Chapter 1494: Jump Down
"Go say hello." The female player accompanying the group gestured to the big man.
The big man nodded, carrying a small bag of fruit as he walked toward Xu Huo with a smile, greeting him from about ten meters away.
One doesn't strike a smiling face. Xu Huo let the youth accept the fruit and asked the big man if he had any candy for sale.
"Sugar is a rare commodity." The big man took out a small bag of dark, muddy sugar from the luggage compartment. "It's really not much to look at."
Xu Huo asked the price, bought two bags from him, and said, "I'll be visiting Rain City in a few days. I hope you won't mind."
The big man's expression shifted slightly, though he still kept his smile. "As long as you're a friend, Rain City welcomes you."
The child was already captivated by the two bags of sugar mud. Xu Huo told the youth to return to the inn first and boil the sugar mud with water to share with the kids.
The seemingly frail youth, who usually dared not speak freely in front of players and adults, linked hands with the children and walked back. The unique laughter of children was something never heard before in the slums.
Not to mention in the slums, even in relatively poor cities, children wouldn't dare go out alone without adult company, let alone in such chaotic settings. Losing one or two kids wouldn't draw anyone's attention.
Due to the increased evolution rate and these people's lack of experience dealing with Super Evolvers, it wasn't difficult for Xu Huo to use his spiritual power to distort reality. He first eliminated the E-level players, leaving one C-level and four D-level players. As they closed in, he split them into two groups, turning it into a one-on-three D-level confrontation.
The two sides stared at each other, deadlocked for several seconds before ultimately not making a move—their limited combat experience told them that things that seemed either too uncertain or too certain had about the same chance of backfiring.
But that didn't mean safety. Efficient use of props might reveal clues, but some ambiguous evidence was easy to distort. The result of their self-verification was mutual suspicion, doubting that one of the five was Xu Huo in disguise.
"Everyone calm down!" The C-level player shouted. "The range of spiritual interference is limited. Just get out of his range!"
The specifics of their conversation were unclear, but for the first time, the players in the slums tacitly chose to keep this secret, ensuring no one would leak the information to Xu Huo.
That gaze, though not intimidating, gave the two players a strange sense of dissonance. Their instincts told them this person must be very strong, but their eyes made them feel he was just a slightly stronger C-level player.
"If I haven't taken him down in ten minutes, don't come any closer. Leave this place immediately." The C-level player, Brother Pan, said.
He took out a tracking bow and arrow, aimed at Xu Huo's moving figure, held for three seconds, and then released the arrow:
The people from the Underground Palace retreated without a fight, greatly disappointing the players spying nearby.
Xu Huo thanked him for his kindness but repeated, "I'll leave in a few days."
The convoy soon departed, also spreading the news that an outer zone player had appeared in the slums and would visit Rain City soon—in truth, Xu Huo's arrival wasn't a secret. The owner of the Underground Palace had already sent word to Cypress City the night before.
...
He then contacted the other four D-level players, confirming the spiritual interference had faded before telling them to maintain their distance and observe the inn's surroundings. He would personally go to the inn to wrap things up.
This was crucial. Everyone worried the longer it took, the deeper they'd be trapped. Without further delay, they split into three groups and retreated in different directions—Xu Huo's control range was definitely limited. They didn't need to find a completely safe spot; as long as they stretched the distance between them, at least one group could break free from the spiritual influence.
After moving about five hundred meters away, the C-level player, now alone, turned back and used a prop to observe the inn's surroundings. Spotting a figure trailing his companions, he smirked. "Got you."
Xu Huo was on the second floor reading materials. When they reached the inn, he spared them a glance.
The big man gave Xu Huo a thumbs-up.
Before evening fell, those two players couldn't hold back and came to the inn, intending to probe Xu Huo's strength. They had learned from the Underground Palace people that he was a Super Evolver, but they thought the slum dwellers had exaggerated his power, so they came to see for themselves.
Seeing that he had a plan, the innkeeper didn't say more and just helped the lame youth with the cooking.
The longer the spiritual interference lasted, the better the effect. But to test the results, Xu Huo only had them circle the area twice before pitting them against each other, letting the three D-level players initiate the attack.
The number wasn't large, but these players with improved strength were exactly what Xu Huo needed. Since they were offering themselves up, why refuse? When they were still six to seven hundred meters away, he pulled them all into the spiritual world at once.
Visual and auditory interference made them mistake their companions for Xu Huo, and they struck to kill immediately. On the other side, they fought back under the same interference. However, during the fight, their combat abilities, habits, and props quickly revealed each other's identities. Realizing they had been affected, the five stopped fighting and tried to verify their identities in different ways.
By the time Xu Huo walked back to the inn, the three players from Cypress City who had come to gather information had already arrived at the Underground Palace.
The half-arm-length arrow automatically avoided the barriers in between, frequently changing its trajectory until it reached a spot not far from the inn, precisely hitting the figure weaving through the buildings and streets.
The innkeeper had the foresight to warn Xu Huo to be careful of the forces behind the Underground Palace and the casino. Although it was true that anyone with real strength wouldn't end up in the slums, scraps were still cut from the main piece. If there was profit to be made, more players would come, and 026 wasn't truly empty.
"Brother Pan, be careful of a trap." A companion warned.
This arrow didn't kill the target, but the C-level player saw his five companions, who had been circling inside a broken house moments ago, suddenly stop and rush out the door.
However, not hitting a wall before turning back was a universal human trait. Late at night, those two players returned, bringing ten more players, including one C-level player and four D-level players.
After speaking, he hung up the communicator and flashed to the spot where Xu Huo had supposedly "fallen injured."
There were faint, unclear bloodstains on the ground, but Brother Pan didn't let his guard down. He activated an anti-interference prop and followed the blood trail, soon arriving before a half-open door.
He opened the door from a distance. The room was empty, but the door opposite was tightly shut. Just as he was about to step forward, he suddenly paused. A flash of intuition made him look down, only to find that the stone floor had inexplicably turned into an abyss!
Startled, he was about to retreat when he heard a voice behind him say, "Jump down."
(Chapter End)
Hai Yan Shan