Chapter 2105: Time Ring
After the figure disappeared, Xu Huo called out to Dr. Wu a few more times but received no further response. At the same time, the frozen city began to flow again, and under the city's full lights, noise returned.
The time power within the city was still active, as if a barrier had been broken, becoming incredibly clear before him. He could even feel the flowing time power randomly appearing at certain locations in the city, causing a building, or one or more pedestrians, to vanish from their spots. Yet in the fake Pumpkin City, the citizens remained oblivious to the disappearance of people or buildings, continuing along their original trajectories, living the same day over and over again.
Walking out of Sunshine Tree No. 12, Xu Huo had only reached 14th Street when he ran headlong into Lu Miaomiao, who was fleeing toward him. She, like Tang Ming, had apparently stayed from yesterday until today, not showing herself until now. But when she appeared, she was spinning the time ring Tang Ming had dropped, trying to freeze Wang Ling and the others who were pursuing her.
However, Pumpkin City was now alive, and this time item still didn't take effect. So Lu Miaomiao could only flee. When she saw Xu Huo ahead, her face changed drastically, and she immediately turned to escape in another direction.
Xu Huo noticed a surge of time power not far from her that was different from the rest of the area. He tried to reach out and manipulate the surrounding time rays from a distance. Although that time power didn't move as he intended, when the rays resonated, he clearly sensed two distinct forces of time.
But that was as far as it went. The time power didn't change because of his intervention. So he manipulated the curved time again, pulling the already distant Lu Miaomiao back.
"Slap!" Wang Ling's item pierced through her chest cavity and shattered the glass not far away. Lu Miaomiao spat blood as her feet uncontrollably locked to the ground, causing her forward-leaning body to fall to her knees. The next second, a pair of clean shoes appeared before her eyes.
Xu Huo crouched down, grabbed her intact hand, and slowly removed the time ring from her finger.
With them so close, Lu Miaomiao hadn't completely lost her mobility, but she could only watch helplessly as he took the ring, not daring to use her signature electric light attack against the person in front of her.
In the end, the ring landed in Xu Huo's palm. He silently looked at the kneeling figure.
Lu Miaomiao gritted her teeth and could only choose to abandon this item.
"Stay put here for a few days," Xu Huo said. "If you don't cause trouble, you should all be able to get out alive."
Dr. Wu had only said the venue could last ten more days, not mentioning whether the time power with different flow rates would kill people once it became chaotic, or whether each day would restart. But with time power this chaotic and curved time present, it probably wasn't caused by just one or two items. Now that the place had completely turned into a time venue, the chance of a restart was slim. As for whether Wang Ling and the others would walk out alive or be harvested by the time power when the venue closed, that depended on Dr. Wu's settings for this place.
Of course, Xu Huo thought it more likely they would lose their memories after leaving.
"Really? We can really get out?" Feng Hui hurried forward to ask.
Xu Huo nodded slightly. "Probably no problem. You might just lose your memories."
"As long as we survive, what's losing memories?" Feng Hui let out a huge sigh of relief, turning back to Yue Rui and the others with a smile. "We can finally get out."
"The time power in the venue is unstable these next few days. It's best not to wander around," Xu Huo added. "There are time forces with different flow rates everywhere."
Wang Ling and the others felt a wave of fear. They had thought the time power would disappear once Pumpkin City returned to normal, which was why they dared to chase after Lu Miaomiao, who had stolen the time ring. They hadn't realized it was just good luck.
Thinking of this, the group couldn't help but cast cold glances at the person still sitting on the ground.
Lu Miaomiao knew she was at a disadvantage and didn't talk back, keeping her head down in silence.
"But this is actually a very good time venue," Xu Huo said. "Although the time power is chaotic, venues like this that can provide a secondary evolution environment are rare. You can try to see if you can sense the time power. If you start time evolution, then starving for a few days won't have been for nothing."
The last sentence made Kong Ying and the others laugh involuntarily. Despite their fear, his words still sparked another hope in them... what if?
"Did you really see curved time?" Shen Liang couldn't hide his curiosity. "Can curved time really turn back the clock?"
"Generally speaking, yes," Xu Huo said. He didn't explain the difference between curved time and normal time, only adding, "But it's harder to understand than our time."
Shen Liang waved his hand. "Secondary evolution, especially time-type, how easy could it be? Even if this place is a complete mess, it makes no difference to me. The Pumpkin City I see is the same as the Pumpkin City before 9 o'clock."
In fact, most people present were in the same state as him. Although Xu Huo said it was a rare time venue, if they couldn't sense it, they couldn't sense it. No matter how hard they strained, they couldn't detect anything different in the air.
"Is time evolution similar to space evolution?" Wang Ling couldn't help asking. "I heard space evolution controls space rays."
"Space evolution is indeed like that. Most of the people I've encountered use space rays as a foundation to manipulate space power. But time evolution is somewhat different. Although it can also be called time rays, it's easy to fall into misunderstandings," Xu Huo said. "However, I've encountered very few time-type evolved players, and I don't know much. Everyone's evolution experience isn't necessarily the same."
Wang Ling looked disappointed, hiding his genuine envy, and then asked, "Did you see Dr. Wu?"
He quickly added, "It's not that I want what Dr. Wu left behind. If it weren't for you, we wouldn't be able to get out. You also solved the venue's secret. Dr. Wu probably made this space waiting for a player like you. I'm just a bit curious—what does Dr. Wu look like?"
"An ordinary person," Xu Huo said. "The images he leaves in different places are all different."
"Do you think Dr. Wu's wife and daughter were killed by the chairman of Stellar Group?" Kong Ying raised another question.
Little Star Company, Mr. Landau, and Dr. Wu—although all false names—everything that happened in Pumpkin City seemed to allude to old events. It wasn't surprising that some people thought Dr. Wu might be one of the founders of the Dimension Game. This kind of plot was familiar to everyone and also fit outsiders' speculations about Dr. Wu. Why didn't Stellar Corporation have a perfect potion? Why couldn't anyone catch Dr. Wu? Everything seemed to have a reasonable explanation. (End of Chapter)