Chapter 63

Zhao Yan wiped his face, shook off the alcohol sprayed by Cotton, and grabbed Cotton's collar with a backhanded grip, snarling:

"You bastard, what did you do!"

Cotton was drenched in sweat, muttering low to himself: "Impossible… it doesn't make sense."

"You're still pretending!" Zhao Yan, ignoring that they belonged to the same organization, swung his fist.

Cotton remained in a daze, but his body suddenly swelled two sizes, like a puff of cotton, absorbing all the force of Zhao Yan's blows.

After several failed punches, Zhao Yan did not stop—he ignited faint flames on his fists and delivered a heavy uppercut to Cotton's abdomen.

With the added power of fire attribute, he broke through Cotton's defensive ability, landing the punch solidly.

Cotton cried out in pain; the agony jolted him back to awareness, and the instant he regained his senses, he seized Zhao Yan's fist.

Zhao Yan sneered, "Good kid, you dare fight back? You—"

Before he could finish, Cotton suddenly clung to him desperately, as if clutching a lifeline.

"Fire Brother, we're in deep trouble—you've got to help me, or I'm dead!"

Cotton's strength was immense, nearly crushing Zhao Yan into his expanded body.

Zhao Yan barely managed to wrench free with all his strength, sensing the gap in their power—he ceased attacking and demanded: "I knew you lot weren't this generous. What's your real motive behind giving me that upgrade reward instance?"

At this accusation, Cotton's eyes darted nervously; he glanced aside and whispered: "I can't say."

Seeing Zhao Yan about to rage again, he hurriedly added: "But I swear—I didn't tamper with permissions, and I never intended for them to enter a C-level instance."

"Fire Brother, we must find a way to pull them out. I know your Order Faction has methods to let someone join an instance mid-run—you've got to help me."

Zhao Yan laughed bitterly. "Joining an instance mid-run? Temporary entrants can't exceed the instance's recommended max level, and only one person can join. Are you going, or am I?"

"Have you forgotten why Silent Town made the Special Attention List?"

Cotton, panicked, said: "That's exactly why I'm panicking—any other C-level… as long as it's not this instance, there's still a chance."

Silent Town had only recently appeared and wasn't well-known; it had only briefly surfaced on the instance Danger Ranking, at 28th place.

Due to its short existence and scarce intelligence, public discussion about it remained low.

But anyone who knew the truth would never underestimate this newly emerged C-level instance—indeed, the Administration had placed Silent Town on its Special Attention List to ensure all members took notice.

The reason it was valued so highly lay in the fact that five days ago, a second-tier organization called Deepwater Society attempted to clear Silent Town.

Deepwater Society was determined to break it; after locking onto Silent Town's true instance coordinates, they dispatched an entire B-level exploration team.

A B-level exploration team, as the name implies, is capable of exploring and pioneering B-level instances—its members are all at least level 18, highly coordinated, and experienced.

Against a normal C-level instance, that's a dimensional crushing.

Yet Silent Town still exists intact—this alone reveals the outcome.

Of the entire team of ten players, only three survived and exited the instance.

One of them suffered a mental collapse and is currently in critical condition.

The other two suffered severe psychological trauma, their willpower dropping below 3; they lost all ability to speak and all memory, and are now violently aggressive, attacking anyone within sight.

These two returned to the real world and committed multiple indiscriminate murder sprees; after the Administration detained them, they traced the trail back to Deepwater Society and uncovered Silent Town's existence.

The official recommended level range for a C-level instance is 10–20.

Meaning even if the Order Faction could send someone in mid-run, the entrant couldn't exceed level 20.

An entire B-level exploration team was wiped out, not a single one emerged intact—how is a single level 20 player entering any different from walking into death? And you'd have to act as a babysitter to rescue a group of rookies under level 10? Any player with a functioning brain would refuse this mess.

Zhao Yan's scalp prickled—this had gone beyond his capacity to resolve. He had to escalate it, or there'd be no turning point.

Privately, Meng Yawen had just entrusted him to look after Wu Chang—and now Wu Chang had been tricked into a C-level instance to die, betraying Meng Yawen's trust.

Publicly, he was everyone's instructor; failing to protect new recruits was his negligence. If this got out, who would still believe the Administration's training of new players? This was a hundred times more humiliating than losing to Wu Chang on the arena, or the Director running naked! He immediately notified Meng Yawen, then roared at Cotton: "Your Evolution Faction is truly magnificent—turning your schemes on your own people! If you want to stir trouble, we'll help you tear the sky apart—then see who can't handle the fallout when heaven collapses!"

The Administration acted swiftly; within minutes, all responsible parties from both sides had arrived.

From Wanghai City, Lei Huo and Meng Yawen arrived—both had fiery tempers and no tolerance for deceit.

Sending them to resolve this issue made clear the stance of the Wanghai City Administration Branch—and of the Order Faction.

If no explanation was given, they'd act on the spot.

In contrast, the usually dominant Evolution Faction sent a calm, middle-aged man with streaks of white at his temples.

His seniority was high—even the Director of the Wanghai Branch would bow and address him as "Senior."

Yet Lei Huo and Meng Yawen came from powerful families too; even facing him, they gave no hint of courtesy, clearly not recognizing his status.

The middle-aged man gave Cotton a glance, signaling him to step forward, and said: "If there's fault, admit it. Hiding further will only destroy relations between both sides—tell the truth."

Standing at the center of the group, Cotton took several deep breaths, then spoke slowly.

"Actually…"

Silent Town instance.

On the beach, after their initial anger and confusion, the group gradually accepted reality.

At this point, even if they wanted to settle accounts with Cotton, they had to survive and escape first.

During the safety window before the instance began, all players who entered gathered together.

Including Wu Chang's True Self, there were twelve players total.

Five newcomers from Wanghai City and two from Dongyang City—these seven rookies, all under level 10, had initiated this team instance.

The remaining five, besides Wu Chang's True Self, were four players inserted by the system due to the excessive gap between original players' levels and the instance's difficulty.

This annoyed Wu Chang.

The system was so good at doing things right—why hadn't it ever given him this treatment when matching him to an instance?

The four inserted players split into two groups.

One, a young man in a black trench coat, looking like a brooding literary god, stood alone at a distance, studying Wu Chang's True Self, as if considering approaching him.

The other three formed a group—well-equipped, fierce in aura, clearly veteran players.

They exchanged a glance, took up a triangular formation, and advanced toward Wu Chang's group with hostile intent, partially surrounding them.

Wu Chang, while controlling his True Self and coldly rebuffing the literary fellow's attempt at conversation, kept an eye on the three replacements.

Oh ho, the instance dungeon hasn't even started and there's already infighting?

(End of chapter)