Chapter 1948: Who Framed Them
Faced with their frenzied companion, these people neither stepped in to stop him nor joined in to help. Instead, they stood aloof like spectators, looking down at those below from their elevated position.
What was even stranger was that the player slaughtering ordinary people showed no reaction to the arrival of his companions. He seemed unable to clearly distinguish who was in front of him, indiscriminately attacking every living thing he could see.
"The East District people really want to kill us all"—this thought flashed through the minds of everyone witnessing the scene at that moment. They didn't know exactly what was happening, only that after one East District player began massacring them, the later-arriving East District players tacitly condoned it.
The cleanup plan might have been a lie, and the East District people might not have truly intended to exterminate them before, but at this moment, a vague notion took root in everyone's hearts: the East District people would eventually do this—if not today, then tomorrow.
However, hatred and revenge both require time, and the breath of death was now pressing close at their side!
"Boom!" Suddenly, a streak of light shot in from afar, intercepting the broadsword swung by the East District player. A masked man flashed onto the street, raising a small square object toward the East District player. In an instant, their items swapped.
The masked man now held the East District player's broadsword, while the latter held the former's small object.
The East District player's reactions were sluggish. He looked down at the thing in his hand, and the next second, the item exploded, covering his entire face. Because he wasn't wearing a defensive face shield, the irritating mucus from the square object came into direct contact with his skin. The man immediately covered his face and screamed in agony, frantically clawing at the substance on his face. But unexpectedly, the stuff was incredibly sticky, and as he tore at it, it pulled his eyeballs out!
This unsettling scene didn't change much for the few players present, though the masked man looked somewhat surprised—probably not expecting his method to work so easily. But he didn't waste time, moving to kill the target before the other players could act.
"He's beyond saving," said one of the East District players with long hair, speaking to his companions.
The player standing beside him nodded slightly. "Already recorded."
"No matter how useless a person is, they're still one of us from the East District. It's not for a West District person to kill them," the long-haired player said as he fell from the rooftop. As he descended, the masked man, who had already charged to his target, suddenly floated up as if weightless, hurtling rapidly toward the sky.
At the same time, the other East District players split into two groups—one to surround and kill the masked man, the other to kill their own comrade.
The effect on the masked man vanished as the long-haired player landed, but he had no chance to return to the ground. He became a target in midair. As the two sides exchanged blows, the other two players had already killed the frenzied inspector. The long-haired player approached his companion, raised his blade, and severed his head. Then, wiping a hand across the face, the mad inspector's features changed.
"Disguising yourselves as inspectors to massacre civilians—so this is the extent of your Rebel Army's underhanded tactics!"
The long-haired player's voice, amplified by an item effect, covered a diameter of nearly two kilometers, clearly reaching everyone's ears.
"You... shameless!" the masked man roared in fury. He kicked away the person pressing him down with an item and dove toward the long-haired player. "Slandering me with blood on your mouths—I'll kill you!"
The long-haired player stood still, but several identical figures appeared on the street, making it impossible to tell if it was an illusion or a trick of the eyes. The masked man had no chance to figure it out either, because these figures moved in perfect unison. They raised their hands, pressing their thumbs and index fingers against a silver metal tube. As the tube closed, several shockwaves visibly radiated outward.
Neither the long-haired player nor his companions reacted to this, but the masked man caught between them, after being swept by the shockwaves, fell to his knees in agony. Blood seeped from under his mask, dripping continuously. As the shockwaves from the tube grew denser, he became even more tormented, unable even to hold his items steady!
"Cut off his hand," the long-haired player ordered his companion.
But just as the East District players were about to act, the tube suddenly lost its effect. The moment the shockwaves stopped, the masked man, snapping out of his agony, immediately used an item to teleport himself several hundred meters away.
The East District players had placed restrictions on space teleportation items, which was very inconvenient for Instance players. It didn't hinder the local West District players much, but clearly, the masked man had no intention of leaving. After putting some distance between himself and the East District inspectors, he charged wildly under the cover of his items.
Those players naturally knew their device had been interfered with, but they had no intention of letting the masked man go. Leaving one person to clean up the companion's corpse, the others immediately pursued.
The long-haired player had placed a tracker on the masked man, so he could easily obtain his escape route and direction. However, when they tracked him to a chaotic old residential area, the item failed.
"Not far. Search!" The long-haired player waved his hand, and his men immediately dispersed.
By this time, the masked man had actually already distanced himself from the East District players. During his escape, he had used an item to check if he was being tracked. Though he couldn't directly remove the item's effect, he could wait until it wore off. By the time he reached the old residential area, he felt the time was right and used a decoy item to run a segment for him.
He had originally been heading in another direction, but unexpectedly, when he passed through a certain door, the scenery before him suddenly changed. Based on the surrounding streets, he knew he had run several miles away—this was very abnormal, because when East District players mobilized, they would definitely restrict the West District, making space teleportation items impossible to use!
Not knowing what had happened, instinct drove him to activate several layers of defensive items and put a bulky-looking helmet on his head.
The place he was in seemed to be a basement. After looking around and seeing no one, he gripped a short blade and walked toward the stairs. Just as he climbed up and was about to push open the floor panel, a voice sounded behind him:
"This place is safe."
"Clang!" The masked man's short blade flew directly toward the source of the voice, but it passed through the speaker's body and stuck into the wall. Staring in shock at the person standing in the corner, he couldn't help asking, "Who are you!"
(End of Chapter)