Chapter 2523: Not Necessarily the Home Turf
"He should still be hiding," Xu Huo said. "He knows this place well. After escaping, he went straight into hiding. The wounds on his body weren't caused by ordinary weapons either—they match the environment here."
Bubble Bean had lost a leg and now wished he could swallow the man alive. "That old bastard never had good intentions from the start. He brought us in here to kill us. At least a third of the buildings in this city are made of metal. As soon as we step outside, there's no way to avoid that metal-controlling person. At this rate, forget finding an exit—I don't even know how long we can hold out!"
During their frantic escape, Xu Huo had already gotten a clear picture of the city's structure from the public maps nearby. They were still on the outskirts. On the map, all-metal buildings had special markers. The closer to the city center, the more all-metal buildings there were. It was likely that the city center was the true home turf.
"Is this really the inside of a Super Instance?" Bubble Bean asked skeptically. "It's a bit different from what I expected."
"Less complicated than you imagined?" Xu Huo understood what he meant.
Bubble Bean nodded. "The setting is too ordinary. Even if there's a metal-controlling person here, at the end of the day, they're just a minor boss. What's the difference between them hunting down people who enter the area and any other Instance below A-rank?"
"The difference is obvious," Xu Huo said. "If this Super Instance were running normally, players would have to suffer over fifty percent casualties just from figuring out the metal's movement patterns. Without us, you'd probably be dead two or three times by now."
Hunting players on such a high level already demonstrated the Instance's uniqueness.
"Besides, this might not even be the main venue of the Instance," Xu Huo added. "Don't forget where we came from."
They had jumped from the Metal Forest into this killing city. So far, aside from that middle-aged man, they hadn't seen any other players from District 001. Even if Valen had lied about the numbers, there definitely wouldn't be fewer people entering. No one had been drawn over by the commotion here, and they hadn't run into anyone. It was highly likely that most of the District 001 players weren't here.
So this Super Instance venue probably had multiple spaces, and the District 001 players held the items that could travel between them.
The middle-aged man had brought them here not just to use someone else's blade to kill—he had another purpose.
Bubble Bean quickly caught on. "Could it be that there are Super Items or Instance Authorization Letters here!"
Xu Huo had the same guess. At the very least, there had to be a few decent items.
But rather than trying to snatch items from someone who could control all the metal in the city, it was better to look for that injured player.
"You stay hidden here," Xu Huo said.
Bubble Bean immediately spoke up. "I'll go with you. I'm carrying auxiliary items—I definitely won't slow you down!"
He was worried Xu Huo wouldn't come back.
"Meeting multiple times in a row in the game counts as fate," Xu Huo reminded him. "But if you get surrounded by metal again next time, I might not be able to lend a hand in time."
Bubble Bean grinned. "Now that I understand the rules of metal control, I can manage to dodge."
Xu Huo gave him a meaningful look, then used the Spiritual Gate to relocate.
When he returned to the spot where they had first landed, that middle-aged man was no longer in the wooden cabinet.
The man had slipped out of Xu Huo's perception range, but they were in luck—the sound of a building collapsing came from afar. Just as they were about to head over, a blast of air pressure tore through the air, instantly splitting the building they were hiding in and the other structures along the same street in half!
Xu Huo and the others barely dodged in time, but before they could find a new hiding spot, the surrounding metal began to stir again. Immediately afterward, a rain of arrows descended, clattering incessantly around them, accompanied by a low, vibrating hum.
The arrow rain could determine if someone was in a certain space through the vibration. Xu Huo had tested it before—the principle was likely using vibrations to gauge the shape of objects nearby. So even if they stayed still and silent, they would be detected. Hiding in a cabinet was the only option.
But now, there were almost no wooden containers large enough to hold an adult in this area. They didn't dare enter metal cabinets or boxes, so all they could do was run for their lives.
Every time they changed locations, the metal objects around them would swarm in to kill them almost immediately. The relentless pace left Xu Huo and the others with little time to think—they could only keep moving. But as time passed, more and more shattered metal fragments filled the air, both indoors and outdoors!
The dispersion of metal objects and the expansion of their coverage meant that the metal controller could track the city's situation with greater precision. Xu Huo managed to escape the range twice, only to be caught up again both times—it seemed the other party had locked onto him!
Xu Huo's general direction was toward the city center. After taking a few detours, he finally found the middle-aged man. The man was even more severely injured now, hiding inside a wooden cabinet with healing potions scattered around him.
"Come out," Xu Huo said, sweeping the cabinet door open. The first thing that flew out was a series of razor-thin blades, like tiny fish. They moved so fast that there was almost no time to react—by the time anyone realized, the blades had already sliced across their necks.
Xu Huo and Bubble Bean both had defensive items as a safety net, so the first wave only broke through their Defense Barriers. The Painting Woman, caught off guard, took several hits. She instinctively clutched her neck, then, furious, swung out the paper slips hidden in her clothes. At the same time, all the paper products in the building floated into the air, shooting toward the middle-aged man like a thousand arrows!
In truth, the middle-aged man had already fled after his initial attack when the cabinet opened. But due to the floating metal debris, he didn't escape outside—instead, he moved downward through the building. No matter where he ran, as long as he was indoors, the Painting Woman's flying paper could find him. And the commotion from the paper attacks would trigger the surrounding metal. So when the middle-aged man ran out of the room, he was caught in a crossfire of flying paper and metal. While the paper wasn't as deadly as the metal, its sheer numbers were enough to cause him trouble—especially since a few special sheets among them could break through his Defense Barrier.
"Strange. Those floating metal bits were chasing us relentlessly before," Bubble Bean said, looking outside. "But now they're not attacking him."
"Maybe this metal recognizes people," Xu Huo said, narrowing his eyes as he watched the dust-like metal particles suspended in the air. He realized that the other party's control over metal was no longer limited by size. The "Life Core" might actually backfire here.
Another wave of attacks came. Xu Huo ignored Bubble Bean and the Painting Woman, who was chasing the middle-aged man, and used the Spiritual Gate to quickly move toward the city center alone.