Chapter 2867: P7S
The short old man's teeth chattered, but he didn't utter a single word. Due to enduring immense mental pressure for a long time, his face began to swell and redden, and bloodshot veins crawled across the whites of his eyes. Finally, he mustered a burst of strength to break free from the suppression of the "Mirror Space," and countless black materialized objects turned into arrows shooting forward!
White spiritual power flowed to block these arrows, then followed the shafts to quickly engulf the black materialized objects, instantly suppressing the black spiritual power once again.
Xu Huo had already straightened up by now, looking down at the short old man from above. "This isn't the instance you chose yourself, is it?"
He didn't need the old man to answer and continued asking, "Someone gave you a task, so you came here."
"There must have been something special entrusted to you before you left."
"What was it? A potion? Information? Or something whose contents you didn't know?"
"It seems to be the latter."
"The one who sent you here was your teacher?"
"So it really was your teacher."
"He gave you a puzzle ball?"
"It seems so..."
Having asked this far, Xu Huo had basically figured it out. The thing he was looking for wasn't in this instance. Instead, Dr. Zhang had given him a clue and had someone else bring the item here. His purpose was to hand over the item he truly wanted to give Xu Huo through a third party.
He hadn't directly placed the item in this instance or chosen another instance as the venue. Dr. Zhang was just telling him one thing: that he knew everything—knew about Xu Huo's existence, knew that Xu Huo had been tracking his clues, and was paying attention to his growth. He was even proactively sending what Xu Huo needed to help him improve.
"Hand it over." Xu Huo extended his hand toward the short old man.
If the style of questioning at the beginning had surprised him, then the content of the subsequent questions shocked the short old man.
Although mental evolvers had strong spiritual abilities, that didn't mean they excelled in every aspect. Being able to discern and judge whether one's own words were correct from subtle expressions and emotional changes required special talent. At least in the short old man's view, only his teacher could do such a thing, especially when the opponent was also a mental evolver.
And mentioning "teacher" and "puzzle ball" was basically showing his cards—Xu Huo also knew Dr. Zhang.
Before coming to this instance, his teacher had indeed given him a puzzle ball, telling him he could solve it and look inside after clearing the instance. But at this moment, he understood that his teacher hadn't really intended for him to solve the puzzle ball and take what was inside. Instead, he was meant to bring the puzzle ball to this instance. If he could still be alive after the instance ended, then the puzzle ball would truly belong to him.
"So... you're also..." The short old man looked at Xu Huo with a smug expression, as if he were looking at Dr. Zhang's excellently trained disciple on his behalf.
"I really don't like your expression." Xu Huo stared at him coldly, layering on mental control once again. Blood began to flow from the short old man's nostrils.
"Give me the item."
Another command.
This time, the short old man didn't resist fiercely but obediently took out the puzzle ball.
Holding that multi-faceted sphere, Xu Huo's eyes darkened. This was the third puzzle ball he had obtained.
The first was given to him by Chang Bei. After solving it, there was a ticket inside. He didn't know if Chang Bei had a grudge against Zheng Yuci and deliberately gave him a clue about her, or if it was on Dr. Zhang's orders. Either way, after he clashed with Zheng Yuci, she gave him the second one.
At that time, he thought the gap between himself and Dr. Zhang was too great, so he had set aside that puzzle ball and never tried to solve it. Now he had obtained the third one, and it was proactively sent to him by Dr. Zhang.
Since the last time he solved a puzzle ball, Xu Huo's mental evolution had made a leap forward, so solving this one was much easier.
This puzzle ball had five layers of defense. It took him about ten minutes to solve it. With a click, the puzzle ball opened, revealing a green injection inside.
Xu Huo closed his eyes, then wiped his face with his hand. Dr. Zhang was watching him, even knowing the secret of his perfect evolution.
His childhood persona appeared beside him, reaching out to examine the injection. Besides finding the label "P7S" on it, he also discovered a very tiny device inside the syringe.
He directly took the device out of the syringe. The childhood persona gently squeezed it, and a wisp of black smoke sprayed out. This seemed like some kind of spiritual-type item or instrument, but Xu Huo wasn't sure if Dr. Zhang could truly place his own spiritual power inside a lifeless object.
After hesitating for a moment, he closed the puzzle ball and sealed it together with the injection into a specially made metal box before putting it into the luggage compartment.
"We... are... fellow disciples..." The short old man struggled to spit out these words, but Xu Huo didn't even look at him. He directly used a materialized object to slit his throat.
After receiving the legacy, Xu Huo poured a potion over the corpse and cleanly burned it.
Only when the body had turned into bone fragments did he leave this space.
When he returned to the previous space, he casually brought over a player from the last player organization to enter and asked him about the 033 District's arrangements for this instance.
So many players had entered without clearing it. Those outside should have realized something was wrong by now and wouldn't keep sending people in endlessly.
The facts were indeed as he expected. That player said, "We're the last batch. After we entered, the instance was temporarily sealed. Neither local nor outer zone players are allowed to enter and explore."
"How long will that last?" Xu Huo asked again. The 033 District couldn't permanently seal this instance.
"One month," the other replied. "If no one clears it and gets out within a month, the district government will step in to arrange personnel."
One month was still a long time, but there were too many players in the instance. Over forty were still alive right now.
His gaze moved across the crowd, the pressure of his stare making it feel like a cold blade was scraping past their bodies. But after a moment, he looked away.
Forty-some people wouldn't take many days to consume. He would wait a little longer.
This time, whether they had arrived early or late, everyone quieted down.
The Hundred Forest Society had ambushed Xu Huo earlier to avenge the silver-armored woman and her group. Now they hadn't killed him and had lost several of their own in the process. Meanwhile, the short old man, who had also killed several of their people, had simply disappeared after leaving. Anyone with a clear head wouldn't continue to provoke him.
The player organizations that entered later hadn't directly clashed with Xu Huo, but they had people present when he killed the silver-armored woman and fought the Hundred Forest Society. As bystanders, they naturally understood how powerful he was. There was no need to make an enemy of him. As for clearing the instance, it didn't matter—there were still so many people in the instance. Who they used as a scapegoat didn't matter.
So before nightfall, players began secretly sizing up their targets—if others broke the rules, it meant they survived. The math was easy to do.