Chapter 3076: Accumulating Virtue and Doing Good Deeds
The Double-Headed man didn't dodge at all. Instead, he used his defensive barrier to withstand the blow, then lunged toward the female player and punched her square in the chest!
Something shattered with a crack. Both parties withdrew their hands and quickly separated.
The female player pulled out the now-shattered device from her clothes, glaring coldly at the Double-Headed man.
He wiped the wound on his shoulder. "A mental interference device. I don't think you have a second one."
The female player clearly didn't. Her face darkened as she said, "You'll regret not letting me kill you just now!"
As she spoke, her muscles suddenly bulged and twitched, and her body even shot up a few inches, gradually increasing in size!
"Secondary physical evolution." Outside the second arena, Ding Xiang watched this scene with some surprise. "It's rare for someone to use evolution power on height."
There are many directions for physical evolution, and which path to take depends entirely on the individual. Some might evolve special poison resistance, others might develop dermal armor, and there are even things like rapid hair growth, fast wound healing, or even bone growth. However, players of that type tend to prefer honing their bones into hidden weapons, like the fingernails the female player had just grown, mainly aiming for a surprise attack during combat.
To be honest, increasing height has no practical use. In fact, it might even bring uncontrollable risks because the skin and blood vessels are forcibly stretched. Muscle burst, on the other hand, is quite common.
However, the female player in the arena didn't seem to suffer any side effects. Even after increasing her size, she didn't lose her agility, trading blows evenly with the Double-Headed man, who was skilled in various forms of combat.
Both were constantly getting injured, and their scores kept fluctuating, rising and falling at a high frequency.
"It looks like the Double-Headed man is poisoned." Love Orange, who was more familiar with his combat strength, noticed occasional sluggishness in his movements and realized it must have been from that scratch earlier.
"It's not a big problem." Xu Huo watched the two in the arena. That female player wouldn't last much longer.
In the next three minutes, both fighters in the arena were drenched in blood. Every exchange was a matter of life and death, yet they were evenly matched, unable to determine a winner. It all came down to endurance—or luck.
In this situation, whoever made the first mistake would lose.
The female player gave out first. As her body began to shrink back, she misjudged an attack and lost her right palm. Before she could retreat, the Double-Headed man pressed his advantage. After dozens more exchanges, he finally drove a blade into her back.
The female player fell, and the Double-Headed man won. The remaining members of the losing team had all their scores deducted, and then six bursts of blood exploded—they were all eliminated by Challenge Island at once!
The arena disappeared. The Double-Headed man looked at the blood on the ground and said regretfully, "Too bad about those devices."
Love Orange picked up the gun that had flown off. "This one can still barely be used."
"You're pretty badly hurt." Navi handed him some potion.
Most of the Double-Headed man's injuries were superficial and not deep, so they would heal with rest. He winced as he cleaned his wounds and said to Xu Huo and the others, "I've done my part. You guys fight next time. If I go up again, I'll probably be done for."
Wood patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile, "Who knew you'd be so popular?"
Originally, everyone's scores were about the same, but his suddenly shot up.
The Double-Headed man laughed heartily and waved at the sky. "Thanks a lot!"
After winning the arena match, Xu Huo and the others each got over nine hundred points. Except for the Double-Headed man, everyone else was around three thousand seven hundred. The Double-Headed man, thanks to the seven guaranteed hundred-point wins in the second round, reached four thousand four hundred.
"Really not worth it," Old Duan couldn't help but lament. "One person loses, and everyone else dies. And being killed by Challenge Island leaves no room for resistance."
"That's just how the game rules are," said the taciturn Wolf Fang.
"Look on the bright side. If we can get out alive, we won't have to worry about the rest of our lives," Ding Xiang tried to comfort everyone.
Unfortunately, it didn't help.
At that moment, the Double-Headed man suddenly lay down, groaning and clutching his wounds. "I can't walk anymore. Any kind soul willing to carry me?"
Love Orange nudged him with the tip of her shoe. "Get up. Don't be embarrassing."
The Double-Headed man sat up, grinning. "Just trying to lighten the mood. No need to be so serious."
With the arena match over, the group continued on their way. Fortunately, the white-haired man's group had brought plenty of food and water, so Xu Huo and his team weren't at risk of running out.
After that, both teams encountered another arena match each, both winning without too much trouble.
"It's best to win the first round. Relying on a comeback in the second round is too risky," Yilan said as she wiped the blood off her hands. Her mental evolution had played a significant role in the duel.
"That's not necessarily true," Ding Xiang said. "If someone in the team is exceptionally strong, conceding the first round might actually make it easier to score points."
Yilan glanced at her subtly and replied, "You have a point."
The heat was still unbearable. Xu Huo patted the dust off his dried meat and scanned the area ahead.
A moment later, the white-haired man stood up. "Players approaching."
At first, they were just a few bobbing black dots, gradually taking on blurry human forms. Soon, everyone could make out the newcomers' features, and their expressions shifted.
It was the group of players they had dealt with in the Bear Hug Zone. They had ambushed Xu Huo and Ding Xiang before, and later encountered them in Little Bear City. Unlike the other players, who seemed grim and desperate, this group looked like they were just here for fun.
That in itself was abnormal. Anyone who came in under this pressure couldn't be sure they'd make it out alive. Even someone who treated life like a game wouldn't be this relaxed.
Hanging from their belts were many ears.
Human ears.
"Oh, what a coincidence?" one of them said with a grin as they approached. "Looks like fate has brought us together."
"They all have those guns," Ding Xiang whispered from behind Xu Huo.
Little Bear City didn't sell gun-type devices. It was normal to see one or two such devices, but for an entire team to have them in bulk was definitely abnormal!
The white-haired man's group also noticed the problem, and they realized that the many ears hanging from their belts couldn't have come from arena wins.
"Challenge Island actually lets players cheat," the white-haired man said with a strange smile. "I heard before coming in that this was supposed to be the fairest, most corruption-free survival project."
The opposing group all chuckled softly. One of them said, "Don't you know there are supply points in the Wasteland Zone?"
"Would a supply point wholesale weapons?" the Double-Headed man didn't believe it.
But the group wore mocking expressions. "Blame your bad luck for not finding the supply points."
"Then again, your luck isn't all bad. If it went on any longer, you'd probably starve or die of thirst. You might even have to cross ethical boundaries and start eating people!"
"Long pain is worse than short pain. We'll send you on your way. Consider it us accumulating virtue and doing good deeds!"