Chapter 2758: The Hero's Death
Xu Huo did not go to the study but returned to the guest room the butler had arranged for him. Unexpectedly, the three scholars were waiting for him in his room. The two red-feathered hummingbirds were alive and well, and the Photographer was playing beside the cage.
"How did the talk go?" the Gourmet asked.
"There's no room for compromise," Xu Huo said. "He appears to be detached from worldly affairs, but in reality, it's just a forced choice after losing power. To soothe his own emotions, he will never close the instance."
The Photographer's expression changed upon hearing this. "Even in this state, he won't behave? Those people from the 022 District Government are really something, tricking outer zone players into coming here to entertain him!"
"Unable to move, spending most of the day lying in a chair, and he still finds life interesting."
"Have you ever seen a person utterly devoid of interest in life planting so many precious flowers and trees in their own estate?" the Gourmet said. "It's just that the aftereffects of degeneration are too severe, leaving him no choice."
"Reasoning won't work," the Photographer thought for a moment and said, "How about we all stay here tonight and just guard the door?"
"No." Xu Huo spoke first. "You should leave in a while."
He brought the birdcage over, submitted the souvenir, and put it into the luggage compartment. Only after sitting down did he continue, "It won't be long before he comes to kill me. It's inconvenient for you to be here."
The three people in the room exchanged glances. After a moment, the Gourmet said, "Did the conversation go badly?"
"Not really," Xu Huo said indifferently. "He simply wants to pick a fight with me."
Human emotions are complex. People who have lost something will involuntarily envy those who still possess the same thing. Mr. Wen's killing in the estate wasn't purely out of the cannibal player's instinct to feed.
Hearing his vague explanation, the three scholars didn't linger. They told him to call if he needed anything and then left.
Xu Huo sat alone in the room until late at night. The moment the midnight bell rang, the entire estate seemed to come alive. All the walls were writhing, and the ornaments by the walls, the decorative paintings on the walls, even the wall lamps were crashing down. Within a few seconds, a black shadow pierced through several walls and shot straight toward him with lightning speed!
The shield and space barrier stacked in front of him. Xu Huo was slammed by this immense force and flew directly out of the estate. Before he could land, large petals from the garden detached from their branches and quickly twisted into several storms, swirling toward him!
At the same time, the black shadow circled from directly in front of him to his left. His tall figure seemed to have curled into a ball, charging like a bird. The flowing air around him solidified section by section, blades of air scraping against the space barrier like a rain of knives. By the time the air blades and space barrier had mostly canceled each other out, the two combatants finally faced off directly!
Accompanied by the sound of several props breaking, in just two breaths, Xu Huo had consumed several A-grade combat props. Of course, his opponent wasn't faring much better either; the prop fragments scattered on the ground weren't just his alone!
"I thought your fingernails could rival props, but you're nothing special." He activated "Time-Space Hand," combined with space rays to force the shadow back a thousand meters, then erected the "Time Tower" amidst the sea of flowers. However, before he could manipulate the time power, the shadow suddenly burst out from underground!
Mud and petals flew everywhere. Xu Huo retreated up the tower, but his right foot was still caught. At such close range, even without seeing the opponent's face clearly, he could feel that the hand gripping his ankle had already transcended the realm of humans. Fortunately, the prop absorbed some of the force. As he climbed the Time Tower using the momentum, he simultaneously activated time rays to cause resonance and pressed his palm down to trigger the bone ring.
Under absolute gravity, the shadow was pressed toward the ground, dragging Xu Huo down with it. Facing the flowers and trees shooting in from all directions, he simply manipulated the space entity, blowing up the entire surrounding garden.
The shadow wasn't without space instruments or space props, but under the suppression of the super prop, they couldn't take effect. So he relied on speed, trying to tear Xu Huo apart directly. Once the two separated again, it would be difficult for him to get close to Xu Huo.
Xu Huo manipulated the space ray blade to chop off the shadow's hand, but unexpectedly, the layer of feathers covering his body was impenetrable. In that brief moment, the two sank together into the ground!
The garden fell silent for a moment. Soon after, a huge wave erupted from the water surface hundreds of meters away, then moved near the greenhouse. As the greenhouse collapsed, two figures shot out from underground. Before they could separate, a series of explosions occurred underground. The ground sank, water poured in, and a large volume of river water shot up from the ground, striking Xu Huo's back like thousands of blades!
At this moment, a large space entity had already been placed between the two. Even if the shadow could rely on his own strength to break through the defense barrier, it was too late. Xu Huo raised his right hand, and with the assistance of the "Time Tower," a large amount of time power poured down. In an instant, the water blades and flowers all froze, then evaporated and weathered away in a flash...
The shadow caught within the time power's range also changed. First, his figure shrank, then withered, gradually becoming even more gaunt and thin than an ordinary person. The feather prop on his body changed with his form, eventually making him look like a standing bird. The ageless feathers wrapped around his body as his life force faded.
The time power beneath the night sky disappeared. The feathered shadow fell lightly to the ground. A strong wind came from afar, sweeping up large amounts of petals, quickly covering the shattered ground and the shadow's corpse.
Xu Huo retrieved the "Time Tower." When he landed back on the ground, the butler and Lady Ti Hui had already come out. Their expressions were mournful. Ignoring everyone around, they carefully lifted the corpse still covered in feathers and left.
"That really was Mr. Wen, wasn't it?" the Photographer suddenly said.
"The instance is gone." The green-clothed female player cautiously glanced at Xu Huo, then left the estate along with the other players.
Xu Huo and his group had to leave too. Once the Enforcement Team arrived, it would be hard to get away.
It was already a foregone conclusion that the Scholar and the Gourmet wouldn't get the souvenir. As for the Photographer, he braced himself and followed Xu Huo, asking to buy one of the red-feathered hummingbirds.
Xu Huo sold him one at a high price.
They had just walked out of the estate when the Enforcement Team arrived. Xu Huo stayed in the city for a day and found that the obituary issued by the estate stated that Mr. Wen had died of illness. The Enforcement Team made no move. They held a grand funeral for him, seemingly not intending to investigate the cause of Mr. Wen's death.
When Xu Huo left the city, projections of Mr. Wen appeared in many places. His past achievements were recognized by the district government, and his body was buried in the Martyrs' Garden.
The side quest was considered over. He set off for the next scenic spot. During the not-so-long journey, he was subjected to three interrogations.