Chapter 2341: Stealing the Tower
Two of them were A-level players who had once ranked on the Joint Wormhole Point Leaderboard, but since dropping off the rankings, they had rarely been encountered in instances. The information players provided was at least three months old. One of them, "Food Guest," had reportedly appeared in a player family at a B-level wormhole point, possibly having joined that family and left the game behind.
As for the other, two players' responses overlapped. About four months ago, this "Food Guest" had broken into a well-known breeding farm and stolen a batch of newly cultivated ingredients. The incident caused a major stir, with many witnesses and even footage from the time.
Xu Huo had seen the footage. The target wasn't a cannibal player, so he couldn't be ruled out for now.
The other two "Food Guests" were both B-level players. One of them had gained fame across many districts as a food critic, with numerous food shows inviting him as a judge. This was also the person who had exposed the most personal information—his activities over the past week were all clearly recorded.
This person was clearly a gray player who had long stopped doing instances.
The last one was more mysterious. Very few people provided information about him, and Xu Huo had singled him out because a player had sent him a video.
The video was only a few seconds long. The setting was a banquet hall with dim, ambiguous lighting, where guests wearing various masks clinked glasses—if one ignored the blood splattered on many of their mouths and clothes, it could have passed for a harmonious social scene.
Xu Huo immediately spotted a person standing on the right side of the frame. Only his profile was visible, but his clothes were clean and neat, making him stand out from the crowd.
And this incongruity wasn't just obvious to those watching the video—it was also apparent to those present. So in the next second, almost everyone in the venue turned their attention to him.
The video stopped there. The rest was described by the provider: the player calling himself "Food Guest" proceeded to massacre everyone in the venue within five minutes, overwhelming them with crushing power until only a handful remained.
As for why the person filming didn't die—it was because he wasn't a cannibal player. He had stumbled into the venue by mistake and would have died that night, but the one called "Food Guest" suddenly appeared and saved his life.
When Dr. Wu mentioned "Food Guest," he hadn't shown any particular emotion, so Xu Huo couldn't determine what kind of player "Food Guest" was. But intuition made him lean toward the positive side, so the four he had picked out were still relatively normal people.
Of course, the last one had very little information but possessed a special allure.
And the location provided by the player who supplied the information also surprised him. He had encountered "Food Guest" at a gathering called "Fish Feast."
Xu Huo had an invitation to "Fish Feast." Simply put, it was an irregularly held party for players. With an invitation, anyone could enter, and no one asked about identities.
As for the content of "Fish Feast," little was revealed on Under Dimension. When mentioned, it was always spoken of with great discretion, described as a paradise for the strong and a slaughterhouse for the weak—but wasn't every place in the game like that?
It was probably just an illegal venue where the big fish ate the small fish. Since entry was relatively random, no one bothered with it.
These four were the final results after screening, but Xu Huo needed to prioritize them. So he had to gather information on them. This time, it was more targeted—with identity details and partial characteristics, finding them shouldn't be too difficult.
After re-posting the bounty, he closed his personal panel and rested for a while.
When it passed nine o'clock, he took out the "Time Tower" again.
"It seems like more people have gathered around," Zhou Ning came over specifically to tell him.
"I know," Xu Huo nodded. "Don't worry about that. Focus on the time power."
Zhou Ning didn't say anything more and stepped into the range of his spiritual realm, experiencing the simulated state of time power up close.
Of course, it wasn't just the Special Defense Department people lurking nearby—saying that would be a bit unfair to them. They hadn't deliberately approached and had even proactively cordoned off the area to keep other players away.
But the "Time Tower" was hard to hide, and many people were keeping an eye on Xu Huo's movements. It wasn't strange that someone had found this place.
As long as they didn't cause trouble, staying outside was fine.
But speak of the devil—a few clueless individuals took a different route, digging tunnels from far away to circle around... It was quite an effort for them to spend an hour or two underground. Just as they prepared to surface nearby, Xu Huo opened his spiritual gate and tossed them out, adding a warning:
"Come again, and you die."
The tossed-out individuals slunk away in disgrace, but the world never lacked courageous people. Players emerging from who-knows-where tried all sorts of methods to breach the Special Defense Department's defensive line.
There was no help for it—due to item interference, some space-type defensive items simply couldn't be activated, leaving gaps to exploit.
Moreover, Xu Huo and Nie Xuan hadn't actively asked the Special Defense Department for help, so Team Leader Wu, to avoid misunderstandings, hadn't specially deployed personnel. The players there were originally working nearby.
Half an hour later, Team Leader Wu finally called to tactfully suggest arranging people to expand the blockade circle, since Nie Xuan had a good relationship with him.
Xu Huo had no objections.
But just as the Special Defense Department personnel arrived, some uninvited guests also showed up.
These people weren't after time evolution at all—they had come specifically to cause trouble. Besides interfering with the Special Defense Department from a distance, two of them sneaked in.
Although the "Time Tower" was large, that didn't mean it couldn't fit in a luggage compartment. If someone had specially expanded their luggage compartment to steal items, it was a low-risk, high-reward method.
Judging by their movement speed and the items they used, before they could get close, Xu Huo used the "Time Tower" to trigger time power, covering an area of nearly twenty meters around them.
They were lucky. The time power that froze them didn't differ too much from the time in District 014—at least, no obvious changes were visible to the naked eye. But the sheer volume of time power, aided by the super item, rendered their space items ineffective.
Xu Huo adjusted his position and switched to another time power.
Mm, this effect was much better. In a very short time, the two showed signs of osteoporosis.
Xu Huo stood ten meters away, watching them gradually die.
Although the "Time Tower" helped, the range of time power he could control wasn't large. He couldn't manage areas too far away, so to keep an eye on these few, he transferred the corpses to the Special Defense Department personnel. After removing their disguises, they confirmed that these players weren't from their country.