Chapter 1776: Tossing a Stone into the Water
The sudden mental impact left Xu Huo momentarily dazed. Originally, facing the encirclement of numerous A-level players, he had only been barely holding his own. If not for the fact that the government players were holding back to capture him alive, the battle would have ended much sooner. So when he stopped, two players descended directly from the sky, using immense gravity to pin him to the ground, while one of them produced a pair of bracelet-type items and hurled them straight at his wrists.
"Boom!" The magician puppet that suddenly appeared in front of Xu Huo knocked the items away. It swung its hands back to draw the long blades strapped to its back, twisted its wrist, and swept through the air in a single swift motion, forcefully driving back the two players who were right on top of him!
Then the combat robot, the housekeeper Unit 11, crouched down and scooped up Xu Huo while scattering a handful of small bombs and smoke grenades!
Such petty tricks certainly couldn't inflict substantial damage on A-level players, but with the cover of the smoke, Xu Huo used the special item "Look at My Back" to create a decoy figure, while he himself stepped through the Spiritual Gate and crossed into the main building's entrance.
Matri Dolaiti had long since vanished without a trace. There were even more A-level players inside the government building, including no small number of Super Evolvers. Xu Huo's earlier release of his Spiritual Realm had been met with an attack from a fellow Mental Evolver among the players. So for him to force his way into the government building at this point was something no one could understand. Even if he wanted to take a hostage, it would be better to do it on the street than to charge into the government building!
Because the government players had used spiritual power, they had now shut down the jamming devices. Bracing against the opponent's mental assault, Xu Huo manipulated Space Rays to slash wildly at the furnishings on the first floor, using the flying debris as cover to severely injure an A-level player who specialized in close-quarters combat!
The black long blade formed from the materialization of spiritual power, after piercing through that player's chest, rapidly split its tip into several short blades, then forcefully retracted, directly tearing through the opponent's entire torso—if that player hadn't been a Super Evolver with extremely fast bodily recovery, this strike would have been enough to kill him!
One player retreated, but more players filled the gap. Meanwhile, outside, the "magician puppet" had been dismembered by three players, and the combat housekeeper had been reduced to a pile of scrap metal. Another player broke through Xu Huo's Defense Barrier, and under the impact of the black blade, it deviated from its original trajectory and pierced through the bone of his left shoulder!
After stabbing him, the opponent didn't rush to pull the item out, but said coldly, "If it weren't for the order to keep you alive, do you think you'd have lasted this long?"
Xu Huo said nothing. Instead, he curled his lips into a smile and raised a finger, pointing upward.
The opponent was puzzled, but before he could act, another player flashed beside him, grabbed the arm that was about to sever Xu Huo's shoulder bone, and said in a deep voice, "Mr. Zheng ordered you to stop."
The player who had stabbed Xu Huo paused for a moment but was about to continue, but the player blocking him directly knocked the item out of his hand, then restrained him and escorted him out of the building.
More players arrived in succession. All those who had been besieging Xu Huo were stopped, including those who had been fighting the robots and third-party players inside and out. The vanished Zheng Shijiu reappeared at the entrance of the government building. He gestured to his men, and several of the leading players were forced to the ground with their hands bound by bracelet items.
"Disobeying orders, taking action on your own, threatening the safety of ordinary citizens—ten days from now, you will face a public trial." Zheng Shijiu sealed the mouths of these few and announced it to the crowd.
Those players had only been following orders. Upon hearing about a public trial, they immediately looked toward the main government building. On the top floor, the Grand Archon and Matri Dolaiti, who had been hiding, both appeared at the window, silently watching everything below.
They had already reached an agreement.
Clearly, opinions within the district government were not unified, which was why this incident had occurred. In the brief time of the fight, the internal divisions within the government had been resolved, and a new decision had been made.
Zheng Shijiu had gained the upper hand.
"What is that!" Before the crowd could recover from the abrupt halt in hostilities, someone was startled by a massive object that suddenly appeared in the sky and was rapidly descending!
"Meteor! It's a meteor!" someone shouted.
There was no need for the government to arrange it; the defense systems installed within the city had already activated. These defense systems included tracking and demolition, designed not only to defend against attacks but also to handle celestial meteorites. Under normal circumstances, a meteor wouldn't even get past the first layer of missile defense, being blown up at an altitude that wouldn't affect the ground at all, completely undisturbed for Zone 019's daily life. However, this meteorite didn't even touch the multiple layers of high-altitude defense systems; it appeared directly above the city!
The sky above the district government's city was packed with various aircraft due to the "Ember Maiden" incident, so they captured the sudden appearance of this massive rock in real-time. In an instant, no one cared about the "Ember Maiden" anymore, because the rock displayed on the Message Collection Terminal was no meteor at all—it was a rocky mountain with a metal protective shell wrapped around its base!
The rocky mountain was a mountain formed from a single piece of stone, standing independently on the ground from its inception, with no other mountain ranges around it, and it had a unique shape. So when the city was being built, it was left alone, and a large park was built around it. That park was right behind the district government. Behind the district government, there were no other buildings. A park that occupied a third of the entire city led straight out of the city... People came every day to visit this giant rock. City residents saw it daily. Standing before it, it felt like a mountain. No one ever imagined that one day this mountain would fly into the sky, and right above the district government!
At such a short distance, any plan to destroy the rocky mountain was too late. And if the mountain were blown up, the flying debris would cause unpredictable secondary damage. But its volume was simply too massive. If it were allowed to fall, the entire district government would be reduced to rubble!
Zheng Shijiu, who had been at the entrance of the building, shot into the air, holding a circular space device. After activating it, nearly a hundred electric arcs spread out in all directions, connecting to metal pillars that rose from the ground.
These metal pillars surrounded the entire district government, each with a connector at the top. After linking up with the electric arcs released from the center, a massive Space Teleportation Portal appeared above the government building!
From below, the space portal, composed almost entirely of floating, multi-colored, darting electric arcs, was large enough to cover the entire district government. It stood between the government and the falling mountain, ready to absorb the impact!
Xu Huo supported his body and walked out of the government building. He knew there was a rock formation near the district government. This was a district that relied on exporting gems for its economy, so the city was filled with rocky landscapes. Using "Heavenly Justice" had been a gamble. That was why he had to enter the government building to find a target. The item worked best on ordinary people, with a lower chance of being blocked or evaded. His main goal was to destroy the government building, the symbol of Zone 019. He never expected this item to be so vastly different from "Holder's Demise" in its effectiveness!