Encountered Players

"Even though I ran fast, it was really cold!"

Walking through the increasingly thick snow, Lin Yu felt his body temperature gradually decreasing.

He had already visited the three outposts near the initial abandoned outpost, but had not encountered anyone or found any signs that anyone had entered those outposts.

According to Lin Yu's thinking, the other Player in this Game should have similar starting conditions to him.

Therefore, their first priority should be to find a place to start a fire.

Finding someone in a vast, Snow Mountain is like searching for a needle in a haystack, but from this perspective...

If we search at each of the various outposts, the efficiency would probably be much higher!

Although there are nearly a hundred outposts, it is still better than expanding the scope to the entire Snow Mountain.

But failing to find it in three consecutive attempts led Lin Yu to a vague, unfavorable suspicion.

"Could it be that the thirteen Player in this Instance were initially quite far apart from each other?"

Lin Yu took out the Map again.

Even though he already remembered it quite well, he couldn't help but take it out again to confirm.

If we take our initial Game point "B6" as the center of a sector, and then divide the entire Map equally...

Lin Yu quickly discovered something.

There are exactly twelve "outposts" that can be connected to form an almost perfect circle.

These twelve strongholds can also divide this "circle" into twelve equal 30-degree sectors, and each of them is located at the center of the sector!

If you include the center point, there are exactly thirteen points!

Most importantly...

These twelve sectors perfectly divided all the strongholds.

Each sector contains exactly eight strongholds, no more and no less.

There are a total of ninety-six strongholds, plus the center, making ninety-seven.

If we assume that the initial point of each outpost is "abandoned", then the remaining seven points correspond exactly to the "seven days" option!

Lin Yu let out a sigh of relief.

Is it a coincidence?

No, that's not necessarily true.

The game starts with a "Map" as a hint, which is likely intentionally designed to prompt players to discover this point.

Lin Yu had a feeling that he had vaguely touched upon something.

But no matter what...

Let's check out the nearest sector first.

Because Lin Yu had been moving upwards, he had now reached the edge of the next "fan-shaped area".

He quickened his pace a few more steps, approaching the central stronghold of the area.

But before he even reached it, Lin Yu spotted a figure struggling to shovel snow with his feet in search of wood at another outpost closest to this "central" outpost.

Lin Yu approached the figure and found it to be a slightly plump middle-aged woman wearing a floral-patterned jacket and with curly hair.

"Hello."

Lin Yu strode forward and greeted the other person.

The middle-aged woman was startled when she heard Lin Yu's greeting, and then looked at Lin Yu.

"Oh my god, you scared me to death! What happened? This child walks so quietly!"

Then, the middle-aged woman realized what was happening.

"Are you Player?"

"Yes, I am Player. My forum ID is 'A Long,' Profession is 'Soldier.' What's your name?"

The older woman heard Lin Yu's words and looked him up and down.

"Soldier? Why is he so fair-skinned? He doesn't look like one!"

Lin Yu smiled.

"I was born that way, and I was in a civilian position in the military, but this Game still classified me as a 'soldier'."

Lin Yu spoke with a bright smile and a very friendly voice.

The middle-aged woman, her face red from the cold, believed Lin Yu 'Lin Yu explanation so readily that his lie "Make It Real."

"Oh, so he really is a soldier. Those eyes are really handsome. This young man... is he from the cultural troupe?"

The older woman looked at Lin Yu with a face full of curiosity.

"Do you have a boyfriend? My daughter is about your age, and she's quite pretty. She just graduated from university, from the same university in our area..."

Lin Yu quickly interrupted the old lady.

"Alright, alright, you can stop now, Auntie. We're having a 'Death game' here... We can chat later!"

He was somewhat helpless.

Because of his good looks, Lin Yu has been targeted by many elderly people in his neighborhood for matchmaking since he enrolled at Jiangcheng Media University a few years ago.

Although Lin Yu refused, saying he was "only a sophomore and wouldn't consider these things," he couldn't resist the enthusiastic attitude of the older men and women who wanted to "give it a try."

Unexpectedly, even in a "Death game," one cannot escape this script.

Moreover, this older woman was more enthusiastic than all the others combined.

It's probably because of the fake identity of being a "soldier"!

However, after Lin Yu's reminder, the woman realized what was going on.

She slapped her forehead and said in annoyance.

"Oh my, young man, you're so handsome! You've made me dizzy and I forgot about the occasion."

"You're participating in a 'Death game,' which isn't really suitable for my daughter!"

Lin Yu felt even more helpless.

"Auntie, that's not what I meant. What I meant was... shouldn't we talk about the Game first?"

What is your Profession?

As Lin Yu asked, the middle-aged woman finally came to her senses.

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry, young man..."

"My forum ID is 'Hua Kai Fu Gui,' and I just cleared five Instance. In our guild, everyone likes to call me 'Sister Hua,' so you can call me that too."

My Profession is "trader".

Sister Hua said it in a very casual way.

Lin Yu quickly recalled the Profession skills of the "merchant".

This is also a very common "Information type" Profession.

"Traders" can quickly obtain three to five pieces of information about "Non-exclusive item" that exist within the Instance during each Game.

Most vendors are great "assistants," since finding three to five in -Instance Item at the start of each Game is very helpful for clearing the dungeon.

Most of the Item you can find in the Game are directly helpful for clearing the current Instance!

Just like the [One-sentence Lie Detector] that Lin Yu received.

Therefore, upon hearing Sister Hua's words, Lin Yu naturally asked the question.

"Sister Hua, could you share the information about the Item you obtained?"

Hearing Lin Yu ask this question, Sister Hua became more cautious.

"Hey, A Long... why are you asking about this right away?"

Lin Yu looked at the cautious Sister Hua and laughed again, "This Instance should obviously be a 'survival' type, right? There's no competition between Player..."

"That's hard to say," Sister Hua said, shaking her head. "An NPC just told me that it's best not to group up in this Instance!"

"So most of those Item can't be used together... Although we don't have a life-or-death conflict, we're not necessarily on the same side either."

Hearing what Sister Hua said, Lin Yu shook his head.

"Sister Hua, you're mistaken!"

"You've completely misunderstood what those NPCs were saying!"