Chapter 2484: A Mushroom Cloud
The aircraft resumed its journey, this time at an even faster speed. Of course, it wasn't long before someone emerged to obstruct their path with items and instruments. Watching the endless blockade barriers ahead, Xu Huo, Wen Xin, and the others stood atop the aircraft to clear the way while also blocking some items aimed at destroying the craft.
"That bunch is pretty sharp—they won't show their faces at all." Wen Xin, hanging by the aircraft's window, knocked down a few glass-bead-like attack items, then flipped back up and said to Xu Huo, "Running like this isn't a solution."
"They won't have time for much longer," Xu Huo said. "There's a newly built temple not far ahead."
"You're not thinking of luring them into the temple, are you?" Wen Xin said. "Even though religious groups are a bit shady, I doubt they'll go in."
"No need to lure them inside—just dragging that nearly finished building into it will do," Xu Huo said. "I'll board your aircraft; the rest of you go to the other ones."
Wen Xin had no objections. "Let's do it together!"
Xu Huo naturally didn't refuse. He coordinated with Ling Ling and the others, and a few minutes later, three aircraft slowed down while only one pushed its speed to the limit.
Xu Huo was on that fast aircraft. The players from District 001 were mainly targeting him, so when he sped away, the players lurking nearby had no choice but to close the distance again.
The aircraft was piloted by another player. Xu Huo opened the map, where the cursor representing the aircraft was gradually approaching a scenic area ahead.
The scenic area was still a considerable distance from their aircraft, and even farther from the tourist line. To avoid causing major trouble, the local players likely wouldn't easily enter the scenic area, but that was fine—they didn't need to.
When the aircraft's cursor on the map aligned with the temple in the scenic area, Xu Huo emerged. He hung "Three Seconds of Life" on his hand, causing all nearby spatial instruments to fail, then quickly switched to a Space Teleportation Item, appearing directly near the few tracking players.
"Hey!" He flashed them a grin as the "Big Mushroom Cloud" left his hand.
With the mushroom cloud soaring into the sky, a massive shockwave swept across the entire wild forest, followed by the sound of the explosion spreading.
Although the explosion's range was large, it didn't hit anything on either side, only affecting a corner of the scenic area without covering the newly built temple. However, the immense shockwave triggered ground tremors, shaking the entire scenic area and the tourist line's tracks. Whether by coincidence or design, the newly erected statue inside the temple had its neck snapped by the tremor, and the massive metal head rolled all the way to the main entrance.
After finishing this, Xu Huo returned to the aircraft.
The players caught in the explosion were likely still alive, but the shockwave had scattered them to unknown locations. On the other side, a few players hadn't given up. One appeared within five hundred meters of them and simply said, "Please stop." Several aircraft, along with the vast forest as far as the eye could see, were all frozen in place!
A trait similar to Time Power in effect?
Time Power with a smaller coverage area, or time items triggering Time Power, wasn't very strong—sometimes merely possessing a time-space item could break a Time Freeze. But this player's trait had a wide coverage and even made it hard to break free with a time-space item.
Xu Huo was also caught in this power. He could clearly feel his movements slowing down. Though he could still manipulate Time Power, the entire process was stretched and amplified in District 001, giving others enough time to kill him two or three times over...
Just as the Time Rays resonated and trembled against each other, a burst of force suddenly erupted from Wen Xin beside him, instantly breaking the trait's control. Then the word "Rebound" left his mouth.
After breaking free from the trait's control, the aircraft continued forward. Watching the District 001 players still clinging to their tail, Bubble Bean looked at Wen Xin. "Isn't that your rebound? Why didn't it work?"
"Just saying it—you really think I can bounce back any trait? Breaking free is good enough!" He had originally planned to go over and fight the opponent, but seeing this setup, he had to back down. "Freezing in place—who knows if we'd get killed or not!"
"I don't think it's that simple," Xu Huo said. "He can freeze the surrounding space, but that doesn't mean he can move freely within that range without being affected. Otherwise, more than just him would have come."
Hearing this, the people on the aircraft relaxed a bit. No one wanted to have their throat slit while completely defenseless.
"We still need to be careful. If one attack fails, they'll definitely try something else."
Indeed, their counterattack came quickly. Just after Xu Huo bombed the scenic area, someone intercepted them ahead and fired blank shots into an open space. The distance was far enough that the massive explosion's shockwave sent the aircraft swaying wildly, eventually crashing into each other and being completely wrecked.
Wen Xin laughed in frustration. "These guys aren't planning to frame us, are they?"
"Isn't that perfect?" With the aircraft gone, Xu Huo and the others had to evacuate. He glanced into the distance and directly dialed the local government's tip-off hotline.
He didn't know the identities of these people, but the temple's construction information in the scenic area was clearly listed on the Message Collection Terminal.
"I want to report the Purple Truth Religion for a terrorist attack."
The head of a religious deity had been chopped off, and the scenic area had just experienced two massive explosions. Someone would definitely come to investigate. Even if outer-zone players were involved, this couldn't be entirely pinned on them.
"The train is here." Ending the call, Xu Huo signaled everyone to board.
After paying for tickets with the robot conductor and sitting down, he smiled at the old lady. "Ma'am, you've clearly seen big scenes before—this didn't even faze you."
The old lady kept a straight face and only said, "I'm going back at the next stop."
"No problem." Xu Huo agreed readily.
Ling Ling was puzzled. "Aren't we fighting the District 001 players head-on to finish the tourist line faster?"
"I said earlier it's to reduce obstacles for the rest of the journey," Xu Huo said. "Going faster than others isn't the ultimate goal."
"Is there a hard rule that you can't backtrack while delivering the will?"
"No," Ling Ling said. "Just arrive at the tourist line within the time limit."
"Then there's no harm in backtracking a bit," Xu Huo said calmly. "Maybe if we go back, the others will have to go back too."
The reason they were being blocked by so many people was that they were running too fast. If they slowed down, the fast ones would become the targets.