Chapter 1116: A Flaw Before You
Watching the few people in Mr. Kang's room gradually turn against each other, Xu Huo was about to head to the next location when, unexpectedly, Mr. Kang suddenly emerged from the moving wall and, with a palm strike from across the room, sent him crashing inside!
Seeing the two of them appear one after another, Qian Zi and the others showed varying degrees of surprise. Unfortunately, neither of the newcomers paid them any attention, directly engaging in combat.
Mr. Kang was incredibly fast; within a few moves, his figure seemed to fill the entire room, as if his afterimages were everywhere, yet it was impossible to pinpoint his exact location. One could only judge by Xu Huo's defenses.
Diamond-shaped metal shards floated around him. After a large swath was swept away from the front, another moving piece of metal quickly filled the gap. After teleporting to the front, back, and left sides respectively, Xu Huo suddenly pulled the "All Things Want to Cut Everything" hooked on his finger, starting from the last position where the metal block had vanished, slicing apart the nearby floor, tables, and chairs!
But this didn't catch the man. As Xu Huo used the tangent to release the barrier, Mr. Kang swiftly circled behind him, his five fingers clenching in the air toward Xu Huo's head:
"Using a high-level defense item means you can't use an attack item. How dare you show off such a petty trick in front of me!"
Xu Huo's body tilted to the left at an angle impossible for an ordinary person. A wooden board flying through the air took the brunt of the crushing force in place of his head, exploding into splinters. As wood chips flew, he quickly twisted around to open a door, but before he could step inside, Mr. Kang, following up with a finishing blow, slammed him into the wall behind!
"Inviolable Domain" blocked the heavy strike but also shattered a layer of wall covering on the metal surface. As the wall peeled away, revealing the special metal underneath, Xu Huo smiled. "Looks like you're not in great shape either. Otherwise, why would you live in a metal-wrapped room? Afraid you can't control the chaos space and worried it might swallow you up too?"
Seeing Mr. Kang's expression change, he added, "You don't really think you've been flawless, do you? Unless those idiots in Xiaohe City would believe that alien attack story. Even in a high-risk instance, a place with such temporal and spatial chaos specifically targeting players doesn't make sense... Your mental control doesn't work on everyone."
Mr. Kang had already noticed the others in the room. After hearing Xu Huo's words, he turned to look at Qian Zi and the others.
They were terrified by his icy gaze. However, the female player in a vest who had crossed paths with Xu Huo on the first night spoke up: "Mr. Kang, are you the one behind the missing players?"
Mr. Kang swept his gaze over their suspicious looks, let out a low chuckle, and then sighed. Almost simultaneously, Qian Zi and the others stiffened, their necks craned forward as if clamped by some force, looking extremely pained and unable to resist!
"Strength of the Written Word!"
"Please Sit!"
Xu Huo used two traits in quick succession. While forcibly redirecting Mr. Kang's gaze, he also made him sit down in the chair in the room!
A single chair couldn't hold him, so "Please Sit" was merely a cover for "Strength of the Written Word," buying just a second or two. Seizing that moment of distraction, "Holder's Demise" shot out from the spiritual gate!
This move had been used before against that B-level player from the Dong family. The effect was mediocre, but it still had some use. However, this time it failed spectacularly—not only did it fail to injure Mr. Kang, but he caught it with ease!
Mr. Kang seemed able to predict the trajectory of items. As the metal bead approached him, its path was already known in advance. Like with "Backstab" earlier, he intercepted the item just before it got close to him.
Xu Huo's gaze darkened. If that was the case, it meant Mr. Kang's control over space had surpassed his own, making him harder to deal with whether through super evolution or items—no matter the battle, when your opponent can see through your every move and even predict your actions, the chances of winning are slim!
Unaffected by the locking effect of "Please Sit," Mr. Kang rose instantly and appeared before Xu Huo. But just as he raised his hand, a burst of bullets struck him in the back!
It was that woman in the vest.
"Strength of the Written Word" had bought Qian Zi and the others time. After breaking free, two of them ran, but the rest stayed, turning their guns without hesitation—once Mr. Kang made his move, there was no turning back for them!
They threw out their items and said to Xu Huo, "Use whatever items you have left, quickly!"
The brief exchange between the two had already showcased Xu Huo's strength. At least as a C-level player, being able to trade blows with Mr. Kang was impressive.
Xu Huo joined the fight. Not to mention Qian Zi and the others, even his own items struggled to harm Mr. Kang. The man was as slippery as an eel; at a distance, he could predict the trajectory of items, and up close, his melee combat skills were overwhelming. For something like "All Things Want to Cut Everything," which was hard to handle, he simply avoided it.
After less than half a minute of fighting, the only Xiaohe City players still standing besides Mr. Kang were Xu Huo and that vest-wearing woman.
But Xu Huo hadn't come away empty-handed.
First, there was Mr. Kang's movement pattern. Although he had demonstrated the ability to directly pass through space multiple times during the fight, the afterimages left behind during his accelerations were very strange.
Under normal circumstances, his figure should have disappeared into space.
For instance, with Xu Huo's super evolution, he could directly traverse two hundred meters. This process wasn't like the traceable acceleration under traits or items, and its direction could be predicted. His state was more like suddenly vanishing from space and then reappearing. Unless someone else had spatial perception, ordinary players would find it hard to track.
So Mr. Kang's state didn't resemble super evolution, nor did it seem like he was using a space item.
Yet Xu Huo could indeed sense subtle fluctuations in space.
Second, he believed Mr. Kang's physical fitness wasn't strong for a B-level player. Not only was it inferior to the level honed by cannibal players of the same rank, but it also fell short compared to Uncle Guan and that Dong family player. His strength was only relative to C-level players with lower evolution rates.
In other words, his power lay in his bizarre spatial movement.
"You're not a super evolver. The reason you're so fast is because of a location item," Xu Huo quickly processed the information in his mind and said. "You can move through space because of that location item too. That's why you have to keep it active..."
Noticing a subtle change in his expression, Xu Huo revised his statement. "You insist on keeping this location item active even though it swallows people. I doubt it's just for self-defense—are you being forced to?"
Mr. Kang put on an air of inscrutability, but his instinctive emotional fluctuations couldn't be hidden.
Xu Huo waved his hand to send the vest-wearing woman away, continuing to spar with Mr. Kang as he asked, "Is the entire Xiaohe City your item? Or is the entire Xiaohe City within the range of your item?"
(Chapter End)