This morning went without much suspense, and after lunch, Xu Huo, the Girl in the painting, Zhu Xiaojin, Tang Yu, and Old Cai followed the local person to where She lives.

Probably because they saw him walking with a local resident, people along the way offered them goodwill. In just a few days, District 6 seemed to have undergone a significant transformation.

"My childhood dream was to change the world. That wish is probably hard to realize now, but changing a small city is also good," Zhu Xiaojin responded enthusiastically.

Tang Yu remained silent beside him, only stopping him from accepting things, "There aren’t many supplies to begin with. If you take them, they won’t have enough."

Zhu Xiaojin found sense in that and took a token amount, even offered to pay for them.

The group soon arrived at the woman’s residence, and only upon reaching downstairs did they realize that She lived in an old residential district. The layout of the district was quite odd; all the buildings were connected above the sixth floor, and the spacing between the buildings was narrow, making the entire district resemble a large circle.

To be frank, from the exterior walls, this district doesn’t count as the oldest in District 6, yet walking inside gives one an oppressive feeling. People live here, but not many. As they entered, quite a few people peeked out, but upon noticing their gaze, quickly ducked back inside.

"This place... doesn’t look very auspicious," Zhu Xiaojin commented.

The woman chuckled, "This used to be a family welfare district with many elderly residents, and funerals are frequent. Over time, fewer people remain, and outsiders are reluctant to move in. Anyway, there are many vacant apartments, no need to live here... Those who stay are old residents, emotionally attached, unwilling to leave."

"That’s how it is." Xu Huo spoke mildly, "In Bu Liu City under such circumstances, it’s quite difficult that so many elderly still live in this district."

"Indeed." The woman sighed, "They are the ones most sentimental about this city; there’s nothing about Bu Liu City’s past they don’t know."

"But many are old, making it inconvenient to go up and down the stairs."

"I don’t think they seem particularly grateful." Tang Yu mentioned.

"Older people generally have weird tempers." The woman went to the third floor and knocked on a door. Soon, the sound of a cane tapping approached the door, and upon hearing the woman mention Xu Huo as the new Governor, the elderly lady warmly invited them in for tea, expressing ’sincere’ gratitude to the government and hopes for the future, emphasizing the inconvenience in travel and hoping the Municipal Government could develop more equipment for the elderly.

"It’s not good to make demands right away." The woman embarrassedly stopped the elderly lady, while news spread fast in the district. In no time, quite a few elderly gathered, expressing gratitude to Xu Huo and the group, just as the woman had said.

"It’s making me a bit uncomfortable." Breaking away from the elderly’s circle, Zhu Xiaojin commented.

The visit seemed to end, and just as the woman was about to escort them away, it started to rain suddenly. The rain was heavy, and the woman went upstairs to fetch umbrellas but never returned.

The rain intensified, gradually drowning out the other sounds in the district.

Soon, Zhu Xiaojin sensed something amiss, "People in the district seem to have vanished!"

"You just noticed?" Tang Yu held a prop in hand, vigilantly surveying the surroundings, "I felt something wrong upon entering; they made quite an effort gathering so many elderly to perform this act."

"Performing?" Zhu Xiaojin’s voice raised slightly in disbelief, "That’s odd, my prop didn’t pick anything up."

"This is a city full of criminals. From the toxic food and harmful treatment of outsiders, you can tell this won’t change overnight. Compared to passing players, they likely resent us more, being accustomed to lawlessness." Xu Huo said, "I initially thought the Municipal Government led us here deliberately, but now it seems they didn’t."

"If it were a trap, surely it wouldn’t just involve old folks," Old Cai commented, "Let’s leave."

Saying so, he took out a Teleportation Prop, intending to leave the district directly. Unexpectedly, the sky suddenly turned dark, and an old clock on a second-floor balcony rang to indicate time, "Current time, District timing, 8 PM."

Old Cai paused, "Did I see wrong? An illusion?"

Whether it’s an illusion can be verified, Xu Huo moved to the district gate and pushed it open, only for the outside street view to be replaced by another circular district.

"What’s going on?" Zhu Xiaojin was about to step out when Tang Yu stopped him, "Don’t wander off, it just chimed 8 PM, and the sky’s already dark."

Not only had it turned dark, but lights in occupied apartments were also switched on; the dim lighting seemed ready to extinguish at any moment, making the district appear even more gloomy, intermixed with some red glows, evidently used during offerings.

"Vacant apartments used for placing memorial tablets?" Tang Yu glanced toward a district corner, "Someone’s burning paper money."

A few elderly women appeared behind the greenery suddenly, mumbling while splitting yellow paper. The flickering flames cast changing light on their faces, almost obscuring their features, revealing only the same blank and aged expressions.

Xu Huo and his group’s expressions turned strange. Truth be told, they’ve encountered intelligent inanimate objects and plants in instances before but never encountered spiritual phenomena. In fact, most instances in the Dimensional Rift game are based on fact, matching players’ power growth logically. If supernatural entities oppose players successfully, they must have a physical form or involve Mental Interference or similar, in general traceable, simply creating an atmosphere alone can’t scare players. Likewise, in instances, except for ultra-strong boss-level entities, it’s impossible to have something completely overpower players.

Thus, the sudden emergence of such a district left players feeling bewildered.

"Games within instances, could there also be random instances within the instance?" Zhu Xiaojin chuckled, "This instance, it suddenly seems like Hengxing Company is a bit amateurish."

"Not quite an instance." Old Cai said, "Perhaps quite strong Interference Props; I’ve seen some props with compulsory effects. Though troublesome, they’re not overly problematic. Mainly, you just need to find the player holding the prop. Compulsory props, while effective, have many restrictions; the player should be within the district."