Chapter 2397: The Game's Control Over Players
The defense item activated instantly, blocking those wind blades. Xu Huo also re-gripped the Black Blade and was about to slash open the blockade barrier outside when another player who had rushed in suddenly shouted, "Hands Tied!"
This was a trait. In an instant, all the players in the room, including his own companion, had their hands tightly bound to their sides. At the same time, several wheel blades circled in the room, flying toward Xu Huo, the Painting Woman, and the injured player on the floor.
The wheel blades themselves were sharp weapons, and when they approached a person, they would release a one-meter-long wind blade, greatly increasing the kill range. The injured player was pinned and slammed against the wall. The force was strong enough that even without completely breaking the defense barrier, he couldn't escape.
The two pursuers' original target was the injured person. Dealing with Xu Huo and the others was mainly for containment. Now that the containment goal was achieved, their priority was naturally to eliminate the target. But just as they turned around, Xu Huo emerged from the blockade barrier. A single "Please Sit" pulled the two of them onto chairs in the room, and then they entered the Locked Seat time. Xu Huo himself, after blocking several attacks, used the Black Blade and Tangent to successively destroy the defense barriers of these two, then used "Harmonious Atmosphere" once more, cleanly ending the battle.
He then turned to look at the person curled up in the corner. "Do you still have business?"
The other person clutched his bleeding wound, panting heavily. "Can I hide here for a while? Don't worry, I definitely won't disturb you."
Xu Huo didn't forcefully drive him out and tacitly allowed him to stay.
Shi Shuai had killed an important figure from the Fish Feast—judging by that player's skills, he was no ordinary security guard. Moreover, the man had been holding a special tracking device. With his death, a chain reaction was inevitable. If Shi Shuai couldn't be found, he would most likely retaliate by hunting down other players. Of course, Xu Huo himself was already being targeted. If he didn't completely remove any possible tracking traits or item effects on him, going out would probably just make him a punching bag.
"Let's wait until tomorrow to see," he said to the Painting Woman.
The Painting Woman had no objections. The tentacle item she disliked had already been taken away by Shi Shuai, so she was feeling confident again.
She closed her eyes and rested on the sofa, while Xu Huo thought about the middle-aged man killed by Shi Shuai.
There was no doubt that the man was a Super Evolver, not weak in strength. Although he hadn't been able to break the Water Cube's blockade barrier, he had indeed affected the barrier's state. From this perspective, even if the man couldn't kill him, there were plenty of ways to restrict his movements. Facing a powerful opponent, having only defense was definitely not enough. So what Huahan Werner said about finding a Super Player to practice with was just a joke. To touch a tiger's tail, he would need to be in an environment where he could absolutely escape—that is, a place where the ticket could take effect.
The Fish Feast Building had already exceeded that scope.
As for the conditions for becoming a Super Player, Super Instances had their particularities. They might be a condition for becoming a Super Player, but they were not necessarily the only condition. On this point, asking Huahan Werner would be more appropriate.
Super Player was just a code name. From the situation at the Fish Feast, it was clear that at high-level wormhole points, there were probably many de facto Super Players without the title. And the game's control over players exceeded his understanding. Even the space created by the Non-Game Area Simulator to cut off game channels wasn't truly escaping the game, but merely the game program making concessions to this situation.
Yes, according to common knowledge, any item, including naturally born Instance Bosses, was the result of the game and evolution. More importantly, they relied on the game. After all, items could only take effect after receiving game certification. If the simulator could truly completely cut off the game, then intelligent items should also be unusable like other items. Since intelligent items could be used normally, it proved that Shi Shuai was right—anywhere players set foot, they couldn't truly escape the game. The space created by the simulator wasn't a real space that could break away from the game.
This was a desperate fact for anyone, because it meant that whether it was a wanted criminal, someone crossing wormhole points to escape high-risk random instances, or entering a no-ticket zone, none of them could truly break away from the game. As long as the game program or the people who made the game wanted to, everyone could be pulled back into the game. And the Super Evolution power considered to be outside the game was just another type of trait or item effect that hadn't been restricted yet...
On this basis, the no-ticket zones within A-level wormhole points, or rather the birthplace of the game, had become an absolutely controllable place. Whether players or Super Evolvers, they would all become ordinary people again under the influence of the game and technology—this meant that no one could resist the game.
Naturally, Super Evolution power itself could also be interfered with using instruments. But using instruments for limited interference was different from the game's blanket cut-off. If all this held true, the Stellar Corporation that created the game could completely create a zone space at the company's headquarters that would make any player return to being an ordinary person. And such a space, players could never reach.
From the fixed Curved Time in Pumpkin City, Dr. Wu had already grasped certain rules for triggering Curved Time to a certain extent. Returning to the past through Curved Time was feasible, yet he hadn't done so. Instead, he kept wandering through different wormhole points, leaving his traces... Was it because his power alone wasn't enough, or was this not a feasible method?
The moment he realized that Curved Time could truly reverse time, or rather reverse facts that had already occurred, Xu Huo had already regarded using Curved Time to change the state of the game world, or simply make the game disappear, as an ultimate solution. In this regard, he believed his goal was consistent with Dr. Wu's. But if all previously held common knowledge was overturned, then he would lose his ultimate goal and wouldn't be able to rewrite what had already happened by changing the past.
A past that couldn't be rewritten meant everything Dr. Zhang had created was unchangeable, and Xu Zhi's death would forever be a foregone conclusion...
"Do you remember how you came to be?" He suddenly looked up at the Painting Woman.
The Painting Woman was an intelligent item. Under normal circumstances, an item like her would most likely be born alongside an instance, similar to Little Pink Hat. Their commonality was that they had no other item restrictions. Item restrictions were firstly to limit players, and secondly to reduce item wear and tear, increasing usage time. "Three Seconds of Life," as a Super Item, had its usage rules written by the game the moment it was born. This indicated that whether it was a Super Item or an ordinary item, to some extent, they all had to go through the game as a medium to take effect. Or rather, naturally born items were subject to the game's constraints the moment they took shape—this should apply to any item, including intelligent items. Little Pink Hat relied on the instance, and the instance was a restriction for her. Why wasn't the Painting Woman restricted?
"Me?" The Painting Woman pointed at herself, glanced at the person by the wall, and then secretly typed, "Did you forget?"
Xu Huo wasn't referring to the painting on the wall. He used an item to block outside prying eyes and asked seriously, "Do you still remember what it was like when you first opened your eyes?"