Chapter 30
Chapter 30
“Tell me something.”
“Why are you always acting so paranoid?”
“This unsolvable instance doesn’t seem nearly as terrifying as people made it sound.”
After finding a restaurant and sitting down, Luan Zimo could not help questioning Qin Lan as he vigilantly scanned their surroundings.
From her perspective, this trip into the instance truly had not been dangerous.
Apart from the bridge collapse and its wide-area attack at the beginning, nothing had attacked her so far.
To Luan Zimo, the previous crisis had been comparable to a 2-Star or 3-Star instance. It was slightly difficult only because her physical strength had been suppressed.
Qin Lan saw things very differently.
As far as he was concerned, this damned instance deserved every star in the sky.
Ever since he awakened on the bus, Death’s gaze had seemingly never left him.
Disaster flew his way every ten or twenty seconds.
Qin Lan even suspected that if the accidents did not have to look somewhat plausible, a meteor might fall from the sky and blast him into dust.
“Heh… Not that terrifying?”
“At this point, I feel like even the dogs on the street are plotting to assassinate me.”
Qin Lan gave her a mirthless smile and pointed at the dish the server had just brought.
“For all we know, this meat contains some legendary poison that kills in a day or drives you mad before you can take half a step.”
“Would you believe it?”
Luan Zimo narrowed her eyes. Flames appeared in her pupils once more.
After studying the food for a moment, she shook her head.
“Impossible. Everything in this dish is perfectly ordinary. There isn’t even a trace of a curse.”
“You’re being oversensitive.”
“Unsolvable instances may be terrifying, but anomalies still leave long intervals between attacks. There can’t be a lethal ambush waiting at every moment.”
Qin Lan said nothing. He simply picked up his chopsticks and began eating heartily.
About five seconds later, his breathing suddenly turned ragged and his face became bluish purple.
His throat visibly swelled. He fought desperately to breathe but could not. All he could do was collapse to the floor and struggle.
[Your immune system launched a frenzied attack on your own body. Killer: (Death)]
[Constitution permanently increased by 1.8.]
Point proven.
“You’re being oversensitive,” Luan Zimo declared.
Qin Lan waved weakly.
“Yes, yes. I’m a Scorpio. We’re naturally sensitive and suspicious…”
“This food doesn’t agree with me. You two can have it.”
Death had clearly targeted him alone from beginning to end.
It had even resorted to something as vicious as an acute allergic reaction without ever considering an attack on the other two.
“Is this happening because I’m ‘surrounded by a dense aura of death’?”
Qin Lan felt thoroughly aggrieved.
He was the weakest of the three in this instance, yet the other two 4-Star Anomaly Hunters were perfectly safe.
How was that fair?
Anger smoldered in his chest.
Seeing Qin Lan’s attitude, Luan Zimo realized that he had a secret he did not want to explain and stopped pressing him.
“Have either of you figured out how to clear this instance?”
Han Chan ate at an unhurried pace and answered indistinctly around his food.
“We all have the same intelligence, don’t we…? Once everyone participating in the instance has experienced a death designed by Death, the survivors can leave.”
“A designed death cannot be avoided. Even if someone escapes it a few times by chance, sooner or later they will still die.”
He chewed for another moment, then continued.
“Only by truly ‘dying’ once can a participant satisfy the instance’s escape rule.”
Luan Zimo curled her lip.
“So entering the instance means sacrificing one resurrection method…”
“I don’t understand why someone with a special class like you would wade into this mess when there’s nothing here for you to gain.”
“Surely you didn’t come to interfere with my attempt to obtain the class? That would be rather disgraceful of Shanhai Pavilion.”
Luan Zimo made it sound like a joke, but she watched Han Chan’s expression closely as she spoke.
Han Chan maintained his usual cheerful demeanor.
“Of course not.”
“I was bored and came to take a look around, that’s all.”
“Resurrection methods may be rare, but I still have a few in reserve… Coming here to broaden my horizons is its own kind of entertainment.”
Qin Lan was dumbfounded.
“Wait… What are you two talking about?”
“What resurrection methods?”
Resurrection?
How could such an outrageous word come out of their mouths as casually as though they were debating which shop served the best rice noodles?
Han Chan glanced at Qin Lan and thoughtfully explained.
“It’s like this.”
“High-star instances sometimes produce cursed artifacts capable of resurrection.”
“Certain special classes have similar abilities, though they generally come with extremely harsh restrictions.”
Smiling, Han Chan pointed at Luan Zimo.
“Ms. Luan and I both possess resurrection methods. That’s why we dared to enter this unsolvable instance.”
“According to Death’s rules, it assigns everyone in the instance an order in which they will die. Once each person dies in that order, the instance will naturally be cleared.”
“At present, you appear to be first on the list.”
Qin Lan stared at him, slack-jawed.
“That’s how it works?!”
Luan Zimo laughed at his misfortune.
“Why do you think I saved you earlier?”
“I simply haven’t found the special class mission inside this instance yet… If you die too quickly, I’ll have less time to continue exploring.”
Qin Lan pondered for a moment, then asked a seemingly pointless question.
“Then what happens if… I just keep refusing to die?”
Han Chan smiled.
“The instance will never end, and Death will continue targeting you forever.”
Luan Zimo scoffed.
“You think too highly of yourself. No matter how lucky you are, you might escape three or four times, perhaps even seven or eight, but you can never keep escaping forever.”
“As long as you’re alive and your name remains on Death’s list, the shadow of death will follow you.”
“Until you’re exhausted. Until you give up struggling.”
She took a sip of water and added mockingly, “You do seem somewhat capable, considering how many attacks you’ve evaded… but this is as far as you go.”
Qin Lan’s expression became remarkably complicated.
An ordered death list?
Everyone had to experience death once to clear the instance?
But…
He could not truly die at all.
Based on Luan Zimo and Han Chan’s explanation, the resurrection methods they possessed must bring them back after death.
Qin Lan’s Talent, however, did more than resurrect him. It rewound time as well.
He could never achieve a death in the truest sense.
“In other words, Death’s list was stuck on me from the very beginning…”
“As long as I can’t truly die, the instance can never be cleared, and neither of them can leave…”
Qin Lan suddenly realized that the situation might be rather serious.
Judging by Luan Zimo’s smug expression, she had no idea how awkward their predicament had become.
“Uh, let’s consider a hypothetical…”
Qin Lan steeled himself and continued.
“Suppose I keep escaping every death that Death designs for me. Would you have any other way to clear the instance?”
Luan Zimo looked up, her golden eyes filled with disdain.
“You certainly know how to fantasize.”
“If you could keep escaping forever, why bother being an Anomaly Hunter? You might as well become Death yourself.”
Qin Lan sighed helplessly.
No one believed him even when he told the truth.