Chapter 1030: Danger and Opportunity
The name sounded quite cute, but it was actually an exceptionally effective item. Ordinary defensive items usually substitute for the player to bear damage. If the force of the damage exceeds the maximum limit the item can support, the item will be destroyed. But this item was different; instead of bearing the damage, it allowed the player to avoid fatal attacks in advance.
This made Xu Huo think of the two times he had used "Holder's Demise." The first time he used it, the glasses-wearing man had avoided it with a strange crouching movement. At the time, he thought it was the instinctive reaction of a high-evolution-rate player. Now, connecting it with this item, Xu Huo realized that what allowed him to successfully dodge back then wasn't instinct, but this item.
The second time he couldn't be sure if it was the item's effect, but "Cat's Triple Life Loan" could allow a player to save themselves three times a day. The scope of self-rescue was limited to times when the item judged there was a high risk of death. However, when "Holder's Demise" pierced through his chest, this item seemed not to have activated... Was it because it didn't have time to activate, or was piercing the heart not enough to kill the glasses-wearing man?
Xu Huo turned and walked toward the nearby corpse, crouched down to examine the front and back wounds, and then cut open the heart area. Although it wasn't very obvious after death, the edges of the wound made by the metal bead had actually grown some short, fleshy tendrils.
Was this self-repair?
Players had strong self-healing abilities, but not to the point of growing new muscle tissue in an instant. Such powerful recovery should only belong to Super Evolvers!
Super Evolution as a whole could be seen as two categories: self-control and control of external objects. Self-control generally involved physical enhancement, gaining strength or speed beyond human limits being common applications. More advanced ones could change body structure, such as altering appearance, increasing or decreasing height, etc.
The glasses-wearing man's self-repair should fall into this category.
He could repair himself rapidly in an extremely short time, so this wasn't a fatal injury, which was why he couldn't avoid it... In a way, this item also had a bit of a pitfall attribute.
Of course, not dying didn't mean not being injured. It seemed the final bomb wasn't meant to die together with Xu Huo, but to destroy the instance and leave.
But in the end, it didn't succeed.
The glasses-wearing man was killed by the shadow stabbing him, and he also had other defensive items on him. That meant, within the two seconds Xu Huo turned away, the shadow had killed the glasses-wearing man at least three times—this was based on the assumption that he had successfully used items to avoid two attacks. Another possibility was that "Cat's Triple Life Loan" didn't have time to activate, and the other defensive items were also burst through in one go.
With Xu Huo's current strength, he couldn't directly burst items. But the shadow personality not only did that, but also successfully killed a B-rank player.
Under normal circumstances, neither he nor the glasses-wearing man should have been able to successfully kill each other this time.
"It's a trouble, but also an opportunity."
Besides these, there were also various types of potions, a luggage compartment containing many valuable ores, and a wallet with a substantial balance.
Having made a windfall, Xu Huo packed up what needed to be packed, closed his Spiritual Realm, and returned to the villa.
Chi Minghong and the others had already retreated from the villa and were preparing to hide in the woods. When they saw him open the door and walk out, they found it unbelievable.
Judging from the situation earlier, he seemed to be in a passive defensive state. Even if not, killing a B-rank player made that much noise?
"My god, Old Xu, you're amazing!" Chi Minghong gave a thumbs up. "A B-rank player, killed just like that!"
Xu Huo had new injuries on top of old ones, and wasn't as relaxed as he appeared on the surface. Feeling a tickle in his throat, he wiped the corner of his mouth with a handkerchief, and sure enough, there was blood.
This scene was seen by Chi Minghong and the other players, but no one showed any ulterior motives.
The lip-ring player had half a foot injured by "Horizontal Tailoring" and had treated it with emergency medical items, but still needed to see a doctor as soon as possible. So he urged, "Can we continue clearing the instance now?"
Xu Huo kindly told them that the glasses-wearing man didn't have a note, then stayed in the living room to rest, letting Chi Minghong go upstairs with different players on his behalf.
Soon, two more notes were found. The patterns on the notes were still of an incomplete person, but compared to the first disemboweled one, they were more restrained. So everyone speculated whether the notes represented a recovery process, perhaps the last note would depict a healthy person.
But this guess was quickly overturned, because the next note found became bloody again.
After going around in circles, some players still thought it was related to the blood-red circles in the villa. Especially when only a few note numbers were left to appear, several people proposed going upstairs to find clues, meaning that simply clearing the instance wasn't enough; they had to find a way to get a high-rank clearance.
Those who hadn't gotten their notes naturally objected. "One note per person ensures fair exchange. When you were looking earlier, we didn't cause trouble. Now that it's almost our turn, you pull this? That's not fair."
The spotty-faced player patted his leg. "With me like this, can I still compete with you? I came in standing, and I want to leave sitting. If I don't even get a good item, wouldn't this trip be a waste!"
The others had no obligation to cooperate. If it weren't for the notes, this person would have died long ago. No one paid him any attention.
"My idea is that everyone should get their notes first before talking about anything else," Chi Minghong said.
"You've already got your note, so of course you can say that," the lip-ring player said displeasedly.
He and the other local zone players still bore the risk of possibly not being able to clear the instance.
Chi Minghong spread his hands. "Wasn't this the plan we all agreed on before? Going back on it now will easily cause conflict."
The lip-ring player and Liang Zong and the others all looked at Xu Huo. They had been wary of this man who seemed to be a B-rank player before, but now...
"No need to argue." Xu Huo was flipping through a book corresponding to number "3," not even looking up. "It's possible that not everyone's number will appear. Maybe more than one person won't be able to clear the instance."
The faces of the few whose numbers hadn't appeared yet changed slightly. Amid the disagreement, Zhou Yuanzhu was the first to go upstairs. "Sorry, everyone, but I have to go find a note."
Where there was a first to break the rules, there was a second. The players quickly split into two factions. Apart from the tied-up Teacher Fan, who had no say, the remaining seven included four who wanted to go upstairs—some who hadn't gotten notes, and some who had.
"Fighting benefits no one," the lip-ring player warned. "How about we all go together? Whether you get a note or how many notes you get, it's every man for himself!"
The ones behind, Liang Zong and Ding Xiang, hadn't been upstairs yet and were clearly at a disadvantage. Ding Xiang couldn't help turning to Xu Huo, hoping he would say something fair. "Mr. Xu..."
(Chapter End)