Why were these NPCs surrounding him?
What did they want from him?
Could they be after the bottle of "Holy Medicine" in his hand, just like those players?
As he considered this, Bo Yi discreetly scanned his surroundings and took a seemingly casual step forward. "Excuse me, please..."
Acting as though he hadn't noticed their intentions, he addressed the patient NPCs slowly closing in on him. "Excuse me, thanks. I need to use the restroom..."
Without waiting for their reactions, he pretended to be in a hurry, turned sideways, and squeezed straight through a gap in the circle, brushing past their shoulders. All the while, he kept politely repeating, "Excuse me, thanks. Excuse me, thanks..." Some of the NPCs hadn't even processed what was happening before they discovered, to their surprise, that the person they intended to surround was gone.
The slow-reacting NPCs: "?"
They slowly turned their heads, only to catch sight of Bo Yi hurrying away down the corridor.
The NPCs finally caught on: "!"
Their prey was getting away!
They moved to surround him again.
Meanwhile, Bo Yi was inwardly lamenting his luck. "Using the restroom" had only been an excuse to escape, a way to mislead the NPCs without alerting them. But he had to admit, this Instance certainly lived up to its high difficulty... He had barely gone any distance, nowhere near reaching the stairwell-his actual intended destination once he broke free-before the NPCs caught on.
Watching the NPCs form another human wall ahead of him and slowly close in, Bo Yi let out a long breath. Forced to change his destination on the fly, he pivoted and actually ducked into the public restroom beside him.
After all-
Bo Yi sighed.
Other than this public restroom, the only options along either side of the corridor