Chapter 2431: A Voice Only One Person Heard
After "much deliberation," Xu Huo finally agreed to travel with them.
"Didn't that old woman give you something?" the Yin-Yang Master extended his hand. "Take out that pouch."
Xu Huo took out the old woman's cloth bag. "It's just some plants inside."
"The path the old woman pointed out for you, right?" Bubble Bean sneered. "Aren't you afraid she'll screw you over? Sending you off in this weather—isn't that just sending you to your death?"
"Gotta choose something." Xu Huo meant that rather than being coerced by them, he might as well trust the old woman. Maybe she was genuinely giving directions out of kindness.
"In that case, let's follow the path the old woman pointed out." Bubble Bean said, "You two go first."
Bubble Bean and his companion had originally come out to check on Deng Guang's whereabouts. Although the heavy fog hadn't dispersed, it made little difference to them.
Xu Huo walked ahead with a displeased expression, the Painting Woman tightly clutching his sleeve as if she still hadn't recovered from her fear.
The Yin-Yang Master grew impatient. "You, get to the front!"
The Painting Woman turned around in surprise, looking at him incredulously, as if she couldn't believe he would say that.
"What are you looking at?" The Yin-Yang Master's face turned cold. "Think I wouldn't dare make a move? As long as you're not dead, missing an arm or a leg isn't out of the question!"
Xu Huo shielded the Painting Woman behind him. "I'm already leading the way. Do you have to make things difficult for my sister?"
These two were playing good cop, bad cop. Bubble Bean stepped in at the right moment to block the Yin-Yang Master, then said, "My brother has a bad temper. Nothing to do with you two. Keep moving forward."
Xu Huo turned back again, this time switching positions with the Painting Woman.
"Are you from this district?" Bubble Bean asked from behind.
"No." Xu Huo replied coldly.
"The district is so big, why choose to travel here?" Bubble Bean probed. "And you just happened to get lost here, bringing an ordinary person along."
Xu Huo didn't even turn his head. "What's the point of traveling if you don't go to places with unique scenery? If you want to look at city buildings, you can see them anywhere. Why bother leaving your own district?"
Bubble Bean chuckled. "I guess that makes sense."
"Did you run into any other players before us?"
"No." Xu Huo said. "We walked all day and didn't see a third person."
"Pretty much the same as our situation." Bubble Bean's tone softened a bit. He paused for a moment before asking, "How did you get here? There aren't any aircraft nearby."
"We used a Teleportation Device, but the destination was a bit off..." Xu Huo deliberately paused here, as if there was something difficult to say.
Bubble Bean caught on. "A device can malfunction? So careless—aren't you afraid of losing your life?"
Xu Huo's face darkened, and he didn't speak again.
The group walked forward for a while longer, then the Painting Woman suddenly stopped and made a gesture to Xu Huo.
"Let's take a break." Xu Huo said.
"What's the matter?" The Yin-Yang Master asked displeasedly.
"Nature calls." Xu Huo took out a prop rope, tying one end around his own wrist and the other around the Painting Woman's wrist. He instructed, "There are big trees everywhere. No one can see you. Just take care of it behind a tree."
Bubble Bean and his companion didn't watch too closely. After all, the Painting Woman seemed like an ordinary person to them—even if she had ten times the guts, she wouldn't dare wander too far.
In fact, the Painting Woman indeed didn't go far. She stopped after passing two trees, but a few seconds later, she started walking forward again.
Bubble Bean noticed. He immediately said to Xu Huo, "Pull her back!"
Xu Huo quickly tightened the rope, but soon realized the other end wasn't in the Painting Woman's hands at all. Panicking, he immediately tried to chase after her, but Bubble Bean blocked him. "You're not going anywhere!"
Xu Huo was frantic and furious. "If anything happens to my sister, you can just wait to die in these woods!"
With that, he dodged around them and ran in the direction the Painting Woman had gone.
Bubble Bean and his companion followed behind. It was only a distance of two or three meters, and they kept close to Xu Huo. But after running for a stretch, they completely lost track of the Painting Woman.
Logically, they had noticed something was wrong and immediately gave chase. The Painting Woman had been walking before she disappeared from their perception range—they should have caught up easily. But strangely enough, just when it seemed they were about to catch her, she vanished!
Xu Huo shouted a few times, but only the faint rustling of the falling fog answered him.
"Shut up!" Feeling small animals in the woods being startled away, Bubble Bean immediately lowered his voice to cut him off. "If you shout again, don't blame me for being rude!"
As he finished speaking, he warily observed their surroundings. Confirming no one else was around, he was about to suggest leaving, but before he could say anything, the Yin-Yang Master standing behind him suddenly yelled "Deng Guang" and started walking straight ahead.
Bubble Bean's hair stood on end in shock. He hurriedly grabbed his companion and looked in the direction he was facing. The fog was so thick that nothing was clear, but aside from trees, there was nothing else ahead!
The Yin-Yang Master was still conscious. He looked at his companion in surprise. "Didn't you hear Deng Guang calling me?"
"What Deng Guang!" Bubble Bean scolded. "Haven't we talked about this? Don't respond to any sound you hear here, and you still walked forward? What were you going to do?"
The Yin-Yang Master was also baffled. "I don't know what came over me. When I heard Deng Guang calling me, I just instinctively believed it... That really wasn't Deng Guang? None of you heard the voice?"
Bubble Bean's face turned ugly as he turned to Xu Huo.
"I didn't hear anything." Xu Huo's tone was stiff, his attention still fixed on the direction where the Painting Woman had disappeared.
Bubble Bean and his companion were wearing relevant detection instruments, but the magnetic field in this forest was chaotic. The instruments fluctuated wildly and couldn't lock on accurately, so they couldn't determine if something had appeared nearby.
"It definitely wasn't done by a player. This place is too creepy. Even Spiritual Interference sites leave traces, but we've been soaking in this fog for days and haven't found a single clue."
Bubble Bean wanted to leave, but Xu Huo wasn't cooperating. He suddenly dove behind a nearby tree, quickly putting distance between them.
"Trying to run?" Bubble Bean casually tossed out a small copper bell. The next second, the little bell flew out on its own. With a crisp ring, Xu Huo, who had already run off, was forcefully pushed back by a barrier!
The Yin-Yang Master seized the opportunity to grab his shoulder and dragged him into a Teleportation Item channel.
The three were teleported tens of thousands of meters away. Although the location had changed, the surrounding fog hadn't diminished at all. When they came out, it looked about the same as the previous spot. If not for the instrument having actually activated, they would have thought they hadn't moved at all.
Shoving Xu Huo forward, the Yin-Yang Master placed his long blade against his neck. "Behave yourself. Try to run again, and don't blame me for being rude!"