Chapter 2230: Uniquely Wealthy in a Different Way
The player named Yong An did indeed seek shelter, but he couldn't fully let his guard down. He stacked several defense items on himself before leaning back in his chair, healing his injuries while replenishing his stamina.
The other players in the carriage didn't interfere with each other, most of them resting with their eyes closed.
Xu Huo checked the belongings of the three players.
They had quite a few items, with thirty-five A-grade items alone. Half of them were defense items, including a large-scale defense item that could control the size of its barrier and a passive defense item that clung tightly to the body. One defense item called "Free Movement" had a barrier that could expand and shrink following the holder's actions. Simply put, it was like an elastic bubble wrapped around a person—the barrier changed as the person moved, not hindering combat. If the barrier was sturdy enough and the attacking items weren't of high quality, fighting through the barrier was possible.
There was also a multi-layer defense item called "A Step Away," which could activate one or multiple layers as needed. The largest layer could cover half a small city, while the smallest was only ten meters around the holder. Each layer acted as a separate barrier, with no communication between them.
As for A-grade attack items, the set of flying knives Xu Huo had taken earlier was called "During Work Hours." This set consisted of twenty knives made from a malleable metal. They could be used individually as throwing knives or combined into a handheld weapon or a large cone. The name "During Work Hours" came from its fixed attack patterns in different forms—once the knives were thrown, they would track the target along a preset trajectory, beyond the holder's remote control. In other words, once these knives were scattered, they had to be retrieved one by one.
However, the ability to combine into other forms was a highlight, usable as both an attack weapon and a defense item.
Another ambush item called "Pie in the Sky" was of the same type as "Holder's Demise," always attacking the target's head from above. Its success rate was uncertain.
The other attack items, both handheld and ranged, had very limited lethality. Like the Black Blade, they required specific conditions for wide-area slashing. Their main advantage lay in their inherent toughness.
The only special item was a shuttle named "I Can Discharge," which fit its name perfectly. It could release high-voltage electricity during attacks and change position with the holder's hand movements, making it very flexible. However, the holder had to withstand the strong electricity themselves.
No wonder they hadn't used it.
There were two removal items that could randomly remove the nearest item from the target. Judging by the three A-grade players' combat style, they used these frequently.
There was one explosive item.
Perhaps related to their combat habits, their items focused mainly on defense and attack, with no separate auxiliary items for eliminating traits or boosting combat power.
There were even more B-grade items, but whether for attack, defense, removal, or auxiliary items like hovering and acceleration, about fifty were practical.
No items below C-grade.
Special items were also scarce. They had likely sold off everything unnecessary to afford A-grade items. The three of them combined had only three special items: "World Within a Cocoon," "Divert Trouble Eastward," and "Pleasant Journey."
"World Within a Cocoon" was the space item the female player used to escape earlier. Its description stated, "Without interference, it is nearly unbreakable, and no similar attack item can destroy it." That's why she used it to forcefully break through the tangent and flee. Indeed, the tangents in the front half of the carriage didn't harm her at all. If not for the super item, she likely would have escaped.
"Divert Trouble Eastward" could mislead an enemy once. As long as the holder briefly disappeared from the enemy's sight, it could interfere with their judgment and lead them east—only east.
Quite practical.
"Pleasant Journey" was a location-type item, similar in function to "Snowflake Grand Hotel." Its standout feature was environmental simulation, meaning it could conceal traces to some extent.
Looking at the entire item inventory, these three had some wealth, but they were far from dripping with riches. There were too many conflicting A-grade item functions. While this gave them an advantage in some ways, the inability to use them effectively in combat made the numerical advantage worse than having none. Many items required manual activation, and overall, their quality wasn't top-tier among A-grade items.
Of course, these were also the most common items sold on the market. Items like "World Within a Cocoon" were rarely seen in regular circulation, mostly obtained from instances.
For Xu Huo, the best ones were "World Within a Cocoon," "Divert Trouble Eastward," and "I Can Discharge."
He wondered if these people had spent all their savings on items. Besides a few instruments, their tickets, potions, and White Notes were completely depleted. Special gift packs and coupons, often found in other players' belongings, were absent. Their luggage compartments were also clean—while other players had to throw things out due to excess, theirs were tidy, containing only detection tools, daily necessities, food, training materials, and plans. The most valuable items were a few gems they probably hadn't sold yet and a meteorite with special effects.
Xu Huo examined the meteorite stored in a special box. The suspicious toxic dust they had blown out when boarding was ground from it. The meteorite was unusually hot, and the players had likely treated it beforehand, leaving some ready-made poisoned powder nearby.
Using a detector, he confirmed it was a low-grade meteorite, but its use was special—it could maintain high temperatures for a long time, which was tied to the storage box.
Overall, it didn't meet Xu Huo's expectations. They were poor in a very unique way.
However, in their plans, he found the bounty information for this trip. The district issuing the bounty was also at the B37 wormhole point, but not District 008. The bounty required the corpse of a B-grade Mental Evolver or related records. One head could fetch 100 million White Notes, plus two high-grade items from the bounty issuer. Additionally, all the target's belongings went to the bounty hunter.
100 million White Notes was an absurdly high price. B-grade players' heads weren't worth that much, especially with no restrictions, showing how wealthy the bounty issuer was.
The bounty was issued by a specialized intermediary organization. It was unclear if it was related to the Tian Clan of District 008, but pursuing this now was meaningless because Xu Huo had already arrived at his station.