Chapter 1244: Because You Have a Big Mouth
The slender blade of "Cake Slice" shimmered with an unusual luster, but within that luster was the red of fresh blood, giving it a particularly deep and eerie appearance—this single strike had not only pierced the barrier and the item but had also stabbed through the heart of the snake-controlling player.
"You..." The snake-controlling player couldn't even utter a second word before he was choked by a mouthful of blood, then breathed his last.
Pulling out the blade and flicking it lightly, the few drops of blood on it smoothly flew into the grass. Xu Huo looked up at the maze wall before him and said, "I wonder if the mutated plants here burn easily."
"Burn this place?" Chen Chou quickly stopped him. "The maze walls are controlled by the instance's power; there's no way to burn through them. Didn't you see how those people earlier couldn't do anything to the maze walls no matter how they attacked?"
Xu Huo had also thought the maze walls were indestructible before, since it was a game venue. But after seeing Xue Lang use Space Ray, he realized that even in high-level instances, wanted criminals could still appear. One major reason for that was probably the destruction of the instance venue.
Instance venues weren't indestructible; it all depended on whether one had enough strength.
Of course, Xu Huo's spatial abilities weren't enough to directly cut through the maze walls. But since this was an instance venue, perhaps these partitions were related to spatial power. It was worth a try.
He used a bit of accelerant to ignite the wall, then manipulated the Space Ray to probe the space inside the wall.
Even with the assistance of the Cube Space, he still couldn't directly penetrate the entire wall, but he confirmed that there was a special space within the maze wall.
After several failed attempts, he stopped and turned back to the others. "It looks like we're trapped here for now."
The three of them breathed an invisible sigh of relief.
"Let's eat something and think of another way," Li Cheng said. "Maybe the maze will shift on its own after a while."
"The instance's cards need to circulate; they can't just lock us in until the instance ends."
For now, that was the only thing they could think of.
The fire on the maze wall burned for a while before extinguishing on its own. Meanwhile, the plants inside and outside were refreshed, and the scorched mutated plants quickly disappeared into the maze wall. It was precisely because of this plant swap that rays similar to those inside the maze wall appeared in the Cube Space.
The Cube Space itself had the function of merging different spatial rays, but compared to the maze wall, its coverage was relatively small. The intersection between the two was very narrow, and the interior of the maze wall was relatively stable and sealed, so identical rays hadn't appeared before.
But now they had.
Unlike the various spatial items they had obtained earlier, the rays inside the maze wall were extremely dense, almost twisted into a tangled mass. It looked like a wall made entirely of rays—so tightly packed that it was impossible to separate them, let alone insert a single sheet of paper.
This was the core of the maze wall. The mutated plants covering the outside were merely decorations.
But with that being the case, with Xu Huo's current strength, there was no way to break through the wall.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but say, "It seems you need to specialize to go deep."
For example, Xue Lang.
"Brother Xu, have you thought of a way?" Mu Yan asked.
"Unfortunately, with our current strength, we can't break this wall," Xu Huo shook his head. Using poison wouldn't work either; the toxins could at most contaminate this area but couldn't spread outside.
If the maze really intended to reduce the number of cards held by players this way, then they might truly be locked in until the instance ended.
However, he currently held four flower cards.
Xu Huo squeezed some jam onto a slice of bread, leaned against the wall, and stared into the darkness above the maze. He hoped Xue Lang would come through.
* * *
Xue Lang wasn't there to clear the instance. His original goal was to pass the time, but since he was already there, he certainly wouldn't settle for a low score that would drag down his instance rating. So his initial objective was to collect a full set of flower cards.
That wasn't difficult for him.
Unfortunately, he had run into Xu Huo.
He was certain Xu Huo had flower cards.
Of course, encountering Xu Huo was more interesting than clearing the instance, and beating him based on the instance clearance rating would be even more satisfying.
But so far, he had only obtained four flower cards, all of different suits.
After killing a few people in the maze without getting a fifth flower card, he rushed to the finish line and killed a few players who were about to clear it. After obtaining a position card and a clue card, he returned to the middle section of the maze and arrived in front of a maze wall.
A slender ray appeared between his fingers. With a gentle flick, he easily cut through the maze wall.
He had originally planned to kill everyone inside, but when the wall collapsed and he saw the person standing in front of him, his eyes darkened.
"We meet again so soon," Xu Huo said as he stepped out, his expression far more composed than Xue Lang's.
Xue Lang stared at him for two seconds before saying, "It's not just the living who can be called opponents."
Xu Huo smiled faintly at that. "Killing those you can't defeat leaves no opponents in this world... It's not surprising that you'd think that way."
Xue Lang was unfazed by the sarcasm and instead said, "This isn't actually the first time I've seen you since leaving Zone 014."
"Oh?" Xu Huo's expression turned cold. "When else have you seen me?"
"On the eve of your adulthood," Xue Lang suddenly laughed. "That scene was truly spectacular."
"Was it?" Xu Huo's tone didn't change, and his breathing didn't even falter. "I don't remember you being there."
"Could you even remember?" Xue Lang turned sideways and began pacing back and forth. "I've never seen a failed product regain its memories."
"Trajectory rewriting," Xu Huo spat out four words, then paused before adding, "And you don't need to deliberately imitate Dr. Zhang. You can't pull off his act, and even if you could, it wouldn't put any pressure on me... If even he couldn't do it, what makes you think you can?"
The final rhetorical question carried a tone of seemingly genuine confusion that surpassed any verbal insult—it was a contempt that came from both body and soul. Xue Lang regarded him as an enemy, while Xu Huo saw Xue Lang as nothing more than a pebble at his feet.
It wasn't underestimation, but a deep-seated disdain from the inside out.
"Do you know why Dr. Zhang never brought you back to Zone 014?" Xu Huo narrowed his eyes slightly, and under Xue Lang's increasingly cold gaze, he said, "Because you have a big mouth."
Then Xu Huo let out a soft laugh. "And do you know why he had to return to Zone 014 again?"
"Because of you?" Xue Lang countered.
"No, because of you," Xu Huo gave an answer that surprised him, but it was another critical blow. "If you were smart enough, would he have needed to go back to Zone 014?"
Xue Lang fell into an eerie calm, as if seriously pondering his words. After a moment, he said, "You're looking for him? I can tell you where he went."
"Why?"
"You think you're the smartest among us, so let's see if you can kill Dr. Zhang." The smile on Xue Lang's face grew wider. "I also want to know if Dr. Zhang will let you off again."
"So that's what you want to know," Xu Huo raised an eyebrow. "I thought you didn't have the guts to challenge Dr. Zhang and were trying to achieve your goal through this roundabout way."
"After all, killing me seems easier than killing Dr. Zhang."