This is a 4-player Instance, and Zhou Xinyu is sizing up her three teammates.
All three of her teammates were male.
One of them was a man in his forties.
His face was covered with stubble, he was dressed very plainly, and he smelled of alcohol, and he looked a little decadent.
There were two other men who were relatively young, one around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, not very tall, and dressed in a mature and composed manner.
There was also a man in his early twenties, about the same age as Zhou Xinyu.
The man looked a bit roguish, somewhat handsome, but also a bit lecherous. From the moment he entered the Instance, his gaze never left Zhou Xinyu.
Zhou Xinyu felt a little embarrassed by his gaze, so she looked at the other two and said,
"Brothers, I'm not very familiar with this Instance. Could you tell me what we should do next?"
Not everyone buys Instance guide before entering Instance, as it's quite expensive.
Some people who really don't have money, or are unwilling to spend money, will usually rely on other people's travel guides.
After all, once you enter the Instance, everyone is a teammate. If you say a few nice words, as long as your teammates aren't too mean, they'll generally agree to let you use their guide.
Because most Instance require teamwork, it's very difficult to clear them alone.
"Beautiful lady, don't be afraid," the roguish man said. "I have a walkthrough for the Instance. Just follow me, and I guarantee you'll be fine."
"Okay, alright," Zhou Xinyu nodded.
Actually, she quite disliked this person, but she didn't dare offend him, since she didn't have a walkthrough for the Instance.
You can't be tough without a guide.
The composed man spoke up, "Does everyone choose to clear this Instance, or simply survive for one more day and then leave?"
The cocky-looking man immediately said, "Of course we cleared it! This is an S-rank Instance with a complete walkthrough!"
"That's what I think too. What do you two think?" The composed man looked at Zhou Xinyu and the middle-aged man.
"That would be great if we could clear the level," Zhou Xinyu said.
"But isn't that too risky? I think as long as I can get out of the Instance alive, that's fine."
"Let's choose to complete the level," the middle-aged man said. "After all, it's Instance with a walkthrough."
Moreover, this Instance is easy; if we really can't clear it, we don't have no other options.
After all, they spent a lot of money to get the Instance guide, and now that the complete guide is out, they definitely can't just give up.
All three agreed.
Zhou Xinyu didn't have much say because she didn't have a strategy guide for the Instance.
She understood this and didn't say anything more.
Since everyone else chose to complete the level, she had no choice but to follow suit.
"Let's go find that old man now," the composed man said.
"If we want to clear the Instance, that old man's blessing is still quite important to us."
"Yes, that's right." The other two men agreed.
"What old man's blessing?" Zhou Xinyu asked curiously.
There's an old man here, a member of the retinue of some deity.
"By receiving this old man's blessing, we can gain a temporary buff that increases our base attributes by 50% for one day."
"Oh," Zhou Xinyu finally understood.
The four of them set off, and they didn't walk very fast because there was no rush in this Instance.
They have plenty of time to do whatever they want.
Along the way, the group chatted for a bit and learned each other's names.
The middle-aged man's Wang Shan.
The composed man's name was Feng Sen.
The roguish-looking man is named Jiang Zhichao.
"Hey beautiful, where are you from? Could you give me your contact information? We can keep in touch after we leave the Instance."
Throughout the journey, Jiang Zhichao kept pestering Zhou Xinyu, constantly trying to talk to her.
Even when he was in Instance, he didn't feel nervous and was even in the mood to flirt with girls.
Because he had a complete walkthrough, he appeared relaxed from the moment he entered the Instance.
The boss in this Instance is actually a bit silly. Although he's quite strong, his actions follow a pattern.
They had already figured out this pattern through strategy guides.
Even if they ultimately fail to clear the level, surviving in this Instance shouldn't be a major problem.
Feng Sen pointed ahead and said,
"Keep walking along this street until you reach the next intersection, then turn left. Walk another three or four hundred meters and you'll reach the old man's spot."
Wang Shan nodded and said, "Yes, that's right."
The three continued forward, and soon they arrived at the location marked on the map where the old man was.
According to the guide, the old man sits near the streetlights during the day and rarely moves.
But there was no one around, not a soul in sight.
"Damn, that old man isn't here? He just left?" Jiang Zhichao said, somewhat speechless.
Wang Shan said nonchalantly, "Isn't that normal? He's not dead, of course he'll move."
Feng Sen wasn't surprised; after all, they were living people, not NPCs in a game, and couldn't just sit in one place waiting for them.
"If he's not here, let's sit here and wait for a while," Feng Sen said.
The group found a clean spot, sat on the ground, and waited for the old man to appear.
Half an hour later, the group became a little impatient because the old man still hadn't appeared and they didn't know where he was.
Logically speaking, that old man wouldn't have been gone for too long.
After all, he was a member of a deity's retinue, and his presence here must have been for a purpose.
He must have had a very Devotion faith in his God, so it's impossible for him to abandon his post so easily.
"Could he have left the city? It's quite dangerous here," Jiang Zhichao said.
"How could that be?" Feng Sen immediately denied.
Wang Shan thought for a moment and said, "Let's look around, this is a safe zone anyway."
Several people agreed; waiting like this couldn't go on forever. What if the old man was sick and didn't go out today?
The group began searching everywhere, venturing into the buildings lining the street and searching every room that might be occupied, but they still couldn't find any trace of the old man.
The four of them felt something was amiss. This was strange; had they come to the wrong place? Or was the old man really not here anymore?
They looked at the buildings outside, and they matched the description in the guidebook perfectly, so the location was definitely correct.
That leaves only one possibility: the old man left this place.
As for where the old man went, or whether he was still in the city, they had no idea.
"Hey! Look!" Zhou Xinyu pointed to a pool of blood on the street and said.
"There was no blood before; it only appeared when we went inside to look for someone."
Several people rushed over and found a pool of blood in the center of the street. The blood had not yet congealed, indicating that it had not been there long.
How could there be blood on the ground?
There's hardly anyone in this city, so finding bloodstains is highly unusual.
"Could this be that old man's blood?" Jiang Zhichao said.
His words sent a chill down the spines of the others. Yes, could it really be that old man's blood?
If that's the case, it would be terrifying.
Get out of the way!
Wang Shan hurriedly called out.
Everyone looked up sharply and saw something falling from the sky.
Everyone quickly moved aside.
"Thump!"
A body fell to the ground!