Chapter 2723: Trap and Snake Vine
The spiritual energy within the district was scattered and aimless. The plants here had no consciousness, no initiative; they merely attacked everything around them indiscriminately, a world of difference from the Goddess Vine.
But this newly sprouted vine could already distinguish between plants and animals. The spiritual energy it released first came at Xu Huo, only retreating after hitting a wall.
Using spiritual attacks as a means of hunting was indeed different from other mutant plants.
From spiritual interference to spiritual control, and then to the ability to directly inflict lethal damage on living creatures—this was the general direction of spiritual evolution. Before entering this district, Xu Huo couldn't even reach the level of spiritual control. He could only barely complete simple commands by compressing the time of spiritual interference. True spiritual control should be like Dou Shengnan's—powerful enough to make people unable to defy it.
Going a step further, spiritual power had more flexible uses. The mere pressure from the power could make people dizzy, unconscious, or even die. This was different from Materialized Objects that transformed spiritual power into tangible attacks; it was a truly elusive and hard-to-defend-against method, similar in principle to an "anchor."
There were so many mutant plants, but only the Goddess Vine was this human-like.
Without needing to dig through the soil, Xu Huo could sense that the roots of the Goddess Vine and the King Fungus were both connected to the Nuwa Stone. Unable to predict how far they could grow, he simply took the opportunity to rest.
Not long after, the Golden Pupil Player and one of his companions returned. Both of them had apparently held out until they absolutely couldn't take it anymore before turning back. Not only did they look sickly, but when they saw Yan Jiayu again, the familiar suspicion returned to their eyes.
"Did you find any Super Items?" Yan Jiayu lowered her voice, indicating that Xu Huo was resting.
The metal protective shield blocked sight and perception, so the Golden Pupil Player and his companion couldn't sense Xu Huo's condition and could only rest nearby.
"No items, but we did see some human bones." The Golden Pupil Player's companion touched his right hand, which was missing his ring and little fingers.
"Human bones?" Yan Jiayu perked up. "Where?"
"An underground crevice." The Golden Pupil Player said, "Only about two or three meters wide. Quite a few bones were scattered inside. They must have been squeezed down when the cave passage was formed."
"Where is it? How far?" Yan Jiayu pressed. "We're looking for someone, after all."
"They're already bones..." The Golden Pupil Player hesitated. "Are you here specifically to collect remains?"
"Just helping someone out." Yan Jiayu said, "A friend's relative died here."
The Golden Pupil Player didn't care whether her story was true or false. He gave a general location, which was far beyond Xu Huo and Yan Jiayu's perception range.
"We'll go after he's rested." Yan Jiayu saw that Xu Huo wasn't responding, so she said.
The Golden Pupil Player and his companion were struggling to hold on. When they heard they still had to wait, they could only go back and lie down in the box.
The robot's work efficiency was extraordinary. Yan Jiayu's luggage compartment was already full, and several piles of high-quality ore, carefully selected, were stacked in the open space.
Unfortunately, after digging for so long, they hadn't found any Subclass Stones, let alone Primordial Stones.
After wasting half a day in this place, Xu Huo couldn't stay any longer. He rolled up the vine, which had grown to five meters, and planted it back in the flowerpot. He also repacked the Nuwa Stone into the metal box and put them both into the luggage compartment. After cleaning off the tough King Fungus hyphae that had grown on him, he walked out from among the dense mutant plants.
Yan Jiayu called the Golden Pupil Player and the others to get up, preparing to go find the underground crevice they mentioned.
"Did you really see an underground crevice? Could it be an illusion?"
The Golden Pupil Player paused. "Hard to say."
Hallucinations in the underground passages were already the norm.
Unexpectedly, not too far from them, there really was an underground fissure. It seemed naturally formed, with some uneven stone platforms below, and a few white bones hanging sparsely on them.
"There really is one." Yan Jiayu leaned over to look. "There wouldn't be snakes down there, would there?"
Spiritual power flowed, and the white Materialized Object sank along the fissure, rolling up the bones one by one, slowly picking them up.
Seeing the bones from hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of meters below being effortlessly retrieved, the player who had been out of sorts suddenly let out a loud cry, sprinted forward a few steps, and plunged headfirst into the fissure!
The Golden Pupil Player and the Missing Finger Player reacted a bit slowly. By the time they realized their companion had fallen and tried to rescue him, there was no sign of him below the fissure.
But before the two could grieve or get angry, the white Materialized Object rolled the man back up. Yan Jiayu stepped forward and delivered a hammer blow, knocking the screaming man unconscious again.
"No need to thank me." Yan Jiayu grabbed him by the collar and dragged him over, placing him in front of the two.
The Golden Pupil Player and the Missing Finger Player exchanged a glance, then both suddenly lunged toward the fissure...
But how could Xu Huo let them leave so easily? Space power instantly condensed into a barrier, sealing the fissure tightly and trapping them both on top of it.
Dragging them in front of him, he asked, "What's really down there?"
The two remained silent, with a sluggish, out-of-it look.
Xu Huo couldn't be bothered to watch them play dumb any longer. He sliced off their protective suits and pointed at the miniature bombs that had just floated up behind them. "Were you waiting for these?"
"First throwing bombs down, then throwing bones. When you couldn't trick us into jumping, you planned to jump yourselves. I'm starting to get curious about what you're really trying to do."
The miniature bombs weren't that powerful. Trapped within the space barrier, after the explosion, there was only a dull thud, not even a wisp of wind.
The Golden Pupil Player, who had already taken off his helmet, changed expression slightly but quickly calmed down. He looked at Xu Huo. "Do you think only making a commotion works? Manipulating space power is the same."
Xu Huo frowned slightly. The next second, several meter-thick mutant plants shot out from beneath the fissure. They were covered in colorful scales, and their open flower buds were full of thorns, roaring at them like giant pythons.
The lifelike snake roar was especially piercing. Xu Huo flicked his fingers, and several Space Tangents sliced them all apart. But as the foul-smelling sap flew everywhere, more and more of the same Snake Vines shot out from the fissure one after another. They ignored the closer Golden Pupil Player and his companion, targeting only Xu Huo and Yan Jiayu as their prey!
Taking advantage of this brief chaos, the Golden Pupil Player used an item to break through the blockade barrier. Together with the Missing Finger Player, one carried the box and the other carried the man, and they jumped straight into the fissure!
Watching them fall under the protection of the box, Xu Huo also took out the metal box that had been in the luggage compartment. He simply placed it in front of him, and the two Snake Vines that had lunged at him suddenly stopped, as if they had lost their target.