13: Copy upgrade

Crack, crack—

“Phew… found it!”

Baldy laboriously pulled away a large section of the wall and then dug through the rubble under the ruins before finally finding his target—

A red wooden top.

Amidst the dust, its crimson color was particularly striking.

“That old man didn’t lie; these things really were in our rooms.”

Jacket Uncle and the others also found various children’s toys in their respective rooms.

The toys of those ‘sacrifices’ from yesteryear.

According to the village chief’s instructions, placing these toys in the room of a scapegoat would allow the Mountain Child to lock onto them as targets for attack, based on the scent of the former sacrificial children.

That immoral old man really wished for others to enter standing and leave horizontally.

Baldy gnashed his teeth, feeling like he had taken too little earlier; he should have dug up and sold the old man’s entire foundation.

And after Cheng Zhen extracted information from the village chief, the descriptions of those toys also changed.

The toys, which had previously always been listed as [???], now had new entries—

[Item: Erya’s Doll]

[A crimson toy doll. Its owner has already gone into the fog.]

[Note: The sacrificed children vaguely remember their favorite toys. Collecting them all together might summon something.]

[Item: Xiaoshi’s Cloth Tiger]

[A crimson cloth tiger. Its owner has already been taken away.]

[Note: The sacrificed children vaguely remember their favorite toys. Collecting them all together might summon something.]

[Item: Zhuangzhuang’s Wooden Top]

…

The remaining descriptions were all similar, but they all highlighted one point: combining them wouldn't summon a divine dragon, but it could summon something else.

“Summon what?”

Cheng Zhen stroked his chin, pondering: “I thought this instance only required an easy three-day stay to finish. It seems there’s something else to it?”

The two remaining Rookie felt complicated after hearing this: for the big shot, it was easy, but for us, it was ‘terrifying’…

Jacket Uncle heard Cheng Zhen’s mumble, came over, and took a curious look, almost popping his eyeballs out.

“This is—a condition item for instance upgrade!”

The few Rookie didn’t yet understand what an instance upgrade was, but Jacket Uncle’s two teammates had already turned pale after hearing it.

Seeing Cheng Zhen’s confusion, Jacket Uncle quickly explained: “Instance upgrade refers to the difficulty of an instance increasing once the Raiders meets certain conditions! The points and items from the clearance settlement will also increase, and achieving a special ending can also grant a special title.”

With each reward he mentioned, Cheng Zhen’s eyes grew brighter, as if he saw those treasures beckoning to him.

Jacket Uncle saw his eager face and couldn’t help but smile bitterly: “I know these rewards are very tempting, but… after the difficulty increases, the dangers and variables are truly hard to handle.”

“Didn’t you wonder earlier why the three of us veterans couldn’t even scrounge up 100 points? It’s because our last instance had upgrade conditions. At the time, we and the other Raiders were very excited and decided to take on the challenge.”

“The result was a crushing defeat.”

“The three of us emptied our savings just to barely cling to our lives. We used our remaining points to buy a [Newbie Card] and came to a newbie instance, hoping to recuperate and earn some points with an MVP card, but we didn’t expect…”

They didn’t expect to run into the only four-star instance in the newbie pool. Their luck was truly something else.

Baldy and Short-Haired Girl nodded sympathetically; clearly, their previous experiences had made them dread instance upgrades.

“Is that so…”

Cheng Zhen held the doll, lost in thought.

Just as Jacket Uncle thought he was going to give up, Cheng Zhen suddenly spoke:

“Although price gouging isn’t very ethical, since there’s a permanent buff like a special title, it’s only fair to give me some more points, right?”

As soon as he said this, everyone’s eyes widened.

This, this, this… what did this mean?!

“No, buddy?” Baldy stared dumbfounded. “No, no, Big Brother, what do you mean…?”

“Use the items, upgrade the instance, then collect special titles and other rewards.”

Cheng Zhen spread his hands: “That meaning is quite simple, isn’t it?”

The meaning was indeed simple.

So simple that everyone didn’t know how to react.

Cheng Zhen’s bodyguards did seem very formidable, but those who hadn’t seen their true strength were still a bit worried, unsure if the bodyguards could still protect them after the difficulty increased.

“We’ve already learned all the instance clues. After the upgrade, it’s unlikely to increase the difficulty of puzzles or similar things; it will only strengthen the combat power of the BOSS Mountain Child.”

“But even if its combat power quadruples or quintuples, it won’t prevent me from leading you all to victory.”

Cheng Zhen’s attitude remained confident, calm, and resolute.

He even had time to advertise himself—

“Special titles come with permanent attributes or buffs!”

Cheng Zhen transformed into a gold-medal salesman, more capable of bewitching people than the Mountain Child singing:

“These ultra-rare limited items, unavailable in the mall, can now be yours for just 20 points! Once this village is gone, this shop won’t be here anymore~”

Everyone: “…” So tempting!

It was simply as irresistible as a STE▲M summer sale at 0.1% off, or a Taobao Double Eleven discount of 290 off 300!

“I’m with the big shot!”

Baldy once again showed his adaptable side, turning to Jacket Uncle: “Captain, oh no, my former captain, take a gamble, a bicycle can turn into a motorcycle; gamble big, a motorcycle can turn into a jeep!”

“No one can guarantee they’ll come out alive when entering an instance, so why not fight hard when you can!”

Jacket Uncle wanted to cover the kid’s jinxing mouth but held back.

He couldn’t refuse Cheng Zhen’s temptation either!

“Let’s do it!”

For the title, for the points, for the rewards!

Short-Haired Girl also decided to seek wealth in danger.

The two remaining Rookie hadn’t spoken yet, but the matter was already decided.

Rookie: Forget it, since we’re already here, and things have come to this, so be it…

After a unanimous vote, everyone handed over the red toys they had found and placed them together.

The seven toys laid together, as if narrating how, for many years, those people had lived contentedly, treading on the bones of children.

After growing accustomed to it, they even respected and worshipped the murderer.

A slight response appeared between the toys, emitting a faint red mist.

Soon, the red mist grew thicker and thicker, and a sense of oppression and a bloody smell gradually appeared in the air. Blurred children’s faces even began to emerge in the mist, some smiling, some crying, their expressions distorted.

At the same time, everyone’s system notifications suddenly started flashing wildly—

[Beep, upgrade conditions met!]

[Instance - Sacrifice Mountain Child, instance upgraded! Difficulty increased! ★★★★ → ★★★★☆]

[Clearance Mission: Survive three days!!!]

[Hint: □□□! Kill it! Survive!]

The blood mist seemed to seep into the system panel, and the words “Clearance Mission” had turned crimson.

The astonishing change made everyone inevitably tense up.

Baldy gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, Jacket Uncle also straightened his body, and the two Rookie didn’t even dare to breathe.

“Heh…”

In the midst of the oppressive silence, Cheng Zhen was heard chuckling softly.

“Earlier, I said it was a guaranteed survival.”

“Now I retract that and will revise it.”

He pulled out his wooden fish.

“The difficulty only increased this much? It’s a guaranteed win!”