Chapter 1971: Zheng Yuci
First, he opened a passage for the remaining Outer Zone players, then turned and ascended the tilted main building of the company. After clearing the surrounding obstructive rays, he forcibly pressed the entire building downward while covering its exterior with Space Ray Blades to defend against the other East District players closing in.
With the Space Ray restraint removed, the Outer Zone players engaged the four A-Class players head-on. The Spatial Evolver turned back to look at Xu Huo: "So it's you."
Xu Huo raised an eyebrow and smiled but said nothing. Instead, he leaped down, plunging through the building toward the ground! As his figure flickered past the tilted windows of the building, the A-Class player high above suddenly clasped his hands together and twisted with force. The trading company's main building, which had been slowly tilting under the influence of two opposing forces, now seemed to be squeezed and twisted from both ends by an invisible power. In the span of a breath, the all-metal building warped and deformed, its height rapidly shrinking.
Xu Huo did not emerge from beneath the building, but neither was he trapped inside. Realizing he had escaped, the A-Class player hurled the building to the side with a forceful toss. He himself plummeted from the sky, piercing through the ground and the underground metal structure, landing straight into the subterranean complex, cutting off the path of the person who had silently infiltrated!
They came face to face, but Xu Huo merely smiled. He raised his hand and touched the wall to his right, then vanished like a ghost. Watching the potted plants in the corridor suddenly begin to grow wildly, the A-Class player furrowed his brows and strode in the direction Xu Huo had gone. Everywhere he passed, space was sealed off, allowing no one to enter or leave.
In fact, aside from Xu Huo's group, a few other Outer Zone players who had slipped in amidst the chaos, the East District players lying in ambush, and the West District inspectors, there were no more important figures inside the trading company. Even the company's own members had been evacuated early on.
Such an obvious trap, with the underground complex even specially remodeled, was certainly not set for a few Outer Zone players. It was unlikely that any important items were stored here either. So Xu Huo planned to blow the place up and leave. But what he didn't expect was that while tracking the rebel who had replaced him using his trait, he unexpectedly ran into Zheng Yuci, whom he had met once before.
In his eyes, Zheng Yuci was an ordinary person, with no players around her. However, when he stood at the doorway, Zheng Yuci, who had been testing the West District inspector, suddenly put down her tools and turned around, gazing at him with a gentle look.
The West District inspectors, including the rebel who had infiltrated among them, instinctively shielded Zheng Yuci when they spotted Xu Huo. But just as the layered figures blocked her from view, the entire room was overtaken by tightly interlocking hexagonal portals. They shrank from large to small, instantly becoming countless tiny holes, devouring everything around them like a surging tide!
"Honeycomb!" Xu Huo blurted out. Raising his hand, he opened over a dozen doors in front of him in quick succession. After charging through them in one go, he intended to open the Library Tower and trap Zheng Yuci inside. But just as the Library Tower opened, Zheng Yuci, who had been right in front of him, degenerated into a patch of honeycomb. At the same time, that honeycomb flowed like thick syrup along his arm, rapidly spreading over his body.
Xu Huo's gaze darkened. He then vanished from his spot and reappeared back at the doorway. Seeing that the honeycomb's tiny holes had almost sealed off his retreat, he lowered his hands, and the shadow beneath his feet began to tremble.
"Boom!" The sound from not far away made both parties in the standoff pause. Then the honeycomb retreated, the portals disappeared, and everything returned to its previous state. Zheng Yuci was still under the protection of the West District inspectors, and Xu Huo remained standing at the doorway.
The one who arrived was the A-Class player with Spatial Super Evolution. Due to the special metal and spatial barriers, it had taken him some time to seal off all the places he had passed. But midway, he realized his perception had been affected—Xu Huo was leading him on a wild goose chase. That was why he was so furious when he found his way to the inspectors.
Not only him, but also the players protecting Zheng Yuci had arrived.
In front of everyone, Xu Huo threw out the "Mini Mushroom Cloud."
"BOOM!!!"
A massive mushroom cloud erupted over the trading company's territory, and a tremendous shockwave swept through the surrounding blocks. However, because the East District was densely packed with spatial barrier seals, when the explosive force surged outward, all the barriers were activated, layer after layer canceling out the blast waves. But since the item had already exploded, it was impossible to completely prevent it from affecting the surrounding streets. Not only was the trading company blasted into a giant crater, but the impact force and flying debris from the destroyed building rendered all the sealing devices within several kilometers completely useless!
Of course, the players didn't fare well either. Except for Zheng Yuci and the West District inspectors at the very center of the explosion, who were protected by the A-Class player, almost all the players still fighting outside were caught in the blast, with some severely injured or on the verge of death.
Xu Huo retreated along with the explosive wave. Lao Zhou and Lin Cao also pulled back.
Of the twelve who had set out together, three were dead, five were captured, and only four barely remained. However, one of the other players was badly injured and didn't dare delay, leaving immediately.
Xu Huo exchanged glances with Lao Zhou and Lin Cao, and the three of them fled the trading company area as fast as possible.
After finding a safe place to rest, Lao Zhou cleaned his wounds and said, "We really took a heavy hit this time."
"I didn't expect the trading company to be a trap deliberately set by Agor Corporation," Lin Cao said while drinking a Self-Healing Agent. "We were pretty lucky."
"The trap was probably meant for the rebels," Xu Huo said. He was also injured and treated himself briefly before adding, "We ended up helping the rebels out."
"The area beneath the company was indeed a critical location. I took a look inside—many of the facilities that hadn't been moved yet were of very high specifications. I guess the rebels discovered it, and the East District players used it as bait to fish," Lin Cao added.
"Too bad we didn't find anything useful," he continued. "I've been to many districts, but I've rarely seen a Super Evolver who could use Space Power so masterfully. Maybe the East District really does have a method for training players."
"The West District inspectors are still alive," Xu Huo thought for a moment. "Qiao Qiao and the others were also captured. If we follow their trail, the East District wouldn't waste manpower capturing Outer Zone players alive for no reason."
"Look at this." Lao Zhou took out a triangular wind chime with a metal bead hanging in the middle. "I put a mark on Qiao Qiao. They'll most likely be stuffed into a Container Item and taken away. During that time, they absolutely won't be able to remove the item's effect. As soon as the East District players release him, we'll know where he's been taken."