Chapter 1554: The Clash
"Handling some personal matters, won't be meeting with the doctor for now." Chang Bei pulled her right hand out of her pocket, and with a slight exertion of force, a metal sphere shot across the space between two buildings, flying straight toward Xu Huo.
"Slap!" Xu Huo raised his hand and caught it. The object hitting his palm made a dull thud, but his arm remained steady. He glanced down at the metal ball. "What is this?"
"A puzzle ball developed by the doctor. This one's mine, I'm lending it to you to play with," Chang Bei said. "Give it back to me next time we meet."
Xu Huo stored it in his luggage compartment, then shifted the topic. "Did you finish the task Dr. Zhang assigned you?"
Chang Bei wasn't surprised. Although she had said Dr. Zhang wasn't interested in super items, she hadn't said he wasn't interested in other things.
"Still a little short."
"Looks like it's important," Xu Huo said. "Otherwise, Xue Lang wouldn't have stayed out of sight."
Chang Bei didn't refute him. Instead, she said, "Everything the doctor assigns is important."
"How many of those who left with you are still around?" Xu Huo asked again.
"I'm not sure about that." Chang Bei glanced to the side and directly ended the conversation, stepping back into the darkness. But the players who had already crept nearby during their talk weren't about to let her leave so easily. A man with disheveled hair appeared between the two buildings, lifted a stone that could emit a blinding light, and hurled it at Chang Bei.
The stone's light expanded further as it entered the office building, and the radiance itself had lethal power. Everything it illuminated—including metal—began to burn and melt!
Chang Bei's figure shot out from the other end of the building, only to be intercepted by another player who had moved to cut her off. The power of a prop formed a box as tall as a person in midair, trapping her inside. At the same time, another player swept his hand through the air, and all the steel rebar inside the office building tore through the walls, raining down like a storm toward the sky!
Too many steel bars struck densely around Chang Bei, who had just broken free from the box. They hit her faintly glowing defense barrier, creating ripples of light. But before the contest between the two sides could reach a conclusion, another wave of force swept across the sky. The countless steel bars, along with Chang Bei herself, were caught in a gravitational field and slammed heavily toward the ground!
However, this gravitational suppression didn't last long either. In the next second, several arcs of light flew in, carving out a "井" shape around Chang Bei. The separated Chang Bei, along with her defense barrier and the severed steel bars around her, were all teleported a hundred meters away—where three players were already waiting.
Chang Bei had shown considerable strength when she fought the player who claimed to be two hundred years old. But she was injured when she arrived and had no intention of retreating early. Under the relentless attacks of numerous high-level players, she was overwhelmed and quickly fell into a disadvantage. Meanwhile, the players chasing and blocking her were also restraining each other. Everyone wanted the super item, but the prerequisite for obtaining it was not letting anyone else kill Chang Bei!
This chaotic situation didn't last long, because soon two tough players intervened: Dou Shengnan and Jin Feixue.
The two appeared one after the other. The former used a prop to force all players to look at her, then quickly hypnotized the crowd. Regardless of the hypnosis's effectiveness, it at least caused most players to momentarily freeze in place.
Then Jin Feixue made his move. Descending from a higher vantage point, he casually rested his violin on his shoulder. As the melodious music began to play, the faces of many players twitched involuntarily, as if they were trying to suppress laughter. But that wasn't the main point. The real threat was the invisible air blades that came with the music.
These powerful blades not only had cutting capabilities but also carried immense force. Even when blocked by defense barriers, many players were still knocked back, instantly widening the distance between them and Chang Bei.
In a battle between high-level players, a single second was enough to turn the situation upside down. Watching Jin Feixue close in on Chang Bei, the others knew it was almost impossible to cut in!
From the moment Jin Feixue and Dou Shengnan appeared, Chang Bei had been restrained in midair by their prop power. Now that the other players had been driven off, it was time to reap the rewards. But just as the two sides faced each other, a gray mist suddenly appeared between them. No one knew how it happened, but in the blink of an eye, Chang Bei and Jin Feixue had swapped positions.
Dou Shengnan was right beside them. Ignoring her hypnosis, Chang Bei reached her hand into a spatial passage and, through the distorted channel, grabbed at the back of Dou Shengnan's neck.
The two had been standing almost face to face. This move by Chang Bei both drew the opponent's attention and completed a sneak attack. She was about to touch Dou Shengnan, but unfortunately, Jin Feixue was still behind her.
Chang Bei's eyes shifted slightly to the side, then she dove entirely into the spatial passage, vanishing from everyone's sight. But the next second, she was shaken out by a sharp violin note.
This time, she was at a disadvantage. Before she could adjust her posture, Jin Feixue grabbed her throat and twisted her head to the side.
Everyone present heard the sound of her neck bones breaking, but Jin Feixue didn't let go. He had already put away his violin prop. With one hand gripping Chang Bei's throat and the other reaching for the top of her head—he intended to tear her head off.
The fact that he launched a second attack meant that Chang Bei, despite her broken neck, wasn't dead. Sure enough, just as Jin Feixue's other hand was about to touch her, her entire body suddenly went limp, as if boneless, and she smoothly slipped out from his grip.
Even if Jin Feixue loosened his hold, it was impossible for a living person's head to slip through. This was undoubtedly the effect of a prop. Just as he was about to pursue, several spatial rays swept across the sky, slicing through every building in their path, including several players who were too slow to dodge!
Players who hadn't undergone super evolution couldn't see the spatial rays, but as their evolution rate increased, they could at least sense them somewhat. This time, the density of the spatial ray attacks wasn't high, so dodging to the side wasn't a problem.
Dodging was one thing, but after realizing that this power could even cut through props, the players who had been fighting earlier began to retreat.
"There's backup." Jin Feixue didn't attack again. He waited for Dou Shengnan to move closer and looked toward Chang Bei's direction. There, clearly, one more person had appeared.
"You're really pathetic." Xue Lang didn't even spare a glance for Jin Feixue and Dou Shengnan. Instead, he turned to mock Chang Bei first, both sneering at her for taking the blame that Xu Huo had thrown her way and ridiculing her for being trapped by players.
"Tick... tock... tick... tock..." Dou Shengnan's pocket watch was ticking, but after several seconds, Xue Lang and Chang Bei's expressions remained unchanged. They didn't even show the brief distraction that the other players had experienced from the mental power attack.
"That thing of yours is useless against me." Xue Lang turned back and said with a smile.
(Chapter End)