Chapter 1059: Ten-Thousand-Meter Fall
This time, the method of entering the instance was extremely rough. Where the spatial passage would ultimately lead was still unknown, but the exit was in midair. Thus, when Xu Huo and the others were thrown out, they were immediately caught by powerful air currents. The intense feeling of weightlessness momentarily left them completely disoriented. After adapting for a few seconds, a massive torrent of building debris came pouring down from behind—originally, they had maintained a certain distance from these structures, but the moment they flew out of the spatial passage, they all used items to save themselves, which slowed their speed somewhat, so they were quickly overtaken by the building wreckage.
Among the three B-grade items Xu Huo had obtained earlier from Wei Yu and the others was a parachute. The item chair that could ensure a safe landing no matter how high one fell had been lost in W37 Base City. Items like the strings, balloon strings, or the shoes on his feet were not very practical in this situation. Besides, he was holding a child, so the parachute was the most suitable choice… But that was the same for other players. After the high-altitude descent item took effect, they encountered the rain of buildings from behind. Not only could slightly larger items not be deployed in this situation, but he also had to do his utmost to dodge these meteor-like structures while falling!
"Help…!" Xu Huo used the balloon strings to climb onto a falling piece of debris. As he was dodging the strong winds, an ordinary person from District 002 was sent flying by an exploding balloon, rapidly passing by them. Before he could even shout the word "help," he vanished into the depths below!
Of course, Xu Huo was not safe either. From what he could see, the spatial passage had pulled in at least an entire building—a residential building. Although household appliances in District 002 had basically eliminated open flames, electronic instruments were equally a source of danger, especially since almost every household had energy reserves for power outages. These items collided and exploded one after another, making the entire falling environment even more dangerous.
Looking around, Chi Minghong and the members of the Holy Sword Society, who had entered before him, had all disappeared. Just a few seconds ago, they had been trying to use the sequentially falling buildings to return to the spatial passage, but in the blink of an eye, they were swallowed up by the explosions.
"Inviolable Domain" activated repeatedly around him. Xu Huo, holding the boy, dodged large chunks of debris flying in all directions while leaping toward relatively safer areas. The entire descent lasted less than half a minute, and countless people around him were already falling with anguished cries, including children and infants.
"Help! Help!" A couple covered in blood and grime knelt on a swaying metal slab, desperately screaming for help. When they saw Xu Huo landing not far away with a child in his arms, they wept and shouted, "Please, I beg you, save the child!"
The two were stuck in iron chains, unable to move much. The woman had a baby strapped to her chest, while the man lay prostrate, kowtowing repeatedly toward Xu Huo, begging him to save the child.
Xu Huo estimated the distance between them, used the strings to move over, took the woman's child, and then leaped toward the edge of the wreckage. Looking back, he could still see the grateful tears of the couple, but in the next second, they disappeared into the overwhelming torrent of building debris—two living people were crushed, not even a trace of blood splattering out.
Nearby, there were others who were luckier, either having been enclosed by a relatively sealed space when they fell or entangled with objects attached to the buildings, temporarily surviving. Some saw Xu Huo rescuing the infant and kept crying out for help.
After using "World Within the Painting" to take in two more children, Xu Huo bypassed the other people begging for help and quickly moved to the edge of the falling debris. However, looking down, he found that there was still a considerable distance to the pitch-black ground.
Based on time, the height of the spatial passage should be close to ten thousand meters. Falling from ten thousand meters, with good luck, it would take about three minutes; with bad luck, two and a half minutes. At this speed, even he had to repeatedly use items to cushion the impact, reducing the falling height to lessen the potential damage upon landing. For ordinary people with average physical fitness, even if they could be temporarily saved, they would inevitably die upon hitting the ground.
Taking away a few children was already his limit.
He had also considered using "Forced Levitation" to put people into a weightless state, but the item had a time limit, far shorter than the duration of the fall. Even if used a second before landing, the thickness the item could cover would not be enough to offset the impact force—people would still die. So this method wouldn't work either. As for the other strings and balloon strings, they all had their limits and couldn't save more people.
As the wind weakened, Xu Huo felt the air becoming somewhat viscous. Of course, from the moment he entered this space, the sky had been filled with the gloom before a midsummer thunderstorm. The visibility was dim and unclear, and the closer they got to the ground, the darker the sky seemed, until now it felt like thick dust was clinging to his skin.
The gas mask he carried was only suitable for adults. The boy could barely put it on, but the infant in his arms could not. So he tied the boy to his back and wrapped the infant in his clothes against his chest, saying, "Hold the child tight and help press the mask down for him."
After such a huge impact, the boy managed to stay relatively calm. He followed Xu Huo's instructions and pressed the gas mask firmly against the infant's face.
By now, they were nearing the ground. Below was a forest. Xu Huo had already prepared for landing when he noticed a large group of people still alive behind him—yes, at least fifty people by his estimate. They were half-floating in the air, often pausing for a moment before quickly falling again, descending in a jerky, trembling motion toward the ground.
Coming down with them was Uncle Guan. It must have been his item that saved this group of people!
"Boom!"
The first piece of debris to hit the ground crashed into the forest with a deafening roar, startling birds and beasts while leveling a large number of trees. The wreckage of a single building was enough to bury this forest. It was clear that Uncle Guan was already struggling just to keep those dozens of people afloat. It would be difficult to move them away before the "rain" of debris from behind came down.
Difficult, but You Xuewen and the others had not scattered far. During the process, they had already used rope-type items to tie these people into groups. As long as they could pull them out before landing, most of them could be saved.
"Use the item to pull the people away!" Uncle Guan tossed a metal square box to You Xuewen. The latter attached the box to the item rope and sent it forward. The box then used its own kinetic energy to drag the several strings of people behind it out of the range of the falling wreckage, while Uncle Guan and the others stayed behind to clear the debris fragments flying everywhere.
Xu Huo turned back to help. Uncle Guan and the others nodded at him from a distance. The group blocked and retreated, quickly leaving the danger zone. The people pulled out by the item fell from not too high a place. Most were not seriously injured, but two unlucky ones broke their necks. In the end, fifty-one people survived.