"That's what I'm suspecting right now."

Wang Zhifan nodded,

"At the start of the instance, I subconsciously overlooked this detail. Now that I think about it, it seems like a huge problem... Considering the mystery and grandeur of this extraordinary game, there's no way it would let a player be unable to see its instance prompts. Even if it were an elderly player, or a blind one, there's no reason they shouldn't be able to see."

Being quite familiar with the power levels of this extraordinary game, which granted him his player identity and various powers and equipment, Wang Zhifan now believed that either the old man was not a player and was some entity disguised as a teammate at the start of the instance, or the other was lying for some reason, claiming not to see when he could. But given the current circumstances, Wang Zhifan leaned towards the former.

"What you're saying makes a lot of sense, sir, but we can't be certain the old man is the instance's disguised BOSS just from this. We still need to find more evidence. If you rashly attack the old man, it could disrupt team unity, and according to the forum, it might lead to dangerous punishment levels."

The wheelchair-bound teenager wearing blue half-rim glasses agreed somewhat with Wang Zhifan's speculations and suspicions but was not entirely convinced, so he reminded Wang Zhifan to be cautious. One cannot suspect a teammate based on a single clue, leading to unforeseen complications.

However, what the wheelchair-bound teenager didn't expect was that Wang Zhifan barely heeded his advice and replied nonchalantly:

"It's just a punishment level; it doesn't matter. I only want to clear this irritating instance as soon as possible. When we find the old man, we'll test him."

Wang Zhifan was indeed speaking his true feelings. As a current Lv5 player who had gone through quite a few instances, he'd never encountered such a frustrating one before. The BOSS labeled as just Lv6 in the target prompt was almost impossible for him to beat, yet he couldn't find where the opponent was. This intentional time-wasting and irritating setting gave him a whiff of malice from the instance.

The two continued discussing the strategy for clearing this detestable instance at the initial point, and during the subsequent conversation, Wang Zhifan shared a bag of instant noodles with the wheelchair teenager while gnawing on a can of meat to help him replenish some energy. As for the task of searching for the old man, he left it to the two dream selves he controlled. These doppelganger-like entities were scouring the forest much faster, with more efficiency than himself.

About twenty minutes later, Wang Zhifan, relying on the dream selves to scout the vast surrounding area, finally found the suspicious old man, only to discover he was engaged in something crazy—preparing to set the entire forest on fire!

Through the vision linked with the dream self hidden underground in the distance, Wang Zhifan saw this bald old man in a red vest, black shorts, and slippers moving swiftly in the forest with no sign of elderly sluggishness, and displaying some unusual strength.

With a few swings of his large machete, he chopped down nearby smaller trees, piling their trunks high into stacks. He then ripped off patches of underbrush and weeds by hand, stacking them around the pile of tree trunks. Finally, he carved out a smooth tree trunk with the machete and intently rubbed a twig in his hands to drill a hole, seemingly attempting to make a fire by friction.

"This old guy... Is he trying to burn us all to death with that huge pile of wood?"

After watching the old man's actions from afar via the dream self, Wang Zhifan became increasingly convinced the man was no ordinary person, at least not with a physique that low-level players could possess.

More importantly, the man was clearly trying to start a fire in this forest. While Wang Zhifan also had similar thoughts, this behavior—with no discussion with teammates and directly taking action—was incomparably reckless.

"I can't let you succeed; it'll force me to waste massive effort putting out fires and possibly subduing numerous tree people."

Having caught the old man in the act, Wang Zhifan naturally wouldn't stand idly by. He started running in that direction, closely monitoring the old man with the hidden dream self, and made some targeted moves based on the dream self's location.

Specifically, he applied a bit of cold force to the wooden plank the old man was friction drumming on, causing the few wisps of smoke he had created to quickly dissipate. The emerging heat vanished instantly, and a layer of white frost covered the drill hole out of nowhere.

"Hmm?"

The old man, engaged in vigorous fire-making with a wooden stick, hummed incomprehensibly when his effort suddenly came to naught, and the drilled plank froze over. He stared blankly at the ice-coated plank in his hand for a few seconds before deciding to switch to another plank to continue.

However, with Wang Zhifan watching him, the old man's efforts were destined for failure. Even if he accelerated his drilling speed, it was futile. Finally, when Wang Zhifan arrived at his side, he shouted:

"Old man, stop drilling! Are you trying to burn us all to death?!"

Hearing Wang Zhifan's shout, the old man still sitting and rubbing the stick on the plank quickly raised his head and gave him a cold gaze before picking up the nearby machete, standing up, and saying:

"Young man, was it you who stopped me from igniting the sacred fire just now?"

The old man seemed quite angry, appearing as if a disagreement might make him swing his machete at Wang Zhifan.

"Yes, but is it wrong for me to stop you from setting the forest ablaze? I recall you initially agreeing to help me find a mad tree spirit here, so where is it?"

Wang Zhifan confrontationally faced the strange old man without backing down.

"I've found it! But there are too many! I must use the sacred fire to burn them!"

The old man's expression suddenly turned fervent, facing the towering pile he had been building for so long with his hands raised high, shouting words that were somewhat unintelligible. Then, he turned back to look at Wang Zhifan coldly, saying ominously, "

"But you, young man, you just hindered my holy fire!"

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