Chapter 1071: A Hole Underfoot
"Just happened to run into it." Xu Huo said modestly. "Player rewards sometimes tie into the instance's elements. This is also my first time getting such a good reward."
Ruan Qiyan's interest was visibly piqued. "What instance did you get this robot from?"
"Xiao Ruan," Uncle Guan interrupted him. "Mr. Xu is joking with you. A robot worth thirty million—there's no way you'd get that from an ordinary rating."
Just looking at the White Note rewards he usually got from clearing instances was enough to know. The game wasn't generous to players. Being able to hand out something worth thirty million in one go—you'd have to be an idiot not to realize the mission must have been completed exceptionally well.
Ruan Qiyan looked a bit disappointed, but Xu Huo generously said, "We still have to stay here for over ten days. You can borrow the robot to play with."
Ruan Qiyan's face flushed with excitement. He was about to say something when Chi Minghong beside him interjected, "Hey, you're not just letting the robot walk away like that, are you? Have it dig the hole out first—that would save us the trouble."
Before Xu Huo could respond, Ruan Qiyan said, "How could such a good robot be used to dig dirt holes!"
Chi Minghong rolled her eyes. "Whether it's digging dirt or digging stone, isn't it pretty much the same?"
"It's completely different." Ruan Qiyan began giving her a lecture on the development history of tool robots.
Just then, Uncle Guan suddenly stood up and shouted at the people digging over there, "Fall back!"
The middle-aged man who had been called out was in the middle of carrying dirt out. Hearing the shout, he poked his head out to look—by now, he and a few others had managed to dig a hole about knee-high. He was inside the hole, just barely sticking his head out, when a mouth full of sharp teeth clamped down on his neck!
Blood spurted three feet high, but in the next second, the man was dragged into the cave!
"Don't scream!" You Xuewen stopped the people around him. "Screaming will attract other xenomorphs!"
Everyone stood up. Lin Qiao, who had strode over, immediately threw a lighting item into the hole. Just as she leaned over to look, something shot out from inside. She caught it barehanded and pulled it out—it was a piece of shell.
"What species is it?" She handed it to You Xuewen.
"Whatever species it is, this thing can dig tunnels. If it's underground, it's hard to defend against..." Before You Xuewen could finish, two people standing not far away suddenly had the ground give way beneath them, and they vanished underground, leaving only two large holes behind!
The people around were terrified and scrambled backward. But then two more were dragged down, and everyone realized it wasn't their dug holes that were the problem—the ground itself was riddled with holes everywhere!
"Run! Run!" someone shouted as they tried to dash forward. But they hadn't taken more than a few steps before they, like the previous four, were pulled underground, their screams cut short.
"Don't run around! Come to me!" You Xuewen placed a small boat item on the ground. A translucent halo spread out, forming a barrier about twelve meters long and five meters wide on the surface.
On the other side, a thick circular platform about two fingers thick appeared under Uncle Guan's feet, carrying Ruan Qiyan, Zhou Yuanzhu, and the remaining people onto it.
As for Xu Huo, he had already taken the two children into the air after the second person was dragged underground.
They hadn't noticed before, but now that more holes had appeared on the surface, they could faintly hear the sounds of mutated beasts moving and feeding underground.
"Not many in number," Ruan Qiyan said. "But the ground in this area should be completely hollowed out. We'd better leave quickly."
No sooner had he spoken than the items under their feet were thumped and banged. At the same time, from the edges of the items, the sound of claws scraping through dirt and rocks suddenly erupted all around. Within ten seconds, one-meter-wide caves surrounded them—You Xuewen's side was even clearer. Not only were there holes beside them, but directly beneath the item, equally sized caves had densely appeared!
"They're not trying to hollow out the ground..." Chi Minghong's hesitant words were cut short as both items suddenly sank!
"It's really collapsing!" Uncle Guan leaped into the air, using a chain-linked whip to latch onto a few people and take off. Ruan Qiyan and Zhou Yuanzhu each grabbed two more, and along with Chi Minghong, they managed to take everyone on their side. But You Xuewen's side wasn't so lucky.
Because of the special shape of the item barrier, when the ground collapsed, everyone on top tumbled along with it. You Xuewen and Lin Qiao managed to grab three of them, but the others rolled into the nearby caves—You Xuewen hadn't recalled the item, so a gap about less than a meter wide was left on the collapsed side. It was hard for a person to squeeze through horizontally, but it just happened to catch the others who hadn't been rescued in time.
"Wait..." Lin Qiao pushed the person beside her up and turned to pull the remaining ones, only to see a claw like a curved blade pierce through one person's chest and then slice downward!
The stabbed person died instantly. Another was luckier—pierced through the shoulder, he was pulled up in time by You Xuewen, barely saving his life.
"Uncle, save me!" Among those who had also fallen into the pit were the two children who had been in Xu Huo's painting. They had come out to walk during the hike.
Xu Huo moved the strings over for them to grab, then turned back and used the balloon string to pull Chi Minghong up. With two people in tow, a total of four floated in the air. He planned to find a place to set them down, but looking ahead, the holes on the plain were scattered like sesame seeds everywhere, and the end was still at least several hundred meters away!
"I was wondering why nothing happened all the way here. Turns out they were waiting for us!" Chi Minghong turned to Xu Huo and said, "Can't you set fires? Burn the hell out of them!"
"Do you have enough fuel?" Xu Huo glanced at her. "And the ground is full of holes everywhere. Even if we pour fuel into each one, we might not burn the mutated beasts. Going head-to-head with xenomorphs that are good at hiding like this won't do us any good. The best solution is to leave this area."
Uncle Guan approached. "I'll use a floating item to lift people up, but it won't be too high off the ground. I'll need your help to lend a hand."
"No problem." Xu Huo agreed readily, releasing the few people he was holding.
"Criminal's Shackles." Uncle Guan took out an iron chain and swung it through the air. The metal, soft as cloth, automatically looped around each person's wrist, linking them in a chain. Slowly, it lifted them to about three meters above the ground.
Three meters was indeed a bit low. Any mutated beast with a bit of jumping ability could reach it.
"Can't you use the hovering item you used when you came down?" Xu Huo asked.
"That item can't move horizontally." Uncle Guan nodded to him and the others, then led the group forward across the plain.
For players, crossing a few hundred meters wasn't a problem. Even Xu Huo, who hadn't undergone super evolution, could cover it in two or three seconds using his traits. But the problem was that the group was a bit long, and it seemed related to Uncle Guan's item effect—his speed wasn't very fast.
(Chapter End)