Chapter 2452: Spare Me, Big Brother
The first time, Xu Huo relied on his intuition and perception to determine direction. Even when he was certain there was no mental interference, he still ended up back at his original position.
The second time, he used his traits to make a directional judgment, choosing the path with the lowest level of danger, yet he still returned to the starting point.
The third time, he attempted to attack directly ahead with props and instruments, hoping to break this invisible force, but he still failed.
The fourth time, he deliberately equipped a Super Item on his body, but it also failed.
Earlier, he had speculated that this instance venue was a special space and had also considered the possibility of multiple spaces. If it were an effect achieved by ordinary props or an instance boss, similar Super Items might interfere with each other, but reality proved otherwise. This could only mean that either the power level of the instance venue far exceeded that of the Super Items, or this place itself was a stable space comparable to a district space, where the mutual interference of temporal and spatial props was no longer effective.
After several failures, Xu Huo sat down and waited beneath the first marker.
It couldn't be that he was trapped here for no reason. If the Hidden Friend had targeted him, it would reveal itself soon enough. If it was merely a special operational rule of the instance venue, he might not need to do anything for this crisis to resolve on its own.
After about ten minutes, he sensed a figure standing ahead.
Looking up, he couldn't distinguish its appearance or clothing—it was just a dark shadow standing there. Judging by its silhouette, it somewhat resembled the Painting Woman.
It made no sound. They faced off for a while, and when Xu Huo blinked, the figure seemed to have turned into a cluster of branches, as if it had never changed.
He walked over to take a look, paused for a moment, then continued walking toward the village.
This time, he hadn't gone far before he felt someone behind him. Turning around, he only sensed a tall figure brush past him before vanishing instantly.
Judging by its size, it looked more like the burly man who had arrived last.
Raising an eyebrow, Xu Huo kept walking. Soon, another figure seemed to be peeking at him from ahead. He raised his hand and chopped down the tree in front of him, and the shadow disappeared.
To be safe, he activated his space power, triggering the Water Cube Barrier, and then continued walking. The figure shifted to his side, flashing by again without lingering for long.
"Again," he muttered, quickening his pace. But a figure kept following him, sometimes resembling one person, sometimes another—not anyone he particularly missed, but just the players from Zhongmu Village.
Every attack on the figure missed. Xu Huo slashed wildly through the forest for a while. After a pause, a voice suddenly came from a distance:
"Mr. Xu."
Xu Huo frowned. It was Chi Cai's voice, and unlike before, this time the figure had a physical form within his spatial perception!
Moving through a Spiritual Gate, he grabbed the player hiding in the tree and threw them to the ground.
A thin, short-statured girl flipped mid-air and landed steadily, grinning cheekily. "Did I scare you..."
But before she could finish, her smile froze, because her legs slammed hard onto the ground following Xu Huo's downward-pointing gesture!
Supporting herself with one hand on the ground, the thin woman avoided a complete loss of dignity by rolling sideways, plunging into the dense underbrush.
Xu Huo wasn't about to let her escape. He opened several Spiritual Gates in quick succession, sending her back. As soon as they met face to face, the thin woman clapped her hands in mid-air and shouted, "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction!"
As she spoke, a transparent bubble-like barrier appeared between them. But Xu Huo didn't force the issue. He opened two more gates, moving himself and the woman several meters away.
This time, he didn't hold back. He activated Mirror Space to trap her, and the Black Blade in his hand thrust straight for her throat!
Defense barriers stacked up layer by layer, seemingly capable of withstanding his attack. Even if they couldn't fully block it, buying a little time should be no problem—that was what the thin woman thought. But she hadn't anticipated Xu Huo's speed with props. In the blink of an eye, the Black Blade had struck the barrier seven or eight times. Even against props of the same level, the Black Blade wouldn't necessarily lose, let alone these stacked barriers!
Seeing the blade's edge right before her eyes, and with her traits and props failing to activate in time, the thin woman's legs moved faster than her hands. She dropped to her knees. "Spare me, big brother!"
The Black Blade's edge, carrying a hint of chill, stopped beside the woman's ear. A few strands of hair drifted down. The woman's eyes were wide, her pupils involuntarily shifting toward the blade. In the metal's surface, mere inches away, her face was slightly distorted by fear.
"Was it you calling me just now?" Xu Huo's hand was steady, the blade resting beside her head.
"No!" the thin woman quickly said. "I just arrived nearby. I heard a noise and came to check it out. Weren't you slashing around in the woods? I thought you were looking for the Hidden Friend, so I didn't dare go near. I didn't expect you to find me so fast."
Xu Huo's expression was unreadable. The woman didn't dare gamble with her life and quickly explained further: "If you don't believe me, I can take a truth serum. I swear I'm not lying!"
"Also, I'm not an impersonator. I would never randomly call out in the forest. Anyone pretending to be the Hidden Friend to kill people would definitely become the instance's target!"
"Oh?" Xu Huo seemed a bit interested. "You've seen an impersonator?"
"I've run into two fakes," the woman said. "They used some concealment props, probably trying to impersonate the Hidden Friend to make a quick fortune. But the day after the killing, they disappeared."
"How do you know they disappeared instead of leaving on their own?" Xu Huo asked again.
"Props!" the woman said. "Both of them vanished inside their own Location Items. When other players tried to call them, they found the props had become ownerless. So they're most likely dead. But since no bodies or other traces were found, we just said they disappeared."
"Are you alone?" Xu Huo looked around.
"I'm alone!" the woman said, afraid he might think she had companions lying in ambush nearby. "My previous alliance team had eight players. The two impersonators killed three other lone players they met, then disappeared themselves. I didn't trust the remaining few, so I sneaked away..."
The Black Blade moved away from her ear. Feeling the danger had passed, the woman sighed in relief and stood up.
"Did you run into anyone on your way here?" Xu Huo asked. "A few kids and a few adults."
"You mean the local villagers, big brother?" The woman had indeed seen them. "They're by the stream not far from here. There should be a player among them."
Xu Huo pointed his chin forward. "Lead the way."
A flicker of confusion crossed the woman's face, but she obediently walked ahead.