Chapter 3052: Bear Hug Zone
"They actually have jammers!" Ding Xiang couldn't help but exclaim upon seeing this. The effective items she and Xu Huo had unlocked were rendered useless as soon as they came ashore, yet the players closing in on them were all holding instruments!
Several Space Tangents plowed in from a distance, forcing the three who had just regrouped to separate again, quickly isolated by the rapidly surrounding players.
Scarface was knocked into the river, while Ding Xiang flipped into the nearest woods.
Although Xu Huo could use Space Power to move, the distance he could travel wasn't long enough, and the players besieging him could discern his direction of movement, using their instruments to intercept him in advance.
"Whoosh!" A short knife flew in an arc, striking Xu Huo in the back as he was engaged in combat. Although the Space Barrier blocked it somewhat, he was still knocked back several steps, and a deduction notification sounded at the same time.
"Player Xu Zhi has been injured. 20 points deducted."
The deduction notification had barely rung out when three more players attacked from three directions. They also had instruments, and before they even got close, a powerful force surged toward Xu Huo. He felt as if he were caught in a violent wind, forcibly slammed into a large tree not far away. Then a sharp blade pierced through the tree trunk, aiming straight for his heart!
Xu Huo narrowly avoided it, controlling the poison arrows on his body to fly wildly through the woods. Whether by luck or coincidence, one of the poison arrows was casually deflected by a player and ended up hitting another player!
"Player Xiao Xiao Suan Le has been injured. 20 points deducted."
"Damn it!" The man whose score had dropped to 98 was furious. Instead of chasing the player who had injured him, he charged madly at Xu Huo. But before he could cover the few meters between them, a beam of white light descended from above, blasting him into pieces!
As blood splattered, Xu Huo swept his gaze over the surrounding players. Their scores were all basically above 100 but below 200.
In the Bear Hug Zone, a player's score couldn't drop below 100 either, or they would be killed by Challenge Island just like Rick. That's why so many players were gathered by the big river, waiting for points coming from the Fang Snake Zone!
The few people besieging Xu Huo were completely unsurprised by the death of the player with 98 points. Even as the body parts flew, their attention remained on the prey. One of them used an instrument to seal off an area of nearly ten meters around them, trapping the four of them together.
With such a small area, Xu Huo's Space Movement was restricted, and he had no instruments of his own. Three against one—no matter how you looked at it, he seemed close to death.
Those three players clearly thought the same. One of them even charged straight through the Space Ray Blade to close in on Xu Huo, the flying dagger in his hand swiftly slicing toward his throat!
But just as Xu Huo was being forced back step by step, a Space Tangent came from the other side of the woods. It not only broke through the Blockade Barrier but also severed that player's hand!
The palm holding the dagger fell to the ground along with the blade. The injured player recoiled in pain, only to see seven players rushing toward them from a distance. He tried to flee, but was unexpectedly killed by a single slash to the throat from his own companion.
The incoming players were Old Gao and his group. Besides them, there was the Cannibal Player they had encountered before and his companion—seven in total. After rescuing Xu Huo, they also approached Ding Xiang and Scarface, forcing the players surrounding them to retreat.
The fight lasted less than five minutes. The number on Xu Huo's side surged to ten, and the players lurking nearby gradually quieted down. Since they couldn't crack this tough nut, they naturally stopped trying.
"You alright?" Old Gao asked Xu Huo and the other two.
Ding Xiang looked at the other four. "You have other companions?"
"We ran into them by chance. They're trying to cross the zone too." Old Gao introduced the Cannibal Player and his group. "This is Old Fu. We got lucky—didn't suffer many losses. What about you?"
"All the new instruments we unlocked are broken." Ding Xiang said with some irritation, her gaze shifting between Old Gao and Old Fu. Clearly, she didn't believe they hadn't known each other before.
Old Gao didn't dwell on it and said, "We still have four instruments on our side. From now on, we'll move together as a group of ten."
Ten people—it was indeed a large number. Although they didn't fully trust each other, at a time like this, they had no choice but to join forces.
Crossing the zone had been uneventful at first. Old Gao and the others were confident, believing that with their numbers, they could push further inland. But after climbing just two mountains, reality crushed them, and they had to retreat.
On the edge of the Bear Hug Zone, besides the hidden players, there were also traps that were hard to guard against—all set up using effective items. Just covering that stretch of distance, they lost two players.
Back at the riverbank, everyone fell silent.
With their perception restricted, they couldn't accurately identify the nearby traps. And the players who set those traps weren't trying to kill their prey with them—they just wanted to injure them, making it easier to finish them off.
The two dead players had been injured by traps first, then killed by players lying in ambush nearby.
Entering the Bear Hug Zone could unlock one instrument on your body. Clearly, some people had unlocked instruments that concealed their tracks.
"No wonder so many low-score players are guarding the riverbank," Red Peach Fruit said. "With a low score, you can't survive long."
Getting injured cost 20 points. With just over a hundred points, how many times could you afford to be deducted? If you weren't careful and got injured two or three times, you were done for!
But that didn't mean waiting by the river for prey was safe either. They didn't know the Bear Hug Zone's score cap or time limit. Players crossing from the Fang Snake Zone could show up at any time, so they had to actively seek out targets.
Old Gao's group still had one monitoring instrument, which could quickly locate nearby players. But they didn't have a Space Teleportation Item. Once they got close, if other players saw they had numbers, they would immediately retreat—they couldn't win, but running away was easy.
Currently, the players with the highest scores were Xu Huo and the Cannibal Player, Old Fu.
Xu Huo had 201, Old Fu had 224.
Old Gao suggested continuing the plan from the Fang Snake Zone: players would take turns going out to find points.
"Xu Zhi and Old Fu have the highest scores. I'll go with them and take the instruments. We'll accumulate a certain amount of points first, then come back."
"Are you sure points in the Bear Hug Zone can be transferred?" Big Foot asked. "What if Challenge Island doesn't allow it?"
"That is indeed a problem," Old Gao nodded. "But there are many ways to operate. The important thing is to raise the scores first."
If you dropped below 100, you'd be eliminated. You'd need at least over 200 points before you dared to venture deeper into the Bear Hug Zone.
The group moved to a more concealed spot. Old Gao, Xu Huo, Old Fu, and Scarface then split off to hunt.
They held the instruments. Xu Huo was a Spatial Evolver, Old Fu and Scarface had undergone physical evolution and were good at close combat, and Old Gao was skilled at planning and handling support. The four worked together, and before dawn, they killed three players, splitting the player points and kill rewards. In the end, Xu Huo's score was 253, Old Fu's 240, Old Gao's 209, and Scarface's 221.
Not every player they targeted was successfully taken down. Some players would disguise themselves as prey, ambush them for 20 points, and then run. So by the time dawn came, their scores had gone up and down, up and down, barely managing to stay above 200.
However, when they returned, they found the temporary camp empty, with signs of a fierce struggle everywhere.