Chapter 237: Only Two People Left (Bonus for Tipping)
The first to make a move was Lu Gang. He lunged for Xie Man's throat, but she dodged and followed him as he jumped toward the sofa in the room. The sofa tipped over at the feet of the gloomy man, who used it as a springboard to launch a sudden strike at Ni Tian. He punched her, sending her stumbling toward Xu Huo's position, while Xu Huo used his elbow to fend off Ni Tian's sneak attack. Turning around, he ducked to avoid Li Weiran's scissors and kicked Gao Jun flying!
"Boom!" Gao Jun crashed through the room and rolled into the exhibition hall. Xu Huo flashed out, raising his foot to stomp on the man who hadn't yet gotten up.
But at that moment, several colorful items exploded nearby, and a few rope nets shot toward him. Xu Huo swung his sword to cut the ropes and kicked Gao Jun into the shadows ahead.
The Painting Woman, who had been lying in ambush nearby, descended and wrapped around the man, dragging him toward a blank canvas. Xu Huo quickly strode over and shoved the man into the canvas, but just like with Ni Tian, the canvas didn't swallow him.
Neither players who hadn't cleared the instance nor those who had could enter. It seemed the method for creating a collection in the third task was different from the first two.
As he pondered this, Li Weiran appeared behind him.
"Xu San, you must be Passerby A!" Xu Huo spun his sword back, and the beam of sword energy spread out before narrowing to the width of a person. Li Weiran, scissors raised, tilted his head, and his upper body slid diagonally to the floor.
By the time he turned around, Gao Jun had already vanished.
"Xu San, save me!" Ni Tian and the gloomy man also entered the exhibition hall. Seeing Li Weiran's corpse, she cried for help, while the gloomy man immediately abandoned his attack and quickly retreated, watching Xu Huo warily.
Ni Tian was overjoyed and hurried toward Xu Huo, but at that moment, the monster charged in from the front of the hall. Pulling her aside to dodge the monster's staff, she said gratefully, "Thanks to you..." Before she could finish, Xu Huo casually shoved her into a living painting nearby, then took down the canvas frame and raised his sword to block the monster's staff!
Seeing that Xu Huo's ruby longsword could withstand a direct clash with the sculpture monster's staff, the gloomy man quickly changed targets, returning to the room to join Lu Gang in a pincer attack on Xie Man.
"Shameless bastards, two against one! Are all the other players dead?!" Xie Man shouted as she fled the room. Catching the scent of blood and seeing Gao Jun missing and Li Weiran cut in two, while Xu Huo was fiercely battling the sculpture monster, she swallowed hard. The flat shoes on her feet suddenly sprouted something like frog webbing, and she leaped onto a pillar, starting to climb.
She was fast, and the gloomy man and Lu Gang couldn't catch up. Instead, after throwing a few paintings to try to knock her down, they drew the monster's attention. It stopped dealing with Xu Huo and charged toward them!
"Clang, clang, clang!" The hunched sculpture monster scraped across the floor tiles with a harsh, grating sound. The two had to retreat, while Xie Man, above on the pillar, breathed a sigh of relief and kept climbing, muttering to herself,
"Whether I clear the instance or not, if I can just survive until the instance time ends, I can go to the next one..." But what she and the other three present didn't expect was that the monster stopped at the base of the pillar, straightened up, and stretched its head toward her as if confirming something.
Xie Man scrambled upward frantically, but the monster swung its staff, and an invisible force pulled her flying toward a pillar diagonally ahead!
The moment she touched the pillar, she vanished. Lu Gang and the gloomy man, who could only see shadows and not the painting's content, immediately charged over!
But Xu Huo, who was not far away, remembered that a blank piece of paper should have been hanging there. He hesitated as he moved. A living person entering a blank paper barely met the third task's requirements, but at the same time, a painting created by the sculpture monster might also be a living painting, like the others in the gallery. If it were a living painting, rashly touching it would only get him swallowed.
In that moment of hesitation, Lu Gang had already touched the painting. The next second, he spun and was sucked into it. The gloomy man, just inches away, pulled back his hand but then reached for the painting again.
But in that instant of indecision, the canvas frame flew upward, and the sculpture monster swung its staff at him!
The gloomy man ducked behind the pillar, dodging the slow-moving monster and running toward the corridor. The monster craned its neck and followed his path around the pillar, but by then, the gloomy man was far away. The monster turned to look in the other direction, and finding no one, began swinging its staff wildly, smashing things in the exhibition hall.
The gloomy man sprinted to the deepest part of the corridor and hid in the room Li Weiran had occupied. He locked the door, stepped back panting, his eyes fixed on the door. After a long silence, footsteps finally sounded outside, and the hope in his eyes instantly died.
"Knock, knock, knock." Xu Huo knocked but said nothing. The gloomy man hesitated repeatedly but eventually opened the door and stepped back to let the person outside in.
"We haven't had any conflict since meeting in this instance. You have no reason to kill me. All I have are a few potions—one practical item has already been smashed by the sculpture—and two other items that are pretty useless. If you want them, I'll give them all to you. I don't even hope to clear the instance. Just let me survive until the instance time ends." Xu Huo walked over to the sofa and sat down, placing two paintings beside him.
The top one was the painting that had swallowed Xie Man and Lu Gang. The two had already become oil painting figures, twisting their faces unwillingly within the frame.
The gloomy man glanced at it and then looked away, consciously keeping his distance from Xu Huo.
"No need to be so tense." Xu Huo gestured for him to sit. "I still have the third task to complete." The gloomy man's face visibly darkened. "You want me to try it for you?" Xu Huo tapped the two paintings beside him. "If I can clear it in one go, I'll give you a painting." The gloomy man's face showed struggle, but he quickly resigned himself. "Looks like I don't have much choice." Xu Huo nodded. "You're right." The gloomy man paused, then sat cross-legged on the floor and said, "You're strong—stronger than any E-level player I've ever seen. Li Weiran was pretty formidable, but he died at your hands in just a few moves." Xu Huo smiled but didn't take the bait. Instead, he asked, "What's your name?"
"Wei Da." The gloomy man habitually touched a pit on his chin. "My friends joke that my name sounds like a tissue brand, so I don't like telling people."
"You can use a fake name in the game," Xu Huo said.
"I don't change my name, whether I'm walking or sitting," Wei Da straightened his back. "Is a real man afraid to tell his real name?" Xu Huo raised an eyebrow. "You don't seem like someone with that much backbone." Wei Da choked, then said, "It's just a code name. Real or fake doesn't matter. I just can't be bothered to make up a new one." Xu Huo rubbed his chin. "Show me your items." Wei Da knew he couldn't avoid this, so he readily took out his items and potions. He thought his items weren't impressive, so he didn't hide the evolution agent either, hoping Xu Huo would take a liking to it to make up for the psychological gap.
But he was wrong. Xu Huo was very interested in his items.