Chapter 79: The Lured Players
After declining Cai Zhiyuan's invitation for a drink, Xu Huo called Huang Junjie and told him to stay away from the haunted house for now. Then he contacted Nie Xuan to ask if there were any other random instances in Ting City.
"None found so far." Nie Xuan's voice sounded tired. "After the Skinner instance collapsed, there haven't been any large-scale disappearances in Ting City."
"What? Getting addicted to random instances?" A laugh came through the phone.
Although Sima Xiao'er had received the notification about the instance collapse, he didn't know exactly how it had collapsed.
The Special Affairs Bureau speculated that other players had done something, or something had gone wrong with the instance itself, but they didn't dig too deeply into it, including the box Sima Xiao'er had brought out.
With Super Evolvers suddenly appearing, nothing had settled into order yet, followed by games and instances. With limited manpower, even though Nie Xuan thought highly of Xu Huo, he couldn't focus solely on him.
"Did the Eagle die by your hand?" He turned the topic to the Holy Sword Society matter. "My people watched for half the day, only for you to snatch the prize in the end."
"Counting the bodies, I've handed over more than a dozen Cannibal Players to the Special Affairs Bureau. For the next while, Ting City will definitely be quieter than other places. Isn't that a good thing for you?"
Nie Xuan didn't deny it. He had earned merit from this incident, and his rank had even been raised a bit.
"I owe you one this time."
After a few more words, Xu Huo hung up and turned back to find Huang Junjie.
Huang Junjie hadn't gone directly into the haunted house but had found a coffee shop nearby to wait.
"Any problems?" Xu Huo sat down across from him.
"Not for now, but a man and a woman were hanging around nearby earlier." Huang Junjie scratched his face through his mask. "They were watching the haunted house too."
He wasn't the only one who had been lured here.
Xu Huo glanced over. The area around the haunted house was sparsely populated, and walking near it during the day was very conspicuous.
After waiting a while without seeing the couple Huang Junjie mentioned reappear, Xu Huo decided to head back.
As they walked out of the coffee shop, they brushed past a woman wearing sunglasses and a wide sun hat. The scent wafting from her seemed familiar.
Xu Huo looked back. The woman entered the coffee shop and sat down at a window seat with her back to them.
"You know her?" Huang Junjie asked.
"She's a famous actress." Xu Huo said.
This woman happened to be the big star who had left the film studio a few hours ago. With the same experience, her appearance near the haunted house could no longer be considered a coincidence.
Someone was luring players toward this haunted house.
"Looks like it's intentional." Huang Junjie also noticed the woman secretly observing the haunted house. "Should we go in and take a look?"
"No need." Xu Huo said. "If the other party could kill, they would have done it last night. Luring players here just means they lack the conditions. Going in would be playing right into their hands."
Huang Junjie thought about it and agreed. The two took a taxi and left.
A surveillance camera on the opposite street turned, tracking the direction of the taxi.
"Too bad those two got away." In a security booth in a nearby residential complex, a middle-aged man in a security uniform shook his head regretfully.
Beside him, a young man with glasses, his feet propped on the table, said, "There are still three left, aren't there? We don't have to take any risks. Free items, every one we get is a win."
"That's true." The middle-aged man nodded.
"That big star is really beautiful. It'd be fun to get my hands on her." The young man licked his lips.
"Don't go looking for trouble." The middle-aged man warned. "Everyone who comes here is a player. With your abilities, you can't handle anyone."
"I'm just saying." The young man said sullenly.
"Did you recognize those two who just left? Where do they live?" The middle-aged man clearly had no intention of letting Xu Huo and Huang Junjie go, planning to tail them first and then figure something out.
"Never seen them before." The young man said impatiently. "You know my trait is like being blind—I have to be face-to-face to see clearly. But I'd guess they're among the two or three people who messaged me yesterday wanting to trade items."
"Hey, the big star is leaving!"
Gu Yu, wearing a floral print dress, paid and left the coffee shop. Her cold eyes under the sunglasses held a faint anger. She found an inconspicuous corner, climbed over the haunted house wall, and pushed open the front door to go inside.
The original owner of this haunted house had been a wealthy man. The decor was exquisite, with all the furniture and flooring made of expensive materials—truly a mansion.
But Gu Yu had no interest in the luxurious decorations and furnishings. She frowned at the dust stirred up by the door's movement.
Walking through the living room, she suddenly noticed fresh footprints on the floor and called out, "Stop hiding. Come out."
A few seconds later, a young man and woman emerged from under the stairs and from the nearby bathroom.
Gu Yu's gaze swept over them before settling on the man. "It's you, isn't it? Using that disgusting thing to harass me."
The young man was stunned. Before he could speak, he saw a pistol appear in Gu Yu's hand, its dark muzzle aimed directly at him!
His expression changed, and he quickly dodged to the side. A colored bullet grazed past his head, splattering a pool of green liquid on the wall. The entire wall tile then dissolved into a greenish liquid, flowing down the surface.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Gu Yu fired three more shots. A white bullet hit a lamp, and the area it touched dried up like old mud, instantly cracking and shattering into fingernail-sized hard pieces that clattered to the floor.
A yellow bullet hit the sofa, and the leather backrest immediately shriveled into a small lump. The third black bullet struck the chair the young woman had raised. The chair itself seemed to turn into a burning firecracker, exploding on its own, sending wood chips flying!
None of the three shots hit. Gu Yu pulled off her sunglasses and said angrily, "Don't you dare dodge, you bastard! Watch me beat you to death, you pervert!"
"Wait!" The young man pulled a wood splinter from his arm and said quickly, "I don't even know you!"
Gu Yu laughed in fury. "Look at my face. You don't know me? Tell that to the ghosts!"
The young man was completely baffled and could only explain, "I really don't know you, and I never harassed you. Can you calm down and let's talk this out?"
Gu Yu sneered, not bothering to argue. She chased after them, firing continuously.
The man's temper flared. "If you don't stop, don't blame me for being rude!"
"Then come at me like a man!"
The man waved his hand, and a leather whip materialized out of thin air, lashing toward Gu Yu.
Gu Yu stomped back, fired two more shots ahead, and flipped a coffee table toward him.
The whip caught the coffee table and flung it aside. The man turned back and struck at Gu Yu again, saying, "I don't know if you've mistaken me for someone else. I came here to trade items!"
Gu Yu dodged his whip, leaping onto the dining table to steady herself. "Prove it!"
The man laughed in exasperation. "Why should I prove anything to you? You attacked me the moment I got here. I'd say you're the one who posted the bait!"
"Hah!" Gu Yu snorted coldly. "You still have the nerve to talk about the post..."
Before she could finish, the man suddenly stared at one side of the living room and shouted in alarm, "Shen Xin!"
Gu Yu turned her head. Her peripheral vision only caught a fruit knife falling to the floor. The young woman who had been standing there had vanished.
"What happened?" She looked back at the man, only to find he was gone too, the whip falling through the air.
Gu Yu's face changed drastically. She was about to run out, but the next second, a force enveloped her, and she disappeared from the spot entirely!