Chapter 2155: A Clash Between Super Evolvers
There was no restriction on foot traffic near the Tian Family Hotel. Local residents and visiting tourists alike came and went freely. Apart from the more perceptive players, to everyone else, aside from those rescued from the Tian family, the city looked no different from yesterday.
Xu Huo and Nie Xuan returned to Lichuan City at 3:12 PM. They emerged from a teleportation portal near the hotel. The enforcement team members who had been stationed at various portals yesterday were still there, but they were no longer conducting detailed checks on outside players. Some of them weren't even focused on inspections at all, instead keeping a constant eye on the hotel direction and the state of their colleagues around them.
The two understood perfectly well that at this point, District 008 had likely already made its move. However, the situation hadn't yet deteriorated to the point of evacuating civilians. People walking nearby were also unfazed by the sudden appearance of blockade barriers, because whenever someone caused trouble in the city, the barriers would automatically deploy. Under normal circumstances, as long as the city government and enforcement team hadn't issued a public notice, things were still within controllable limits. So the local citizens went about their business as usual. Compared to the hotel being locked down, they were more concerned about the ordinary people rescued from City Hall. Some were even enthusiastically organizing groups to protest against the Tian family.
Seeing this scene, several members of the Special Defense Department who frequently ran missions in District 014 couldn't help but feel envious.
"If our hometown could one day remain this orderly even knowing outside players were attacking, our efforts wouldn't have been in vain," White Eagle said.
"That day will come eventually," Nie Xuan replied. He used a prop to observe the situation inside the hotel, but all the doors and windows that could provide a view showed nothing unusual. Not only was Dou Shengnan nowhere to be seen, but even the more recognizable faces from the Spring Thunder organization were absent.
"Did you see anyone?" Nie Xuan asked Xu Huo beside him. "Is it because of Dou Shengnan's spiritual realm?"
They were less than five hundred meters from the hotel. Given Dou Shengnan's strength, their position should still be within her materializable space range, so being affected was normal.
Xu Huo nodded. "Dou Shengnan's spiritual realm has indeed already been activated. Its range has contracted to the hotel, and a spiritual power struggle is underway inside."
Calling it a struggle was an understatement. Within his perception, the hotel was like a compressed space of spiritual power, with several strands of spiritual energy intertwined within. Even outside the hotel's range, one could feel an immense oppressive force. This was despite interference shielding instruments being set up around the hotel's perimeter.
The city government enforcement team was only guarding the perimeter, seemingly with no intention of getting involved. That meant the people inside the hotel were from the Spring Thunder organization. This player organization wasn't weak. Judging by the display of spiritual power, even if one-on-one they couldn't match Dou Shengnan, multiple people working together would be enough to contend with her.
Under these circumstances, retreating would be the wise choice.
Had Spring Thunder used some method to restrict Dou Shengnan's movements?
Spring Thunder had indeed considered that. To that end, they had opened five teleportation channels inside the hotel leading to nearby sealed instances, hoping to force Dou Shengnan inside.
But a Mental Super Evolver was far more perceptive than an ordinary player. Besides, space teleportation instruments and props were so conspicuous that they couldn't be avoided. Even with multiple people from Spring Thunder working together, their attempts often failed at the last moment. Dou Shengnan seemed to be deliberately toying with them, repeatedly opening spiritual gates to change locations whenever she was pushed near a space teleportation channel.
Twenty people from Spring Thunder had entered the hotel, five of whom were Mental Super Evolvers. They were divided into five groups: three groups to besiege Dou Shengnan, and two groups to set up teleportation channels and traps. None of them used high-lethality props or instruments, opting instead for a contest within the confined space of the hotel.
By the time Spring Thunder members entered the hotel, blockade barriers had already been activated both inside and around the building. With the players holding back and the hotel's own defenses in place, in that short time, nearly half of the walls and rooms had been demolished. If not for props holding things up, the building might have already collapsed.
"What are you doing?" President Chi, who was watching the siege from outside the hotel, contacted the five team leaders through his terminal. "Dou Shengnan has never left her room. Who are you fighting?"
This question stunned all five team leaders, especially the two groups that were coordinating to flank Dou Shengnan. A second ago, Dou Shengnan had leaped from a hole in the floor to the floor below, then halfway through, veered into the ninth floor beneath. Now they were being told she was still on the 33rd floor?
The two groups looked up. One of them released a metal triangle, no larger than half a palm. The triangular object pierced through floor after floor, heading straight for the 33rd floor!
With a continuous series of bangs, the triangle quickly reached the 33rd floor. It broke through the floor, stopped inside the room, and instantly expanded, triggering a small explosion. The room, which occupied half a floor, was immediately destroyed. However, Dou Shengnan, who had been in the room, suddenly melted into a pool of black water that poured down toward the lower floors, directly meeting the pursuing players below.
Among the Spring Thunder players, those who weren't spiritual evolvers were all wearing protective suits and carrying defense props and instruments, supplemented by small-scale spiritual interference devices. These were mainly used to detect and disrupt spiritual power. So when the black water splashed onto them, these Spring Thunder players scattered according to the plan agreed upon before the operation and activated their interference devices.
But not everyone managed to shake off the black water. Two of them, after their defense barriers were breached, had all their instruments destroyed. Then, along with their protective suits, they were cut in half at the waist.
The corpses tumbled downward. Their companions' faces changed color. When they tried to pursue Dou Shengnan again, they found the black water had vanished without a trace.
"What's going on? Dou Shengnan is gone!" one spiritual evolver exclaimed in shock after searching the entire hotel. The other four Super Evolvers in different parts of the hotel voiced the same question: "Did she escape?"
"I'm right here." The voice came from behind one of the Super Evolvers. When he turned around, he saw a black tide surging toward him. Then, along with his entire group, they were engulfed in an endless sea of black water, sinking deeper and deeper.
The other groups still inside the building, as well as President Chi and the others outside, only saw the signal from that group disappear. They had no idea what had happened to them or where they had gone. Dou Shengnan didn't reappear either, as if she wasn't even in the hotel.
The remaining groups tried calling their companions, but no one answered. The vanished group clearly hadn't retreated to the station either. At this moment, both the participants and the onlookers truly grasped the power of this member of the Eerie Sound Knights, famous for Mental Super Evolution.
Ten seconds later, a translucent blockade barrier rose in the city center, sealing off an area nearly ten kilometers in diameter, including the hotel.