Chapter 1895: When in Danger, Find an Adult
Xu Huo smiled. "I came fairly prepared."
The four small knives flew toward him again. As he dodged them, he said, "When you encounter an absolutely undefeatable opponent, if they don't kill you outright, wait for an opportunity. Escaping is the best option. If you can't escape and have to fight for your life, don't think about weakening the opponent—go straight for the kill."
"The probability of success is the same for you in both cases. Succeeding at the former will only enrage the opponent, while the latter might create a miracle."
"I don't believe in miracles." Tan Qi was starting to run out of stamina, breathing heavily as he said, "An ordinary person can never win against a player. Killing a player is as hard as reaching the sky."
Tan Qi still wanted to become a player. Before, he had hoped to learn something from Xu Huo, but after being clearly rejected, he had tried to work toward other avenues. At least in the early stages of becoming a player, combat skills were very useful.
"Ordinary people can kill players." Xu Huo denied his words. "Otherwise, why do you think those players have to keep their heads down when they go to more developed districts?"
"Weapons are crucial."
"Items can't be used effectively by ordinary people, but instruments can."
"No matter how you put it, you still want me to learn instrument crafting with Xiao Yuan." Tan Qi was still hung up on it. "Without real strength of my own, even if I hold the most powerful instrument, I'll only be at someone else's mercy."
"You don't understand what I mean." Xu Huo said, "I'm saying you can rely on external forces. If you were a member of the Black Epaulets now, would you still try to fight me one-on-one like this?"
Tan Qi stopped his movements. "Are you saying I should let others protect me?"
Xu Huo tossed away the paper book. "I'm saying you should use others' strength. Passive protection and active utilization are two different things."
Tan Qi was silent for a few seconds before asking, "Where are you planning to send me and Xiao Yuan?"
"Platinum Eye." Xu Huo answered his question directly.
Tan Qi looked like he understood. "Your enemy is about to show up?"
"Maybe." Xu Huo didn't care about his attitude. He said, "Before you become a player, you still need to protect yourself. When in danger, find an adult—that's more practical for you."
Although Tan Qi was unconvinced, he had to admit Xu Huo had a point. After a pause, he said, "Just because I can't beat you now doesn't mean I'll never beat you."
Xu Huo nodded and told him to go get Xiao Yuan.
Tan Qi obediently went. After Xiao Yuan came over, Xu Huo taught her some basic self-defense techniques. Of course, this was meant as a last-ditch effort in desperate situations. In other circumstances, when encountering danger, the options were either to run or to seek help—there was no other way.
After listening, Xiao Yuan asked, "Is the place we're going to very dangerous?"
"It's not too bad, but you'll have to travel on your own, so it's better to learn more." Xu Huo said.
Xiao Yuan nodded vigorously. "I'll study hard and protect myself."
So during this rest period, Xu Huo's daily routine involved sparring with the two children. The rest of his time was spent on physical training. Of course, the chain reaction brought by "Predicting the Future" hadn't disappeared. He would occasionally suffer sudden headaches and dizziness, but the duration was short and still bearable. During this time, he researched Temporal Super Evolution through various channels and also asked Lady Lily about the Temporal Evolver in District 011, but didn't gain much valuable information.
First, Temporal Super Evolvers were very rare. Second, even if someone had achieved the level of predicting the future through this evolution, they wouldn't make it public.
The identities of Super Players in District 011 were all kept confidential. Even Lady Lily only roughly knew that the person came from a good background. As for which family they belonged to or where they usually were, there was no clue at all.
Additionally, Xu Huo found some materials about Temporal Super Evolution that seemed to have been released by official sources. He had also asked whether Temporal Super Evolution could predict the future, but received a negative answer. Almost everyone who knew something about it said they had never seen a "person" who could predict the future, and Super Evolvers were no exception.
"Friend, Super Evolvers are just stronger—they haven't become immortals or gods." Someone mercilessly mocked him.
Temporal Super Evolution was quite abstract, unlike the intuitive effects of Spatial Evolution. In Xu Huo's own case, even if he encountered a Temporal Super Evolver, it would be difficult to determine whether they were truly a Super Evolver, because Time Power seemed hard to affect others before an absolute qualitative change. For example, connecting timelines would at least require being able to perceive the timelines of other spaces.
It was far too easy to conceal Temporal Super Evolution.
Without specific reference cases, Xu Huo ultimately focused his attention on the Temporal Evolvers in District 011.
Regarding the previous incident at the Herta Family Laboratory, Lady Lily had promised to apply for a title for him. During his time at Rose Castle, Lady Lily followed through on this. The District Government and several core noble families passed the relevant review and commissioned Lady Lily to award him the Rose Knight Medal.
When Lady Lily brought the medal, she was also apologetic. "I didn't expect those people wouldn't even bother to think of a proper title."
Xu Huo didn't mind. These titles and medals were worthless. Nobles with some rank wouldn't even dare to introduce themselves without three or four titles. To save trouble, the District Government naturally took the simplest route. Only titles for heavyweight figures or those awarded for special contributions would be carefully chosen; everything else was just casually thrown together.
However, having the title meant there was an opportunity to build connections among the nobility. He prepared a banquet at Rose Castle to showcase his strength, using the castle's various arrangements and decorations to publicize the fact that the new successor was very wealthy. Only then did he send visiting cards to noble families of higher status.
Of course, some people extended olive branches to him, inviting him to invest or join projects, etc.
Those who would reach out just because of a lavish banquet wouldn't be heavyweight figures. Xu Huo's main target was still the banquets of the noble families.
After enough reciprocal exchanges, some people were naturally willing to approach him.
Many members of these families were also players. Compared to Lady Lily, who wasn't a player, being among them might yield different gains.
So after attending two banquets, Xu Huo heard a rumor from others' casual conversation—that the Super Player of District 011 had temporarily left.
The District Government certainly wouldn't voluntarily leak the whereabouts of a Super Player. So how did this news come out? It was because the elder of the speaker's family had come out of a Super Instance.
District 011 had no random instances. This was a special privilege only for districts with Super Instances. They mentioned that after the Super Player left, the people who had originally planned to enter the Super Instance didn't go in anymore. Either the Super Instance was held by the Super Player, or the Super Player needed to take people inside. From what was heard, it seemed more like the Super Instance was held by the Super Player.
With more people coming out of the instance, various families suddenly had bits and pieces of information.