Chapter 1214: Maze Night
It's worth mentioning that although the maze had light during the day, the sun couldn't be seen, let alone any angle of illumination. Looking up from the bottom of the maze, what one saw was the same kind of gloom as the blocked passage at the maze's starting point.
"Aside from plants, are there no other mutant animals or insects in the maze?" Xu Huo asked.
"No animals, but there are insects." The female player slid the video progress bar and found a black vine. "This stinky vine attracts a kind of small bug called Black Wing. Black Wing bugs lay their eggs on the seeds of the stinky vine. As long as the stinky vine successfully germinates, these bugs will rapidly reproduce into hundreds or thousands. They spend their entire lives parasitizing on the same stinky vine. When the stinky vine dies, they look for another parasitic location. If there's no suitable growth spot nearby, they slowly die off."
"You can judge the growth period of the stinky vine by their development... The Black Wing bugs around this stinky vine have already matured, so these stinky vines should be about two months old."
"Looking at the number of Black Wing bugs, this section of the maze wall should be filled with stinky vines. But the growth environment isn't great, so the stinky vines are about a third smaller than normally cultivated ones..."
She stopped there, paused, and said with slight annoyance, "The truth serum's duration is really this long!"
Xu Huo smiled and brought the topic back. "Mutant plants have short growth cycles and low growth requirements. The plants in the maze should be replaced quickly."
"That's true." The female player said, "The maze's ecological environment is already established. As long as nutrient supplements are continuously injected, the mutant plants here can reproduce endlessly."
"Can the player's walking path be judged from the plant condition on the maze walls?" Xu Huo suddenly asked.
The female player abruptly shut her mouth, pursed her lips, and then said, "You're pumping me for information."
"Just a guess. You said earlier that you try not to trigger the maze walls as much as possible. Without clues, you always need a way to determine direction." Xu Huo put away the video, turned around, poured her a cup of hot water from the room, and then said, "And you're so knowledgeable about plants. That's why I speculated you use this method to find your way."
Players walking ahead would filter out the correct passages. She only needed to find maze walls where plants were frequently renewed or had chaotic growth cycles.
"But that's not easy either." Xu Huo sat back down. "Do you work in this field?"
The female player poured a packet of nutrient powder into her cup, drank half of it, and then said with her head down, "I used to be a mutant plant researcher."
"Unfortunately, my country wasn't strong enough. Even a clerk like me had to go to the battlefield."
"Rather than dying on the battlefield, it's better to die in an instance."
She laughed self-deprecatingly. "So many times I was about to die, but somehow I survived. I ended up clearing my way all the way to C-rank player. By the time I looked back, my country was gone."
"I really don't know why I'm still alive in the game."
"But I can't just go and die because living is meaningless."
Xu Huo glanced at her. "Since you haven't died, there must be a reason to live. Or find a place to suspend your player status and start over."
The female player looked at the maze wall across from her, which seemed to have no top, and said flatly, "As long as you're in the game, living anywhere is the same. There's no such thing as starting over."
Her state was common among players. Many people became numb after the transition from excitement and stimulation to exhaustion.
"Have you ever thought about delving into mutant plant cultivation? The Stellar Group also has related subsidiaries." Xu Huo mentioned.
"I understand what you mean." The female player pulled at the corner of her mouth. "Unfortunately, my talent doesn't reach that level."
This was the norm for ordinary people who had to accept their fate.
"Someone's coming." Xu Huo looked toward one side of the passage.
Jiang Zifeng also came out of the tent.
The two exchanged glances and occupied both sides of the passage, one left and one right.
Only one person came from the opposite side. Both sides were within each other's perception range, but the player hidden in the thick fog stopped about twenty meters away. Instead of attacking, he shouted at the two, "Rainbow Diamond Chain!"
If he had shouted something else, Xu Huo and the others might have thought it was a trait or item. But he shouted a playing card suit, so neither of them made a move. Then they heard him shout all the flower cards in one breath:
"Flower Scepter, Black Stone Holy Sword, Gem Cape, Pure Gold Boots, Throne!"
Although this was a bit strange, hearing this, Xu Huo and Jiang Zifeng began to catch on. The other party had probably obtained some special card and was using this method to probe the bottom, or simply to steal cards from them—this was an unexpected delight for them.
Without a word, the two went up to block him. But the other party had already decided not to get close from the start, clearly having thought of a countermeasure. So when they made their move, the person opposite quickly disappeared into the thick fog.
Even in heavy fog, Xu Huo and the others wouldn't easily lose track of their target. In just a few breaths, they had him cornered. Jiang Zifeng pushed out a flying carpet, which directly scooped the person up and wrapped him around.
But as soon as the man was pressed to the ground, he slipped out like a loach, moving along the ground in a bizarre posture, quickly pulling away from them—but before he could get ten meters away, he was blocked by the space barrier Xu Huo had raised.
"Open Sesame!" the man shouted. A door-like hole automatically appeared in the space barrier, and behind the hole was connected to another maze passage.
Knowing he was about to run, Xu Huo quickly covered the passage with spiritual power and opened a door before he could enter the item passage.
Seeing that the person appearing in front of him through the door was actually Xu Huo, the man immediately leaned back. He vanished from the spot in an instant, leaving only a set of clothes folded in midair!
Xu Huo grabbed at nothing, then looked toward Jiang Zifeng—while he was fighting with the other party, Jiang Zifeng had already blocked the front of the passage. Unless that player used a teleportation item to leave, he had to pass by Jiang Zifeng.
The person who had shed his skin like a snake briefly lost his trace, but the next second, a ripple appeared in the air in front of Jiang Zifeng!
"Come out, you!" Jiang Zifeng rushed forward in a burst. His muscular arm grabbed in the air and directly pulled out the person who had used an invisibility item, slamming him to the ground!
The other party probably hadn't expected him to be so fierce. He crashed into the ground with a loud bang, person and item together, and the invisibility item also fell to the side.
The player, wearing a latex suit, tried to retrieve his item. Jiang Zifeng kicked him several meters away before he revealed himself:
A very thin, small man. Probably to match the item's effect, he had even covered his head, leaving only his eyes and nose exposed on his entire face. The whole person looked like a smooth human specimen.
Jiang Zifeng was straightforward, showing disgust from body to language. "I didn't expect someone as small as you to have such a hobby."