The chill in the air was almost palpable, and a layer of frost had even formed on the surface of the metal utensils inside the house.
Wei Xusheng was not a player, but as a resident of the central district, his experience was more than enough for him to realize immediately that some kind of anomaly had occurred in the small house.
——He knew his aunt liked to collect various items, including some with special powers. Given the current situation, the best-case scenario might be the containment failure of one of these items, while the worst-case scenario could be the appearance of a duplicate.
Wei Xusheng possessed an item from his aunt called the [Exemption Pass]. This item not only had the ability to deceive real-world gatekeepers but also had a special function—if someone unfortunately entered an ordinary instance and was lucky enough not to immediately trigger it, they could use the [Exemption Pass] to escape from it.
Aunt's house was not large. Wei Xusheng hesitated for a few seconds, finally put the [exemption pass] back into his pocket, and walked resolutely towards the depths of the house.
Cheng Tingyu listened with great interest as the client in front of him recounted the background of the mission, and asked with a smile, "So you finally triggered the instance?"
Wei Xusheng shook his head, rolled up his sleeves, and showed Cheng Tingyu the frostbite marks on his arm. "I'm not sure if it counts or not—by the time I reached the study door, I was already losing the ability to move and had to leave through the back door."
...
Cheng Tingyu neither agreed nor disagreed.
It seemed that Wei Xusheng noticed Cheng Tingyu's confusion and explained, "After all, this is a replica situated in reality. If we familiarize ourselves with the environment, it's still possible to find an exit. I tried going to the living room and leaving through the front door, but as soon as I retraced my steps, the temperature started to drop rapidly." At this point, his tone carried a hint of relief. "Fortunately, the house had a back door. I tried opening it with a 'let's see' attitude, and I actually managed to leave successfully."
Cheng Tingyu nodded slightly. From the other party's words, she extracted another key piece of information—besides the normal ways of clearing the level or using items to leave, there was actually a backdoor exit.
Wei Xusheng: "After I came out, I immediately contacted the 'Screwdriver Insurance Company' to confirm that my aunt had already passed away. The abnormal changes in the small house were due to the leakage of her power..." At this point, he wearily reached out to rub his forehead. "Because my aunt's residence is remote, even if a copy is formed, it basically has no chance of affecting others. The inspection team didn't send anyone to handle it right away. Only someone from the management bureau came to post a notice, advising unrelated personnel to avoid the area. They said it would take some time before they could send inspectors to deal with it. I wanted to resolve the matter as soon as possible, so I issued a task."
When he got to this point, Wei Xusheng added, "Because my aunt had bought insurance during her lifetime, the 'Screwdriver Insurance Company' provided a special containment box for the deceased. Her abilities weren't very strong, so as long as the body was placed in the containment box, the effects could be temporarily isolated."
Cheng Tingyu listened quietly while updating the detailed settings of F0631 City in his mind.
According to Wei Xusheng's description, the Screwdriver Insurance Company should be an organization as powerful as the Inspectorate.
Noticing that Cheng Tingyu had remained silent, Wei Xusheng continued, "I've seen the system tags on the forum. You're a flesh-and-blood type player, so you should be able to withstand the cold in the house. If you agree to take on the task, I'll pay a deposit upfront. Once you enter the instance, if you find the danger exceeds expectations, you can exit through the back door. I'll still pay a third of the remaining balance afterward."
Cheng Tingyu finally spoke, "I can take it on, but I need a day to prepare. Besides that, please draw up a layout of Aunt's house."
Wei Xusheng breathed a sigh of relief, "I'll draw it right now."
Ten minutes later, Cheng Tingyu obtained the house blueprint.
The Nameless Forum, as an important task publishing platform in City F0631, naturally provided users with standard contracts. After both parties entered the details and confirmed, the deposit of 20,000 city coins was quickly credited. Cheng Tingyu agreed with the other party to go to his aunt's residence at eight o'clock the next morning.
The reason for postponing the task to the next day was that Cheng Tingyu needed time to supplement some basic knowledge about the copy.
Her outward identity is that of a flesh-and-blood player, whose abilities typically manifest in physical qualities that surpass normal limits.
In short, it has high defense and a long health bar.
Therefore, having a flesh-and-blood player take on this task is indeed a good choice. According to Wei Xusheng, the instance triggered by his aunt's death, aside from a persistent severe cold debuff, doesn't actually pose much danger. As long as the player's health bar doesn't hit zero before retrieving Wei Heng's corpse and exiting the instance, the commission can be successfully completed.
However, the issue with Cheng Tingyu lies in the fact that her true ability is not in flesh and blood, but in her keen eyes.
However, Cheng Tingyu also remembered that the inspector had mentioned that as one's abilities increased, the physical fitness of all types of players would improve.
Her health bar was, of course, thicker than that of the non-player client.
Cheng Tingyu thought that if she could complete the current assignment, the credibility of her public persona would also increase.
Similarly, this instance, which she temporarily named the Cold Abode, had significantly fewer taboos compared to the previous Snow Shelter. There was only one rule: "Do not retrace your steps." Moreover, this wasn't an instant death restriction; it merely increased the cold effect.
Wei Xusheng meticulously drew up the plans for his aunt's house. According to him, given Wei Heng's personality, he would most likely lock the bedroom door from the inside when resting. However, a spare key to the bedroom was kept in the drawer of the outer study desk, which the task taker could retrieve.
The blueprint shows that the outer study has two doors, one at the front and one at the back, and the bedroom is located behind the outer study. As long as you don't choose to turn back in the middle, you won't trigger the severe cold debuff's enhancement, allowing you to reach your destination relatively safely.
After bidding farewell to the client, Cheng Tingyu wistfully booked a single room for himself.
——In hindsight, she really shouldn't have booked ten days at the capsule hotel just to save money, but Cheng Tingyu felt this couldn't be considered poor planning on her part. The main reason was that the job opportunity had come too suddenly and overwhelmingly..
The ordinary inns in the outer district, in terms of living conditions, are only slightly better than those in the desolate areas. They also offer shared rooms and allow co-renting. The environment is not too bad, but it is not very suitable for rest and preparation.
Cheng Tingyu first sorted through the items on her body. After clearing the last level, she had obtained a seemingly useless [Liquor Pen from the Cold-Proof House], an [Exemption Pass], and a [Cheap and Good Quality Backpack]. Among them, the backpack was a rare spatial item, appearing no larger than a palm on the outside but capable of holding up to one cubic meter of objects inside.
——After all, the adjective in the name suggests "cheap and good" rather than "good and cheap." Although one cubic meter of space isn't very large, Cheng Tingyu had to express his satisfaction
Cheng Tingyu carried the [Exemption Entry and Exit Permit] with him, then went to a nearby second-hand clothing store and bought a set of practical, inexpensive winter clothes, gloves, a winter hat, and a dozen hand warmers, spending a total of 4,580 city coins.
——The first two times entering the dungeon were unexpected events without preparation. This time, being prepared, of course, I have to put on some cloth armor before setting off.
In addition, Cheng Tingyu also found something called "Screwdriver Brand Ginger Anti-Frostbite Oil" at a nearby convenience store. It can be applied to the skin to prevent frostbite, and each bottle costs 5,000 city coins.
Considering that there might be other unexpected situations in addition to the low temperatures in the copy, Cheng Tingyu also prepared alcohol, bandages, ropes, and a multifunctional knife.
Wei Heng's house is a replica existing in reality, with clear boundaries. Entering the house is equivalent to entering the replica, and leaving the house is equivalent to exiting the replica.
Cheng Tingyu opened the forum and searched for posts related to real-life dungeons.
According to the forum, it was indeed mentioned that in the inspection team's archives, there are two categories of tags for the instances: [Unreal] and [Realistic]. Based on this classification, the two instances she had previously experienced were both [Unreal].
[Reality-based] Many instances originate from the leakage of power after a player's death. According to the post, instances formed by the death of low-level players are not too dangerous and can be resolved within three months.
The next morning at eight o'clock.
Cheng Tingyu arrived outside Wei Heng's residence on time and met Wei Xusheng, who was waiting there.