Chapter 1310: Better to Strike While the Iron Is Hot
"This trait is really powerful." Xin Rong praised, adding, "It must be a White Player."
"Both White Players and Black Players can evolve their traits without much difference. How can you be sure it's the former?" Xu Huo asked.
"Just a feeling," Xin Rong said. "Although traits are based on professions, developing them isn't that easy. Two people might have similar professions, but their trait directions can be worlds apart. Take me for example—my traits are mostly defensive, or at least lack offensive power, let alone directly stripping someone else's props. Generally speaking, the game tends to favor White Players a bit more."
Xu Huo had never heard this claim before.
"This is based on the Platinum Eye's data statistics," Xin Rong thought for a moment and said. "Look at players coming down from the initial train. Red Players either have no traits or never upgrade again. Black Players lean toward offense and usually get better props more easily. White Players are more conservative, and those who survive are definitely no pushovers. But the game sets the tone for players. When clearing the same instance, Black Players are more likely to get good props, while White Players' traits are more likely to upgrade."
"Black Players' traits do upgrade too, but on a broad scale, it's slower than White Players. It also depends on accumulation. Anyway, the more you upgrade, the stronger you get. Not only does the control range expand, but the mandatory effect becomes more powerful too. Being able to strip props from so many players at once—that trait is incredibly strong."
"You also know that traits are harder to guard against than props."
Traits are more unique, and Xu Huo was well aware of that. However, based on his own upgrade and clearance history, he hadn't yet seen Black Players being weaker than White Players. But that Black-clothed player's trait was indeed formidable.
Because the effectiveness of a trait also depends on the opponent's strength. Generally, the stronger the player, the more the trait's effect is weakened or even rendered ineffective. Those players above the Full-level who were chasing them—being able to cut off the arms of more than half of them with a single word was nothing short of miraculous.
The two Black-clothed players didn't linger after killing a group of people. Instead, they quickly broke through the encirclement and fled. However, within a hundred meters, a rainbow light pouring down from midair blocked their path. In an instant, two heads flew out from the rainbow light. Then the light vanished, and a long-haired woman who appeared from nowhere stood before the corpses, flicking the sword in her hand as blood splattered onto the ground.
This was a female player around forty years old. Expressionless, she kicked aside the head at her feet and said to the players who arrived later, "Take the bodies back."
With that, she vanished from the spot again. The next second, the rainbow light appeared on the rooftop of a building five hundred meters away—where a player was hiding.
In the span of two breaths, the hidden player fell from the high building. His body was caught midair by another player and quickly taken away.
Meanwhile, the female player simply disappeared from the spot once more.
There were quite a few hunters like her. Within Xu Huo's field of vision, there were at least five such players, scattered around, killing the intruders.
"Fresh Flower City's strength is still considerable." Xin Rong glanced at Xu Huo. "Brother, do you know these people?"
Xu Huo denied it. Judging by the familiarity of both sides in the fight, it seemed like Fresh Flower City was having internal problems.
"Better to strike while the iron is hot. Let's do it today." Xu Huo led Xin Rong through the spiritual realm at high speed, quickly locating the places Han Yi frequented.
Worried about being followed by a Super Evolver, he didn't approach immediately. Instead, he lured a group of players from nearby.
The attackers' main targets were the young scions of powerful families. These people were easier to deal with than the seasoned old-timers and easier to achieve their goals with. So, from the moment Xu Huo and his companion entered the Directly Administered District, no fewer than forty pampered young men and women had already died.
"Only one's own people can be so ruthless against their own," Xin Rong said. "Looks like they've scouted the place thoroughly. Grab one, get it right. Kill one, get a bunch."
"Who's your target?"
Xu Huo pointed his chin at the person coming out of the villa ahead. "Him."
Han Yi was retreating under the cover of ten Advanced Players. The two B-level players who had been closely following him had been split up. Now, he had one A-level and one B-level beside him, with eight more players on the periphery, half of them at the Full-level.
"The B-level players in that outer circle aren't that strong." Xin Rong knew the inside story. "These districts may seem to have a lot of Advanced Players, but many of them were made through safe instances. They clear instances in groups using walkthroughs, and even if they have good props, they're not that strong. They can't compare to players of the same level from high-level wormhole points."
"The two in the middle should be a bit troublesome. But as long as they're not Mental Super Evolvers, it should be fine."
The two of them tailed Han Yi and his group. Just as they were about to leave the Directly Administered District, an old man appeared without warning in front of them.
"Two friends, Fresh Flower City is not receiving guests today. Please leave."
Xu Huo and Xin Rong exchanged glances. Each took a step back and fled in different directions.
A hint of a smile appeared on the old man's wrinkled face. He stretched out both hands and grabbed at the air. Two doorways materialized directly in front of Xu Huo and Xin Rong!
Both of them slammed on the brakes, turned around, and simultaneously raised their New Energy Cannons, firing at the rapidly closing old man.
With two loud booms, the mirror world generated within the nearby spiritual realm shattered into pieces. Although the explosion through the spiritual realm wasn't enough to completely destroy the real-world buildings, it still damaged the bases of two nearby high-rises. The two buildings then toppled toward each other.
The colliding and breaking parts of the buildings fell in a shower, and the spreading dust cloud almost instantly covered several blocks in the vicinity, obscuring everyone's vision.
"You old bastard, I'm over here!" When the old man's eagle-sharp eyes swept through the dust, Xin Rong suddenly shouted from somewhere. In that split second of distraction, Xu Huo vanished from his line of sight.
The old man was stunned. But after confirming he hadn't seen wrong, his face darkened, and he lunged toward Xin Rong, who was about to escape into another layer of space.
Xu Huo hadn't gone far. Watching the two of them disappear from this layer of space one after the other, he quickly caught up to Han Yi's group under the cover of a prop.
Perhaps because he was too close, the A-level player beside Han Yi sensed something. At that moment, Xin Rong opened the spiritual realm as promised, pulling half the street into the instance venue of the Directly Administered District.
Next, Xu Huo had to take control. He used a "Steal" prop borrowed from Xin Rong to snatch the A-level player away and send him five hundred meters off. At the same time, he used the spiritual realm to close the distance with Han Yi. He opened a door on the ground to drop the B-level player into an underground passage. Activating the trait "Truth Transcends All," he then used "Cannot Be Broken From Within" to seal the two of them within a confined area. Raising the Black Blade, he swung it toward the opponent's head!