Chapter 2753: Instant Kill
"Mr. Xu," the butler suddenly appeared at one end of the corridor. "That room is not open to guests."
Whether he went in or not made no difference. Xu Huo closed the door and asked casually, "Does Mr. Wen know his house has been made this dirty?"
The butler remained silent.
But sometimes silence was also a statement.
Xu Huo walked past him and went back downstairs.
Night soon fell again. After feeding the birds, Xu Huo left his door slightly ajar, keeping an eye on the commotion in the manor.
Probably because of the players who had died inexplicably the previous night, the remaining ones had grown cautious. Although the players who came out did engage in combat, they only fought sparingly, deliberately minimizing the disturbance.
Since indiscriminate attacks were no longer an option, the best course of action at this point was to lie in ambush near the staircase. No matter who the assassin was, they would eventually try to make their way upstairs.
The players gradually went into hiding. Some, wearing invisibility items, could crouch behind decorations or ornaments for two or three hours.
In the travel instance, the botanist and the photographer left their rooms first. After they headed to the garden and the vicinity of Lady Ti Hui's residence respectively, the gourmet and the scholar came out. These two lay in wait for players from other manor instances, watching for an opportunity.
After another long period of waiting, the third floor was the first to stir.
It started when a player, under the cover of an item, attempted to sneak upstairs. This naturally made him a target for everyone. Several players attacked simultaneously, but their items vanished into the darkness without a trace, and even the player who had just gone up fell silent.
Just as the others were hesitating, preparing to go up and check, a dripping sound came from the staircase. Then a large amount of blood soaked the carpet, and an oval object bounced and rolled down—it was the head of the player who had just gone up!
The crowd was startled. Before they could react, a shadow so fast it was nearly impossible for the eye to catch shot past them!
"What is that?!" a player blurted out, but before the words faded, his body was severed into several pieces!
It wasn't just the players nearby. Xu Huo, who had been staying in his room, also shot to his feet. Generally, when a player's evolution rate reached around eighty or ninety percent, their physical abilities were roughly comparable. So, without the aid of items or instruments, relying solely on speed, one person couldn't possibly almost disappear from others' field of vision. But that shadow that had just passed by—not only could they not see it clearly, the players couldn't even tell if it was human or beast. They only felt a thin, black blur flash through their sight. And that shadow came and went just as quickly. No one saw where it came from, nor did they know where it had vanished to!
All the players in the manor sprang into action. Xu Huo, who had also risen swiftly, walked out of his room. By the time he entered the garden, he only had time to glance at the disemboweled botanist before a shadow charged straight at him!
An immense sense of crisis triggered his reflexive use of "Time-Space Hand." The moment the space tangent snapped open, large swaths of flowers, trees, and even the nearby pavilion were sliced into fragments. Yet, even under this level of defense, the shadow moved with ease. After its first failed strike, it circled around at high speed towards another direction!
Space bodies, like solidified barriers, layered upon one another, forming a giant shield around Xu Huo. Time power crossed the space, penetrating the space bodies and also guarding him!
For an ordinary player, breaking through the space body barrier would be difficult, but for that black shadow, it was merely a gentle breeze. Its speed didn't diminish; instead, it forcefully broke through the defensive barrier. However, just as it was about to charge into the coverage of the time power, it stopped abruptly!
It was at this moment that Xu Huo barely managed to capture the shadow's outline. It appeared to be a burly figure at least two meters tall, but it was draped in a thick, cloak-like feather coat. This coat not only concealed its form but also blurred the area of its head, making it impossible to see clearly!
After pausing for only the briefest moment, the shadow vanished from the flower garden before other players could arrive.
Xu Huo stood still. His childhood persona and adolescent persona appeared on the path the shadow had taken, staring in the direction it had disappeared.
"Did you catch it?" a player's voice came from behind. By then, the shadow had already vanished underground. Xu Huo put on his gloves and went to examine the botanist's corpse.
The man was already dead when Xu Huo came down from upstairs. That shadow possessed not only incredible speed but also extraordinary lethality. Compared to the player who had been cut into several pieces earlier, the botanist's death was far more gruesome. The force used to rip open his abdomen was so great that all his internal organs were pulled out. Apart from a small portion smeared on his own face, the rest had been flung far away.
The scholar and the others had grim expressions. Being attacked was within their expectations, but they hadn't anticipated such a high risk. A B-rank player, killed before they even got a clear look at their opponent. This meant that none of them present were a match for that shadow!
"Normal players don't kill people in such a twisted way," a female player in a green dress said. "The holder of this instance might not even be human anymore."
Initially, they had suspected Mr. Wen, but judging from the victims' condition, it was hard to determine if the killer's mind was sane. Mr. Wen clearly didn't fit the profile.
Even if he had a split personality, his combat power wouldn't suddenly double.
"Fingernail," Xu Huo said, finding a small piece of hard nail embedded in an item near the botanist's wound.
"It's a human fingernail," the gourmet said quickly. "Judging by the thickness, it must have been mutated. Some players who have undergone secondary evolution can alter the state of certain parts of their bodies."
"Did you see who it was just now?" he asked Xu Huo.
"Wearing protective gear, couldn't see the face. Over two meters tall. Definitely a secondary evolution player," Xu Huo replied, looking back towards the manor. "When you came out, were the bodies of the two dead players still in place?"
Since they were already dead, who would care about the state of the bodies?
"The butler came out," the scholar reminded them.
Xu Huo quickly stored the botanist's corpse and followed the others back into the manor. However, the bodies of the two players who had died on the fourth floor and the third-floor staircase were gone. Not even a trace of blood remained. Staring at the dim wall lamps, everyone felt a chill run down their spines.
After two seconds of silence, a player suddenly turned around, grabbed the butler, and pressed him, demanding, "You're the one who killed them, aren't you! Otherwise, you couldn't have gotten here so fast!"
The butler, who had been polite and courteous until now, had a dark expression. He lowered his eyelids slightly, looking at the man before him with eyes that were mere slits. "It's very late. You should all be resting in your rooms, not wandering around outside."
The player holding him ignored the warning. "If it's not you, then it's that old woman, or else that sickly guy upstairs..."
Before he could finish, the butler's fingers suddenly and swiftly plunged into his throat!