Chapter 1406: Combined Kill
"So you're called 77." Xu Huo gently repeated the child's number, asked him a few more questions about "treatment," and his gaze gradually turned cold.
"Uncle, is my illness cured?" The child was sensitive to changes in adult emotions, and the boy asked cautiously.
The players from the pharmaceutical factory had disappeared along with it. The district government should already know they had entered the instance. With the new city under attack, they probably wouldn't send a large number of players in. If anyone came, it would be a very small group of elites. These children, if released, would mostly end up back in the underground laboratory, with no one having time to look after them for now.
Xu Huo thought for a moment, then found a player whose mental state was clearly worse than the others. After performing psychological treatment, he had the nurse take him to the ward in Building Three for a while. Once he confirmed the man was infected with the bacteria, he signed the discharge papers and let him out of the instance.
"Hopefully, this will buy some time."
He then opened the door and went to Building Two, which was the main battlefield for the Moth Technique and the Gentleman player.
The Moth Technique had already used the magic "Myriad Selves." Within his spiritual realm, the Gentleman player's consciousness had been split into tens of thousands, which should have affected the Gentleman player's body—that was the plan, especially since the spiritual interference device had already been destroyed. But unexpectedly, he had forcibly pulled himself out of the spiritual world at the cost of three fingers!
"I set up an automatic awakening the moment I entered the instance," the Gentleman player said, still injured from forcibly breaking free of the spiritual world. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth as he raised his left hand, which he had blown off himself, and grinned ferociously. "You think you can kill me?"
As he spoke, he slammed his hand against the wall. The vibration of the notes forced Xu Huo, who was hiding behind the wall, to reveal himself—being attacked certainly didn't count as actively interfering with the instance process!
He used the Library Tower to trap the Gentleman player and also sent the Moth Technique inside. As the three of them distanced themselves along the spiral staircase, Xu Huo brought his hands together to form a "triangle" gesture and shouted a warning, "Lock him in!"
This was a major move the Moth Technique had used against him before. In fact, it had been used after entering the instance as well. The pyramid space had a significant flaw: its closing speed was slightly too slow, making it difficult to trap a B-rank player. This wasn't just a flaw of the pyramid space; high-level control items, once successfully used, were hard to break through. But the problem was that ordinary players couldn't easily be locked in.
"Lock him in!" Xu Huo's spiritual world was destroyed again. Even he couldn't withstand repeated spiritual trauma. He bent over and spat out blood, then waved his hand to summon a door, trapping the Gentleman player who was charging straight at him inside.
Without a powerful spiritual interference device, this could at least buy a little time.
The Moth Technique also knew that he and the Gentleman player were evenly matched, and killing him wouldn't be easy in a short time. Seeing Xu Huo's determination, he aimed at the Gentleman player's position and brought his hands together in a triangle.
The pyramid-shaped, semi-transparent, enormous space began to close in. Xu Huo used the Library Tower to buy time and retreated to the Moth Technique's side, asking, "Can you still trap other things inside?"
"What do you want to trap?" Xu Huo took out a metal box and threw it into the pyramid just before the top opening closed. Then he asked, "Are you sure you can trap a B-rank player?"
Recalling the previous failed attempt to trap Xu Huo, the Moth Technique's expression shifted slightly. "As long as he's inside, I can guarantee he won't get out before he dies!"
Xu Huo nodded firmly, then took out the A-rank item "City Sand Table."
He had used this item once before when fighting the Moth Technique. Normally, activating the sand table required sufficient spiritual power, which he hadn't yet achieved. But since the Moth Technique was also a Mental Super Evolver, their powers intersected, allowing him to successfully move one of the pieces on it.
This time, they were again within their overlapping spiritual worlds, and in a spiritual-type location at that, so it should be even easier to use!
On the white chessboard, six pieces representing people and buildings were scattered in different positions. Xu Huo stood shoulder to shoulder with the Moth Technique, one hand resting on the board, his eyes fixed on the slowly closing pyramid. When the opening at the top was very small, he let out a low shout, "Here it comes!"
The Gentleman player had found his way back, breaking through the dual barriers of the spiritual world and the real world to appear before them. Behind him trailed staff lines cascading like a waterfall—and in that instant, Xu Huo moved a piece on the chessboard.
The Gentleman player, who had been right in front of them, almost within arm's reach, was suddenly displaced as if seized by an invisible force. The next second, he appeared inside the now-sealed pyramid. The staff lines filling the space fell like raindrops, finally turning into five lines less than two meters long on the ground.
Having lost his item and trapped inside the pyramid space, the Gentleman player frantically attacked the surrounding barrier. Especially after Xu Huo picked up the staff lines, the murderous intent and venom in his eyes almost solidified into substance, and the hair on his body and face stood on end from rage.
"I've seen plenty of people who look human but don't act like it, but this is the first time I've seen someone who doesn't act human and doesn't even look human," the Moth Technique commented. With the pyramid trapping the opponent, his tense nerves relaxed slightly.
"Can't the pyramid shrink any further?" Xu Huo glanced at the Gentleman player, who was thrashing around inside like a mad beast. "It's a bit roomy in there."
"This is as far as it goes." The Moth Technique paused, staring at the Gentleman player. "No wonder a Super Evolver who can reach B-rank is never weak."
"That's not necessarily true," Xu Huo said, pointing at the government players outside. "There are Super Evolvers among them too, and they haven't even found the door yet."
"A purely physical Super Evolver fighting like this against two spiritual Super Evolvers like us is impressive enough." The Moth Technique looked at the box on the ground. "What's inside?"
"Something good." Xu Huo glanced at the Gentleman player and said slowly, "It's an A-rank bacteria. An ordinary person might die within seconds of exposure."
He had poisoned the Gentleman player earlier, but he hadn't expected the opponent's super evolution to be so strong that he had actually held out until now. Since the diluted bacteria were ineffective, he had to try the original strain.
It was the box that had contained the severed hand of the Rain Fruit.
His highly provocative expression and tone seemed to enrage the Gentleman player. The man stopped attacking the pyramid space, crushed the box with one hand, and stared unblinkingly at those outside the space. "You're not quite there yet if you want me dead. So many players from the New District Government have been lost here. Once the advanced players from the backup arrive, they'll start breaking through the instance... I won't die!"
"Is that so?" Xu Huo raised an eyebrow and gestured with his chin toward the man's hand. "Then you'd better start saying your last words now."
(Chapter End)