"Are all these treants not part of the instance's objective to kill? Does this mean they ambushed me just because I killed their companions?"

Looking up at the giant trees around him that he had frozen into ice sculptures, Wang Zhifan felt even more confused. He had thought he was finally getting through this strange instance, but realized he had been doing meaningless work.

"There's a problem... My current strategy for clearing the instance must be flawed... If I keep going like this, I'll probably exhaust myself without finding any crazy treants. Do I really have to break through with brute force, set fire to the entire forest? But if I do that, the treants' mass counterattack will be difficult to suppress..."

Feeling lost once again, Wang Zhifan considered brute force as the most direct approach, but he did not act recklessly due to a momentary setback. He realized that even brute-forcing it carried significant risk and shouldn't be done unless absolutely necessary.

"Let's go back and see if the two teammates have discovered anything."

Since his own ideas were nearly at a dead end, Wang Zhifan decided not to stubbornly continue pointless searches. After all, he had already covered a large area but found no suspicious treants, wasting considerable energy taking out normal ones. His efforts weren't yielding results.

Quickly, he followed the markers he had left along the way and returned swiftly, thanks to his average attribute values exceeding 30 points, making him faster than others. It only took about fifteen minutes to return to the starting point of the instance.

At this initial location where the player appeared, no one else was there, suggesting his two teammates had yet to return. Nonetheless, Wang Zhifan didn't intend to wait there for his teammates. He controlled his two Dream Selves to split up and search for them.

Through the Great Dream Saber Scripture, the Dream Self was inherently advantaged in exploration, being non-physical and able to pass through obstacles swiftly. Shortly, one of them discovered the wheelchair-bound youth trapped and struggling between several tree branches.

"Amazing... Has this young man been stuck there for hours? But given his physical condition and being in a wheelchair, he really had no other choice."

Upon finding that one of his teammates had not completed the task assigned to him and was instead trapped, Wang Zhifan felt somewhat speechless. But he understood the young man's difficulties; his physical condition was poor. The fact he was stuck in the branches and not still at the original spot showed he hadn't been slacking off.

Wang Zhifan quickly went over, rescuing the youth from the branches effortlessly and bringing him back to the instance's starting location. The process took only three minutes, showing how pitifully little distance the wheelchair-bound youth had managed to move during that time.

"Boss... I'm really sorry... I accidentally got stuck in the branches and couldn't get out… I couldn't complete the task you assigned me either."

Back at the starting point, the wheelchair-bound youth's expression was somewhat guilty. His pale complexion had worsened from struggling, and even speaking was a struggle.

"It's okay; this forest environment is indeed very unfriendly to a wheelchair player like you. Just stay here for now and don't wander around."

Wang Zhifan wasn't too angry about the youth's inaction over the past few hours, as he hadn't expected much from these peculiar teammates. Besides, the youth's physical condition was too poor, and the surrounding environment was challenging. He was relieved the youth hadn't decided to quit altogether.

"Since you're in no condition to exert yourself, use your mind instead and help me analyze how to break through this instance. Let me share the information I've gathered so far…"

Returning to his teammate with a mind to gather collective wisdom, Wang Zhifan explained that he couldn't fully discern the instance himself, hoping to gain insights from his teammates. He believed in the saying that three humble people could rival one genius.

While controlling his Dream Self to locate the third elderly teammate, Wang Zhifan briefly shared some instance intelligence with the wheelchair-bound youth, hoping for intellectual surprises from his less physically capable companion.

Shortly after Wang Zhifan explained the recent discoveries of skeletons and treant riots, the wheelchair-bound youth fell into quiet contemplation.

Not wanting to disturb the youth's thoughts, Wang Zhifan manipulated the Dream Self to continue searching for the third teammate while taking out a can of beef from his portable space to replenish his consumed energy.

"Boss, I think those two player skeletons you discovered might be some sort of hint about this instance."

After a minute, the bespectacled youth around thirteen or fourteen, deep in thought while seated in the wheelchair, turned to the tall young man beside him who was eating alone and started to speak.

"Hmm... And what exactly is it hinting at?"

Wang Zhifan wasn't surprised that the youth identified the skeletons as hints, as he had initially thought so too. However, he had failed to grasp their precise meaning so far.

"Two skeletons suggest two concepts: emphasizing the number 2 and highlighting the identity of a person or player."

With a certain tone, the wheelchair-bound youth responded confidently, suggesting they narrow their focus considerably.

"Two people? Two players? Two players..."

Initially, Wang Zhifan didn't think much of the youth's words, but soon an idea seemed to flash like lightning through his mind, linking it to something.

"Do you remember, that old man said he couldn't read the task prompt and asked us to tell him?"

Turning to the wheelchair-bound youth, Wang Zhifan suddenly brought up this seemingly unrelated and inconspicuous matter.

"Yes, that happened; the old man's eyesight isn't good so he couldn't read it clearly."

The wheelchair-bound youth nodded. He remembered this minor detail at the start of the instance but soon connected it to what Wang Zhifan was suggesting.

"Boss... Are you implying there might be an issue with the old man? If he's a player, he shouldn't be unable to read an instance prompt?!"

The youth sitting in the wheelchair displayed a slightly horrified expression on his pale face.

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