Chapter 1358: Using a Person as Bait
From the items and traits the other party used, the mannequin player was most likely engaged in handicraft production. His trait had indeed made everything around him, including the item tangent, momentarily stiff and hard. It wasn't to the point of being indestructible, but it did increase the difficulty.
The two had already gone far. Xu Huo simply withdrew the tangent and followed.
Using a teleportation item could quickly close the distance, but it was also easy to lose them. When he tracked them down again using "A Thread Connects a Thousand Miles of Fate," ten minutes had already passed.
Sensing that he had caught up, the mannequin player released another batch of mannequins to distract him, continuing to flee with Dr. Duo Er.
"You're not fast carrying me," Dr. Duo Er said, his mental state somewhat poor. He spoke to the mannequin player, "I don't know who you are, but you should escape on your own. I think that player isn't from the Ya Clan. If he wants to clear the instance, he'll definitely send me to the secondary city... cough, cough..."
The mannequin player, who had been silent all along, finally turned back and checked his body. "Are you injured?"
"No..." Dr. Duo Er panted. "But that guy just gave me an injection. I don't know what kind of potion it was. I feel a bit tired..."
The mannequin player let him go, took out a monitoring device, and pricked his finger for a drop of blood. The device emitted a "beep beep" warning sound. He clenched his fist in anger, but then relaxed it a moment later, saying to Dr. Duo Er, "It might be some kind of poison. I'll give you an antidote injection."
Dr. Duo Er didn't suspect anything and willingly accepted the injection. Sure enough, his condition soon improved. At that moment, the mannequin player said again, "He's coming again. We need to go."
Dr. Duo Er immediately stood up but still advised, "If you really can't shake him off, find a chance to run on your own."
The mannequin player didn't say anything more. Instead, he changed direction and headed straight east.
The secondary city was due north, and they had been running north all along.
Xu Huo, following behind, immediately noticed the change in direction. They had now covered about half the distance of the Stairway to Heaven and were in the central area. The safest method was to cross through here as quickly as possible. But the other party, carrying Dr. Duo Er, wasn't hurrying through; instead, they were heading straight for the heart of the area... Trying to shake him off this way?
After a moment's hesitation, he closed the distance and attempted two attacks. This time, the mannequin player didn't just focus on running but fought back fiercely.
The commotion from the fight began to attract the attention of nearby xenomorphs. However, what emerged weren't more mutant beasts, but all sorts of bizarre-looking, fast-moving mutant insects. Their faint crawling and chirping merged into a sound that made every hair on one's body stand on end. In the blink of an eye, trees and the ground were covered with dense, tiny creatures—even a swarm of ants gathering together could be terrifying, let alone these insects magnified ten or even dozens of times. Surrounded on all sides by such things, anyone would feel their scalp crawl.
The soil beneath his feet was writhing. Xu Huo expressionlessly smashed a few bottles of insecticide, but it was like a drop in the bucket. Some of the evolved insects weren't even afraid of the insecticide, posing no obstacle at all.
"Bringing the doctor in here—are you trying to get him killed?" he demanded angrily of the mannequin player. "Aren't you a player from Twin Cities?"
The man with the deathly pale face sneered coldly. "Don't pretend to be the good guy. You're not a clearance player at all. If it weren't for you, those Ya Clan people would never have gotten away!"
Xu Huo hadn't even interfered in the earlier fight with the braided player. The space barrier that had restricted Bai Jing and the others was something he himself had broken.
Great. He'd run into someone who could put on an act.
"You're not from Twin Cities at all!" Xu Huo suddenly shouted, moving behind the two and reaching out to grab Dr. Duo Er. But he was immediately repelled by an electric current coming from the other's body, and the mannequin player took the opportunity to fly into the air with the doctor.
But there was no safe place here. The moment they left the ground, insects from above and below leaped onto them. Although they were protected by a defense barrier, when a venomous spider the size of a human head lunged at his face, Dr. Duo Er instinctively struggled and slipped out of the mannequin player's grasp. At that moment, a white strand as thick as an arm shot out from deep in the woods, struck his back, and dragged him away!
"Doctor!" The mannequin player immediately turned to chase, but Dr. Duo Er, still in his protective suit, flew through the air for a moment before crashing into the pile of insects on the ground and being dragged further.
His body was covered in venomous insects, making it impossible to get close. The mannequin player cut the spider silk, but the potion he threw out didn't take effect. The surging venomous insects actually carried the man straight toward a nearby cave!
Seeing no chance to recover, a black potion flew out from behind him. When it hit Dr. Duo Er, the contaminant spread rapidly, killing a large number of venomous insects in an instant. The rest, fearing the potent poison, dared not approach but didn't leave either, instead piling up around Dr. Duo Er.
Having been dragged and frightened, Dr. Duo Er lay on the ground unable to get up. His protective suit wouldn't last much longer either. But that wasn't the most dangerous part. Just four or five meters away from him lay a vast, white world!
The forest ahead was completely covered in spider silk. From the thickness of the strands, one could imagine the size of the spiders lurking within. And to cover such a large area, they must be in groups. At that moment, the trembling of the web had gone from small to large.
The mannequin player had already disappeared. Xu Huo knew he was gone and didn't bother chasing him. Instead, he activated a defense item to pull Dr. Duo Er out, also discarding his venomous protective suit.
But his condition was highly abnormal.
"Are you alright?" Xu Huo frowned. Even if he had been injured, it shouldn't have left him this weak.
"I'm dying, aren't I..." Dr. Duo Er grabbed his arm and struggled to speak. "If you really are... from the outer zone... go find the others... send me to the secondary city... save people..."
With that, he simply stopped breathing!
No fatal wounds, no poisoning—the man had died just like that!
Holding the corpse, Xu Huo was momentarily overwhelmed with rage. The mannequin player must have known Dr. Duo Er was about to die, which was why he used him to lure Xu Huo into the mutant insect nest. The man had been fine until he returned to the other's hands, and now he was dead in such a short time—it was hard not to suspect foul play!
Putting the corpse away, Xu Huo stood up, drew "Cake Slice," and after cutting down several spiders larger than a person that came charging at him, he shot through the forest. In just a few breaths, he caught up with the fleeing mannequin player. In the blink of an eye, his right leg was severed. Before the man could fall, he was pinned to the ground by a black blade.
Standing beside him, the man holding the black blade slowly twisted it, his eyes cold as he looked down. "If you had escaped into the game just now, you might have lived."
(Chapter End)