Chapter 2579: Unexpected Program
As he dismantled this ghost costume, several other players also caught the "performers," and the situation was the same as his—beneath the ghost costumes were only skeletal frames, completely different from the performer who had been beheaded earlier. Unfortunately, under the disguise of the ghost costumes, it was hard to tell at first glance whether they were real people, while the actual performers seemed to predict the players' actions, killing one player with each surprise attack—almost no player who encountered a real performer survived.
Xu Huo walked out of the alley. The middle section of the parade hadn't passed yet. The four-to-five-meter-tall demons muttered incantations, their voices distorted by instruments. Though it was impossible to make out what they were saying, it perfectly suited the atmosphere.
"Look here, look here!" A tourist jumped up and down, trying to take a photo with the black-faced, fanged great demon. A communicator with flight capabilities followed her movements, recording from various angles, but it was too far from the great demon, and the tourist wasn't satisfied no matter what.
"Ha!" The parade moved slowly forward. The great demon let out a long sigh, then bent down and lowered its massive head behind the tourist's waist.
"Quick, take the picture!" The tourist screamed with joy, waving continuously at her friends.
After the great demon cooperated for a few seconds, thick colorful mist sprayed from its body. Its wide robe flickered in and out of sight, and the tourist beside it was swept away.
Seeing their companion disappear, the few young people panicked slightly, but the next moment, the female tourist's shrieks of laughter came from the front of the parade. She had suddenly appeared on the back of a small goblin, was carried around twice, and then set back on the ground.
The young people laughed and chased after her.
This kind of scene happened two or three more times, and gradually the tourists got used to it. So when a player trying to investigate got close and was swallowed, no one paid much attention.
Of course, how could such a scene not catch the Painting Woman's attention? She hopped and skipped after a great demon, repeatedly tugging at its robe. The demon pulled back several times, getting quite annoyed, then suddenly lowered its head and roared at her. As smoke billowed, its robe swept out, and she flew into the air.
The You sisters had already sensed something off about the parade, but since they weren't clearance players, they thought following along for a while would be fine. They never expected the instance boss to be so indiscriminate, attacking people without distinction.
So when the Painting Woman was covered by the robe and lifted, each of them grabbed one of her hands, trying to pull her back. But they didn't expect the demon to be so strong that it lifted all three of them at once!
"Not good..." You Zhi hadn't finished speaking when she felt a hand on her calf. Looking down, she saw a fake ghost face. It was a mask they had picked out, so she recognized at a glance that the last person pulled in was Xu Huo. She was about to kick him out when a huge suction force came from above, and then they were all shut inside the demon's belly.
The great demon was quite large, and its belly was fairly spacious. But even so, squeezing in four or five people made it cramped. They stepped on each other's feet, staring face-to-face at the performer operating the great demon costume.
Seeing the Painting Woman about to strike again, the performer quickly said, "Don't pull, don't pull! I'll let you out right away!"
As he spoke, a small portal appeared on one side of the costume. He first kicked the Painting Woman out, putting so much force into it that it seemed a bit personal.
But if the Painting Woman were that easy to get rid of, she wouldn't be the Painting Woman. As she went out, she swiftly grabbed the performer's leg and dragged him out with her!
As soon as the performer broke free, the large demon costume began to deflate. Hearing the shouts outside, You Zhi quickly stood in the performer's previous position, re-operated the control stick, and got the great demon moving again.
"It seems not all the great demons are dangerous," You Xin breathed a sigh of relief. "But we'll have to wait for the staff to take over before we can leave."
Xu Huo flicked the portal switch on the control stick, and the narrow portal reappeared.
"I'll go out and take a look," he said to the You sisters. "If we don't meet up later, go straight back to the hotel."
With that, he stepped into the portal.
This portal was no different from the city's teleportation transportation system. But the moment he crossed over, several huge guillotine blades came at him, aiming for his throat, abdomen, thighs, and feet.
There was no time to dodge, and since the portal behind him was one-way, there was nowhere to hide. He brushed his thumb over the bone ring on his index finger, then pressed down lightly. The several guillotine blades trembled and stalled under the intense pressure of gravity. In less than a breath, they all snapped cleanly.
The sharp blades plunged deep into the ground and disappeared completely, while the several knife handles controlled by the mechanism fell out of the wall, getting stuck on the surface, preventing the mechanism from closing again.
Xu Huo stepped forward to examine it. The guillotine blades and mechanism had originally been hidden inside the wall, with the wall's surface lightly disguised. Once the mechanism closed, no gap would be visible from the outside. Extending his observation from this mechanism, he found that not only the walls of the alley but even the ground had mechanisms, though they hadn't been triggered simultaneously.
Taking two steps back, he crouched down and felt the ground. After estimating the approximate location of the mechanism, he selected a space instrument and wore it on his finger. With a few slashes at the ground, space rays cut out a rectangular shape.
Under the effect of a levitation item, this piece of metal, along with the mechanism beneath it, floated up.
It was the same type of guillotine blade as on the wall, only thinner and more numerous. If someone stepped on this, they would be sliced into toast slices in an instant.
The mechanism was child's play, but the material of the blades was good. He also extracted another mechanism, collecting all the guillotine blades into his luggage compartment.
Just as he finished, two players appeared on the rooftop of a small building over ten meters away, looking down at him from above.
Xu Huo only glanced up before turning and leaving the alley.
The two players' eyes followed him until he exited the alley, but they didn't come after him.
It seemed they didn't want to fight.
Once out of the alley, Xu Huo released his spiritual realm to find the Painting Woman and the You sisters. The You sisters had already left Culture Street. The great demon from earlier was still moving, so there must have been a new performer taking over.
The parade had reached its latter section. From a distance, he saw the darkness like black smoke closing in with the procession. He turned and stepped into a spiritual gate. After several short-distance teleports, he grabbed the Painting Woman, who was wearing a ghost costume and pretending to be a performer, off a flying device. "Going back."
The tourists had only bought ordinary costumes, but just as he lifted her up, a skeleton fell out from below, and the Painting Woman, who should have been inside, was nowhere to be found.