Without anyone noticing, the group had split into two.
Zheng Xun and Meng Chuang each led one.
Zheng Xun had no intention of forming a clique. With his strength, he could easily speedrun the instance without taking damage, but he had chosen not to because he wasn't sure what to expect.
This time, the Little Red Riding Hood instance had not only gained nine unfamiliar players, but also differed in a few small details from the thousand times he had experienced it before.
The differences were harmless, but worth being wary of.
They had found the photo as a clue, but Zheng Xun had seen it so many times he knew it inside out.
It showed a family of four: Little Red Riding Hood, her father and mother, and her grandmother.
Little Red Riding Hood stood in the center, holding a stuffed lamb. Her parents' faces had been gouged out, leaving two empty holes.
Grandmother stood behind Little Red Riding Hood, smiling kindly, her aged hands resting gently on the girl's shoulders.
"Is there some deeper meaning to this photo?" Xu Li asked.
Chen Zicheng frowned. Feminine intuition told her something was wrong.
"Maybe the parents didn't get along. They're standing on opposite sides of the old lady, and their bodies and expressions look stiff."
Gu Yuanheng glanced at the photo and asked Zheng Xun.
"What do you think?"
Zheng Xun didn't want to say anything.
He had gone over this story a thousand times. He practically knew it backward.
The little girl and her mother endured the father's cruelty every day. While protecting the girl, Grandmother was accidentally shoved by the enraged father and fell to her death. The mother went mad, grabbed a knife, and charged at her husband.
A tragic social incident.
"The old woman loved the child very much."
Zheng Xun gave an ambiguous answer.
: What does that mean?
: Sounds like he said something useful and completely useless at the same time.
: The photo's the only clue in the instance so far, so it must be the key clue, right?
: Beauty Orange has a point. If they start with the relationships in the photo, they might find something.
Eight people were studying the flimsy photo, while Zheng Xun and Zhong Yu alone were joking around.
"The slap marks on your face are very symmetrical."
"Bro, since you've got a mouth, how about saying something a normal person would?"
Zheng Xun wasn't concerned about the photo. He was thinking about how the next part would play out.
Up ahead was "Grandmother's" residence, a six-story apartment building. Her home was on the fourth floor.
The building had an unusual layout: there was a unit entrance on both the left and right, and both led to "Grandmother's cottage."
The NPC Little Red Riding Hood stopped and pointed her little finger at the unit entrances.
"Go up from here, and you'll get to Grandmother's house."
"Which entrance?" Gu Yuanheng asked.
"Um... Mommy said either one is fine."
Before Zheng Xun could speak, Meng Chuang said, "In that case, let's split up."
Comments began flooding the screen.
: That young guy's too reckless. Doesn't he know splitting up in a horror instance always leads to trouble?
: Are these two separate routes? Will they unlock different endings?
: Splitting up might not be a bad thing. With the mood between those two groups, they'd probably start fighting in the stairwell.
: He wants to hog the boss's drops, right? With Zheng Xun around, Zheng Xun would definitely take the biggest share.
Zheng Xun had no objection.
"You pick first."
The only difference between the two units was the unsolvable hanging woman. It would appear randomly in only one of them.
Even Zheng Xun couldn't predict which one, so as far as he was concerned, either route would do.
Meng Chuang chose Unit One.
He went ahead with two nameless players, and the elder Wang brother followed him.
The younger Wang brother glanced at Zheng Xun, then at his elder brother's retreating figure. Gritting his teeth, he ultimately followed his brother into Unit One.
Zheng Xun noticed that Little Red Riding Hood hadn't moved.
"Sister Red, why aren't you following them?"
Little Red Riding Hood tilted her head up and blinked obediently.
"Big brother, I'm following you, hee-hee."
Zheng Xun realized something.
There was only one Little Red Riding Hood. She hadn't followed Meng Chuang's group, but had stayed with theirs. That meant Meng Chuang wouldn't encounter Little Red Riding Hood turning on them at the final stage, but they would.
For the sake of balancing the difficulty, then... Meng Chuang's group should encounter the unsolvable hanging woman, while they wouldn't.
Since Zheng Xun had fought alone during his previous thousand runs, every boss in the instance had come for him alone, so this distinction had never appeared.
Now it seemed the existence of two units had a purpose after all.
That was Zheng Xun's guess, but he still didn't dare take the risk.
"All of you stay downstairs."
Zheng Xun spoke.
Not only were the people present surprised, even the comment section was shocked.
: Holy shit! Is God Zheng going to solo the boss?
: These teammates are useless, but he can't be this reckless!
: Erchui must have his reasons for doing this.
: He's that confident in his strength? He'd better not screw up.
: I can already see how this ends...
Zhong Yu was the first to jump out and object to Zheng Xun's proposal.
"I disagree! Bro, aren't you sacrificing yourself by doing this?"
"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."
"What do you know? Who knows what's hiding up there? I'm going with you!"
Xu Li also tried to persuade him.
"Brother Xun, if you think I'll hold you back, I can stay behind. But it's too dangerous for you to go alone."
Chen Zicheng said nothing, but her expression showed that she disapproved too.
Gu Yuanheng didn't make a sound.
Of course, Zheng Xun couldn't come out and say he had walked those stairs so many times that he had nearly worn through his soles.
Who could openly announce that they had a cheat?
He had no choice but to put on a fearless, unregretful expression and place both hands on Zhong Yu's shoulders.
"Little Zhong, you're still a college student. Study hard. You can't throw your life away in this game."
Moved by his emotion, Zhong Yu's eyes turned red.
"And you, Xu Li."
Zheng Xun turned to look at the girl crying beside him.
"You too. Do well in college. Teach Zhong Yu when you have time. He's an idiot, so please look after him."
Xu Li broke into sobs.
"Don't worry, Brother Xun. I'll study hard."
Zheng Xun looked over Zhong Yu's shoulder at Chen Zicheng and Gu Yuanheng a short distance away.
Both were adults. They nodded, indicating that they would take good care of the two students and that Zheng Xun could rest assured.
Zheng Xun smiled.
"I'm off."
He waved and walked away without looking back, his tall figure looking utterly tragic and heroic.
The comment section cried along with them.
: I didn't expect Zheng Xun to be so willing to sacrifice himself for others.
: Sigh, in times like these, there are actually still players willing to give themselves up to protect others.
: No way. Such a rare newcomer is going to fall in his debut battle?
: There's nothing anyone can do. Once an instance opens, outsiders can't enter.
: Shouldn't they be able to use a rescue card to forcibly open the instance entrance?
: Don't be stupid. Do you know how absurdly low the drop rate for rescue cards is? All the major guilds save them for their own leaders.
Rescue cards were special rewards dropped after defeating a White Tower boss. Once an instance closed, outside players who wanted to enter could use a rescue card to reopen its entrance.
The cards were exceptionally rare, however. The major guilds had only three or five each, and some had been purchased at high prices from the inner market.
The Singing Sparrow Guild had one as well.
At that moment, Xiao Jun and two assistants had arrived at the main entrance of the White Tower in District 1089.
Once the Little Red Riding Hood instance ended, the surviving players would be teleported there.
Whenever a guild on the rankings made a move, the sharp-eyed media would catch wind of it.
Xiao Jun had made no particular effort to conceal his whereabouts. As soon as the private plane bearing the Singing Sparrow Guild's red-and-gold emblem landed at the District 1089 airport, reporters waiting there had swarmed him.
"Vice Guild Leader Xiao! Did you come all this way for the newcomer?"
"Is Songbird really offering Zheng Xun a silver contract?"
"Will Songbird use a rescue card to save Zheng Xun?"
Dressed in a suit, Xiao Jun loosened his tie. Holding his phone to his ear with one hand, he was speaking to Songbird's guild leader.
"All right, I understand."
Xiao Jun ended the call and stopped. His two assistants, Su Hairong and Cheng Jie, stood behind him on either side.
"Songbird has always approached promising newcomers with the utmost sincerity," Xiao Jun said, putting on an official smile. "As long as Zheng Xun survives the district server's life-or-death battle, we at Songbird will offer him a [Silver+] contract."