Chapter 2844: Unblockable Attack
“That’s right,” Yue Yan’er said with a faint, meaningful smile. “Let alone operating the instruments, I could even whip up a few bombs for you right now.”
The black-haired woman seemed not to notice the subtle hostility in her words and continued, “You’re on the same team as my brother. I’ll follow you all. If I accidentally end up in another space, I can help persuade the others too.”
Yue Yan’er looked at Xu Huo and Wang Xin. Xu Huo still wore that indifferent expression, and in the end, it was Wang Xin who spoke up. “Fine.”
The discussion came to a close, and the players hired by the Purple Life Research Institute scattered in twos and threes, each with their own plans.
Yue Yan’er went off to debug the robots, while the black-haired woman naturally sat down next to Xu Huo and pulled out her own rations. “Brother, want to try some specialties from my hometown?”
Xu Huo glanced at her. “No need. I have my own.”
The black-haired woman didn’t mind. She introduced herself, “My name is Que Niao. Just call me by my name. Calling you ‘brother’ was a bit presumptuous—that was an emergency situation earlier… I heard others call you by your name. Can I call you Brother Yu? And about what happened before, please forgive me.”
Xu Huo was using the alias Yu Zhi. He didn’t reject her forwardness and said casually, “What a coincidence. The 033 District is so big, yet we end up in the same instance.”
“Isn’t it?” Que Niao said with a smile. “This must be fate.”
“Speaking of coincidences, it’s not just us. Another person from the same train also entered this instance,” she added. “Remember that old man with Mental Evolution on the train? He’s here too. That arrogant old geezer.”
Because of the brief clash on the train—which hadn’t even escalated into outright hostility—Que Niao already showed considerable dislike for this person.
Xu Huo didn’t ask further. After resting a while longer, the time finally neared eight in the evening.
In a place that should have long lost power, lights actually flickered on a few minutes before eight. However, the number of intact lights was small, and against the backdrop of darkness, they only served to interfere with vision.
When eight o’clock struck, the space within the entire research institute began to ripple. It felt like a calm lake suddenly stirred by waves, with fish occasionally leaping up. Most players could vaguely sense the ebb and flow of power, but couldn’t pinpoint it precisely.
Yet in the perception of a Spatial Evolver, the vast space seemed to turn into an elastic place, filled with overly concentrated spatial power everywhere. Though nothing appeared changed on the surface, no Evolver would dare touch it lightly.
Soon, however, everyone realized that these undulating forces along the building’s walls seemed to partition the structure into separate spaces.
At the bearded man’s signal, a player from the Hundred Forest Society tried entering a room on the first floor.
This room was covered by the fluctuating spatial power, with no gaps in any direction. The player went in and gently closed the deformed door—not sealing it tightly—but when he tried to open it again, he couldn’t find the doorknob no matter how he groped.
The spatial power had sealed the door. He was trapped inside.
Realizing this, he immediately began attempting to deconstruct the spatial barrier forming on the door, but after half a minute, he looked at the bearded man outside and shook his head slightly.
“It seems these are the small compartments,” the bearded man said quietly. “Since the rules say we can’t forcibly open the compartments, don’t come out for now. Stay alert tonight.”
Such small compartments were scattered throughout every building, including the underground laboratory. Judging by the numbers alone, there weren’t enough for each person to have one. Of course, having more people together was safer, but they weren’t sure whether more people meant safety or danger.
Some players began forcibly occupying nearby compartments, but soon discovered that some doors were already closed. Bound by the rules, they didn’t break them open, only searching more urgently for other compartments.
If the doors were closed, it meant someone might be inside—meaning that at night, players might be pulled into the same space to share compartments. Since no new people had appeared in the building, it meant the players who entered earlier were all hiding in the compartments!
In a flash, the players realized they absolutely couldn’t stay outside at night!
The gathered players scattered instantly. Xu Huo and his group rushed toward the nearest empty room, colliding with three players from the Hundred Forest Society. The other side seized the advantage, unleashing three layers of defense barriers to knock them back. But Wang Xin thrust his hands forward, releasing power that directly controlled two of them, sending all three crashing away!
“Cross the line and die!” Just as Wang Xin and the others reached the door, a tangent suddenly rose from outside, slicing off the tip of Yue Yan’er’s shoe.
Seeing even the defense barriers cut through, Yue Yan’er tossed out a handful of metal flowers. These flowers spun at high speed, each petal becoming a weapon aimed at the Hundred Forest Society.
As the two sides seemed about to stalemate, a completely unfamiliar player rushed out from a corner, slipped through the gap between the two groups into the room, and moved to slam the door shut.
Xu Huo wouldn’t let him close it. He immediately raised a spatial barrier to block the door. But the other player smiled at him, and the next second, everyone outside the door was pushed back ten meters, involuntarily distancing themselves from the room.
The door finally closed. At the same moment, Xu Huo suddenly sensed a player in the building to his left vanish—not killed by another player, but truly disappearing from space!
When he extended his spiritual realm to look, he only caught sight of a person shattered on the ground.
It could no longer be called a person—only faint remnants of a human form remained, like weathered stone. A slight current of air reduced it completely to ash, leaving behind not even an item!
The boss of this instance was killing with spatial power!
Players could destroy objects by controlling the spatial rays within them, and humans were no exception. Something like a Spider Lock, or stronger, could simply tear a person apart. But in this instance, anyone caught by the power would instantly turn to dust!
This exceeded the players’ cognitive limits and was an absolutely unblockable attack!
“To the basement!” Xu Huo immediately sprinted toward the elevator shaft. Because the basement had experienced a space-swallowing incident during the day, the Hundred Forest Society and Purple Life Research Institute had instinctively avoided it when they had a choice. But that didn’t mean the compartments in the basement were empty—two-thirds of the doors were already closed.
Wang Xin and the others followed closely. When they descended to the fifth underground level, they unexpectedly encountered a strange player who appeared out of nowhere. He had clearly come from another space. His face changed when he saw them, and he blurted out, “Lingering and reluctant to leave!”