Chapter 2546: Hidden Within the Chaos Space
Skinny Monkey spared no effort in persuading Xu Huo, so the journey was relatively peaceful at first. When they crossed the mountain and prepared to enter the valley below, Xu Huo suddenly stopped and asked, "Did you take the wrong path?"
Skinny Monkey looked at him in surprise. "This is the only road here."
The players from Zone 001 had their instruments running the whole time and couldn't sense anything wrong, so they all looked at Xu Huo.
Xu Huo merely glanced at a certain spot down the mountain before withdrawing his gaze and continuing to follow Skinny Monkey.
The closer they got to the valley, the more faces from other zones appeared. The reason Skinny Monkey dared to bring these twenty or so people back so boldly was precisely because there were enough players here. It was unclear whether everyone here belonged to the Holy Sword Society, but to confront Zone 001, the players appearing here were all A-rank.
"Has the Envoy arrived?" Skinny Monkey spoke with a player who came to receive him. "I have a new companion I want to introduce to him!"
The newcomer glanced at Xu Huo in the direction Skinny Monkey pointed. "Let's talk about that later... How should we handle these Zone 001 players?"
"Wait!" Skinny Monkey quickly stopped him, pulled him aside, and whispered for quite a while before returning. "It's settled. Find a place for you all to rest first. After the Envoy arrives, you can bring up any conditions you want... Don't say I didn't look out for you, brother. You can ask for more Evolution Agent—it's good stuff!"
Skinny Monkey winked and left. The other Holy Sword Society members naturally gathered around, keeping watch over Xu Huo, the Painting Woman, and the twenty Zone 001 players.
The Holy Sword Society members had little discipline. Most of them were lazy, had poor relationships with each other, and even clashed among themselves. Regarding these Zone 001 people, some clamored to kill them outright, others wanted to wait for the Envoy to handle it, and a few even tried to curry favor with Xu Huo, giving him some water and food.
The fresh processed food had clearly been brought in from outside. After the portal space was sealed, Zone 001 people had been surviving on hunting and dry rations brought in by companions. The Holy Sword Society had ample supplies, showing they had maintained contact with the outside world.
However, not everyone present was focused on the Zone 001 players. Many were staring intently at the forest ahead.
There, a semi-transparent spatial barrier stood. Inside this barrier was a white light, making it impossible to see what was within from the outside. But in the few minutes since Xu Huo had arrived, two players had already come out, drenched in sweat and completely exhausted, quickly carried away by their waiting companions.
The Holy Sword Society players weren't tight-lipped. Some chatted in small groups about the Super Player training grounds.
"Is that the training ground left by the Super Player?" Xu Huo observed carefully. The spatial barrier appeared only about ten meters tall, but the spatial force extended deep underground. What was exposed above ground was likely just a small part. The space was completely isolated inside and out, similar to the spatial points in the teaching building of Metal City. As for what was inside, he would have to ask the Zone 001 players.
The Zone 001 players remained calm. Even though they knew the Holy Sword Society was trying every means to crack the puzzles left by the Super Player, after such a long time, their initial fury and anxiety had turned into contempt and disdain. If Zone 001 people couldn't get it, neither could the Holy Sword Society. Did they think the Super Player's legacy was so easy to obtain?
If the Holy Sword Society people were truly that brilliant, why were they unwelcome everywhere they went?
"This isn't the exit." The dark-faced player was deeply disappointed.
"I didn't expect you were actually looking for an exit." Xu Huo feigned surprise.
The older team leader said, "What I said earlier wasn't false. We don't have complete information on this place either. There are many things we don't want to say, not because we're hiding them, but because saying them is meaningless..."
"For example, at least half of the strongholds marked on your map are training grounds occupied by the Holy Sword Society, not the 'supposed' entrances and exits?" Xu Huo raised an eyebrow.
The group exchanged varied expressions as he continued, "I'm not exactly your ally, so it's not strange for you to withhold some information. But there's one thing I want to ask—is it true that entering the stronghold range will trigger teleportation away?"
"That's absolutely true!" The dark-faced player had a more impulsive personality. "If you're lucky, you might be teleported anywhere within the portal space. If you're unlucky, you die directly in the mountains! Not many make it out alive!"
This was intelligence they had only obtained by sacrificing some of their people.
"Since you know the strongholds are actually training grounds, doesn't that put the existence of the so-called Super Device into serious question?" Xu Huo pressed further.
"The two aren't necessarily contradictory," the female team leader said.
"Then have you found any Super Device?" Xu Huo asked again. Seeing their silence, he added, "I'm guessing you haven't."
At first, he thought Zone 001 had deliberately fabricated some information to conceal the secrets of the portal space. But upon entering the valley, he confirmed that they were merely revealing some truths in a roundabout way.
For instance, the map Qiu Xiangming had produced—the locations marked were indeed places forcibly occupied by outer zone forces, training grounds left by the Super Player, and possibly where they had set up instruments. With no other way out, storming these strongholds was both a way to protect the Super Player's legacy and a bid for survival.
And what they and Skinny Monkey said about there being only one entrance and exit to the portal space was half true and half false. There were definitely multiple entrances and exits, but both sides likely knew only one.
Zone 001 knew the one left by the Super Player, while the Holy Sword Society side knew the one that had been sealed and modified.
As for why the Zone 001 players were so certain the exits were hidden in the strongholds rather than some other secret place, it was probably because they knew that the entrances and exits of the portal space could only be in these locations.
When Xu Huo first entered the portal space, he found it somewhat strange—not just because he saw the chaotic temporal-spatial forces, but because the portal space was too stable.
Other spaces in the Super Instance were completely sealed, accessible only through the Small Reversal Ring. The deliberately reserved portal space either had its own exit or the Super Player had set up entry and exit passages here.
These two conjectures unified when he saw a spatial portal with chaotic temporal-spatial forces in the valley. At the same time, he understood why the Super Player had left an entrance here, why the Holy Sword Society could seal it, and why the Zone 001 players were so desperate to obtain the Reversal Ring...
All of this was because outside the portal space was actually a Chaos Space—or rather, the Super Instance venue was hidden within a Chaos Space. The safe passage the Zone 001 Super Player had carved out within this Chaos Space was a legacy left for the younger generation of the same district, allowing them to enter and exit safely when the instance had no holder.
The outer zone forces had clearly seen through this. Destroying a passage carved within a Chaos Space was far too easy. But considering it was left by a Super Player, the outer zone forces likely wouldn't completely ruin the path for their own safety. The most probable approach was to use instruments or items to interfere. Whether items could be used in Chaos Space was one question, but a space with chaotic temporal-spatial forces would definitely require similar tools to function. That was why the Zone 001 people wanted to obtain spatial Super Items to attempt counteracting the interference and restore the passage.