Chapter 2552: A Meeting Across Time
The entire Zone 001 was seething with undercurrents. Compared to the oppression and grief of the district government, the external forces were far more composed. Apart from the external zone players who already lived in Zone 001 contributing their efforts, along with the Holy Sword Society running errands, only a handful of those who had truly orchestrated this occupation war had actually shown up.
Aside from the silver-robed man killed by Xu Huo, the rest were aboard a spatial starship not far from Zone 001, never setting foot in the area at all.
After the silver-robed man failed to return from Zone 001 for a long time, one person left the starship, opened a passage reserved by a Super Player in a Super Instance, and entered Zone 001.
As luck would have it, he chose the very passage Xu Huo had just used.
Although this passage couldn't be opened, the Holy Sword Society members guarding it were already dead. Zone 001 had assigned a few players to watch over it, so the moment the man emerged from the passage, he was attacked.
The newcomer wore a casual sportswear set and had casually covered his face with a crystal mask. He stepped out of the passage as if walking through an empty field, raised his hand, and lightly tapped the air. The several attacking players were instantly sliced into segments by an invisible spatial force.
"That was too heavy." The man's blue eyes lingered on the body parts for a moment, then he directed the remaining two players, "Take your companions back. Don't throw your lives away for meaningless things."
With their comrades killed right before their eyes, how could those two let it go? But the result of fighting back was simply following their companions to the grave.
"Why are there always so many people who won't listen to reason?" The blue-eyed man sighed, then walked further along the chaotic space passage. When he reached the training ground, he looked at the silver robe lying in the grass and couldn't help but laugh. "Died here of all places? A real slip-up in a gutter. How refreshingly novel."
The blue-eyed man didn't pick up the remains or touch the temporal power around. Instead, he flicked the gem ring on his index finger. Immediately, the temporal power in the area began to stir, resonating with itself as images from the past re-emerged, splitting into multiple frames like a film, sometimes moving forward, sometimes backward.
"I allow you to commit suicide... Hahaha!" The blue-eyed man clutched his stomach, laughing so hard he could barely stand straight. "Where did he learn that line? It's absolutely killing me!"
As the time rewind continued, he saw the silver-robed man's death and the one who killed him.
"He didn't kill anyone else with laughter, but he laughed himself to death." Suppressing his amusement, he carefully studied the entire process of the temporal power killing, then turned the ring to freeze the frame on the moment Xu Huo turned around.
As if face to face, the blue-eyed man met Xu Huo across time.
All appearances and disguises were fake, but only the information revealed through the eyes could transcend time and remain forever.
"Time, space, and spirit—triple-direction Super Evolution, yet so careless." The blue-eyed man dispersed the image in the air. "Do you think no one can find you?"
As if reminiscing about something, the blue-eyed man stood there for a while longer before turning to leave. Not long after he left, the spatial power in the area began to riot, and even the entrance to the chaotic space was completely destroyed.
A few minutes later, the chaotic time-space and the training ground base were completely severed. The chaotic time-space power covering the mountainous area also settled into calm.
Meanwhile, far away at another base, Xu Huo was deep inside a chaotic space passage with Zone 001 players.
The Reverse Ring hadn't restored the time-space power at the passage entrance to normal, so the passage wasn't blocked by instruments. That meant they still had to find another way to open it.
Zone 001 had quite a few Spatial Super Evolvers, but none were highly evolved. Qiu Xiangming was among the best, yet they still hadn't managed to clear the passage.
Xu Huo had already mastered the multi-faceted space body. Forcing a path through the chaotic passage wasn't a problem. The issue was that while he cleared it, another Super Evolver hiding in the passage might pull the same trick again. Once they realized it was only a matter of time before the passage was opened, they might panic and destroy it outright.
Just as they were carefully pushing apart the chaotic space bodies in the passage, a violent spatial tremor struck from afar. In an instant, the space bodies scattered around the passage began to collide and collapse. Countless Space Ray Blades repeatedly generated and vanished as if trying to pierce through the entire space. The intensity was like a world-destroying cataclysm!
Xu Huo and the First Squad huddled on one side of the passage to weather the storm. Xu Huo's ability to create multi-faceted space body barriers was very limited. He barely managed to form a shield, but it couldn't cover everyone. Fortunately, the passage left by the Super Player wasn't destroyed, allowing them to safely survive the first spatial storm.
By now, the spatial power in the chaotic space had become visible in many places, meaning this spatial fluctuation wouldn't end anytime soon.
"We can't go on!" Xu Huo decisively said. "If the Super Player's passage is sturdy enough, we can come back when the spatial storm subsides. Retreat!"
Though the exit was right ahead, they had no choice but to fall back. The First Squad members were reluctant, but they knew the stakes and immediately followed Xu Huo back.
The spatial fluctuations weren't intense yet, and the spatial barrier created by the First Squad's Spatial Evolver was quite effective. After a few steps, one of them couldn't help but say, "Take this chance—let me rush to the passage and get the message out first!"
The First Squad leader, the burly military general, grabbed the man with one hand. "It won't make a difference in this short time. If another spatial storm hits halfway, you'll never get out!"
With that, he shoved the man forward and ordered, "Move!"
It took them several minutes to evacuate from the passage. No sooner had they stepped out of the spatial rift than a new wave of storm swept through the passage, even causing fluctuations in the space outside. The two rounds of spatial storms disrupted the chaotic temporal power within the space. Some persistent temporal forces vanished, and though no new temporal power entered, the chaotic spatial power alone was enough to become a life reaper.
The Zone 001 players stationed outside lost dozens of people one after another while retreating from the mountain forest. This was despite each of them wearing several layers of top-grade metal defensive suits.
By the time Xu Huo and the others also withdrew and looked back at the surging power in the mountain forest from a safe spot, they felt nothing but lingering fear.
"Are the Holy Sword Society members still alive in the passage?" Chang Yu muttered.
"This should be an accident," Xu Huo said. "Unless a Super Player from the external zone came, no one would dare create a spatial storm in such chaotic space."
Whether that passage could survive was a matter of luck.
"We're running out of time," Chang Yu said.