Chapter 278: Verifying the Truth

Compared to characteristics that evolve toward pure strength, Xu Huo's "Good Friend Comes to Score" and "Accident Trigger Constitution" are more advanced, because these evolved characteristics can more or less affect the player's surroundings. At this point, the power of characteristics has extended from acting on the user themselves to affecting their environment.Meanwhile, the characteristics encountered earlier—where the player's body was rapidly replaced by their shadow when struck to avoid damage—and the current twins' ability to influence space represent another level of evolution. Whether affecting themselves or their surroundings, they can make direct changes.

Compared to simple strength-based evolution, Xu Huo's flexible use of characteristics clearly holds more advantages. However, when measured against characteristics that can tangibly alter oneself or the surrounding environment, his methods appear rather feeble.

Although characteristic powers have certain limitations, there was no time for observation now... Xu Huo swept his gaze over the six people's positions, remotely controlled the piano wire to drop the Desert Windmill!

In an instant, a yellow sandstorm erupted from the ground, rapidly engulfing this patch of forest!

As the sand surged forward, Xu Huo grabbed Yan Jiayu with one hand and pulled on the piano wire with the other, directly shooting upward out of the forest.

The area obscured by the yellow sand wasn't particularly large, and the height didn't exceed twenty meters, so after emerging with his companion, Xu Huo headed in the direction opposite to the sandstorm, putting maximum distance between themselves and the six people in the forest.

The fierce wind blew for several minutes before subsiding. The white-haired elderly man walked back holding the windmill. "This thing is quite good—it's also an item with spatial elements. The sandstorm just now was released by it."

The woman who had taken shelter behind a windbreak wall made of air cross-sections stepped out, spat out some sand, and glared angrily at the twins. "Blocking the front but not the back, covering the feet but not the head—what use is your characteristic anyway?"

The twins brushed sand from their hair, with the taller one saying, "Count yourself lucky! Otherwise, you'd be buried in sand right now!"

"Spatial-system and time-system items, while not particularly rare, aren't easy for low-level players to obtain either." Over there, Brother Tu flicked the windmill and said, "Those two probably also have flight items, otherwise they couldn't have escaped without a trace so quickly."

"Could it be spatial movement items?" the twins asked.

"No," Brother Tu said. "If they had those, they would've used them when they first started running. I suspect even if they do have flight items, the quality isn't great. They didn't have absolute confidence in escaping our six-person encirclement, which is why they abandoned this windmill item."

"Very decisive. Smart people." The white-haired elderly man asked, "Do we pursue them?"

"They'll eventually go to Black Maple Valley. We can just go there and wait for them." Brother Tu glanced at the windmill. "Only by killing players can you inherit their items. Those two will die sooner or later."

Meanwhile, Xu Huo and Yan Jiayu, who had fled into another forest, found a spot to stop and rest.

Yan Jiayu said with some frustration, "We lost an item. The windmill has probably been taken by those people by now."

"It doesn't matter. No matter how important, it's just one item." Xu Huo said, "Even if they got the item, they can't use it. They'll come looking for us eventually, and we can take it back then."

"Black Maple Valley is the fifth random location. They'll definitely block us in advance, right?" Yan Jiayu paused, then said, "But that pair of twins' characteristics are too powerful. We were at a disadvantage two against two. Two against six, and we still need to retrieve the item—is that feasible?"

"Judging by the number of Small Hats they're carrying, they've been in this dungeon for a while. Compared to killing players and stealing items, they'll prioritize clearing the dungeon." Xu Huo said, "The amusement park's group tickets support up to four people per ticket. Those six would need to split into at least two teams to answer questions. This could be considered an opportunity."

Yan Jiayu nodded slightly, then asked, "But is Black Maple Valley really the fifth random location?"

"Unclear." Xu Huo said, "But whether it is or not doesn't matter. The reason I sold that information was simply to have more players help me verify something's authenticity."

"What authenticity?" Yan Jiayu thought for a moment. "About the Travel Guide?"

Xu Huo nodded. If Black Maple Valley was the fifth random location, and such a large number of players flocked there yet not a single one managed to clear the dungeon, that would indicate the key to clearing wasn't about the five random locations at all.

The information the Puppets readily provided, while allowing him to spread it widely, was inherently misleading.

Suppose a player had already collected Small Hats from ten game locations and the other four random locations, only missing the final random location. If they still couldn't clear the dungeon after answering questions at Black Maple Valley, then the clearing key would point to the other widely circulated version—that all hats must form a complete set of fifteen.

Then this fifth random location would continue appearing at extremely low frequency, further inducing collective player misjudgment, making them think they either needed to discard their current hats or successfully complete the set to clear. In reality, this would trap them in an unsolvable cycle. Even if players tried various methods to collect only one Small Hat per stage, the Puppets would find ways to give hats to players, just like how the Plush Bear told him about Black Maple Valley then dumped a bunch of hats on him. The clearance rate would remain abnormally low.

Therefore, between the two pieces of information in the Travel Guide—"ten game locations" and "collect fifteen Small Hats"—Xu Huo leaned more toward the former being true. Following this line of thinking, what was truly difficult to find wasn't the fifth random location, but the missing game location.

This way, the key to clearing the dungeon gradually became clearer. The random locations could be considered red herrings, or interference information. From start to finish, players only had one task: to visit ten game locations.

The game locations should be openly displayed and immobile. When they passed each game location and completed the game, the Puppets would point them toward the next game location's position. Therefore, among these ten game locations, at least one must be fake.

No player had managed to find all ten correct game locations—this was the real reason nobody could clear the dungeon.

The problem returned to that key point: while the amusement park was quite large, players could go anywhere. Compared to the elusive random locations that came and went without trace, fixed game locations should be easier to find.

"If your thinking is correct, then the Dungeon Boss must have hidden the real game locations." Yan Jiayu said after listening to his explanation. "But each game location is either a small building or a tent camp. Where could a game location be hidden? Could it be invisible or something?"

"Invisible..." Xu Huo's expression suddenly shifted, and he immediately said, "We need to hurry to the remaining game locations, then rush to Black Maple Valley."

"We're still going?" Yan Jiayu asked, puzzled. "Didn't you think that place was fake?"

"The most convincing lies are those closest to the truth." Xu Huo said, "The fact that Black Maple Valley is difficult to find also indicates its special nature."