Chapter 1513: Standing Still Is a Very Dangerous Thing
The tall, burly man rubbed his chin, grinning as he walked toward the warehouse where the base personnel were locked up, and said, "I like 'em wild."
Compared to the man's bluntness, the other two interested players were more reserved, reminding him to take the person to a small room and not make the scene too ugly.
The tall, burly man waved his hand dismissively, entered the warehouse, and closed the door behind him.
There were at least dozens of people locked in that warehouse, but not only did he not avoid them, he instead intended to do the opposite.
Soon, a not-too-loud commotion came from inside the warehouse—earlier, to keep the base personnel and those who had taken refuge quiet, anyone who spoke or made a sound was shot. This was the iron rule set by the leading middle-aged man, so at the moment, no one found it strange that no voices came from the warehouse.
However, after a while, the people outside sensed something was wrong, because the warehouse had become too quiet.
Everyone immediately became alert. At the middle-aged man's signal, two players near the warehouse silently approached. They tentatively pushed the door open, first tossed a tracking item inside, then rushed in—only to find that the item had merely locked onto the base personnel originally imprisoned in the warehouse, with no trace of any player at all!
But the tall, burly man's body lay on the ground; he had been killed by a broken neck.
"Who did this!" one of them shouted, aiming his gun at the military personnel inside the base. However, before he could grab someone to interrogate, the entire base's power was suddenly cut off.
This wasn't a major problem; the base had emergency lights. Even without them, players ranked C-level or above, even if they hadn't evolved night vision, would have plenty of items for use at night. Immediately, players both inside and outside the warehouse pulled out lighting items. But unexpectedly, the moment the lights came on, the two holding the items suddenly vanished from their spots—disappearing right before everyone's eyes, as if turning invisible or entering another unseen space!
"Nowhere to hide!" The middle-aged man twisted the pointer on his wrist, and several small rubber balloons shaped like arrows shot out and hovered around him, seemingly locking onto a target. But the arrow balloons spun around in the air without pointing to any precise location.
"The person isn't in this room!" the middle-aged man barked. Immediately, three players rushed toward the door. However, as they passed through the doorway, their bodies were smoothly sliced into three segments. Blood streaked across the tangent line spread across the door, then splattered to the ground as the line vanished.
The players in the room were startled, including the middle-aged man. At least before those three died, none of them had noticed any items set up at the door or any players lurking there...
This was not a good sign. Even if the players themselves couldn't detect it, the item's detection wouldn't be wrong. Since the item gave no warning, it meant that indeed no one had been at the door at that moment, but the appearance and disappearance of the item were undeniable facts.
"The person coming is probably no pushover," the young man said in a low voice, standing behind the middle-aged man.
"Ha!" The remaining player in the warehouse suddenly laughed, grabbed a soldier with his hands tied behind his back, pressed a gun to his neck, and said, "If you've got guts, come out and fight me one-on-one..."
Before he could finish, a bloody hole was punched through his forehead. A black metal bead shot from the back of his head through his brow, its momentum unchecked, heading straight for the middle-aged man in front.
The middle-aged man was startled, and his defense item had already deployed. But just as the metal bead was about to hit the defense barrier, it vanished into thin air like the two players before. Then, two more players who had run in from outside also disappeared at the doorway—this room, whether inside or outside the door, seemed as eerie as an overlapping space.
"It's a Super Evolver," the middle-aged man quickly realized, sneering, "No matter what kind of Super Evolution, breaking through thick walls is hard. This control room has a warehouse on one side, a door on another, and rocks on another—so you can only be hiding here!"
As he spoke, he punched the side wall from a distance. The immense power from the item blasted straight through the entire wall. Amid the flying rubble, the middle-aged man suddenly vanished from his spot, and at the same time, another figure took his place!
Xu Huo was "swapped" out by the middle-aged man. He raised an eyebrow slightly, casually used "Starfall" and "Inviolable Domain" to create an almost unbreachable defense barrier, then, relying on his speed surpassing evolution, moved freely to kill two more people, and casually used the Black Blade to break through the short-haired female player's defense barrier.
"No approaching!" the female player used her trait. Xu Huo, about to step forward, was blocked by an invisible force, and at the same time, two more people closed in from behind.
Direct item attacks were easily blocked, but traits and some long-range items could be effective. For example, after being blocked by the trait, the tip of the Black Blade in Xu Huo's hand drooped to the ground and became difficult to lift.
"One of your defense items has a brief gap every few seconds, but my item can take effect continuously without a break!" said a short player, holding a jade tablet inscribed with "Lay Down the Butcher's Knife."
Xu Huo nodded, fully acknowledging his keen observation, then raised a finger. As the Space Ray moved, "All Things Want to Cut Everything" sliced the player and his jade tablet in two.
"Standing still is a very dangerous thing."
As he spoke, Xu Huo made a door-opening gesture, and he moved behind the two players who had been bounced away by the "Goalkeeper" barrier. The Black Blade, now back in his hand, swept through the air but missed—seeing the situation was unfavorable, one used a ticket to run, and the other used a teleportation item to flee.
Xu Huo wasn't too bothered by the missed attack. He curled his lips and turned his gaze to the remaining few.
This group had only banded together after arriving in Zone 017. The middle-aged man, relying on his strength and cunning, had taken the top spot. The others had been persuaded by his plan to come to this military base. The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. Now that a stronger player had arrived, aside from the two quick-witted ones who had already slipped away, the rest looked toward the next room:
The middle-aged man, after swapping positions with Xu Huo, had never come out.
Unfortunately, he had already left while the others were distracting Xu Huo.
"Wait, wait!" the young man raised his hands in surrender. "Bro, we just teamed up temporarily to get some benefits. It doesn't have to be a fight to the death. If you want to save the base people, no problem. We'll leave right away. Or better yet, the money we were squeezing from the Zone 017 government—you take the big share, just give us a little for our trouble!"