Chapter 1520: City-Wide Sniper Kill
This attack came too suddenly, and at an extremely fast speed. Although the bullets hitting the ground looked ordinary, they were far beyond the capabilities of normal firearms.
Xu Huo only glanced at the crater blasted into the ground before turning invisible and leaving the spot. The range covered by his spiritual realm combined with spatial power was close to a thousand meters. Not finding the attacker within that radius meant the person was farther away. The greater the distance, the larger the area they could cover. Players from the outer zones were full of hidden talents, and there was no need to fight every single one of them.
He changed direction, no longer heading straight toward the city center—the direction from which the bullet had come—and the other party didn't seem intent on pursuing relentlessly, as no second bullet flew out.
Xu Huo changed direction and position several times before slowing down. The number of people tailing him decreased, but because of the large number of players in the city, he couldn't go anywhere without being watched. The closer he got to the city center, the more obvious this scrutiny became.
The busiest commercial street in the city center had been blocked off by some special power, making it impossible to probe from a distance. So he turned toward a nearby district.
Compared to other cities rife with conflict, A7 Safe Zone was unusual. These poisonous mists could take down ordinary people, but not players. Yet the city was eerily quiet, as if the players were maintaining a special kind of tacit understanding—as if they feared something, or were waiting for something.
The city's network had collapsed, making it impossible to get information from communicators. While circling the city center, Xu Huo noticed a dessert shop where quite a few players had gathered.
A dozen or so people were packed into the shop, which was only a few dozen square meters. The curtains were drawn, and one person was observing the situation through the half-closed door. He then waved at two players hiding not far away, signaling them to come over.
Xu Huo followed these two inside. The people in the shop didn't stop him, but immediately warned him not to make too much noise.
"Why are you hiding here?" he asked in confusion.
"Did you just arrive?" a bespectacled, gentle-looking female player explained, "Didn't you run into anything on the way here?"
Xu Huo shook his head. The bespectacled female player couldn't help but exclaim, "You're incredibly lucky! An hour ago, a player got 'bang'—a bullet to the head—just because he sneezed on the road!"
She mimed shooting herself in the head.
Xu Huo was shocked. "What's going on?"
"We asked around nearby. No one knows who's controlling A7 Safe Zone. We only know they might be in the city center, because the bullets all come from that direction." A dark-skinned man who had entered the dessert shop before Xu Huo pulled out a conical bullet. "I picked this up from a corpse. Have you seen it before?"
Everyone passed it around and examined it, but no one could identify it. In the end, they just took photos and posted them on the Under Dimension.
Only then did someone explain to Xu Huo what was really happening in A7 Safe Zone.
After the poisonous mist filled the entire city, the whole place was suddenly locked within a strange range. Without any warning, the attacker or the prop could fire over twenty bullets at once, precisely hitting people in different positions and directions—as long as that person tried to leave A7 Safe Zone.
These bullets looked ordinary, but they could pierce barriers formed by A-grade props. Several players who had relied on their high-grade defensive props had been forced to flee into the game, while even more players had been killed before they could react.
As for the "sneeze leading to a gunshot" that the bespectacled female player mentioned, it was another rule in this city: you couldn't make too much noise in the city, because noise could also attract bullets.
"Noise attracts bullets?" Xu Huo's tone rose slightly, as if he found it hard to believe.
"We suspect it's noise," the bespectacled female player said. "Besides those trying to escape, the ones who were shot were the ones who made a commotion. Otherwise, the city wouldn't be this quiet now."
Xu Huo paused. When the three players had attacked him earlier, they had torn up roads and demolished buildings without attracting any bullets. It was only after the fight ended that a bullet flew over... It seemed those three had used props to block the sound.
"We still don't know what's going on in the city center," another player in a hat said. "That area is covered by prop power, and ordinary props can't break through. It seems like none of the players who went in to investigate have come out. No idea how many more days we'll have to wait."
"Can't we team up with other players and make a run for it?" Xu Huo asked. "The upper limit is twenty-something bullets. If there are enough players, shouldn't that work?"
The players in the shop were either standing or sitting, and none of them seemed to want to answer him. It was the bespectacled female player who said, "We thought of that too, but the others are all too skilled and bold."
Those who wanted to leave had already tried at the beginning. Those still here were either not confident enough to leave or wanted a piece of the pie. Being able to control an entire city meant the other party was probably an A-grade player, or at least a top-tier B-grade. Someone like that would only seal off a city if there was profit to be made. Maybe there was an unexpected benefit waiting in the city center.
"Are space teleportation props and teleportation devices also restricted?" Xu Huo asked.
The bespectacled female player nodded.
"Theoretically, there must be a boundary line at the edge of the city. As long as you cross that line and use a teleportation prop in time, you can escape successfully," a thin, small man sitting in the corner said.
"Yeah, yeah," another burly man said impatiently. "You said it yourself, 'theoretically.' In reality, we don't even know where the prop's boundary line is. Before we even get close, a bullet might come flying. Can you dodge it? I sure can't."
Before anyone could respond, he angrily punched the air. "I came here to make a fortune, but who would've thought I'd be so unlucky as to get trapped here. When will those people in the city center be done? Just settle whatever it is and get the hell out, so we can..."
"Boom!" A massive explosion drowned out the man's words. A fierce blast of air shook the entire street. Then, a beam of light as thick as an arm shot straight through the dessert shop, burning through the storefront, the players sitting inside, and the street and buildings outside, leaving a deep, long trench. It then rose again and began to sweep horizontally from a height of one meter above the ground!
Xu Huo fled the dessert shop with the others, only to find three more identical, searing beams of light at three hundred, six hundred, and nine hundred meters away. They pierced through the city at different angles and moved toward the dessert shop at the same speed, continuously slicing through large swaths of urban architecture. And this was just the tip of the iceberg, because the source of the beams was in the city center. There were sixteen more equally massive beams, rotating around the city center like a giant windmill.
[The previous few chapters have been revised. Some plot points are difficult to write, so there will be partial deletions and changes. Today's update is complete. Everyone, sleep early. ^_^]