intuitive feeling told him that the ritual-controlled bronze three-eyed snake was gradually shedding the black and red symbols on its body, and the red-dyed third eye was returning to its original bronze color.

With a wriggle, the bronze fruit representing the mortuary's anomalous space was expelled and disintegrated into bronze powder, disappearing. The space began to tremble again, and the bronze three-eyed snake reverted to its snake-shaped symbol on the bronze tree.

The space collapse accelerated rapidly, and no amount of howling from the creatures within could halt it. Air was compressed, causing the internal pressure in the mortuary to rise swiftly. Some beast types' internal organs burst under the pressure, causing them to collapse and bleed, eventually being trampled to death by the panicked creatures around them.

At the mortuary's entrance, Professor Liao and the female doctor, who had orchestrated Captain Chen's demise, waited silently. Earlier, a violent wind had blown from the entrance, which then ceased after a while, suggesting the space collapse had been halted. They breathed a sigh of relief. Despite this being a major incident, the situation was stabilized, though they had lost some resources. Given their value, any punishment would not be severe.

"Get someone to retrieve the seventh experimental product and empty these spaces quickly. Find a way to eliminate this threat. I don't want this to happen again!" Professor Liao began giving orders for cleanup and instructed the female doctor while also calling higher-ups to report the situation. The incident had already occurred, so minimizing the losses and gaining more support was the priority. Additionally, Captain Chen's situation needed a clear definition, as he was still favored by some higher-ups, and his "death" should not be left unexplained.

"Although this incident was a mess, it wasn't without gains," Professor Liao mused. "We've been experimenting with the seventh product blindly, but this time an outsider could use it. Capturing this outsider could expedite our understanding of the seventh product, thus satisfying our superiors. Moreover, indirectly dealing with Captain Chen clears the way for my troublesome nephew to rise."

As Professor Liao contemplated minimizing losses and securing more support from his superiors, a sudden violent wind and cold air erupted at the mortuary entrance, intensifying rapidly. Realizing the danger, he panicked, but it was too late.

The mortuary's exit was too small for the vast internal space. The air, mixed with cold, surged towards the only exit, creating a blade-like wind. This wasn't a metaphor; the terrifying pressure turned the air into sharp blades.

Walls were sliced, bodies were cut. In the face of such disaster, human power seemed insignificant. Whether it was Professor Liao, who transformed into an insect type, or the female doctor as a flying type, or the bewildered security guards and nurses, all were shredded into fragments by the wind blades and flying biological debris.

Gamers in other anomalous spaces were also annihilated as each space collapsed. Some were crushed into meat paste, some escaped the anomalous spaces only to die in the subsequent disaster. In such calamities, all life appeared equally vulnerable.

Finally, the space collapsed completely. The spatial barriers couldn't hold, the anomalous space disappeared, and the mortuary returned to its normal size, filled with a mass of blue-red solid. As the spatial barrier vanished, the solid mass emitted thick smoke, absorbing the remaining heat from the air. In the next moment, the accumulated internal energy exploded with a terrifying force, obliterating everything.

From a safe distance, Lu Li saw the entire hospital turn to dust under the terrifying impact. The explosion continued, uprooting and shattering countless buildings. The heat was absorbed, and the water vapor in the air condensed into snowflakes in the freezing temperature, carried by the gale across the city.

Due to Lu Li's temporary halt of the space collapse, some air was released, reducing the explosion's power. The current blast radius was confined to the hospital and its surroundings.

At the edge of the explosion, a woman holding her daughter, who was still calling for her father, faced the wind and snow, tears streaming down as she looked at the destroyed hospital. Nearby, two individuals with unmoving masks watched the vanished hospital, cold sweat streaming down their faces.

A bronze light flickered briefly at the explosion's center, disappearing into the distance. The game's instance completion prompt followed:

[Due to certain reasons, task-related items have disappeared; the instance is now concluding.]

[Instance Type: Multiplayer, Competitive.]

[Phase One Task: Eight participants, one survivor.]

[Phase Two Task: Only one participant remains, designated YZ0135, ranking first.]

[Participants YZ024 and YY964, tied for second place. As they did not complete Phase One, rewards are forfeited, and it is considered instance completion only.]

[Congratulations, participant YZ0135, on completing the instance!]

[Instance Completion Reward: Five modules, 500 game points.]

[Additional Acquisitions: None]

[Highlight Bonus: None]

[Instance completed, one instance-draw available. Use now? Yes/No]

[You have consecutively completed three instances. Skill slot +1.]

[You have five minutes to organize your rewards. After five minutes, participants will be teleported out. You may also choose to leave early.]

Lu Li initiated the instance draw. Five cards appeared, floating before him. Three were blank, and two contained items. The first card with an item depicted a wriggling red substance, which Lu Li recognized from the booklet as activated plankton algae. The card's description read:

[Activated Plankton Algae (3/3): Can be injected into items to animate them into special creatures that inherit the item's properties. Current activity is sufficient for three uses.]

The second card depicted a pair of black wings, described as:

[Arrogant Belief (1/1): My belief becomes my wings, making me invincible. Grants temporary flight and belief empowerment. The stronger the belief, the stronger the enhancement.]

Examining the two valuable cards and the three blanks, Lu Li watched as they shuffled. The moment of truth approached. In his first instance, he had drawn the puppet's final gift, and in the second, the mermaid instance, he had drawn nothing. With the score tied 1:1, this draw was crucial.

Contemplating, Lu Li selected the third card, watching it slowly turn over…