Xu Huo pondered briefly and wrote on it:

[Players, please distinguish between your identity and that of the patient.]

After submitting, the instance upgrade came to a close. After two upgrades, he had grasped some tricks to upgrading instances. Compared to the Hundred People Art Gallery, which upgraded due to painted glasses, the upgrade of the Seventeenth Hospital consumed much more, though it was also much more effective. In the future, if it continues to upgrade, the hospital may split into two spaces. The more stable the newly generated space, the harder it is to break through, thus increasing the difficulty of the instance.

The instance can now be opened twice a year, and as for the game’s reminders... they are optional. The "Seventeenth Hospital" was merely a supplementary tool for him; he didn’t plan to use the hospital to avoid instances, nor did he need the identity of a Grey Player. So as long as he avoided the instance opening once every three months consecutively, he could avoid being stationed in the instance, and the game wouldn’t randomly trap him in a location.

The instance upgrade was successful; he would find a time to test it with someone.

Of course, he couldn’t choose a place with too many players because the random instance wasn’t timed. Players could continuously enter during its opening; if it went on endlessly, the instance couldn’t be closed.

After putting the instance away, he went back to the Props section to rest.

He took a good nap, and it wasn’t until the next morning that he got up. Gu Yu and the others had left him some food and went to a nearby river to fish. Only Nie Xuan stayed behind due to work.

"Remote working?" Xu Huo came out with his breakfast and sat down, looking at the person busy at the other end.

Nie Xuan’s gaze was still on the projection screen. "There’s no way around it; I can’t completely let go."

"Those who like to worry are like this," Xu Huo said.

Nie Xuan chuckled, "Someone has to do so many things. Rather than letting some ill-intentioned people handle them, it’s better I do it myself. At least I can ensure justice and fairness when I’m responsible."

Xu Huo nodded, "The Special Defense Department can’t be handed over."

"I’ve already sent your experiences with Time Force back to headquarters. For now, there’s not much good stuff I can give you, so the headquarters... sent an IOU?" Nie Xuan frowned, "Do these old guys have no shame?"

Xu Huo didn’t mind, "An IOU is fine. Collecting now isn’t worth it. Once fully integrated with the game, the Special Defense Department and the military might regret it."

"Good props yield the best results in the right hands." Nie Xuan didn’t care about insiders or outsiders; as long as there was no problem with integrity, it was fine. He sent a message back to headquarters, negotiating a price that met his expectations before repeating it.

Aside from White Notes, what the Special Defense Department could promise Xu Huo were only props and instruments. They already owed several Rank-A Spiritual Items and instruments and today added spatial artifacts and super instruments. The Special Defense Department, thinking they were writing empty checks, found it easy to negotiate and even hinted that if Xu Huo was willing to mentor their people, they could offer a higher price.

"A higher price?" Xu Huo wasn’t surprised he was under the Surveillance of the Special Defense Department, "Does the Special Defense Department still have anything better to offer? It’s not like they have super props and super instruments, right?"

"As far as I know, neither the Special Defense Department nor the military has those," Nie Xuan paused, "But I did hear that Country Y managed to get their hands on a super instrument, though the specifics are unclear, just a rumor."

"Then it’s not worth discussing," Xu Huo said, "If they can get super props and super instruments from instances in the future, I might consider it."

Nie Xuan replied according to his intention. The headquarters didn’t press further and left the exchange proposal on the table.

"When the time comes, maybe Zone 014 will see the birth of more Super Evolvers," Nie Xuan said.

"Different strengths, different needs. Now we don’t have Time Evolvers; perhaps we will in the future. It’s thoughtful of the Special Defense Department to leave this opportunity for those who are suitable," Xu Huo said. Since Nie Xuan’s assistance was free, there was no point wasting this opportunity for others.

As they talked, Xu Huo finished his breakfast. Nie Xuan needed to work, and he had his own tasks to do.

The Water Cube Barrier couldn’t be resolved instantly, so his next step was to find the Perfect Potion. According to Dr. Wu’s hint, a player called "Gourmet" held the Perfect Potion, and he had to find this person.

Two nights ago, he had already gathered all the information on the potential "Gourmet" candidates and had issued a bounty for "Gourmet’s" whereabouts. However, since he did not know what the real "Gourmet" looked like, analyzing the information was challenging.

But since Dr. Wu specifically mentioned this person, whether an enemy or a friend, at least they should be an Advanced Player, so players below Rank-C could be excluded first.

The other party possessing the Perfect Potion might be a Perfect Evolver or a follower of Dr. Wu. Considering that Dr. Wu knew them, it’s unlikely they obtained a potion accidentally in some instance. It’s similar to Xu Huo’s situation—they at least encountered Dr. Wu’s image in an instance.

This narrows it down a bit more. Tentatively set to Rank-B.

Next is the name "Gourmet." It must carry some notoriety; otherwise, it’s impossible to find in the vast game world. There are quite a few nicknames with "Gourmet" under Beneath the Dimension, but based on the information revealed by their statements, the number that fits is relatively small.

He couldn’t screen out the remaining ones, so he simply sent them messages probing about Dr. Wu and the Perfect Potion.

This doesn’t necessarily mean the real "Gourmet" is among them; one must also consider the possibility that "Gourmet" never spoke under Beneath the Dimension. Therefore, he added the bounty platform.

The bounty platform caters to the entire game, offering fairly comprehensive coverage. If someone truly encountered "Gourmet," this "Gourmet" would be quite notable and better fit his target.

What he needed to do now was reply to the messages under Beneath the Dimension and analyze which answer on the bounty platform might lead him to the Gourmet.

"Gourmet" might be a nickname or a designation, so even if the bounty platform’s answers concerning "Gourmet" weren’t what he needed, they might not be false. Thus, if the bounty platform confirmed no forgery based on the contributor’s evidence, he’d need to pay White Notes.

Xu Huo didn’t know how many "Gourmet" were in the game, but he received nearly three hundred pieces of information about "Gourmet," complete with images and clues.

He opened a dozen projection screens to view this information, and besides himself, he released three additional personas to work on it.