Chapter 2115: The Difference in Temporal-Spatial Power
Perhaps because the potent poison hadn’t achieved its desired effect, no players came to test them for the rest of the half-day. Instead, the Painting Woman went out to pick a fight with the players who had been monitoring them all along.
Those sent to tail them weren’t top-tier players; they specialized mainly in tracking and concealment. Even after the Painting Woman found them out and gave them a beating, they still refused to leave—truly dedicated to their job.
The Painting Woman showed no reaction to the poison, but ordinary people couldn’t handle it. So when she tried to shove those little trinkets into the mouths of the surveillance players, Xu Huo stepped in at the right moment to stop her.
The Painting Woman already knew her items were poisoned, but since she couldn’t find the seller, she could only take it out on these people. She insisted stubbornly, “If I can eat them, they can eat them too.”
Xu Huo couldn’t let her offend everyone either. “Wait until we’ve entered the ruins first.”
Since she couldn’t feed them the poisoned items, the Painting Woman grabbed a handful of dirt and stuffed it into their mouths instead, adding a harsh threat: “If you poison me again, I’ll throw poisonous mushrooms into your water supply.”
Xu Huo lifted her up, and the pinned player scrambled away without delay. At the same time, the other players nearby who had been monitoring them also cleared out completely.
“It seems like there aren’t many players around anymore,” the Painting Woman said, looking around.
It wasn’t that there were few players—it was that there were hardly any people left. Not only the more perceptive players, but also ordinary residents and workers in the vicinity had gradually left, likely following a notice from the government. When Xu Huo had come out earlier, the last two hotel staff members had also been replaced by players.
Of course, not all players had left. A few stayed behind to watch the spectacle—whether from the government side or the outer zone players, everyone assumed that the boxing ring’s owner would definitely come seeking revenge. Even if they couldn’t kill Xu Huo and his companion, they would at least drive them out of Harmony City.
Yet, to everyone’s surprise, no one came to cause trouble for Xu Huo and the Painting Woman until the next morning. Their number happened to be called, so the two entered the ruins nearby.
The ruins only allowed ten people to enter at a time, and each person could stay inside for one hour. Regardless of whether they found anything, they had to leave after an hour. If they wanted to go in again, they had to queue up once more.
Not long after entering, they ran into other players who had come in from different entrances. Since most people didn’t know exactly where the best spots were, they all relied on the guidebook. With everyone holding a guidebook, encounters were inevitable.
Xu Huo had observed the ruins yesterday. The place was fairly large, but very few buildings remained. Most of the area was barren flatland. However, Harmony City hadn’t lied—chaotic temporal-spatial power did linger here, even creating a subtle sense of opposition.
Temporal-spatial items, instruments, and certain special ores inherently contained temporal-spatial power. Their manifested state was a highly concentrated carrier of that power. The temporal-spatial rays within could be chaotic or follow a certain pattern, but generally speaking, the power itself was harmonious—even in chaos. It was like when the “Cube Space” activated, countless spatial rays could find their proper place inside.
The battle ruins were different. Xu Huo could sense that the preserved buildings and the ground nearby held higher concentrations of temporal-spatial power than elsewhere. Yet, both the remaining structures and the ground were made of ordinary materials, which should have made it difficult for temporal-spatial power to accumulate. But here, it was as if a strange field had formed, with the residual power flowing in opposition, thus preserving itself.
Stopping in front of a broken wall, he reached out and touched the charred surface. Suddenly, it felt as if he had been transported back to the moment of battle here. A powerful spatial force brushed past him, lasting two or three seconds before vanishing into the distant air.
He lifted his hand, paused for a moment, then placed it back on the wall. The same intense temporal-spatial force rushed toward him, as if he himself had been the one to receive that blow. Instinctively, he reacted—layering a defense item with a spatial barrier… but the force passed right through him.
It didn’t feel like real temporal-spatial power. More like a breeze blowing in from the past.
“There are actually many theories about this ruin,” a player nearby was explaining to others. “At first, people said it was a site left behind by super players fighting. But that’s not true. You all know about the E27 wormhole point that disappeared in that district recently, right? If super players fought in a city, there wouldn’t be any rubble left. So this place is more likely the remnant of an advanced player who underwent super evolution.”
“The ruins are in District 011. Don’t they know how it came about?” someone else asked.
“You’d be surprised. The formation of the ruins has little to do with District 011,” the player replied. “I heard it leaked out from a dimensional gap. Probably a failed instance formation that left this place by chance. Otherwise, District 011 wouldn’t have built Harmony City overnight.”
“At first, not just anyone could enter. After the players from District 011 found nothing and couldn’t handle the endless stream of outer zone players, District 011 opened it up.”
“But as you can see, very few have succeeded.”
Most people were just trying their luck with the attitude of “since we’re here anyway”—after all, it was free.
“Hey buddy, is there something on the wall?” A player who had been watching Xu Huo’s movements couldn’t help asking when he saw him pull out his items.
“Nothing,” Xu Huo replied, glancing back. “Just thought I saw something. Mistook it for an ambush.”
The player chuckled. “This ruin belongs not only to Harmony City but to District 011. If anyone tries to damage it, they’ll be opposing the entire district.”
Outer zone players went without saying, but local players would never make that mistake.
Xu Huo gave a slight nod in acknowledgment. Then, he repeatedly experienced that brief clash of power from the battle, sensing a unique sharpness within it.
Spatial rays could be densely condensed into spatial blades to achieve attack effects, but that was vastly different from Xue Lang’s method of killing with a single ray. Xue Lang’s use of spatial power was likely closer to Lawrence Li’s—they could already rely purely on spatial rays themselves for attack and defense, without needing to evolve further into other states.
Pausing for a moment, he moved to another spot.
Although the power he could sense was very limited, different angles did bring him new insights. Clearly, in contrast to temporal rays, spatial rays—when broken down into finer details—held just as much practical significance as large-scale manipulation.
Xu Huo’s path had always been about combining small elements into larger ones or breaking them apart. With such a rare venue, he decided to try altering the state of spatial rays.