Chapter 2005: East District Farewell
Zheng Yuci had left, but the projection device he left behind hadn't disappeared. Players from other zones had already begun searching for the new "White Blood" based on the address displayed. Another round of offensive and defensive battles was about to begin. Both the East District and the Rebel Army had dispatched some of their forces to intercept them, while the rest remained at the original battleground, preparing for the final deathmatch.
Having failed to kill Zheng Yuci, Zhang Xian was dejected and despairing. His strength failing him, he knelt on the ground, clutching his wound and saying, "To think he got away like this..."
"Does the Rebel Army really hold such deep hatred for him?" Xu Huo remained standing in his original position, cleaning the Puzzle Ball with a tool as he spoke. "Shouldn't you hate Agor more?"
The Evil Ghost Mask had already left the battlefield to rejoin his companion. He answered in Zhang Xian's stead, "Wildfire cannot be completely burned out; with the spring wind, it grows again. As long as he isn't dead, he could return at any time."
"Actually, now that his experiments have been exposed, your goal has been achieved," Xu Huo said calmly. "An unstable environment is no longer a suitable experimental base for Zheng Yuci. Even without you killing him, he would leave on his own."
Zheng Yuci and Dr. Zhang seemed to have chosen two different paths to cultivate players, but in reality, they both led to the same end. Being unnoticed and undiscovered was more conducive to their long-term, stable experiments. Their main focus was on their own work, and they absolutely didn't want to divert their attention to deal with intermittent disturbances.
Moreover, instability also meant danger.
The Evil Ghost Mask and Zhang Xian were skeptical of his words, but it was certain that Zheng Yuci had been injured before leaving. This meant he definitely wouldn't show his face again in the short term. They had essentially completed their pre-arranged plan. There was still a fierce battle ahead with the Rebel Army, but it wasn't worth sacrificing all their fresh forces. Therefore, the Evil Ghost Mask sent a signal, ordering a portion of their people to retreat and preserve their strength.
Xu Huo had already put away the Puzzle Ball by now. He swept his gaze over the Zone 035 players lurking nearby, then asked Zhang Xian and the other, "What's the situation with the White Bear Laboratory?"
The two paused, then hesitated before telling him the truth. The White Bear Laboratory had been blown to smithereens. Several factions had lost many people, but no one knew who had ended up with the "White Blood" stored inside. The Rebel Army certainly hadn't gotten it.
"This might be Zheng Yuci setting up a diversion. There may not even be White Blood in the other laboratory," the Evil Ghost Mask said. "Is your clearance mission the White Blood?"
"There's the White Blood, and also catching the Pigeon." Xu Huo withdrew his gaze and fixed it on the two of them. "The Pigeon. The Strategist."
That's right, these two were the Pigeon, leader of the Rebel Army, and the Strategist, who held immense prestige within the organization.
Seeing him suddenly turn his blade on them, the Pigeon immediately became wary. The hand behind his back quietly took out a teleportation item, but unfortunately, the space teleportation item still couldn't be activated. Given their current state, entering the station wouldn't be much better either. For a moment, they could only remain locked in a stalemate.
Just then, a nearby player watching the scene launched a sneak attack. Xu Huo didn't move an inch. The moment the invisible defense barrier blocked the attack, the attacker was pulled right in front of him. Still, no one could see how he did it. Within two seconds, the attacking player, along with his defense barrier, was sliced to pieces, spilling a large pool of blood onto the ground.
During the battle with Zheng Yuci, because both were Mental Super Evolvers, in a high-speed duel, items were difficult to use effectively. So, they relied more on auxiliary defense items. Attack items were also used, but neither could seriously wound the other with items. Therefore, it seemed that whether it was Zheng Yuci or Xu Huo, their strength lay primarily in their spiritual power.
Now that Zheng Yuci had been defeated and Xu Huo was also injured, using mental interference items again—while spiritual power could kill, it wasn't some invincible divine artifact. Pairing it with defense items should be enough... This made it seem like killing Xu Huo wouldn't be difficult, especially with the two Rebel Army leaders nearby. Killing one was a fair trade, killing three was a huge profit. However...
After cleanly dealing with the attacking player, Xu Huo swept his gaze over the surrounding players and sneered, "Do you think I can only kill with spiritual power?"
As his words fell, he used the Spiritual Gate to teleport about twenty players from near and far directly in front of him. "All Things Want to Cut Everything," the thin blades materialized from spiritual power, and the Space Ray Blade—these three things densely packed the fifty-meter radius around him, instantly killing five Advanced Players on the spot!
Yes, the materialized spiritual power and the Space Ray Blade might not be able to break through item defense barriers, but "All Things Want to Cut Everything" could. Block one or two attacks, and the barrier could regenerate once or twice. But after three or four times, a flaw would inevitably appear. And with a flaw, there was room for spiritual power and space power to exploit.
After a few people died, the remaining players managed to block the fatal attacks with their items, but they were all somewhat injured. Seeing Xu Huo's expression that suggested he wasn't going to let things go easily, one player forcibly broke out of the encirclement and fled without looking back.
More than one or two wanted to run. Taking advantage of their lack of fighting spirit, Xu Huo killed three more before withdrawing his Spiritual Realm and stopping there.
The Pigeon and the Strategist had already taken the opportunity to escape. He turned his head to look at the East District players standing in the distance, smiled slightly, and raised his hand in greeting. "Teacher Zhao, back again?"
Teacher Zhao's expression froze. He jumped from the rooftop to the ground, keeping a certain distance as he watched Xu Huo, then produced a metal box. "Inside this is what you need to clear the instance."
"White Blood?" Xu Huo raised an eyebrow. "Teacher Zhao is trying to see me off?"
Teacher Zhao looked at the streets and buildings around them, almost completely buried by mutated plants, his expression complicated. "The East District's losses are already great enough. It's time to cut our losses."
He had already tried to kill him once before. Since the man hadn't died, it meant he had plenty of life-saving items. To kill someone like this, who knew how many people would have to be sacrificed? Sending him off peacefully was the least costly option for the East District.
"No problem." Xu Huo used the Space Ray to bring the box over, split it in half from three meters away, and then took out the white potion inside. But the moment he held the potion in his hand, the clearance notification didn't appear. He frowned at Teacher Zhao. "This isn't the White Potion."
"Impossible!" Teacher Zhao blurted out. "This was taken from the headquarters' warehouse stock. There's no way it's fake!"
His expression didn't seem feigned, and Xu Huo certainly wasn't going to bother verifying its authenticity. As the potion slipped from his hand and shattered on the ground, he himself had already vanished from everyone's sight.
"Quick, head to the Marine Evolution Base!" Teacher Zhao immediately ordered the surrounding East District players.