Chapter 1324: Halfway Robbery and Murder Are Perfectly Normal
Of course, looking at it from a later perspective, using this method to obtain players was no different from killing the goose that lays the golden eggs, with endless troubles to follow. But no one knew what the situation was like in District 023 at that time.
"What kind of disaster could force the government to do something so heinous?" Qiu Ming gritted his teeth. "They didn't even spare the children?"
"Putting aside humanity, have you ever seen such a stupid district government?" Xu Huo said instead. "It was probably done by outsiders."
Forcing all ordinary people to evolve was far worse than killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. It was essentially cutting off their own future. Not to mention how many players could actually be born from this, but what was the survival rate for those who weren't qualified for the first batch and entered the game completely unprepared?
Even if they survived, would players who had experienced such brutal events choose to stay in this district?
Anyone with a normal brain wouldn't do something like this.
This wasn't anything new in the game. Cao Qinglin and Qiu Ming only fell silent for a moment before starting to look for usable vehicles.
The cars on the street outside had severely damaged parts and couldn't start, so they had to try their luck indoors.
Qiu Ming quickly found an off-road vehicle in a corner, pried out a bunch of batteries from other cars, along with some emergency supplies. "Not sure which ones are usable. Let's take them all."
As Cao Qinglin helped, she pulled at her injury. She was about to ask Xu Huo for a hand when she saw him bending down to pick something up.
Hidden behind the car, neither of them could see what it was, but after exchanging glances, they silently agreed not to ask and continued with their own tasks.
Xu Huo hadn't picked anything up. Instead, he directly told them his conclusion. "There should still be people living here."
Cao Qinglin and Qiu Ming found it hard to believe. The latter said, "In this godforsaken place with nothing, how do they survive?"
"There's a fresh food wrapper over there," Xu Huo explained. "But there are no signs of movement nearby. It's probably been covered up. Passing players wouldn't bother doing that, so it's highly likely someone still lives here."
"Since people live here, the device interfering with flight props might not have been preserved by chance. If we need to rush through the instance, we should leave as quickly as possible."
Cao Qinglin and Qiu Ming caught on. Whether the people living here were ordinary or players, if they were protecting their residence, the best course of action would be to keep their distance from passing players and avoid conflict. For safety, disabling or destroying the interference device would be the smart move. But keeping it intact seemed like deliberately forcing passing players to land.
Without wasting any more time, the three got into the car and drove out of the underground parking lot, rolling over a pile of corpses. Once on the main road, Qiu Ming picked up speed but didn't drive too fast to avoid accidents.
Sure enough, within less than five minutes, the car tires suddenly skidded. Accompanied by a sharp screeching sound, the vehicle slid sideways toward the street. Before they could use props to control the car, a heavy blow slammed onto the roof. Following the deeply embedded footprint came a laser tangent line. A thumb-thick white light swept diagonally, cutting the car in half from the passenger seat!
Xu Huo was sitting in the passenger seat. When the person above came down, he had already gotten out. Wearing his gloves, he punched the person away with one blow, which was why the laser had cut diagonally through the car.
Qiu Ming and Cao Qinglin also got out of the car, scattering in different directions. After looking around, Qiu Ming called out, "All contestants, please take the field!"
As soon as he spoke, aside from the player Xu Huo had kicked away, four other people hiding nearby all revealed themselves. Two were concealed in the buildings on either side, and two were on the rooftops ahead and behind.
But that wasn't all. Standing on the car roof, Xu Huo raised his hand and grabbed at the air. The manhole cover on the roadside flew up, followed by a short, stocky man. He landed with a strange laugh and then vanished into thin air. For a moment, only his laughter echoed around them, but they couldn't see where he was.
"Boom!"
"Smack!"
As the sound moved, both Qiu Ming and Cao Qinglin were attacked, but their defense barriers blocked it. Leaning against the car, their movements caused the vehicle to shake. At the same time, the ground around them crackled and popped as if it had been set on fire, making it impossible to determine where the enemy was, let alone where the attack was coming from!
"Ha!" At that moment, a strange cry came from behind them. The two held their weapons and turned to look, only to see a pair of human hands emerging from thin air on the car roof. Wearing spiked gloves, they grabbed at Xu Huo's legs!
Both were startled, thinking Xu Huo had been affected by the sound and failed to dodge. But in the next second, they saw the gloves stop as if blocked by a barrier at his ankles. Relieved, they seized the opportunity to counterattack.
At that very moment, Xu Huo, standing on the car roof, shifted his gaze downward. Then, bending over, he grabbed the invisible person in the air, lifted him by the head, and slammed him hard onto the car roof!
The all-metal roof panel was dented into a pit. Although the prop's effect wasn't dispelled, several streams of blood could be seen flying out—Xu Huo's movements were too fast. Not only did the player on the car fail to dodge, but even his companions only reacted afterward. Two immediately rushed to rescue him, while the other three were responsible for pinning down Qiu Ming and Cao Qinglin.
With one hand holding the person and the other sweeping through the air, Xu Huo erected five space barriers within a hundred-meter radius, instantly separating the five opponents.
Pure space barriers weren't difficult to break through, but breaking them took time. As long as Xu Huo wanted, he could re-erect the barriers at any moment. So, in that brief window, only the player who had launched the initial sneak attack managed to break through.
"Bent knee!" the man wearing a windproof mask shouted from a distance, simultaneously activating two props in his hands.
Xu Huo didn't feel anything unusual in his knees, but the person he was holding suddenly slipped out of his grip, sliding away like an eel and landing in the masked man's hands in the blink of an eye.
How could Xu Huo let them leave so easily? Stepping off the car roof, he intercepted them in an instant. With a backhanded swing, the cutting line shot from his finger gloves swept toward the masked man's throat.
"Retreat three homes!" the masked man muttered softly, and he automatically retreated fifty meters away. Throwing the unconscious person to his companion, he lunged forward again, crossing his twin blades to block Xu Huo's "Eye of the Dead"!
The blades clashed, and both sides retreated. Xu Huo used a defense prop to block the opponent's prop attack, then used a space barrier to trap the man and drag him closer. However, the masked man quickly broke free.
On the other side, it was three against two. With Cao Qinglin severely injured, she and Qiu Ming were struggling, especially since the three opponents excelled in close combat. With props failing to take effect, the two were quickly separated, and Cao Qinglin became the primary target for elimination.
(Chapter End)