[Act Two Begins]
Five large characters refreshed on the system interface. By the length of a three-act play, this Instance was already one-third complete. Two more deaths, and they would more or less clear it.
After years of research by the theorists on the game forums, clearing Instances had developed into a standardized process: Players gathered, introduced themselves, a bunch of people died, and the survivors cleared the Instance. Overall, it was a stable and predictable routine.
Worldview? TE clear? Sorry, aside from a handful of compulsive perfectionists with poor timing, most people had no particular obsession with either.
By the calculation of one act per day, it should have been early morning.
Qi Si folded the torn script page in his hand into a small square, slipped it into his pocket, and pushed open the door as if nothing had happened.
Before him, the stage decorations were no different from the first act, still flooded with blinding lights harsh enough to nearly make one go blind.
The round table stood quietly in the center. Five chairs had been neatly returned to their places. Seat No. 2, which had belonged to Hansen, appeared to have been cleaned; the flesh, blood, and human skin were gone, and its surface shone brightly enough to reflect light.
The paper and pens on the table had also been replaced. They were laid out neatly before the chairs, one set corresponding to each seat.
"Was everything reset?"
Qi Si considered this as he walked straight to Seat No. 2 and tentatively reached for the paper and pen before it.
Just like in the first act, the instant he was about to touch them, his hand was stopped by an invisible barrier. His fingertips hovered in midair, unable to move forward even an inch.
It was