Xu Huo has a "Please Sit" characteristic, but it only activates in an appropriate indoor space, so he merely extended a regular invitation for the two players opposite him to take a seat.

The two players pursuing them arrived with a fierce aura, certainly no weaklings. Although they were initially shocked to see Xu Huo restraining the injured player, they didn’t perceive a significant threat, as that person had sustained injuries and expended quite a bit of their props and equipment. Only when facing Xu Huo’s gaze did they realize that it wasn’t the other player being weak—it was Xu Huo being too strong!

If you don’t cooperate, you’re dead!

The two players automatically interpreted Xu Huo’s look as a threat, and then they turned their gaze toward Bubble Bean and Yin Yang Master.

Bubble Bean and Yin Yang Master’s expressions weren’t pleasant either; apparently, these two were playing dumb and acting tough, keeping half of their cards hidden even during their bouts!

"Have a seat, having something to eat is better than being stabbed." Bubble Bean said begrudgingly to the two, better than eating swords.

The players sat down again, and the banquet continued.

"Who among you is the Hidden Friend?" Someone restrained themselves from making any moves, and Bubble Bean used a Silencing Prop to isolate the villagers and straightforwardly asked the two.

The two later-arriving players had teamed up temporarily, not familiar enough with each other to discuss terms, so one with an eyebrow piercing directly pointed with their chin at the injured person across, "It’s him."

Upon hearing this, the injured player’s face immediately filled with anger, but when his gaze met Xu Huo sitting beside him, he suppressed the fury, gritting his teeth and said, "I’ve said many times, I’m not the Hidden Friend; it’s not my turn at all!"

"If it’s not you, then why are you spying on us and pretending to be mature to call us?" the eyebrow-pierced player was skeptical. "After being exposed, you even attempted murder."

The injured player was even more furious, "I wasn’t pretending to be mature to call you, I was genuinely calling you. The instance background has clearly stated that stragglers can easily be targeted. I’d wandered in the forest for days without encountering any real people, so of course, upon finding you, I had to observe and confirm. You claim I’m the Hidden Friend, yet I’m afraid you might be the Hidden Friend!"

Both sides stubbornly held their arguments, unable to reach a conclusion. Bubble Bean seized the opportunity to ask, "Is it true that the role of Hidden Friend is rotated? Haven’t you encountered the person on rotation?"

"The rotation is my guess." the injured player said, "Judging by the instance introduction, this should be quite clear—if a person were designated from the start, wouldn’t that mean others are just waiting to be killed?"

Everyone else’s first thought on seeing the instance introduction was the same; that’s why players are suspicious of each other, yet none of those present received any specific information or notifications about the actor role, unable to figure out what’s going on.

"Friend, you must be a Super Evolutionary with Mental Powers, right? Do you know what’s really happening?" the middle-aged man beside the eyebrow-pierced player looked at Xu Huo, "This instance is time-limited. I reckon failing to clear doesn’t mean we can’t leave. There’s no need for us to fight to the death. If you know something, I’ll pay a high price for the information, far exceeding the rewards for clearing the instance."

Eliminating opponents doesn’t always require brute force; when faced with tough challenges, adopting a weaker stance can be effective too.

Xu Huo sipped his fruit wine, looked at him with a half-smile, "Do you think if I really knew what’s going on, I’d sell the information to you?"

The middle-aged man was silent, but soon he said, "I’m not a player of this instance; I just happened to pass by here."

The three newcomers were all taken aback: You’re not, then why meddle in this?

Then they turned their gaze to Bubble Bean and the two others.

Bubble Bean shrugged, "We are indeed dungeon players, but so far have found nothing. We’ve seen many silhouettes in the forest but not a single real player."

The three players with eyebrow piercing were the same.

"Let’s wait a bit longer; perhaps more players will come here." Bubble Bean said, "Let’s eat first."

The several players intentionally avoided topics related to the instance; thus, naturally, no one brought it up again, while eating and listening to the villagers’ chatter around them.

The conversation topics were nothing more than young people from certain families marrying and moving with partners to live elsewhere, elderly people from other families leaving because of longing for their children, or that it’s the season for picking wild vegetables and fruits somewhere, and arranging a good time to go together. Some would also chat about relatively private topics after a few more drinks, young people talking about those they fancy, while the older ones mostly discussed their physical conditions.

Even though they had just witnessed a player fight, almost becoming hostages, the villagers still did not treat players like a catastrophic threat.

Bubble Bean and others intended to inquire about the Hidden Friend, seizing opportunities to ask more questions, when they asked if the Hidden Friend might treat outsiders as friends and take them away, they mostly shared the same sentiment:

"Strange people may want friends, and they don’t necessarily need friends from their place, certainly they would also want to make some friends from afar."

Hence, even though they didn’t know whether those players who appeared and disappeared suddenly were taken by the Hidden Friend, they weren’t too concerned about it, because in their view, these occurrences were quite normal.

"Aren’t you afraid of players?" Bubble Bean asked a young fellow.

The young fellow chuckled, "Players previously told us they can’t harm us ordinary folks, or they won’t clear the instance. Surely you are the same."

"We all know this."

"No wonder." Bubble Bean sighed.

After the banquet, the villagers returned to their homes. Although some invited the three newcomers to stay at their houses, they opted to live in two empty houses instead. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

The injured player went to Xu Huo’s house, while the two players with eyebrow piercing and the two Bubble Beans shared lodgings.

Despite being fearful of Xu Huo, the injured player worried about his own safety and chose to stay with him.

"Can’t you casually kill anyone just because you’re not the ’Hidden Friend’?" Xu Huo asked, "How many people are in your instance? If it really is random rotation, you can’t kill everyone before the rotation happens."

Being outnumbered, Xu Huo entered the instance area and concerned himself with safety issues, understandably.

"It’s certain the instance requires the actor not to kill wrongly, but the wording is unclear, ambiguous, so regardless of whether someone is an actor, no one can kill carelessly..." the injured player paused to add, "This is my understanding; cautionary players should think like this. Who knows, those two people are completely unreasonable. I see they don’t care about clearing the instance. The limited-time instance, even if you fail to clear it, won’t really hurt you, so they act wantonly."

"I reckon there are quite a few who think the same." Xu Huo rubbed his chin, "The more players that gather, the more likely problems will arise."

But the more players that gather, the more likely the ’Hidden Friend’ actor will appear.