Chapter 1608: Chapter 1608: Awakening Experiment
Yi Jun took out a long prop, and after pressing the buttons on both ends, a transparent film unfurled from the prop, expanding to the size of the entire floor and blocking the windows, isolating inside from outside, even the sound of the wind disappeared.
“This is a Rank-B prop. Besides blocking sound, it also obstructs sight. We can see outside, but they can’t see us.”
Tong Qi and two other players went forward to check and confirmed that the prop had indeed sealed off this floor, then they felt at ease.
The next issue was about who would fall asleep first.
Tong Qi was the first to offer to help protect everyone’s safety, but as for sleeping, he refused.
Liao Xiaorong and the others knew well their survival last night was purely by chance. Xu Huo said he’d respect their decision, but even with a little thinking, they knew there was no way to leave. Instead of being forced to sleep, they might as well take the initiative, and at least before any results came out, both Yi Jun and Xu Huo would protect them for sure.
Liao Xiaorong and Mi Yaojia immediately offered to be the first batch of test subjects.
Among the remaining players like Yi Jun, only a frail-looking female player Zhao Qing was willing to volunteer.
That made three players, plus six people from Zone 013, totaling nine people.
“Let’s do a small experiment.” Xu Huo called Zhao Qing and the three over, opened a small area of the Spiritual World, stared into their eyes for a few seconds, then suddenly drew the Black Blade and slashed toward their faces, simultaneously issuing the command, “Lower your head.”
Liao Xiaorong and Mi Yaojia almost immediately lowered their heads, but as their gaze shifted downward and sensed danger, they quickly forced their heads up to block with a prop.
In contrast, the seemingly weakest Zhao Qing wasn’t affected by the Spiritual Control and retreated the moment Xu Huo raised the blade.
The Black Blade hovered in front of Liao Xiaorong and Mi Yaojia — both lost a prop.
Under the suspicious stares of the three, Xu Huo put away the Black Blade and said, “Now we can begin.”
Zhao Qing and the three weren’t foolish, recognizing he might be testing them with psychic power, they breathed a sigh of relief while feeling a heightened sense of danger.
No matter how they felt, it didn’t change the current situation, so they took out their props for resting and lay down.
Although Liao Xiaorong and Mi Yaojia slept well last night and weren’t sleepy at all now, once they lay down, they soon felt drowsy; after struggling a bit, they eventually fell asleep on the makeshift beds.
Once they were asleep, Xu Huo counted the time, and after a minute, he pricked the palms of all three with a needle. Liao Xiaorong and Mi Yaojia, who weren’t completely dead asleep, reacted. Zhao Qing, who was the last to fall asleep, showed no response.
“Try waking them up by force,” Xu Huo instructed Yi Jun and the others.
“That’s simple.” Tong Qi pulled out an instrument and stuck it to Mi Yaojia’s forehead, “Pain Experience Tool, let’s start with childbirth pain.”
Watching him adjust the number above “10,” Mi Yaojia, initially sound asleep, immediately contorted his face and sprung up.
“What the hell!” He tore off the item stuck to his head and followed the wire to see Tong Qi, then pounced and grabbed his collar, “Are you courting death!”
Tong Qi raised his hands defensively, “You can’t blame me, Xu Zhi ordered it.”
Mi Yaojia glared at Xu Huo.
Next to them, Liao Xiaorong and Zhao Qing also regained consciousness, but Yi Jun and Scarred Glasses’ method was much gentler.
Xu Huo explained, “This is to find the safety baseline. Any other feelings?”
“How could there be any feeling in such short time?” Liao Xiaorong couldn’t help but say, “Didn’t you say the longer you sleep, the longer the sleep time will be? There should be enough time to dream or feel other things at least.”
“What’s the point of using pain as stimulation?” Mi Yaojia said with a stern face, “If you’re truly dead asleep, you wouldn’t feel even if your hand was chopped off… Do we really have to chop our hand off to test?”
“No one’s going to chop off your hand,” Xu Huo calmly replied, “Today is only the second day of entering the instance. If by tomorrow or the day after, with the same timeframe, waking up is harder or impossible, it will be enough to prove that Mental Interference increases over time.”
“Moreover, problems and clues are discovered through trial. What we do may not be entirely meaningful, but it’s not entirely pointless either.”
Mi Yaojia said nothing more, putting away his prop and stepping aside.
“Is anyone else willing to try?” Xu Huo scanned the crowd, “Let me remind everyone, if you can’t find or if there’s no formed space entrance, to clear the level, everyone will have to enter a sleep state. The sooner, the safer.”
After some hesitation, two more players stepped out.
With the original two, four slept together.
The two new ones were first awakened within a minute, the first time.
Liao Xiaorong and Zhao Qing were woken up in the third and fifth minutes respectively.
After experimenting with both groups for half an hour, and confirming average pain failed to wake them, Xu Huo then turned to the people from Zone 013 and said, “You guys can start now.”
These six were very cooperative, needing neither beds nor anything specific, they could fall asleep wherever they leaned or lay down.
Their wake-up times were the same as the players, waking in similar states, and likewise, after half an hour, they completely fell asleep and could no longer be woken.
“This at least shows the instance treats players and ordinary people equally.” Tong Qi quipped from the side.
“You’re not a mute if you don’t speak.” Mi Yaojia retorted cynically.
Tong Qi couldn’t be bothered with him, sidled over to Xu Huo, “They’ll probably sleep for a long time, are we just going to wait around for them to wake up?”
“Of course not.” Xu Huo turned to Young Master Mo and Scarred Glasses, “You didn’t sleep last night, do you feel sleepy now?”
They weren’t the only ones who stayed up all night, but they weren’t ticket players.
“We don’t need to clear the level.” Scarred Glasses said.
“It’s not about clearing or not,” Yi Jun added on the side, “Clearly, everyone who enters the instance is equal. Whether you want to or not, you’ll need to sleep. If we can find the ‘Midsummer Night’s Galaxy’, great. If not, after nine days, whether we can leave or not remains a question.”
The non-ticket players wished to get involved, most likely because they feared staying until the end and still being unable to exit. Exploring with the ticket players for clearance was just an escape method.
“Give it a try,” Xu Huo suggested, “Isn’t it for ‘Midsummer Night’s Galaxy’ that you came? Maybe you’ll get lucky.”
“Can you guarantee our safety?” Scarred Glasses asked.
“I can only give a verbal guarantee, not take full responsibility.” Xu Huo replied, “Besides, as long as Mr. Yi doesn’t Turncoat, I can assure no one in this instance can break through this protection circle.”
Seeing everyone looking at him, Yi Jun chuckled, “I’m still counting on everyone to protect me, why would I cut off my own retreat? Besides, here only Mr. Xu is a Super Evolver, we rely on him to clear the level, smart people will surely choose to collaborate.”