Chapter 277: Traits That Affect Space
Within half an hour, the players at the Coin Guessing Camp had mostly left, heading to the random location for the fifth quiz question according to the address Xu Huo had given them.
Once the crowd had thinned out, Peng Ru and Jin Chao hurriedly pressed him about the random location. They too wanted to buy the information, but Xu Huo refused and simply told them directly.
"The answer location will appear the day after tomorrow in the afternoon. It'll be fine if we finish the remaining game points first."
"But now that so many people know this news, aren't you afraid someone will get there first?" Peng Ru said. "Random locations have a time limit. If you miss this chance, you won't know where or when the next one will be. And this news will definitely spread a second time. Doesn't that make it even harder for us to get the little hat?"
Xu Huo held up a string of little hats. "Even if I get this little hat, I still can't clear the instance."
Peng Ru and Jin Chao fell silent. The latter said, "No wonder you sold the information."
In a situation where clearing was absolutely impossible, rather than waiting for people to come looking for trouble, it was better to release the information proactively and make some money on the side.
"In that case, we'll go on ahead," Jin Chao said. "See you then."
Xu Huo nodded and watched them leave. Then he turned around and split the money from selling the information, giving half to Yan Jiayu.
"That's a lot of money," the plush bear said, still staying by their side, staring at the thick stack of white notes in their hands.
"I'll buy you some candy later," Xu Huo said, patting its head.
The plush bear hugged its candy jar and walked away.
"Let's go too," Yan Jiayu said seriously. "A lot of players are heading this way."
The two of them left the camp as fast as possible. Although they didn't stop along the way, ten minutes later, they were still being tailed.
Xu Huo frowned. He manipulated the strings to hang a desert windmill behind a tree, then exchanged a glance with Yan Jiayu before turning and running in the opposite direction.
"Bouncing marbles!" A voice came from behind. As the two of them sprinted, they both felt a sharp wind rushing toward the backs of their heads. They dodged left and right respectively. With two consecutive "bang bang" sounds, two holes were punched into a tree ahead. As a streak of light returned, two more holes appeared in the trunk. Two glass marbles shot toward them from different angles!
"Ding!"
"Bang!"
The longsword and the stone staff simultaneously deflected the marbles. The two beads pierced through several trees before flying back into their owner's hands. At the same time, six players had surrounded them.
The marble user was a middle-aged man with shoulder-length hair. He spun the marbles in his hand and stared darkly at Xu Huo and Yan Jiayu. "How did you get the information out of the plush bear's mouth?"
"If I tell you, will you let us go?" Xu Huo glanced around at the players nearby.
Besides the marble user, the other five consisted of a pair of twins, a boldly dressed young woman, a white-haired old man, and an ugly dwarf.
"You still want to negotiate with us?" The dwarf sneered.
"Don't say that," the young woman said, flipping her hair. "This young man is pretty good-looking. It'd be a shame for a good-looking person to die. The game world is boring enough as it is. It's nice to keep a few eye-catching ones around."
The dwarf seemed to be hit where it hurt. He sneered and said, "I wonder how he compares to Brother Tu in looks!"
The young woman winked at the middle-aged man. "No one can compare to Brother Tu, of course. But this young man is pretty clever—he's the only one who got information out of the plush bear. Keeping him around might be useful. As for that little girl, give her to the twins."
The twins looked very similar, though one was slightly taller. Hearing the woman's words, the taller one said, "She's too scrawny. She'd die after a couple of rounds. I'm not interested. Do whatever you want."
"Business first," Brother Tu interrupted impatiently. He tilted his chin at Xu Huo. "Kid, be smart about this."
"It's simple. You just have to convince the plush bear in the game to set up a simple bet," Xu Huo said, gripping the Crimson Sword. "Then win that bet."
"That's it?" Brother Tu clearly didn't believe him.
"We've been stuck in this game for days. We've tried to find a breakthrough with the plush bear, but threats and bribes don't work. Getting the plush bear to agree to a bet probably isn't that easy either," the white-haired old man said to Brother Tu. "It's useful to keep this guy around."
Brother Tu also intended to use Xu Huo as a scout. He signaled to the twins, and the next second, the two of them appeared on either side of Xu Huo and Yan Jiayu, five meters apart, and simultaneously pushed inward!
The air seemed to be cut into a cross-section, peeling away from the gas like a mirror and instantly pressing toward the two in the middle!
Xu Huo immediately raised his longsword horizontally to block the two air cross-sections. But unexpectedly, the seemingly tangible cross-sections passed through the blade like air, sealing him in from both sides. He struck back with his fist, but it solidly hit the transparent cross-section and rebounded with several times the force!
Shaking his numb hand, he saw Yan Jiayu swinging her staff to strike and was about to stop her, but the stone staff heavily hit the cross-section, cracking it. With a series of snapping sounds, one cross-section shattered.
Seeing the cross-section broken, the surrounding players' eyes lit up, especially the twins, who directly said, "Nice item! I want it!"
With that, the two of them started running. As they ran, they continuously pulled semi-transparent cross-sections out of the air, surrounding them from all directions. These cross-sections could be stacked, and once stacked, they wouldn't be something Yan Jiayu could break with her bare hands.
"What kind of item is this?" Yan Jiayu almost lost her grip on the staff. Looking around, she saw that the cross-sections had surrounded them like a cage. She immediately tried to climb over the top.
But as soon as she popped up, Brother Tu's marbles flew over, forcing her back into the area enclosed by the cross-sections.
"This isn't an item," the taller twin said. "It's a trait—a one-in-a-million trait that can affect space. Of course, it's not something your traits can compare to. Except for items containing space elements, any other item's attacks will be useless!"
"You're full of it!" Yan Jiayu retorted. "If it's so powerful, why did a stone staff break it?"
"Are you stupid?" the taller twin said. "That's because your item contains space elements. Do you think just any random stone can be used as an item? Naturally formed items usually have strange powers. It's wasted in your hands!"
They clearly had their eyes set on the stone staff. Although Yan Jiayu only used it as an ordinary weapon, she had no intention of handing it over. She turned to look at Xu Huo.
(Chapter End)