Chapter 1628: Trying It Out Is Also Fine
Tong Qi was startled, but relaxed when he heard his voice. He whispered, "You're finally awake. I don't know what happened—when I opened my eyes, it was like this. Seven or eight people are missing, and the monitors are all gone. I don't know if they were killed or just disappeared."
The poison gas didn't have much effect on players wearing protective suits. Besides, to guard against the toxic fungi in the city, players had to inject several doses of antidote every day. As long as it wasn't some particularly insidious poison, the problem wasn't too severe—at least it wouldn't kill anyone in a short time.
Still, some people had been taken down, since they had taken off their protective suits during the day and hadn't put them back on.
Xu Huo swept his gaze across the entire mall. Aside from the eight people Tong Qi mentioned, the remaining players were still there. No one who had left during the day had returned. However, the scarred man with glasses and Young Master Mo, who should have been sleeping inside the location item, were both missing.
There was no trace of them nearby.
Because of the spreading poison gas, visibility in the mall wasn't great, but Xu Huo had woken up just in time. As he spoke, players were creeping over from outside.
Xu Huo had suddenly woken from his dream, having actually slept for less than two hours. There was still some time before dawn. His sleep duration had always been long, so these people had probably timed it well—first luring away the only B-rank player, the scarred man with glasses, before making their move.
To lure away the scarred man with glasses, they must have tampered with Young Master Mo somehow.
As for the other six, they might have left like the scarred man or been taken away.
Whatever their goal, they couldn't be allowed to kill everyone left.
He walked out of the mall and brought the four players approaching from different directions before him. After using "Please Sit," he simply broke their legs, then stood in front of them and said, "Coming over in the dead of night—I doubt it's to tuck the people inside in."
The four were terrified. They hadn't expected Xu Huo to still be awake, and regret was written all over their faces. One of them immediately said, "Don't kill us! I can tell you the clearance clue!"
The other three were even more shocked than Xu Huo.
"Oh? If you really can give me the clearance clue, I might consider letting you go. But your companions..." Xu Huo deliberately trailed off.
"I don't know them!" that player quickly said. "I only care about myself!"
"Don't believe him! He's been with us the whole time—how could he know the clearance clue?" the player beside him immediately retorted. "If he knew how to clear it, why would he come here with us?"
"I'm not a ticket player. Clearing or not clearing doesn't matter to me—I just want to survive. Besides, coming to the mall doesn't conflict with clearing. Who doesn't want to make a fortune!" the first player said matter-of-factly, then told Xu Huo he would only speak to him alone.
Xu Huo used a silencing item and gestured for him to continue.
But the other player signaled him to come closer.
Xu Huo didn't move. Instead, he said, "If you're trying to stall until your trait's time runs out or pull some other trick, I advise you not to bother. Even if you stand up from that chair, you won't be able to leave."
That player had no choice but to say, "Actually, there are still players in the city who haven't come. I ran into them by accident a couple of days ago. There were two at first, but today I only saw one. He went to the edge of the city where there's more toxic fungi to pick and eat them."
"A normal person wouldn't eat poisonous things for no reason. His companion must have entered another space. We've had plenty of people go missing on our side too, but nobody trusts each other. If there really is another space where you can clear the instance, no one would bother to tell anyone else. Only absolutely trusted friends and family would pass on the message!"
"Didn't you say the game's background mentioned that someone on the verge of death saw the 'Midsummer Night Star River'? Maybe you really have to reach that state! Besides, weren't all the people who went missing earlier having mental problems before they disappeared? It's worth a try!"
The idea wasn't bad, but it didn't hold up for Xu Huo.
First, his level of mental evolution made it impossible for him to reach the same level of exhaustion as other players in a short time, even if he increased his sleep frequency.
Second, even if he went to pick and eat the toxic fungi here now, he might not reach a "near-death" state. And there was another problem—not everyone who was near death entered another space. Some just died outright. No one could pinpoint that standard.
The only good news was that his chances of dying in this instance were very low. He was more likely than anyone to endure until the instance time ended and leave calmly.
"Trying it out is also fine." As the other player's expression just began to relax, Xu Huo generously gave him a dose of poison. "If near-death really can let you enter another space, you might succeed. If you see the 'Star River,' you naturally won't die."
"But if the 'Star River' can't save you, or you can't find it at all, remember to send me a message to let me know you're safe."
"Though I don't know if another space can connect to the game district, this will verify whether your guess is correct. Happy?"
The man's mouth fell open. His expression shifted from anger to hatred, then to forbearance and regret. In the end, he didn't curse out loud. Before the poison took effect, he said, "I'll post a bounty on the game bounty platform under the name 'Midsummer Night Star River'!"
Xu Huo nodded in satisfaction and pulled up a chair to sit down beside him.
By then, the four players' trait time had expired. They couldn't use space teleportation items, and the area was blocked by a space ray barrier. With their legs broken, they could only sit frozen in place.
Xu Huo's poison worked faster than the toxic fungi here. Soon, black blood vessels crawled across that player's face, and even his mouth and the whites of his eyes turned a dark gray. He began to convulse. He could still move, but when the poison became unbearable, he frantically injected antidotes. No one stopped him, but his condition only worsened. Eventually, he collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath, watching his own life slip away.
He reached a hand toward Xu Huo. "Antidote... I can... I'll give you all my items..."
Xu Huo looked at him, his expression and movements unchanged.
Half a minute later, the man breathed his last.
"Too bad," Xu Huo said flatly. Then he turned his gaze to the other three, injecting them with poison in the same manner, and said, "Don't worry, I've lowered the dosage this time. You won't suffer as much as he did, and you won't die as quickly."
"You motherf*cking bastard!" One of them burst into action with an item, breaking through the space ray barrier and teleporting behind Xu Huo. He first used his trait to restrict Xu Huo's range of motion, then swung a blade horizontally at his neck.
(Chapter End)