Chapter 1355: Collision
Almost as soon as the words were spoken, a white figure streaked down from the sky through the dense forest, landing like a cannonball precisely in the middle of the group. Out of instinct, Bai Jing and the other three retreated in different directions, putting some distance between themselves before looking at the person in the center. However, at that moment, the tall white figure in the middle disintegrated like a machine, its entire body splitting into four parts—head, torso, and legs—each attacking the four of them separately!
This dummy was different from the ones Xu Huo had seen before. Its interior was a metal structure, and each part of its disassembled body could move independently. The head and torso could fly at high speed, continuously firing metal needles.
In the blink of an eye, the ground where Bai Jing and the others had been standing was riddled with holes like a beehive. However, this move wasn't necessarily meant to kill or injure the four; it was to provoke the Wish-Fulfilling Fruit Vines.
Starting from the area hit by the needles, the Wish-Fulfilling Fruit Vines covering the ground and treetops began to writhe rapidly. Unlike the slow-moving vines they had encountered before, these could manipulate their tendrils to mimic whipping or form cages.
The Ya Clan woman was struck by a vine that suddenly whipped out from behind. Protected by a defense item, she wasn't physically harmed, but when she tried to retreat, vines that had been lying in wait on the ground quickly coiled around her legs!
The Ya Clan woman swung her item to cut through the increasingly numerous vines around her, but even if she broke free, it wouldn't matter much. Just twenty or thirty meters away, the Wish-Fulfilling Fruit Vines had completely drooped down from the trees, intertwining with some of the ground-level branches to form a sphere that was closing in on them.
"Blow it up!" The other two Ya Clan members coordinated, throwing small bombs at the vine wall. After two "bang bang" sounds, the wall wasn't breached, and the holes that were blasted open were quickly sealed by other vines, gradually forming a solid, seamless barrier.
Bai Jing dealt with the dismembered dummy and then moved to the center of the vine sphere. He raised a cross-shaped item with both hands, and two beams of light crossed, one horizontal and one vertical, completely slicing the vine sphere apart.
As the vine sphere split open, the four of them leaped out one after another.
But there were already dummies waiting for them outside. White dummies, like mannequins, with bald heads and eerily human-like faces, stood on the ground, in the trees, and hung upside down from the vines, their eyes fixed on them. As soon as they met, the dummies hanging from the vines began to fall in droves, those on the ground sprinted at high speed, and those farther away picked up their companions and hurled them directly at Bai Jing and the others!
These dummies weren't very lethal, but their sheer numbers were overwhelming. Without a way to destroy them all at once, they were somewhat constrained. Small defensive barriers could be buried by them, while large barriers were inconvenient to move, and if they didn't move far enough, they'd still be entangled by these dummies.
Seeing that the defensive barrier was being covered by dummies, Bai Jing took out a round doorknob and pressed it into the air. The doorknob automatically attached itself to the air, and when he turned it, a transparent door appeared.
"Go!" The other three passed through the door one after another. Just as he was about to leave, a dummy arm crawled out from underground, grabbed his leg, and was dragged into the door with him.
The doorknob vanished, and all the dummies stopped moving. A second later, they all turned north in unison, charging in that direction like an army!
Pretty impressive.
Xu Huo followed behind the dummies. The player controlling them wasn't nearby. Based on the range, the other party could manipulate the dummies from at least fifteen hundred meters away. Fifteen hundred meters—at that distance, not even long-range teleportation items could necessarily reach. It was essentially remote control completely detached from the battlefield, making it quite difficult to find the person.
However, Bai Jing and the others had moved a bit far. The dummies paused once during their pursuit before continuing to execute their orders.
Xu Huo slowed down, distancing himself from the dummies. A moment later, a player disguised as a dummy appeared within his perception range.
The player was wearing a short coat covered in painted eyes. When a vertical pupil appeared, one of the eyes actually moved.
The player was quite cautious. After turning around and finding no clues, he used a long-distance teleportation item and immediately vanished from Xu Huo's perception range.
Xu Huo withdrew his spiritual realm and continued forward.
The dummy army had stirred up many mutant plants, some of which were pierced or strangled. Additionally, a large amount of toxic gas was spreading through the forest, quickly covering a wide area. The gas was colorful and thick as fog, easily obscuring vision.
Avoiding the traps left by the dummies ahead, Xu Huo caught up with Bai Jing and the others just as they were fighting three other players.
The three players had unconventional appearances, clearly not from District 023, but they were strong fighters with aggressive combat styles. Bai Jing and his group quickly fell into a disadvantage, and one Ya Clan man was killed.
"You two go first." Bai Jing pulled his two companions in front of him and said quickly, "I'll lead them to the dummies."
"They might be in cahoots. If you stay, you're walking right into the tiger's mouth," the Ya Clan woman objected. "Let's go together..."
"Ha!" The man with a small braid among the three players sneered. "Listen to them, they still think they can leave!"
As he spoke, he tossed a small cocoon-like item into the air. A pale white light screen shot out from it, covering nearly a kilometer.
"Hahaha!" The braided player laughed loudly. "I didn't expect two more fish to be hiding!"
This was a space-restriction item. Once deployed, long-distance teleportation items couldn't be used. Even if they could, the maximum distance was the edge of the light screen, and they couldn't get out.
Bai Jing's side was considering whether to use a ticket to leave when the dummies, which had stopped not far away, suddenly charged over. Midway, they all disassembled, splitting into four parts each and surrounding the braided player and his two companions!
"Even better that you're coming to us!" The braided player tapped the round pendant hanging on his chest. A shockwave, almost visible to the naked eye, shot out, shattering all the dummies coming at him. He then grabbed a dummy head out of thin air, slapped a direction marker on it, and the arrow on the marker immediately changed direction, pointing to his right.
"Exchange hostages!" The player beside him, wearing double golden boots, shouted in that direction. Then, the golden-booted player disappeared, replaced by the player disguised as a dummy—they had swapped positions.
"Heh!" The braided player let out a laugh, pulling out a folding knife and slashing at the head.
The dummy player's defensive barrier shattered, but he himself remained motionless, simply raising his hand to block.
"Ding!" The knife and arm collided with a crisp sound, and the blade snapped. Then, the braided player began moving toward him with a resistant posture.
(Chapter End)