Chapter 1126: The Magician's Gift
Unable to be bought, sold, or discarded, it might as well be called a mandatory tracking item.
But fortunately, this was a single-use item. No matter who its original intended recipient was, in his hands, it should have already lost its function.
Thinking that this item had flown out together with the Cube Space, Xu Huo searched for information about the Magician under the Dimension.
Player nicknames were unique, but under the Dimension, there were quite a few accounts claiming to be Magicians. Magician was a profession, not a special title for a certain high-level player, so some players related to this profession also used the general term "Magician" to obscure their profession and conceal their professional traits.
This meant the amount of information was enormous.
He didn't know who exactly was targeting that Mr. Kang, or whether it was related to the owned item, the Cube Space.
Xu Huo frowned, then relaxed again. Fortunately, it was a single-use item; otherwise, whether or not it was related to the Cube Space, holding it would be a hot potato.
Of course, the best-case scenario was that the playing card was a special item used by the "Magician" or players of related professions, rather than an item specifically belonging to some ultra-powerful player.
Whether it was or not, it seemed he would have to be careful when using the Cube Space from now on.
Spitting out another mouthful of black fungal threads, Xu Huo wiped his mouth with a handkerchief, casually tossed the item box into the luggage compartment, and then went to find the player hiding at the edge of Xiaohe City.
The man in the hat was hiding in a small room that looked like a confessional. He was watching the situation at the bar through the monitor while stuffing food into his mouth, occasionally scaring off the mutants scratching outside. But none of this could affect his good mood. He quickly finished the jerky in his hand, wiped his hands, and then pulled out the sea-blue bead, gazing intoxicated at the starlight-like glow flickering within it.
Perhaps he was too absorbed in staring. With a slight slip of force, the bead slid out of his hand, rolling and tumbling to the door of the confessional. For some unknown reason, the confessional door had cracked open a sliver, and the bead rolled right out.
The hat player quickly pushed the door open to go out, only to find that the bead had been swallowed by a mutant. His expression changed, and he immediately swung his blade to kill the mutant, cut it open, and retrieved the bead. After dousing it with cleaning agent, he thought about putting it away, but it seemed he didn't feel it was safe enough. Looking at his arm, he simply cut a gash in it, forcibly pressed the bead into the wound, and then sewed it up with thread.
"With this thing, no time item will work on me anymore. That old bastard Kang actually sewed it into his body... but this is also a good method..." The hat player laughed to himself, completely unaware that the surrounding mutants had disappeared at some point, and that someone was standing behind him.
"What kind of stone is this?" Xu Huo pinched the blue bead between two fingers, examining it closely, and asked casually.
"Eternal Time..." The hat player answered subconsciously. After speaking, he quickly came to his senses, turning around while putting distance between them. Seeing the blue bead in Xu Huo's hand, he was startled and quickly checked his arm, only to realize that the act of cutting flesh and sewing in the bead had all been an illusion!
He gritted his teeth and glared at Xu Huo: "That bead is mine!"
"I know. You found it, but now it belongs to me." Xu Huo stored the bead in his item slot and smiled at him. "You can try to take it back."
The hat player's gaze flickered across his face repeatedly, but in the end, he didn't take a step forward. He said, "I admit I'm no match for you. We'll meet again!"
With that, he vanished from the spot—fleeing cleanly and decisively.
Xu Huo wasn't necessarily set on killing him, so he turned and went back to the bar.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he entered, he couldn't help but spit out a large mouthful of black liquid mixed with fungal threads and toxins, scaring the nearby people into hastily backing away.
Xu Huo wiped the corner of his mouth with a handkerchief before saying, "This virus isn't contagious."
His assurance couldn't dispel the fear of others. The few remaining people from Zone 002 had already shrunk into the farthest corner.
Uncle Guan walked over and said to him, "Lin Qiao and Chi Minghong have already gone to Mr. Kang's residence. Maybe they can find an antidote."
"I won't die anytime soon." Xu Huo expressed his thanks but felt it was unnecessary. A valuable stone that someone would sew into their arm to carry around showed that Mr. Kang was an extremely insecure person. Important things would definitely be kept on his person. If there really was an antidote, it would have followed his self-destruction and gone to the game.
By then, it was already dark. It was uncomfortable staying outside, so he closed the door and went into the shelter to sleep.
He didn't sleep well that night. Every so often, he would spit out dead fungal threads, and at the same time, he felt a huge drain on his physical energy. It seemed that the rapidly growing fungal threads required not only the energy of the Nuwa Stone.
But one thing was certain: although the King Fungus couldn't detoxify him immediately, he wouldn't die from the poison either.
It was just that this continuous detoxification process would severely drain his stamina.
As expected, Chi Minghong and Lin Qiao didn't find any antidote.
The Cube Space also didn't cause time acceleration. After two days, Uncle Guan and the others confirmed they could leave using their tickets. They first sent off the people from Zone 002 and the group of women who had survived from Xiaohe City.
Next to leave was Ruan Qiyan, whose injuries were severe and required formal medical treatment.
Uncle Guan and Lin Qiao stayed behind to accompany Zhou Yuanzhu and also to look after Xu Huo.
Chi Minghong genuinely stayed behind and even invited him to leave together, saying they could look out for each other on the train.
"Do you have an extra return ticket?" Xu Huo asked her.
Chi Minghong scratched her head. She only had one, which she had just obtained from clearing the Snow White Villa instance.
"He can go back to his own district." Tan Qi, who had also stayed, crouched beside him, observing his vomiting. After a moment, he added, "Do you have the evolutionary trait of a silkworm?" Always spitting threads.
Xu Huo didn't have the energy to deal with him. "You got your ticket. Go on your own."
"If you die, will your friends still look out for me?" Tan Qi asked calmly.
Chi Minghong slapped him on the back of the head. "You little brat, don't you know how to talk? He at least saved your life."
But Tan Qi turned to look at her. "Are you staying just to pick up his items after he dies?"
Chi Minghong's face twitched. "I, Chi Minghong, am not that heartless and ungrateful!"
"Of course, if Old Xu is willing to give me his items, I wouldn't refuse either!"
She then smiled at Xu Huo. "As a good friend who has shared hardships with you, you don't have many other options right now. So, after you die, can I inherit your items?"
Xu Huo smiled back. "You can have anything in your dreams."
Chi Minghong grabbed Tan Qi by the ear. "Did you hear that, kid? Get lost. We're not going to stab our savior in the back."
(End of Chapter)