Chapter 2849: Maintaining the Persona
Both sides had their own arguments, and the players had no intention of acting as judges for them. The short, stooped old man naturally needed to be guarded against, but they were more concerned about the item Xu Huo was holding.
"Putting everything else aside, that item is something everyone needs," said the Red Gem Necklace woman, looking at Xu Huo and his group. "We all worked together yesterday to protect this woman. The item can't be for your use alone."
The remaining players from the Purple Life Research Institute naturally felt the same way. However, Wang Xin and the others were not as easy to deal with as they had been yesterday. Wang Xin, in particular, took a tough stance. "I've never heard of this 'finders keepers' rule in an instance. What, are you planning to take it by force?"
The Red Gem Necklace woman's expression turned cold. She exchanged glances with Xing Xiaoyu and the tall, white-haired man beside her. The three of them stepped back, widening the distance, and then faced Xu Huo and the others head-on, clearly preparing to make a move.
As they revealed their intentions, the other Purple Life Research Institute players began to choose sides. They could choose not to participate, but they had to guard against the Hundred Forest Society swooping in to pick up the scraps.
Xu Huo's side had four people. Shen Ling'er and He He, who had been acting with them earlier, both stepped aside, as did the Purple-Haired Man and the other Spatial Evolver, the Painter.
"Please Knock Before Entering" could only be used by Spatial Evolvers. Teams without a Spatial Evolver had lost the initiative. Of course, there were also those who felt their own evolutionary abilities were insufficient and planned to watch from the sidelines.
The Hundred Forest Society, having apparently finished their discussion, were now observing from the building on the east side.
Xing Xiaoyu made the first move. A powerful shockwave radiated from her body, immediately clashing with Wang Xin's defensive barrier. The two forces struggled against each other, the barrier shattered, and most of the impact force was dissipated. Bracing against the strong wind, the Red Gem Necklace woman and the tall, white-haired man tore through the new barrier, closing in on Yue Yan'er and Xu Huo to launch a one-on-one attack.
A swarm of bee-like miniature instruments flew from Yue Yan'er's body. A dense mass of micro-explosive props detonated in front of the approaching Red Gem Necklace woman, briefly slowing her down. Then, several mechanical swallows flew high into the air, circling above the Red Gem Necklace woman's head. These were Spatial Instruments, and the tangents they released effortlessly sliced through several layers of defensive barriers. However, before they could reach the person, they were neutralized by Xing Xiaoyu's interference from the side.
A flying sword-qi barrier shredded a few of the swallows. The Red Gem Necklace woman burst out of the smoke and dust zone. Her gloved left hand opened and closed towards Yue Yan'er, and an invisible force squeezed inwards, instantly binding her hands and feet together!
"Roller Coaster!" Seeing the person flash before her, Yue Yan'er remained calm. She calmly uttered a few words, and the Red Gem Necklace woman was sent flying high into the air by a sudden surge of immense force from the ground.
With the distance opened, the Red Gem Necklace woman simply hovered in the air. With a wave of her hand, a torrent of long needles, like a sudden downpour, rained down upon Yue Yan'er.
Having broken free from her restraints, Yue Yan'er immediately dashed into the research institute building, using the instance terrain to evade the needle rain. She then took out an hourglass, aimed it at the Red Gem Necklace woman, and flipped it. The woman in the air immediately turned upside down, head over heels. However, at the same time, she also used an item on Yue Yan'er:
"Filial Sons and Grandsons!"
Before she could use a defensive item, Yue Yan'er's knees buckled, and she fell straight to the ground in a kneeling position, completely unable to stand up.
One was upside down, the other kneeling; it was a fair exchange, with neither gaining the upper hand. But at that moment, Xing Xiaoyu, having shaken off Wang Xin, used the momentum to fly towards Yue Yan'er. With a sweep of her hand, a sword-qi slashed horizontally.
"Go fuck your father's egg!" Yue Yan'er bluntly tossed two bombs outward, then used an item to teleport herself to the open space in the courtyard. However, her timing was unlucky. She ended up right next to the tall, white-haired man, who was losing ground in close-quarters combat with Xu Huo. There were some cracks in the prop longsword in his hand. After throwing a sword-qi barrier at the pursuing Xu Huo, he instead hurled the sword at Yue Yan'er!
Dodging this sword wasn't difficult, but the Red Gem Necklace woman, having broken free from the item's effect high above, descended. She sealed off Yue Yan'er's escape route with several semi-transparent barriers and then spat a cloud of smoke into the enclosed space.
Knowing at a glance that the stuff was poisonous, the tall, white-haired man immediately retreated. He swapped his weapon for a close-combat prop and was about to recall the auto-attacking instrument that was delaying Xu Huo when he suddenly saw the man flash behind him. The long, slender, dark green blade turned into a mere afterimage, sweeping towards his lower back!
After exchanging blows for a while, he knew Xu Huo's blade was of excellent quality but had no additional effects, making it easy to defend against. So, after stacking several defensive items, he formed a scissors shape with two of his fingers.
In an instant, a pair of semi-transparent spatial power scissors appeared behind Xu Huo. The blades closed together, about to snip off his head!
Xu Huo didn't even look back. The spatial power net of "Time-Space Hand" spread out, effortlessly shredding the scissors. And when "Time-Space Hand" took effect, two layers of the tall, white-haired man's barriers automatically dissolved. "Green Moss" directly chopped through three spinning auto-defense props and slashed into his waist!
The tall, white-haired man was injured and retreated, but Xu Huo didn't pursue him. Instead, he turned back and slashed at the barrier sealing Yue Yan'er. The barrier shattered, and Yue Yan'er, still in her kneeling posture, immediately broke free, while the white smoke also dispersed.
Stepping back a few paces to avoid the smoke, Xu Huo calmly put on a gas mask. He looked at the tall, white-haired man and the Red Gem Necklace woman, who had regrouped in the distance, and stepped forward.
"Careful!" Yue Yan'er called out in warning, but it was Xing Xiaoyu who suddenly flew out from inside the building, using the cover of the poison smoke to ambush Xu Huo.
Xu Huo remembered his persona. He continuously pulled up several spatial barriers to block the elusive props. Xing Xiaoyu was also a Spatial Evolver. Her auxiliary prop, the Space Ray Blade, tore through the barriers first, and she followed closely behind. When she got close, she used a cursed puppet prop to forcibly control his limbs, then confidently spun the ring-blade in her hand, attempting to harvest her opponent with a continuous stream of air blades.
She was fast, but relying on the sensory strength of his Spatial Evolution, Xu Huo didn't need to visually track her position. He blocked this attack with a "Space Sphere," then took the opportunity to retreat and hide inside the building.
The buildings within the instance terrain were covered by spatial power, making them difficult for ordinary props to damage, and they served as natural barriers.
Xing Xiaoyu wasn't about to give up. Ignoring the other four who were locked in their own standoff, she chased him into the building.
After a few more exchanges, the two of them descended into the basement via the elevator shaft.
Xing Xiaoyu had a slight advantage and believed Xu Huo had been forced into the elevator shaft with no way out. So, after only a moment's hesitation, she followed him down. Seeing his figure flash into the third basement level, she sent a prop ahead to clear the way and then jumped in.
The prop she sent out didn't return. Xing Xiaoyu frowned. Turning a corner, she saw the man standing at the end of the dimly lit corridor, facing her—as if he had been waiting for her.