Chapter 1387: Black-Hearted and Ruthless
The player rushing over was not one of the three voted out, but he had already recognized Xu Huo. Originally intending to clear the way, he instantly swapped the tool in his hand for a butterfly.
As the butterfly tool flew up, the air in the corridor automatically condensed dozens of identical butterfly blades, shooting out at extreme speed—this made Xu Huo, who had been planning to step aside, pause. He used Space Rays from a distance to entangle those air butterflies, waiting for the player to crash into him.
The butterfly was a Space Item, and the condensed attack weapons had considerable power. When the man hit the first one, the protective suit he was wearing was torn open. He hastily used a Defense Item to avoid being impaled on the spot, but he couldn't stop his momentum. In an instant, he collided right in front of Xu Huo.
Seeing the smile on Xu Huo's face, the man slammed on the brakes, then leaped onto the ceiling. He ran upside down across it, but just then, the hanging curved blade came swinging by. Although hanging upside down on the ceiling meant no risk of being hit by the blade, as the curved knife flew close, the steel cable suddenly twisted, hooking his leg.
Unable to shake off the item immediately, the player was dragged back by the curved blade, passing over Xu Huo's head once more.
Xu Huo watched him without making a move, because the player behind him had already caught up.
That was a Cannibal Player. Of course, the one still hanging upside down on the ceiling was also one. The former took a few quick steps and lunged to grab the latter. Hanging midair, he drove his hand through the other's lower back, then pulled out a bloody mass and shoved it into his mouth, mumbling indistinctly, "This is what I'm talking about..."
The player who had a kidney ripped out struggled to the ground, staggered a few steps, and bolted. At this point, he couldn't afford to guard against or try to harvest Xu Huo. Seeing that Xu Huo had no intention of attacking, he ran right past him.
The other Cannibal Player followed closely, his reddened eyes fixed only on his prey, completely ignoring whether anyone else was nearby.
The two came and went one after the other, but not long after, intermittent screams could be heard, suggesting it wouldn't end anytime soon.
This commotion didn't attract the Lame Butcher, but the Raincoat Cleaner had arrived nearby.
Xu Huo didn't linger any longer. He turned and entered another corridor.
The structure of the second floor was slightly more complex than the first. The rooms were no longer arranged along a hexagonal corridor but were interconnected in all directions. Passing through a food processing area should lead to the back kitchen. From a distance, he could hear the sounds of chopping and stir-frying, along with faint voices, though he couldn't make out what they were saying.
Xu Huo spotted 115's clothes on the ground, completely soaked in blood. It seemed the person was in grave danger.
A little further to the side was a small staircase. Going down, the space wasn't large, so it probably wasn't a passage to the first floor, but he still went in.
It turned out to be a garbage room—at least, judging by the mess of broken instruments and tools scattered around.
Mixed in with the debris of instruments and tools were many items that looked like props. Although some were broken, more were intact, just waiting to be picked up with a simple bend.
Xu Huo enlarged his Cube Space for a look. It was like a midsummer starry sky—everything was glittering.
This was likely where the Raincoat Cleaner disposed of trash. It was easy to guess that most of the owners of these items were already dead. These piles of junk were all unclaimed Ownerless Items that hadn't been sorted yet. If the holder of an item had died, whoever picked it up would own it.
"So there's a place like this," he said, casually picking up a puppet. "If I tried to pack this into the luggage compartment, I probably couldn't fit it all."
The puppet's abdomen was broken open, revealing a hollow cavity inside. He hadn't tested the "Staff Dormitory" he'd obtained earlier, so Xu Huo filled the puppet's belly and stuffed it into the item. After a moment, he took it out again. The puppet showed no change.
Rather than picking through the trash pile one by one, it was much more convenient to sweep everything in at once. So he casually bought an inflatable item on the game platform, opened it, and slipped it over the trash heap.
"Aren't you too black-hearted!" A voice suddenly came from a corner of the room. Xu Huo looked over. No. 42, Zhou Donghe, stood up from behind the trash pile, staring at him with an unpleasant expression. "You want to take all these items?"
"Don't you want to take them?" Xu Huo raised an eyebrow. "If your luggage compartment were big enough, you'd probably have emptied this place by now."
Did he even need to ask?
But the luggage compartment had limited space. Zhou Donghe could only pick out the ones that looked decent. There were plenty of low-level items among them, and picking them all up would waste time and space. Besides, if he was too obvious, it would easily attract the attention of the restaurant staff.
"Don't you know the meaning of keeping a low profile?" He glanced at the stuff on the ground. "If you clear everything out, even an idiot could tell. Do you think the Raincoat Woman wouldn't notice?"
"So what?" Xu Huo smiled silently. "It's not like I'm the only one who'll be unlucky."
With that, he stuffed the small pile in front of him into the inflatable human-shaped item, then shoved it into the "Staff Dormitory" and backed out of the garbage room.
Zhou Donghe was stunned by his greed, but then he realized that the monitor he had set up outside had disappeared. His face changed instantly, and he scrambled to follow Xu Huo out.
The Raincoat Cleaner was already nearby, brushing past Zhou Donghe. Although she didn't spot him, the furious "bang" that came from the garbage room moments later still made Zhou Donghe's heart pound. He caught up to Xu Huo, who hadn't gone far, and lowered his voice, "You're really black-hearted and ruthless, kid."
Xu Huo turned around and looked at him incredulously.
"What do you mean?" Zhou Donghe frowned.
"I overestimated you," Xu Huo said. "Earlier, I thought you had some cunning, but now I see you're just lucky."
Zhou Donghe felt insulted, but before he could explode, Xu Huo continued, "This morning in the restaurant, you should have known you're no match for me. Instead of taking the chance to leave just now, you came right up to me. Don't tell me you thought, as fellow C-level players, you could take half from me?"
"Ha!" Zhou Donghe laughed in anger, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw a faintly glowing arc-shaped barrier surging from the left. He had activated his Defense Item. Seeing that Xu Huo neither dodged nor avoided, he straightened his back and stood his ground. But when the light arc struck, it sent him flying, tumbling and rolling over ten meters away, shattering his Defense Item in the process!
Xu Huo, on the other hand, stood still. Around him, a barrier of translucent petal-like shapes bloomed, not only blocking the light arc but also trapping a player who had rushed in right outside the barrier.
"Haha!" The newcomer was a Cannibal Player, his mouth and chest covered in blood. His eyes were wide open, the torn corners of his eyes oozing a bloody light. When his eyeballs rolled, you could even see the whites behind them, as if they might pop out of their sockets at any moment!
(Chapter End)