Chapter 2162: Still an Advantage with Divided Attention
Both Xu Huo and Nie Xuan were under immense pressure at this moment. When a high-level player's evolution rate reached a certain level, even without super evolution, they could perceive others' evolutionary power. From their perspective, Dou Shengnan did not possess Spatial Super Evolution, yet with the aid of instruments, she could fight them to a standstill. While this was partly due to Xu Huo and Nie Xuan's insufficient evolutionary strength, it also demonstrated her rich combat experience.
She first exhausted their instruments rather than directly crushing them with her spiritual realm, indicating she was still taking the opportunity to rest. The same logic applied to preventing players from District 008 from entering the sealed barrier.
This meant the real battle had yet to begin.
"We're tired, but you're probably not much better off either," Nie Xuan spoke up at this point. "The players from District 008 aren't easy to deal with, otherwise you wouldn't be running around the district."
"Even though I haven't seen your companions, I'd guess the District 008 players are probably looking for them by now."
"If you're injured and still stalling for time to achieve your goal, it's probably going to fail."
Dou Shengnan's expression remained unchanged. She knew full well that Nie Xuan was also stalling for time with these words. After their earlier exchange, she had lost interest in Nie Xuan. Without secondary Mental Evolution, merely being a Spatial Evolver—if his level wasn't high enough—was less effective than a spatial instrument.
This person was merely assisting Xu Huo as support.
"I still remember you," Dou Shengnan said, fixing her gaze on Xu Huo. "As someone with mental issues, it's truly surprising that you've survived this long."
This wasn't an insult to Xu Huo, but a statement of fact. One bad outcome of Mental Super Evolution could be schizophrenia. From a certain perspective, people with mental issues often found mental evolution easy, but the evolution process tended to worsen their condition. Thus, such individuals generally didn't progress far on the path of super evolution and might even kill themselves at the very beginning.
From their brief exchange, Dou Shengnan had already determined that Xu Huo's spiritual realm was very stable, showing no signs of imminent collapse. Especially the black figure he deliberately revealed—since the two could coexist stably, it meant he had achieved complete control over his spiritual realm. Even if a new personality had split off, he could manage it well.
Generally speaking, although they shared one body, different personalities represented different people. Even ordinary people could experience vast differences when switching between personalities. Mental Super Evolvers should be even more so. During their encounter in District 017, that shadow personality had left something behind in her spiritual realm, and she still hadn't dealt with it properly. That was why she had pursued them to the Double-Bright Bird today—to eliminate this hidden danger.
"Don't be too surprised yet. There's more surprise waiting for you." Xu Huo straightened up, and the shadow personality, maintaining its black figure form, appeared behind him, revealing only half its body.
Even so, Dou Shengnan could see that this black figure now more closely resembled a human form. For now, she would consider Xu Huo's evolutionary anomaly as having reached a point where the dual personalities' spiritual strength far exceeded his own. She crossed two fingers in front of her face, forming a "cross" shape. The black water that had only been flowing along the ground suddenly surged upward, threatening to flood the entire sealed barrier in an instant!
At the same time, Xu Huo's Library Tower also appeared. As each floor rose and doors opened, the black water began flowing into the rooms with a rushing sound, as if trying to pour the black water out.
But all three present knew this was merely a contest of spiritual power. The black water flowing into the rooms wasn't actually being expelled; it was entering Xu Huo's spiritual realm. The two spiritual realms were pressing against each other face to face.
If not for the relatively concentrated spiritual power, Nie Xuan, who was caught in the middle, wouldn't even be able to see the scene of their confrontation. While the two were locked in mutual restraint, he activated the small-scale spiritual interference instrument on his body, then leaped down from the spiral staircase. Hitting the ground, he clenched his fist and slammed it hard into the metal layer beneath his feet!
The original floor tiles had already been ground to fragments in the previous round of combat. Even the metal layer below had been cut to pieces, but probably because this was the core of the Non-Game Area Simulator, the underground had been specially reinforced. However, since it could be pried open once, it could be pried open a second time.
With Nie Xuan's movement, the underground metal rapidly cut into countless small pieces under the power of the instrument. Like ten thousand arrows, they flew from all directions toward Dou Shengnan!
This time, Dou Shengnan didn't use an instrument. Raising her hand, the black water formed a vortex that intercepted all the metal pieces, forcibly breaking free from the spatial power's control and redirecting them all toward Nie Xuan. With the empowerment of spiritual power, these metal pieces vanished into thin air mid-flight, leaving no trace.
Nie Xuan's spatial evolution followed a completely different path from Xu Huo's. So even though his own evolutionary level wasn't strong and his perception was partially blurred by spiritual interference, he could still clearly identify the metal pieces' positions. He moved swiftly, dodging the metal pieces in his path, then used one hand to cling to the sealed barrier. Leveraging his physical strength, he leaped into the air and cut directly in front of Dou Shengnan!
Spatial power formed a nearly solid cone about a meter long in his hand, piercing through the spiritual force materialized barrier and heading straight for Dou Shengnan's face. However, she didn't even lift an eyelid. With a light flick of her hand, a whip-like materialized object instantly struck him!
The hit Nie Xuan flew out and crashed into the sealed barrier. Thanks to his spatial instrument, he wasn't seriously injured, but the barrier on his body cracked from the blow. Seeing those sharp whips charging again, he quickly sidestepped and used the instrument to rapidly relocate.
Dou Shengnan didn't let him go. She handled both tasks with ease. The black water soon grew full of materialized objects like seaweed. They resembled seaweed, but each blade was as sharp as a knife, and they could move on their own like living creatures. In an instant, this sealed space seemed transformed into a perilous ocean!
Even with the spiritual interference instrument working, Nie Xuan was still surrounded by the "seaweed." His field of vision was restricted, and he could barely see. The next second, a spatial ray shot from the front, not only cutting through all the "seaweed" but also shattering his spatial instrument!
Nie Xuan's reaction speed was decent, but no matter how fast he was, he couldn't match Dou Shengnan's spiritual power. The "seaweed" blocked him from above, below, left, right, and behind, leaving no room for escape. Even when he tried to force his way through the "seaweed," he was still spat back out...
At the critical moment, a snake-like materialized object swam up from the ground, cutting through all the "seaweed" behind him in one stroke. Nie Xuan decisively dropped down, avoiding the spatial ray sweeping from the front. Turning back, he saw that the line hadn't just cut through the materialized objects—it had also sliced through three layers of defense barriers within the sealed barrier. Even so, the line showed no signs of disappearing, instead embedding itself deeply into the sealed barrier of the Non-Game Area Simulator! (Chapter End)