Chapter 2221: The Chain Reaction of Evolution Rate
The A-rank player was gripped by uncontrollable fear, pulling at the eyeballs on his body while running outside, but those eyeballs seemed to multiply, growing more and more until they dragged him down and buried him.
The scene was truly horrifying. The buried person didn’t know where they went either. The whole process didn’t last a minute before an A-rank player died, and those eyes wriggled in place for a while before crawling back into the wall.
It was hard to imagine this was just a mutated plant. Whether it was due to the blessing of the believers and the instance, or because there was something special underground in this district, was unclear.
The main body of the “Goddess” should be underground, right?
Xu Huo glanced at the ground.
But regardless of why the Goddess had grown to its current scale, he had no need to investigate further. The reason this A-rank player had received “special treatment” was most likely because he carried a demolition prop capable of leveling Holy Land City.
He casually tapped the air a few times. Several points of deliberately concentrated spiritual power reached several times the intensity of Xu Huo’s spiritual interference ability. It was with this that he had briefly controlled that A-rank player earlier. To be honest, the effect was surprisingly good.
Transitioning from spiritual interference to mind control was inherently difficult. The higher the evolution rate of a player, the harder they were to interfere with and control. Battles between high-level players often didn’t last long. In a short time, being able to multiply the concentration of spiritual power for interference and control was even more useful than traits—it relied on catching the opponent off guard.
However, against an A-rank player, the duration of mind control was too short, and more complex commands couldn’t be issued. To reach Dou Shengnan’s level would likely require a considerable amount of time.
Still, the Goddess deliberately dispersed spiritual power into points to confuse players, while he did it to enhance the effect of spiritual interference in a short time. Once his spiritual world could evolve to this level overall, he wouldn’t need to maintain this state so painstakingly.
Of course, this was still progress. At least it could replace the position of spiritual-type props to some extent.
This trip to Holy Land City wasn’t wasted. Besides the spiritual evolution and a spiritual attack prop, he had also obtained a seed from a super prop. How it would develop later was unclear, but this prop was absolutely impossible to return to Dou Shengnan’s hands.
“All done?” The yellow-haired guy finally dared to peek out from a distance. He didn’t dare approach the temple, so he spoke to Xu Huo from a certain distance. “Do you know how to clear the instance?”
Since they were traveling together, Xu Huo observed the distribution of spiritual power concentration points inside the temple and pointed him to a spot. “Hide there for a few days and try. Don’t wander around randomly. Whether you can clear it depends on your luck.”
“Thanks!” The yellow-haired guy knew he was about to leave the district and said, “If I get out successfully, I’ll contact you again.”
With that, he headed toward the spot Xu Huo had indicated.
Once he was far away, Xu Huo turned back and said toward the main hall, “Thank you for your guidance. Farewell if fate allows.”
*
On the train heading to District B37-008, a player with an ordinary appearance sat by the aisle. His looks didn’t attract attention, and his presence was equally unremarkable, to the point that two players in a row bumped into him while passing by.
The first bump didn’t surprise anyone, but when the second person also bumped into him, the other players in the same carriage became alert.
No one’s presence could be this faint. Even with props and traits, high-level players with evolution rates near their peak wouldn’t easily miss someone, let alone accidentally bump into them. This meant the other party was likely very strong in trait evolution!
To avoid being bumped into again, Xu Huo, the ordinary-looking passerby, had to change seats. This train was unexpectedly crowded. The rooms were already fully occupied, so he could only sit outside. The only two remaining spots were one occupied by a group of cannibal players and another by the aisle.
After being bumped into twice, he vaguely felt it was an effect of his traits, but since he hadn’t explicitly upgraded in the instance, he chalked it up to the effect of reaching a 70% evolution rate.
The aisle seat was no longer viable, so he moved to the side of the cannibal players.
Cannibal players had stronger physical constitutions during their initial evolution, but they generally lacked traits. Even if they obtained traits before the preliminary trial, their traits wouldn’t grow after becoming cannibal players. Thus, they relied more on physical strength and props.
The lack of traits made them slightly inferior to white and black players when they became high-level players. After all, at the high-level stage, players had more means to counter props, while traits were somewhat unpredictable. However, cannibal players had an advantage in physical fitness. Those who became high-level cannibal players had no shortage of experience in close combat. In environments where props couldn’t be used, it was hard to say who would be stronger.
Places like trains were their favorite, as all players couldn’t use props recklessly.
As soon as he sat down, the two on either side draped their arms over him. “Bro, your muscles are pretty solid.”
Ignoring their scrutiny, Xu Huo said flatly, “Take your hands off.”
The two involuntarily froze, and their hands lifted, but they quickly snapped out of it. One of them was about to make a move when Xu Huo turned his head and stared at him. “Is the dining car crowded?”
The casual tone, as if making small talk, made the cannibal player swallow his anger. The moment their eyes met, he instinctively wanted to look away, and at the same time, he felt a chill on his neck, as if a blade was pressed against it.
Without super evolution, one couldn’t use spatial power, but as the evolution rate climbed to a certain level, they could still detect unusual power fluctuations around them. But so what? The Space Ray Blade was already at his throat. At this distance, even a defense prop might not be fast enough!
Silently withdrawing his hand, the cannibal player said, “I was just about to head to the dining car to check it out.”
“Sure,” Xu Huo said with a faint smile, retracting his spatial power.
The other party stood up without a word and left, not calling the others sitting with him. They clearly weren’t companions but had gathered on the train due to shared tastes. Seeing him leave without hesitation, the others wisely got up and followed.
“Much more spacious,” Xu Huo remarked, pleased. Ignoring the wary looks from other players, he pulled out an old, worn booklet to read. This was the evolution insights the Goddess had given him for free. However, that mutated plant spoke fluently but wrote terribly. It was a wonder she managed to scribble it down at all.
Struggling to piece the words into sentences, he laboriously read half the book before having to stop and rest. Why did she have to write her insights on a spiritual-type prop? Besides increasing the difficulty of reading, was there any other purpose?
Even a parting gift had to mess with him.
Putting away the booklet, Xu Huo decided to go to the dining car for a meal.