Chapter 2433: Hide and Seek
"Kill him!" Bubble Bean shouted with red eyes, simultaneously attacking alongside the Yin-Yang Master. However, the items they consecutively used all missed. The area they could directly see with their eyes was only two to three meters. As long as Xu Huo jumped a little farther away, they could only rely on their senses to determine his position. But at this moment, they didn't dare fully trust their own judgment either, so they preferred to kill the wrong person rather than let him escape, launching a wave of large-scale attacks first—no matter what, they had to keep him there!
There were only three of them traveling together. The Yin-Yang Master and Bubble Bean had both experienced hallucinations and heard abnormal sounds, so their first suspicion naturally fell on the third person. That was why Bubble Bean was willing to risk potentially violating the hidden rules of the instance to kill Xu Huo. If everything disappeared after his death, it would mean that everything just now was just someone playing tricks. If not...
Kill first, ask questions later!
Since no other players were nearby, Xu Huo had no intention of letting these two go. If the role of the "performer" required by the instance clearance was rotated among players, then he needed at least one attack target. But because the situation was still unclear, he didn't know whether the identity of this "Hidden Friend" was rotated or if anyone could take it, so it was best to keep both of them alive.
Xu Huo retreated to a distance of a thousand meters. From this range, he could observe their condition, but the two of them couldn't easily detect his whereabouts.
The Painting Woman, who had been pretending to be missing, slipped out from his clothes and turned back into a human.
"Hide and seek?" the Painting Woman said. "I'll go tease them."
Xu Huo didn't object, only told her to be careful and not get caught.
The Painting Woman made a gesture and asked him to send her over directly.
Xu Huo transported her to a position less than fifty meters from Bubble Bean and the other. The fluctuation of spiritual power didn't attract their attention. After discovering that Xu Huo had completely disappeared, they reacted as if triggered, indiscriminately bombarding the surrounding forest and even using explosive-type items.
The woods were blown into a mess. It seemed impossible to hide anyone near them.
"That kid is probably pretending to be weak. He's most likely also an instance player, deliberately disguising himself as a C-level player to lull us into a false sense of security," the Yin-Yang Master said. "We can't stay here any longer."
The two immediately tried to use teleportation items to leave, but the items that had been working fine before suddenly malfunctioned.
There were only two possible reasons for this: one, someone was using a higher-level space item to interfere with their space items; two, the magnetic field of the forest was unstable, thereby interfering with the use of the items.
If it was the latter, it was manageable. If it was the former, continuing to drag things out would likely only lead to death.
The two wasted no more time, chose a direction, and moved forward quickly.
"Deng Guang's disappearance might also be because of him," the Yin-Yang Master pondered for a moment, directing all suspicion toward Xu Huo. "It's infuriating that that surnamed Xu's evolution level is so high. I didn't even notice anything before falling into his trap..."
Before he could finish, Bubble Bean, who had been walking alongside him, suddenly stopped.
The Yin-Yang Master quickly stopped as well. Seeing Bubble Bean staring straight ahead, he also looked up, but under the thick fog, there was nothing.
"What did you see?" the Yin-Yang Master asked, moving closer to him.
"Did you hear a sound?" Bubble Bean raised his hand to stop him from continuing to speak.
The Yin-Yang Master listened carefully and said uncertainly, "The wind?"
"No, it sounds like paper rustling." Bubble Bean used an item to enhance his hearing, but the brief sound from before flashed by in an instant, as if it were just a momentary illusion.
The higher the evolution rate, the stronger a player's senses became, and their sensing ability and range would also expand. When the evolution rate reached 80 or 90, without needing super evolution, they could clearly sense all changes around them—from the overall shape of large objects to the sounds of insects and ants crawling. In other words, their spatial perception had been enhanced.
Nevertheless, it still couldn't compare to true super evolution, such as space power and spiritual power. Within the corresponding range, these two powers could grasp any subtle change. Even if a player silently took out an item, it would be as if it happened right before their eyes, making it hard to ignore.
The sensory enhancement brought by a high evolution rate had obvious shortcomings. Especially when obstacles increased, spatial perception would decline as rapidly as hearing, absolutely unable to surpass super evolution. Among A-level players, those with notable reputations were almost all Super Evolvers. Even if they weren't temporal, spatial, or mental evolvers, certain abilities of their bodies would undergo special evolution, allowing them to stand out among players of the same level.
There were too many trees here, coupled with the thick fog, and the wind blowing the leaves created sounds everywhere. If it wasn't obvious, ordinary people would find it difficult to constantly distinguish the unusual from the noise.
Therefore, although Bubble Bean heard the sound of paper, he had no idea that the Painting Woman, who had turned into paper, was hanging right above their heads like a giant leaf.
"Drip! Drip!" The Painting Woman shook a few drops of dew down.
The two people under the tree looked up, but they were like blind men. They only glanced briefly before quickly looking away.
"Buy two hurricane items," Bubble Bean said. "Blow the fog away and leave."
The fog in the forest couldn't really be blown away completely, but the two previous uses of items had briefly opened a path. Even if it was only for a few seconds, it was enough for them to pass through.
Before the two could set off again, the Yin-Yang Master suddenly and frantically threw out an item. Accompanied by the sound of trees being knocked down, he quickly charged into the fog!
Bubble Bean followed closely behind, using a hurricane item to clear a path. Under the clear field of vision, everything around was exposed.
No one. Nothing else. Even because of their previous actions, the small animals had fled. There was nothing.
"You didn't see it either?" The Yin-Yang Master stared wide-eyed at Bubble Bean. "Just now, a figure walked past us from the front!"
"I didn't see it." Bubble Bean met his gaze. "What kind of figure was it?"
"What kind of figure can a figure be?" The Yin-Yang Master was getting agitated. "A dark silhouette. Couldn't even tell if it was male or female..."
He paused mid-sentence as realization dawned. "Wait, that figure just now seemed to have long hair, connected to the back of the neck... Was it a woman?"
"That surnamed Xu's sister has long hair." Bubble Bean sneered. "It seems she hasn't disappeared at all. She's been lurking nearby, waiting for an opportunity."
The Yin-Yang Master looked at the item in his hand. "My item shows there's no one around."
"They're not weak. It's not strange for them to have countermeasure items," Bubble Bean said. "I suspect they've been wearing protective suits that can conceal and modify their body states, making them look like C-level players and ordinary people. If I'm not mistaken, the two of them should be in the same instance as us."