Chapter 1402: Good Deeds and Good People?
The musical staff spread throughout the space automatically twisted together in the air, forming two barriers that blocked the attacks. With two barely audible collision sounds, the gentleman player turned around, only to see Xu Huo right behind him!
Their eyes met, and both saw the killing intent in each other's gaze. As the black blade descended, the barrier formed by the musical staff rapidly thickened to half a meter!
This time, the black blade failed to cut through the musical staff, but the musical staff also couldn't completely block the black blade. After closing the distance, they exchanged several blows using items in an extremely short time before each retreating.
Outside the sealed space containing the cultivation beds was an operation room, which instantly expanded the area significantly, though it still belonged to a sealed layer. Even though the airtight space isolated external sounds, the subtle vibrations still allowed perception of the outer zone players quickly dealing with those "rebellious" robots.
The gentleman player's face darkened. As his figure stirred slightly, Xu Huo stopped him with a word, "Better not do that."
The gentleman player looked at him, "Can you stop me?"
"I can't," Xu Huo admitted, "but right now, you've only lost a very small portion of the robots. You still have enough time and power to handle your affairs. If you control the robots to kill the hostages or trigger a collective explosion, you'll lose control over all the robots."
He stared at the man opposite and smiled slightly, "Or you could consider killing me first."
The gentleman player's face twitched—what else had he been trying to do just now? It was just that this C-level player was more troublesome than he had imagined.
As he said, there was still plenty of time. Some hostages were insignificant, but no matter how this ended, he needed to account for it.
"Did you come here because of the people who died in the video? Are any of them your relatives or friends?" the gentleman player asked.
Xu Huo didn't make the first move either, instead preparing to answer his question carefully. "I was shocked when I saw the head fireworks. There are many players who kill ordinary people, but using such a bottomless method for entertainment, and holding it regularly—for a moment, I couldn't tell if they were human or beasts."
"Killing is killing. Does the method really matter?" the gentleman player sneered. "Only hypocrites come up with high-sounding excuses, put a nice hat on it, and pretend it's knocking on doors to deliver warmth?"
"You're right," Xu Huo nodded. "Killing and being killed are essentially the same thing—a manifestation of the survival of the fittest. Just like now, we're standing here chatting, while ten minutes ago you were still killing without restraint."
The gentleman player laughed derisively, "You think you can kill me?"
"We'll talk about that later," Xu Huo waved his hand and pulled the topic back. "After learning that the host of the fireworks show was related to District 023, I got a ticket and came here."
"Before entering the new city, I had already guessed what the district government was doing."
From Dr. Duo Er, who had stolen techniques from the new district government and continuously cultivated clones of himself, it wasn't hard to deduce that this was more or less connected to the new city.
Even if it weren't, the Ya clan's situation and their growth characteristics were telling enough, combined with the clues from District 001—the Han family couldn't have come here just for a vacation.
Xu Huo paused here, looked at the gentleman player, and said, "You should be here for the same reason. I want to know the connection between the Bauhinia Restaurant owner and this place."
The gentleman player furrowed his brows, "You've been tangling with me for this?"
Seeing that Xu Huo didn't deny it, he suddenly burst into laughter, then abruptly stopped, scanning him with amusement: "I thought I'd run into a good deed and a good person... But since our goals are the same, why not finish this matter first and then sit down to talk?"
Xu Huo smiled without speaking.
The gentleman player then also suppressed his expression. "Tracking a killing show from another district all the way here? Do you even believe that yourself?"
"Why wouldn't I?" Xu Huo raised an eyebrow. "Weren't you just playing the hero avenging innocent victims ten minutes ago?"
Mentioning this made the gentleman player's face sink sharply. Compared to the other's repeated interference and inquiries about the Bauhinia Restaurant, this was what infuriated him more!
This matter could have added a brilliant stroke to his record of major events, but now it had become neither fish nor fowl...
A heavy killing intent flashed in his eyes. Just as he was about to act, he suddenly sensed a second person within his perception range—there shouldn't have been a second person, because Xu Huo had been standing in front of him the whole time, never leaving his sight, and the government players outside hadn't entered either...
Suddenly, he realized something, "You were stalling for time!"
In that instant of speaking, the entire factory was pulled into an endless expanse of white. Countless doors of all sizes filled the white space, making a person feel like a drop in the ocean, with no end in sight from any direction.
"Not learning your lesson!" The gentleman player activated a mental interference device. Tools specifically designed against mental super evolvers, if of sufficient level, could temporarily destroy the illusions created by super evolvers. So when the interference device's power wave spread out, the white space began to collapse around him, like shattering glass, with large fragments flying out, destroying even the doors within.
Stalling for time had allowed him to establish this basic mental space before the other noticed, but it was all undone in an instant. Still, this wasn't too unexpected. The next second, the Magic Man wielding twin blades stepped in to meet the attack head-on!
The "Magic Man" item was a combat tool created by the well-known A-level player Magician. It could fight at high intensity for one minute each day, follow simple commands, and coordinate with its holder. For the next minute, it would take the lead in attacking while Xu Huo provided support from behind.
From their previous exchanges, Xu Huo had roughly figured out the gentleman player's usage habits for the musical staff. First, the musical staff could be stacked infinitely, but the more there were, the longer the control interval between each use. So he wouldn't continuously control a large number of musical staffs but would alternate them regularly.
Second, the musical staff had no cutting ability. Besides emitting powerful vibrations, when notes were missing, the vertical lines could be used directly as sharp weapons, like bendable lasers—flexible yet capable of inflicting harm.
Additionally, the lines and notes of the musical staff wouldn't appear in large numbers simultaneously. When the lines filled the air, the number of notes wouldn't be very high, which Xu Huo estimated was the moment of the musical staff's lowest lethality.
As for why this was called a "usage habit" rather than a "usage limitation," it was because in high-density combat, the gentleman player handled the musical staff with ease, showing no obvious weaknesses—which was also why Xu Huo had avoided close combat with him: the opponent might not have fully revealed the musical staff's capabilities.
(Chapter End)