Chapter 1308: Wealthy Player
The pile of diamonds trembled, and it was clear that every single stone in its body was straining, but its scattered form simply couldn't piece itself back together.
Xu Huo observed it for a moment from the side. "Want me to get some glue to stick you back together?"
The stone pile paused, then the area where its left hand should be began moving up and down, as if it very much wanted him to give it a try.
Xu Huo took a bag of dried meat from his luggage compartment and watched it struggle while he ate.
In this space, aside from this pile of stones, none of the other rocks moved. Although it was impossible for a person to hypnotize themselves into becoming stone, the fact that they could maintain this state was most likely due to the exceptionally strong spiritual interference in this spiritual realm—strong enough to affect a person's senses. At the very least, he hadn't been able to tell through touch that what was in front of him was actually a person.
As for how many other stone people had entered without making it out, some might have already starved to death.
After a brief refueling, Xu Huo checked the time and sat down to rest. Half an hour later, he began searching for a way to leave this space.
The usual method of opening a door didn't work, so he had to once again gather his spiritual power to condense a materialized object and cut through the space. It wasn't difficult, and he succeeded easily.
Once the space cracked open, he packed up the stone pile behind him and carried it out. After returning to the outer spiritual realm, the stone man's hands and feet began to recover, followed by his head.
As soon as the lower half of his face was restored, the other man immediately said, "Brother, great kindness needs no words. I owe you my life. Whatever you need, just name it!"
After expressing his goodwill, he frantically poured water into his mouth, downing two bottles in a row before stuffing food in as well.
Now that he had regained consciousness, his body gradually recovered as he ate and drank his fill, until he returned to a completely normal state. He patted himself all over, then wiped his cracked lips and let out a huge sigh of relief. "I almost thought I was going to starve to death. With all my fame and reputation, if I'd died of hunger, how would outsiders look at me?"
"That Zhuang guy is way too powerful. I opened three or four spaces in his first spiritual realm and still couldn't get out—instead, I ended up trapped..." The man rambled on for a while before formally introducing himself to Xu Huo. Then he said, "Brother Xu, you're also here looking for the mineral vein, right? I'm not trying to discourage you, but without special items, with our current strength alone, there's no way we can get in. Let's just get out first."
Xin Rong—that was the name of the man who had turned into stone—reached out and drew a door frame shape in the air. An invisible boundary immediately split the spiritual realm into two parts. Outside the boundary was the spiritual realm overlapping with the city; inside the boundary was a black passage, just like the one Xu Huo had opened earlier with the "Wei Xin Zhi Men" (Door of the Mind).
Raising an eyebrow slightly, Xu Huo smiled and said, "You make a good point. Let's get out first and talk later."
The two easily passed through the spiritual gate and returned to reality. Xin Rong patted Xu Huo on the shoulder and said, "Brother Xu, let's find a place to have a big feast before talking about anything else. What do you say?"
Xu Huo naturally went along with it. The two checked into a nearby hotel. Xin Rong, flaunting his wealth, booked an entire floor, called in the hotel's best chef to cook on the spot, and after washing up, sat down to eat and drink heartily. Between mouthfuls, he mumbled, "That little bit of food earlier wasn't even enough to fill the gaps between my teeth. Brother Xu, don't be polite—everything's on me!"
"Hey, you there, get me a few masseuses too. I've been lying down for so many days, my bones are about to snap!"
The staff member smiled, left, and returned, bringing along six curvaceous women. Xin Rong called three over to his side and, while enjoying their massages and feeding, gestured for the other three to go to Xu Huo.
Xu Huo raised his hand to stop the three women. "I follow a religion."
Xin Rong looked at him in surprise. "What religion is that—one that lets you eat but not sleep?"
The women let out low giggles.
Xu Huo's expression didn't change. He tapped the table lightly with his right hand, as if waiting for something.
Xin Rong made a knowing expression and said generously, "Items, potions, White Notes, or other instruments or robots—name your price. I've got plenty of money. But I'll say this upfront: don't set the price too low. My life, Xin Rong's life, can't be settled cheaply!"
Xu Huo nodded and didn't hold back. "You do me a favor, and we'll call it even."
"Easy enough." Xin Rong raised his glass.
"I need to go in again..." Xu Huo was cut off before he could finish. "You're going back in?! Didn't you see how badly off I was? If you'd arrived half a day later, I might have starved to death!"
Xu Huo waited for him to finish before saying, "I'm only going to the first layer, and you don't have to come in. Just help me open the door... That's not a difficult request."
"It's not difficult..." Xin Rong said curiously, "But what are you going in for? There's nothing in there, and if you stay too long, the mirror people will corner you with no way out."
Xu Huo didn't answer the question. Instead, he asked, "How big of a door can you open, just on the first layer?"
Both were Mental Super Evolvers, so they didn't need to spell everything out. Xin Rong thought for a moment and said, "You saved my life, so I won't ask too many questions. I'll do my best to help you. On the first layer, I can open a door up to twenty meters wide and maintain it for ten seconds."
"Straightforward!" Xu Huo raised his glass to him. "It's rare to meet someone as straightforward as you in the game."
Xin Rong chuckled. "You too. You didn't hesitate to pull me out. We're kindred spirits!"
They downed their drinks, and Xin Rong dismissed the people around him. "Since my friend has serious business, I won't mess around. You wait—where do you plan to open the door?"
"The location isn't fixed yet, but I'll need to bring a few people in with me," Xu Huo said. "And they're not friends."
Xin Rong caught on immediately. "Brother, you're pretty sneaky, huh."
"No problem. Once I've recovered my energy, we can start anytime."
"Do you need any items? I've got a lot of good ones here, the kind you usually can't buy in the game."
He didn't even give Xu Huo a chance to speak. As he talked, he pulled out a huge pile of items and weapons, including one of those new energy cannons that Bai Kou had once used—a high-lethality weapon that could be disassembled and stored in a luggage compartment, whereas ordinary weapons couldn't be stored even after disassembly.
Xin Rong had a lot of weapons, and as he took them out, he kept telling Xu Huo not to be polite.
"Are you a Platinum Eye player?" Xu Huo asked.
"You know about Platinum Eye? Have you been there?" Xin Rong picked up the new energy cannon from the table and tossed it to him. "This is a recent goodie. Firing it once consumes enough energy stones to buy two C-grade items. But compared to my life, that's nothing. See if you like it—if you do, it's yours!"
(Chapter End)