Chapter 1465: The Barrier of Mental Evolution
The numbers jumping on the instrument suddenly returned to zero. In the next room, the mental power that had filled the space was instantly drained. Standing a few meters away, Bai Kou looked at the person leaning against the wall and asked, "Is the dizziness over?"
For Xu Huo, the biggest aftereffect of mental power interference was endless vertigo. As for coughing up blood, that happened because when he tried to enter the third layer of space within Bai Kou's spiritual world, he was struck by materialized mental power. The pain in his chest would slowly ease, but the dizziness—like his brain was being stirred—refused to fade. His vision went dark for a moment, and he had to steady himself against the wall.
"Come back tomorrow." Bai Kou glanced at the time and left the testing room.
In his swaying field of vision, her tall silhouette disappeared behind the closing door. Xu Huo simply sat down on the floor to rest. He didn't use any potion to speed up his recovery but instead focused on adapting to the feeling of mental trauma.
The mental evolvers he had encountered before, including E Shu, were not particularly strong opponents. He was the same, still stuck at the stage of mental interference.
The reason it was called mental interference was that the depth of mental power's effect on someone entering a spiritual world was insufficient—it could only be called interference. The most direct manifestations were affecting vision and hearing. As abilities grew stronger, they could influence touch and perception. But all of this was based on the opponent's mental strength. The effectiveness of interference depended on the mental state of the person being affected. The higher a player's evolution rate and level, the stronger their mental fortitude would be, increasing alongside their physical attributes. In other words, players with stronger mental strength were less susceptible to interference than those slightly weaker, which directly impacted the effectiveness of the spiritual world.
Further enhanced materialized mental power was different. It could simulate the state of a weapon for attacks, dealing substantial damage. Regardless of whether mental interference could fully affect the opponent, this materialized mental power was not easily weakened and could replace physical weapons in combat. Of course, if the opponent was deeply trapped in the spiritual world, the effect would only be better.
But just now, he had genuinely felt an attack of mental power—not from a materialized object, but a pure power crush, something on the level of the spiritual world itself.
If the brain of a mental evolver was a core that released power, his duel with Bai Kou felt like her mental power had pierced through the protective layer of that core, causing him substantial trauma.
This feeling was like being drunk, slow to recover. The items or instruments targeting mental evolvers were more like forced blockers. While they could cause discomfort to the evolver, the duration was short. Comparing the two, the latter could hardly be called mental trauma.
This should be another level of mental evolution, with a huge barrier between it and the concentration of power to materialize part of it.
Once he understood this, Xu Huo's chaotic mind cleared slightly. He checked the time—half an hour had passed.
After cleaning the bloodstains from his clothes, he opened the door and stepped out.
A player was standing outside the door. Seeing him emerge, the player said, "Miss Kou Kou asked me to see you out."
"Thank you." Xu Huo nodded and followed him out of the inner castle.
The player turned back after seeing him out of the inner castle. Xu Huo lingered outside for a while before leaving.
Afterward, he headed straight to Yongxing Hotel and used his membership card to check in.
He booked a single room. Just as he got his room number, the player who had entered right after him also checked in, with a room right next to his.
The two entered the elevator at the same time. After a brief shared moment, they walked into adjacent rooms one after the other.
Closing the door, Xu Huo poured a glass of water and sat down, closing his eyes as if utterly exhausted.
The player who had been watching him since he entered the room dragged a chair to sit less than ten meters away. Separated by a wall, the man stared at Xu Huo, who was leaning back on the sofa, and answered a communicator without making a sound.
"He's entered Yongxing... looks very tired... Hou Pei saw him out, didn't see Miss Kou Kou... they left the lounge earlier, unknown location. Mechanical Castle is within Miss Kou Kou's absolute spiritual world range, so I didn't follow in."
"...Yes... I understand."
When the call ended, the man's gaze was still fixed on Xu Huo, who was resting with his eyes closed. They maintained this posture for half an hour. The man, probably getting bored, pulled out some snacks to eat.
Just as he was cracking sunflower seeds with gusto, Xu Huo suddenly stood up. The man's movements paused, and he watched Xu Huo walk from the small living room into the bathroom.
The bathroom door wasn't closed. A moment later, a white shadow suddenly flashed past the doorway. The man's eyes flickered, but he quickly refocused on the spot where Xu Huo had been.
After washing his face, Xu Huo left the bathroom, first used the service system to order food, then went to the balcony, sat down by a potted plant, and lit a cigarette.
The person in the next room shifted position accordingly.
Before he had smoked half the cigarette, a robot delivered the meal. Xu Huo stubbed out the cigarette and returned to the room.
After eating, he set an alarm through the service system, kicked off his shoes, and lay down on the bed to sleep.
Seeing that he seemed to be genuinely asleep, the player next door got up to move around, ate and washed up, then also lay down on the bed.
The bedrooms of the two rooms were adjacent, separated only by two hallways and a wall.
Within this range, the man next door wasn't watching as closely as before and instead started watching real-time news.
Xu Huo wasn't asleep. When he had moved around the room earlier, he had roughly figured out the other's clairvoyance conditions.
The number of walls that could be penetrated was probably just one. When he entered the bathroom, the man's line of sight didn't follow his movements.
The visible distance was about twelve meters. The spot where he smoked was more than ten meters away from the other person, so the man had shifted outward. When Xu Huo returned to the room, the man went back to his original position.
But he wasn't sensitive to sound. When Xu Huo spoke with his back to the wall, the man didn't react.
This person had been following him since he left Mechanical Castle. From the content of the call, the tracking was because he had gone to see Bai Kou today.
Was it someone from the Platinum Eye government, or another faction?
Unsure of the other's intentions, Xu Huo decided not to shake him off for now. After setting up basic defenses, he gradually relaxed and fell asleep.
Probably due to extreme fatigue, he slept very deeply. The alarm went off three times before fully waking him. But after waking, his energy had recovered somewhat. While it wasn't yet completely dark, he ate a meal, took a flying vehicle to Star Moon Intersection, watched two arena matches, and then went to meet Xin Rong's appointment.
They had arranged to meet at a private club.
Xin Rong had already informed the doorman in advance, so the flying vehicle was allowed in directly. Following the floating indicators to the small courtyard gate, Xu Huo had just gotten out of the car when Xin Rong grabbed him, patting his shoulder and pulling him inside: "Finally found time for me! Come on, come on, we're going all out tonight!"
(Chapter End)