Chapter 1251: Flower Cards Swapped for Number Cards
Although the poker card wall was covered by mutated plants, the cards currently held by the players were not too difficult to guess. After all, when Xue Lang killed those three people, a total of eight cards had disappeared, leaving only thirteen cards on Xu Huo's side.
"When did this person die?" When Mu Yan and the others turned around, they discovered that another player with a broken leg had also been killed, his corpse lying in the corner of the wall.
"It's not surprising that someone would kill in the chaos," Ye Bingxin said, crossing her arms. "But originally it was five people with thirteen cards, and now it's four people with thirteen cards. I wonder if any cards were randomly distributed."
Thirteen cards were unlikely to be evenly distributed to everyone. Perhaps some people only held one card, while those who could kill in the chaos most likely held more than one card. This might randomly distribute flower cards or exchange cards.
Originally, there were five black and three white in the room. Because of Xue Lang, Xu Huo's white gem cloak had been exchanged for a black gem cloak. The total number of cards in the room had not changed, only the proportion of flower cards had shifted.
There were now six black flower cards and two white flower cards in this room.
In other words, to complete a full set of flower cards, only black flower cards were available.
Of course, the original eight players who had reached the finish line were now reduced to four, giving Xu Huo's side a numerical advantage.
Although the poker card wall had disappeared, the match had not been declared over.
"Look on the bright side," Jiang Zifeng said. "Maybe the person who did the killing had cards with higher value. He himself was worried about the cards being randomly distributed, so he should have been prepared before killing. It can't be that the person who just died was holding six cards. He looked like a weakling."
Li Cheng and Chen Chou instinctively looked at Mu Yan, who was standing beside Xu Huo.
Mu Yan, who had been injured while navigating the maze, had been caught in the crossfire.
"Only twenty-five minutes have passed," Xu Huo said. "If the instance doesn't intend to end this match, we still have two and a half hours."
After speaking, he directly looked at the heavily bearded man standing behind Chen Chou. "You killed that injured person just now. Did he have any flower cards, exchange cards, or offset cards?"
The heavily bearded man was stunned for a moment, then said in a hoarse voice, "I don't know what you're talking about. Aren't the flower cards and exchange cards in your people's hands?"
On Xu Huo's side, Jiang Zifeng and Ye Bingxin had reported their first cards and also clearly stated that they had no flower cards or exchange cards.
Xu Huo was very clear about what cards Mu Yan and the other three were holding.
Normally, the inability for players to see each other's cards would create a major trust crisis, especially at the final stage when they needed to clear the instance.
But the other side had clearly miscalculated Xu Huo's situation.
Currently, the black cards still held the advantage among the players. The only ones who could effectively fight Xu Huo were Jiang Zifeng and Ye Bingxin, but their first cards were both black. Aligning with Xu Huo would maximize their advantage in clearing the instance. As for the remaining three—one disabled, one injured, and one weak—they weren't candidates for internal conflict.
Moreover, Mu Yan and Li Cheng had gained quite a bit from teaming up with Xu Huo. Most of the items and potions from the players they had killed were divided among them. It could be said that even if they didn't clear this instance, they wouldn't have lost out.
Facing the six calm individuals, the heavily bearded man was clearly surprised, but he quickly composed himself. Suddenly turning to Ye Bingxin, he said, "I'll trade my black pure gold boots for your black card 6!"
No one at the scene reacted, and the expression on the heavily bearded man's face gradually changed.
"Did the card exchange fail?" Xu Huo asked with a smile.
"You tampered with it!" The heavily bearded man instinctively stepped back, but as soon as he moved, the poker card wall covered by mutated plants suddenly transformed into an endless expanse of white. Countless doors appeared before and behind him, floating at varying heights in midair.
"An illusion!" The bearded man grabbed a large blade and charged at the nearest door, but one swing made him realize it was impossible to destroy these doors. After landing, he quickly pulled out a whistle and blew hard.
Under the sharp whistle, the pure white space around him began to ripple, like a wave pushing outward, causing the nearby doors to disintegrate along with it.
The bearded man's face lit up with joy, but the next second, that joy froze on his face. The wave had only pushed out about ten meters before it was knocked back by some force, and something invisible seemed to pass straight through his abdomen!
Although equipped with defensive items, the bearded man, upon feeling the sharp pain, immediately tore open his clothes. Sure enough, the black blood seeping from the wound on his chest and abdomen was visibly corroding the surrounding skin, expanding to the size of a fist in no time!
Enduring the pain, the bearded man poured potions into his mouth, but this did not stop the spread of the toxin. Finally, he dropped to one knee and shouted, "Killing me won't do you any good! I have four cards in my hand! If you let me go, I'll trade you the flower cards!"
The pure white space did not respond to him. Instead, a dangerous black tide surged from the distance. Where the black wave passed, the floating doors were also devoured and melted.
The bearded man called out several times without receiving any response, and could only watch helplessly as the toxin spread across his entire chest and abdomen. Sweating profusely, he knelt and crawled on the ground, his mind becoming unclear in a daze. As he tore at himself in pain, his clothes and items fell to the ground one by one. When a necklace around his neck fell off, his disguise disappeared, revealing his original face.
"Liang Shuang?" A slightly questioning voice sounded. The bearded man, who seemed too weak to get up, saw a pair of feet appear in his field of vision and immediately said, "I'll trade my white card 18 for your..."
Before he could finish, his mouth was firmly sealed by a mass of black liquid, and thin streams from the liquid bound him from head to toe.
Xu Huo walked up to him, reached out and plucked a very small, inconspicuous leaf from his hair, then crouched in front of him, playing with the leaf-like item. "Do you think pretending to be affected by mental power would lure me out? But how can you be sure that the me standing here is the real me?"
Liang Shuang couldn't speak, his eyes pleading as he looked at Xu Huo, shaking his head continuously, as if begging for a chance to speak.
"Don't you understand yet?" Xu Huo lowered his gaze. "From the moment you appeared outside my residence, your fate was sealed in death."
Under Liang Shuang's shocked gaze, he continued, "Are you wondering why I didn't kill you then?"
"The principle of not shitting where you eat is simple. And in the instance, you have nowhere else to go."
Liang Shuang's eyes showed regret, but unable to speak, he could only glare at him.
Xu Huo's expression remained calm. In truth, Liang Shuang couldn't be considered unintelligent. Although he didn't know what reason he had for following him, that move of voluntarily returning the flower card to Ye Bingxin earlier—if it hadn't been stopped in time, it might have actually caused internal conflict.