The Pipe and the Deerstalker

[Background: The daughter of the wealthy merchant Hunter has gone missing. As the best detective in the city, you have been hired to find the young lady. You will now head to the wealthy merchant Hunter's estate to investigate...]

[Main Quest: Find Altili Hunter or her corpse within one month]

[Temporary language acquired. It will automatically disappear when you leave the instance.]

[Clothing, backpack, weapons, and item attributes remain unchanged. Appearance temporarily altered. It will automatically revert when you leave the instance.]

[Detected firearms and grenades inconsistent with the era. Power reduced by 50%. Pistol reload time +1 second. Sniper rifle reload time +30 seconds.]

(Hint 1: This is your first official instance. The main quest may be failed, but you must pay a ransom of 100 points, and your highest attribute will drop by 1 level. If you lack sufficient points, equipment will be deducted. If the deducted equipment cannot cover the penalty points, the player will be judged to have failed the game!)

(Hint 2: Title quests will be activated in official instances—title quests and side quests are all hidden and must be uncovered by yourself.)

After the blinding light before his eyes vanished, Qin Ran heard the clatter of hooves and the crisp sound of wheels crushing the puddles between the paving stones.

His body rose and fell rhythmically.

Yesterday's heavy rain had left quite a few puddles on the road. Even with people cleaning them up, they could only sweep away the larger pools of water.

No matter how diligent the cleaners were, they could do nothing about the tiny puddles between the paving stones.

"A carriage?!"

Qin Ran stared ahead in surprise.

The small carriage could only accommodate three or four people. The seats faced each other from the front and rear, and Qin Ran sat on the rear side, facing forward. Through the window beside him, he could clearly see the scenery constantly receding outside.

It seemed to be a street with a strong medieval feel.

But the occasional antique automobile that flashed past gave Qin Ran a rough idea of the era.

The people on the street wore suits and shirts, long dresses and parasols, tipping their hats to greet one another.

He himself had changed into a black trench coat.

As he examined the coat and his temporarily altered appearance, especially the pipe and deerstalker hat that had suddenly appeared in his hands, Qin Ran raised a brow at the background description calling him "the best detective in the city."

If you're making me cosplay Sherlock Holmes, at least give me a Dr. Watson!

The female version!

"Finding someone? Firearm power reduced?"

Qin Ran carefully examined the remaining information, and his brow could not help but furrow.

The reduction in firearm power and the increased reload times were undoubtedly extremely disadvantageous to him. His combat strength had dropped by at least thirty percent.

"Is this the restriction Lawless mentioned?"

Qin Ran could not help muttering to himself.

Earlier, after waiting for three hours, Qin Ran had finally gotten the chance to speak with the other party, who had generously told him a great deal of information.

Of course, that was based on the other party having gained a great deal from the exchange. Even through text alone, Qin Ran could sense the other party's joy.

That information could roughly be divided into four parts.

First, veteran players had established a secret market in the game. It opened regularly every month, and any player could enter by spending 10 points. The equipment and items inside far surpassed the standard of the player forum.

Second, instances imposed different restrictions on players depending on their environment and era. Some were beneficial, some harmful, with the latter making up the majority.

Third, the instances players experienced would not become stronger just because the players themselves grew stronger.

Instead, their difficulty increased according to the number of instances they had experienced. As that number rose, the instances would become increasingly difficult. For multiplayer instances, the average number of instances experienced by all players would be used.

Finally, instances could be failed, but there would be a price to pay. Moreover, the more instances one had experienced, the harsher the penalty would become!

"This is your first official instance,

The main quest may be failed, but you must pay a ransom of 100 points, and your highest attribute will drop by 1 level!"

Looking at that hint, Qin Ran immediately recalled Lawless's well-intentioned warning.

"If you don't want to die too miserably in the future, you must complete the main quest. Even if you can't finish it, you still have to minimize your losses!"

Qin Ran agreed with that completely.

One hundred points meant nothing to Qin Ran, but a one-level drop in his highest attribute was a loss he could not afford.

After all, that was equivalent to the cost of raising the Tracking skill to the Mastery level.

A full 3,000 points and 2 skill points!

Though the comparison was somewhat broad, it was not excessive.

Moreover, Qin Ran could fully imagine what would happen if the main quest of an instance went unfinished and was judged a failure!

It would become a deadly cycle that dragged one deeper and deeper into the mire!

If you failed to complete the main quest of your first instance, your points and attributes would be deducted. Then, when facing the main quest of the second instance, you would lack the ability to complete it and fail again, suffering further deductions.

After repeating that several times, the result went without saying.

A player whose every physical attribute was weaker than an ordinary person's, facing terrifying monsters, would die horribly.

"Not only do I have to complete the main quest, I also need to complete as many side quests and title quests as possible—only then can I gain more advantages in future instances!"

The moment Qin Ran learned that instance difficulty increased according to the number of instances experienced, he knew what he had to do.

Moreover, he had already gained an early advantage.

What he had obtained from the Beginner Instance was enough to put him far ahead of other novice players.

And now, in his first official instance, Qin Ran had no objection to expanding that advantage further.

To do a good job, one must first sharpen one's tools!

Qin Ran quickly began checking his equipment and making preparations.

He first looked at his original tactical backpack, which had now changed completely.

A wooden case about 1.5 meters long and no more than 45 centimeters wide lay beside Qin Ran. It had a pure black finish and was secured by two silver clasps.

A leather strap had been threaded through it repeatedly to form a shoulder strap. Two keys hung from it, one large and one small.

When Qin Ran's finger touched the larger key, some simple memories surfaced in his mind—basic common knowledge about this era, several people familiar to his current identity, his residence, and more.

After sorting through them briefly, Qin Ran picked up the smaller key.

Click!

Qin Ran easily opened the case with it.

The sniper rifle [Viper-M1], the pistol [M1905], a dagger, five [-II] grenades, Canned Food x3, and Bottled Water x3 were all inside, not a single item missing.

Even the magazines had been arranged neatly.

Naturally, the appearance of those weapons and items had changed somewhat as well, making them more suitable for this era, but they were used in exactly the same way.

That made Qin Ran breathe a sigh of relief.

If even the way firearms were used had changed because of the era, that would have been terrible news for Qin Ran.

Although [Gunpowder Weapons: Light Firearms] had reached the Mastery level, it did not contain the proper methods for using actual muskets—that should fall under [Gunpowder Weapons: Special Firearms].

Qin Ran took out the dagger and pistol [M1905], fastening them to either side of his waist and concealing them beneath his trench coat.

Then, after thinking for a moment, he took out two [-II] grenades and slipped them into the outer pockets of his trench coat.

Although the main quest was only to find someone, Qin Ran was not naive enough to believe that simply searching for someone would be enough.

There would definitely be incidents where he had no choice but to fight.

Or rather, "battle intertwined with exploration" was the theme of Underground Game instances!

If the sniper rifle [Viper-M1] were not so conspicuous that his trench coat could not conceal it, Qin Ran would not have minded carrying it on his back instead of leaving it in the case.

After all, he was currently the city's "best" detective, not some musketeer.

Having just entered an official instance, Qin Ran did not want to cause trouble by doing something that did not fit the setting.

Besides, even a musketeer probably could not openly carry a sniper rifle [Viper-M1].

This was not a war-torn city like the Beginner Instance.

It was a very safe, peaceful, and somewhat prosperous city.

At least, that was how it appeared on the surface.

"Sir, we're almost there!"

The driver informed Qin Ran through the small window between the driver's seat and the carriage. About two minutes later, the carriage came to a complete stop, and the driver opened the door.

Qin Ran stepped down with the case on his back and looked around.

Just as the background description had said, this was an estate.

There was a lawn, a fountain, and surrounding walls.

The large five-story building before him was naturally the center of the estate.

Standing beside the mermaid fountain statue, Qin Ran looked at the building's white and blue exterior walls and instinctively thought of ocean waves and rolling surf.

Especially with the lifelike mermaid statue standing before it, the place truly made one feel as if one were standing in the sea.

"The Hunter Family produced a naval general a century ago!"

"Mr. Qin Ran, hello. I am the butler of the Hunter Family!"

With that brief introduction, a kind-looking old man immediately came forward and bowed to Qin Ran.

At that moment, the driver, assisted by several young men, led the horses into the stable and pulled the carriage to one side of it.

Qin Ran swept his gaze over those young men.

Each of them was strong and nimble, clearly trained in some form of combat.

"An estate needs people to defend it. The police alone are not enough!"

The kind old butler explained, then got straight to the point. "The master is waiting for you. Please come with me, sir!"

Making an inviting gesture, the kind old butler walked ahead to lead the way.

Qin Ran nodded and followed behind him up the steps and into the building before them.

A broad corridor was covered in red velvet carpet, with candleholders lining both walls.

After passing through the corridor, the view suddenly opened up.

A distinctively styled hall appeared before Qin Ran. The crystal chandelier ornaments reflected the sunlight, making the entire hall gleam brilliantly.

However, the master of the hall was deeply troubled.

He was a fair-skinned, short, slightly overweight middle-aged man.

Behind him stood a middle-aged woman with a sorrowful expression.

From the oil painting in the center of the hall, Qin Ran could guess that this was his "employer," Hunter, and Hunter's wife.

Though the oil painting was probably ten years old, neither of them had changed much and could be recognized at a glance.

"Detective, please help me!"

The master looked at Qin Ran as he entered, immediately rose, walked over, and pleaded.