Chapter 2861: The Hidden Petition
"Hey, take us with you!" Yue Yan'er quickly said. "If you leave, we'll have to stay here."
But Xu Huo didn't intend to take them along. Instead, he said, "Staying here makes it easier for me to distinguish the space."
After speaking, he turned back to look at Cong Lei and Dark Circles. "You two come with me."
Dark Circles quickly said, "I'd better not go. Let Cong Lei go—he's in better spirits."
Xu Huo smiled. "It's safer to stay with me."
This made Dark Circles hesitate. The black substance that had surged from him earlier had clearly slowed down the instance boss. Although the instance boss appeared in the form of dust, it was actually a mass of strangely shaped space power. Even space couldn't block it, so players couldn't use space power to defend against it either. However, that black substance seemed to carry some kind of suction force, capable of distorting space power.
In the half month since they had entered, they hadn't yet seen anyone survive a face-to-face encounter with the instance boss!
Even knowing that the other party was using him as bait, Dark Circles had no choice but to nod.
Cong Lei naturally had to go as well. He knew the silver-armored woman and definitely wouldn't stay behind.
Xu Huo glanced at the three people including the silver-armored woman, nodded to Yue Yan'er and her companion, and then moved into the nearby building.
There were many places where space power was concentrated, but not every location could open a space portal. Some were interlayers, some might be items, and others were just brief collisions caused by fluctuations in space power, without any specific meaning.
After checking several spots in a row, and even fishing out a button item from a space crevice, Xu Huo finally entered another space.
This was a completely new space. Unexpectedly, he ran into the bearded man and the nose-ring woman he had encountered before.
These two had entered Xu Huo's space from another space along with the short old man. Later, the bearded man acted alone, while the nose-ring woman moved with the Hundred Forest Society. Xu Huo hadn't expected them to end up together again.
They must know something!
Xu Huo crossed through space and intercepted them from the front. "What a coincidence. We meet again even after changing spaces."
The nose-ring woman put away the instrument in her hand that had been emitting beeping sounds and coldly stared at the person in front of her. "A good dog doesn't block the way!"
"Sister, with a mouth that foul, it's a miracle you've survived this long," Dark Circles said.
The nose-ring woman sneered. "Then you should know that I'm extremely powerful!"
As she spoke, a thin blue electric arc flowed from her hand. With her movement, the blue lightning twisted like a long whip, sweeping along the corridor toward Xu Huo and his two companions!
Xu Huo stacked a space barrier in front of him, manipulating space power to block the lightning while simultaneously releasing "Darkened Heart."
The black substance surged out, plunging the entire open area of the building into darkness. This effectively restricted the traits of the nose-ring woman and the bearded man. Seeing the situation was unfavorable, the two turned to flee, but within the dark substance, their speed was no match for Xu Huo's. The walls that had originally been separated by space power seemed to turn into air under the darkness—Xu Huo, just testing it out, was a bit surprised to find himself passing straight through the floors and blocking their path.
But this could be set aside for now. After deflecting their attack items, he frequently manipulated space power to shatter or knock down the space instruments on their bodies. Then he seized the opportunity to use the "Time Ring," though it only froze the nose-ring woman. The bearded man clenched his fist and slammed the patch on the back of his hand against an empty wall beside him, and his body immediately fell into a newly formed space portal.
"So that's how it works." Xu Huo didn't chase after him. He turned back, raised his hand, and severed the tendons in the nose-ring woman's hands and feet. After recalling the "Time Ring," he used an item to bind her before starting the interrogation.
"It seems you've found something interesting." He walked up to the woman, looking down at her. "Did you take it?"
The nose-ring woman initially wanted to act tough, but as she moved slightly, the Space Ray Blades surrounding her pierced into her flesh. She immediately softened. "There's a moving small space in this layer. There should be something good hidden inside."
"I detected it earlier with my instrument. It's most likely an item, but it keeps moving with the fluctuations of the instance field. If you're not careful, it disappears."
"And now it's entered this layer of space?" Xu Huo looked around, then in the next second, he lifted the woman and brought her to the central courtyard building. He also caught the moving small space the nose-ring woman had mentioned and gently tapped it with his finger.
Space power rippled like waves. He reached in and grabbed something, pulling out a small leather suitcase.
The surface of the suitcase was somewhat worn. When he lifted it, he could hear something sliding around inside. It wasn't too heavy.
"What is it?" Cong Lei moved closer. "Is the item inside?"
The nose-ring woman also craned her neck, both regretting that the thing she had been watching for so long had been discovered and curious about what kind of treasure it was.
Xu Huo opened the suitcase. As the lid flipped up, he saw a set of white bones curled up with knees tucked in.
The moment the suitcase opened, cracks appeared on the bones. Within seconds, they completely shattered, and some even turned to powder.
"It's human bones." The nose-ring woman was greatly disappointed.
Xu Huo pushed aside the bone fragments and picked up a sealed piece of paper that had been pressed underneath. The crooked word "Petition" was written at the top, followed by a simple account accusing Hexin Research Institute of long-term human trafficking for live experiments, with many people tortured to death. Below were signatures and fingerprints in different handwriting. From the varying shades of color, it was clear that these signatures were made over a considerable span of time.
[Congratulations to player Passerby A for finding a special item.]
[Hidden Petition: The purpose of writing a petition is to make it public, but this petition was buried in a space interlayer by chance. It was never made public until all the signatories had died.]
[As a naturally born item, it has a mandatory effect that forces anyone who signs it to abide by the agreement. Those who break the agreement will, like this petition, be forever hidden in the interlayer of space.]
Xu Huo silently stored the petition in his luggage compartment. He searched the suitcase again and found a very small stone among the bone fragments.
[Heart of the Brave: A brave and fearless heart of gold born from a small volunteer's body. B-grade defense item, capable of forming an energy protective shield around the holder.]
"This is an item." Xu Huo showed the "Heart of the Brave" to the three people behind him. "A B-grade item."
Upon hearing it was a B-grade item, Dark Circles and Cong Lei lost interest. The nose-ring woman found it hard to believe, but she had no room to speak and could only watch resentfully as Xu Huo put the item away.
"So many players have already entered, and yet we can still find new items." Xu Huo sighed. "There are really a lot of items in an A-grade new instance."