Chapter 26: The Fifth Hidden Rule

When Ye Luo truly accepted the task, the giant frog’s mouth stretched even wider. Grinning, it said, “Good luck. I have high hopes for you.” Ye Luo arched an eyebrow and asked, “One last question. From the way you speak, this instance has existed for many years. With so many restarts, surely other players have marked the little frogs before?” The giant frog nodded. “Over the long years, yes, quite a few times. I’ve descended into the dark zone more than once because of it, but even after searching nearly the entire dark region, I’ve never found the little frogs’ main base. I have no idea where they’ve managed to hide!”

By the end, the giant frog sounded not only angry but also rather frustrated. It simply couldn’t understand how the little frogs managed to evade its repeated searches again and again.

Ye Luo’s gaze flickered. They had scoured almost the entire dark region and still hadn’t found the little frogs’ lair. On the other hand, the little frogs feared the light, so they couldn’t possibly be in the light zone. This matter seemed to have reached an impasse.

“I know this is a bit difficult,” the giant frog said, bulging its eyes, afraid Ye Luo would back out. “But you took this task yourself—I didn’t force you. I’ll give you a piece of information as a bonus: the instance will close in one hour. Please make sure to complete the third task within that hour.”

“Understood.” Ye Luo’s pupils contracted slightly. One hour. They had already spent an hour just in the Amphibian Pavilion of the Pet Paradise. For this third task, they had to pick something that could be completed quickly.

“To save you some time, your companion doesn’t need to come up—just head to the next activity directly,” the giant frog said kindly.

Ye Luo nodded, said nothing more, and turned to leave. The giant frog watched her departing figure, its mouth stretched almost to its ears. It had helped as much as it could. Above all, it desperately wanted to get rid of those damn little frogs. In all these endless years, there had been instances where the little frog faction had even managed a home invasion and won. For the giant frog, it was not only a bitter humiliation—if the little frogs won too many times, they might even usurp its position as the host of the instance. That was something the giant frog could never accept.

It hoped this woman would prove up to the task.

The giant frog grinned and pointed at the next person. “Would you like to dance with me?”

At the edge of the square, Ye Luo consulted the map again. Lin An stood beside her, looking as though he wanted to say something but held back. Ye Luo instinctively looked toward the dark zone’s attractions. In her mind, light meant danger; the light zone was absolutely to be avoided.

“Ye Jie,” Lin An said, gritting his teeth, “why don’t we try the carousel?”

The carousel? Ye Luo frowned slightly. The carousel was in the light zone. She couldn’t help but glance at Lin An. By rights, after following her all this way, he should know that the light was far more dangerous than the dark.

“Let’s do the carousel,” Lin An insisted.

Ye Luo was momentarily stunned before realization dawned. The light zone! There was probably no escaping it. From the very first task, she and Lin An had stuck together. Along the way, Lin An had never used a flashlight or a decoy doll. If he were a deeply scheming person, perhaps he was hiding something. But by Ye Luo’s observation, Lin An wasn’t that type. There was only one explanation left.

Lin An must have chosen, upon entering the instance, to obtain a hidden rule. That rule, he couldn’t state outright—he could only hint at it this way.

Ye Luo’s expression grew somber. The last, fifth rule must be that each player’s activities must include both dark and light zone attractions. That was most likely it. Because of this hidden rule, she’d been able to easily form a team when heading to the dark zone. Most people probably knew about this hidden rule and were therefore compelled to brave the dark zone. Otherwise, there would be far fewer players choosing dark zone activities.

“Alright. Let’s do the carousel,” Ye Luo agreed.

Lin An let out a long sigh of relief. He’d worried Ye Luo would demand an explanation. Thank goodness—she was truly a master; no doubt she’d already figured it out.

Ye Luo and Lin An headed for the light zone. This was their first time venturing into it. The closer they got, the more dazzling the neon lights became, music played cheerfully overhead, and the scene seemed no different from any amusement park outside.

Very soon, the two entered the light zone. Unlike the dark zone, where each activity was isolated, the light zone’s attractions were all gathered around a large square. As soon as they set foot inside, they heard delighted laughter.

Directly ahead, players circled joyfully on the carousel. To the left, those on the little airplanes wore beaming, childlike smiles. On the right, the miniature train was packed, but everyone’s face showed nothing but contentment. Ahead to the left was Colorful World, where statues of cartoon characters smiled and waved at the players passing by. The scene was undeniably eerie, yet the players greeted the statues happily, playing as if nothing was amiss. To the right was Flight to the Future—a simple ride where players sat in chairs that bounced up and down like a mini drop tower.

All these attractions could be found in any ordinary amusement park. But Ye Luo was certain: not even real park-goers could be as happy as these players. In a perilous instance like this, the players still managed to play with such joy and abandon. That, in itself, was deeply uncanny.

“Ye Jie, I’m getting nervous,” Lin An admitted, scalp tingling. The situation reminded him of the players dancing with the frogs in the square—those players had looked just as dazed and enraptured. Were these attractions unavoidable?

“Let’s go. The carousel,” Ye Luo replied calmly.

Lin An took a deep breath and followed, steeling himself. This was the last activity. No matter what, they had to finish! He still wanted to leave this instance alive.

At the carousel, cheerful music played incessantly. Absurdly, there was even a long queue; they waited half an hour before it was their turn. Ye Luo recalled the giant frog’s words—now there was only half an hour left before the instance closed.

She had to complete this activity within half an hour, then find the little frogs’ base. Only then could she earn an S-level rating.

It sounded difficult, but not impossible.