Chapter 3085: Arrival at the Cross-Zone Point
Xu Huo stared at the red light, then tried to manipulate the space ray to retrieve the key. But unlike other places, where curved time covered the area, there was a clear spatial discontinuity. It wasn't like two completely independent spaces that simply ignored each other; rather, a barrier had appeared in the middle that couldn't be passed through. Even through this barrier, one could feel that the space within the curved time was different from ordinary zonal space.
That was curved time. He couldn't just walk into it recklessly. He could only wait patiently for the past time to disappear.
This time, the curved time didn't last long either. After a while, the space returned to its previous state. He went to the spot where the red light had flickered, opened the mirror space, and retrieved the ore key from deep underground.
After so many years, this key was no longer as bright as when it first appeared. Wiping off the dust, the sand grains at its center still faintly shimmered, and when tilted, they began to flow.
Ding Xiang was even more shocked when she saw what he was holding. "This is what Dr. Wu left behind?"
The district government had searched for so long, thinking that even if there was no primordial stone, there would at least be a perfect potion. Who would have thought it was a key-shaped ore? No wonder they couldn't find it anywhere. Even if it weren't in the chaos space, players on the island might not have been able to dig it out, given that the island was full of similar ores.
"I'm not sure," Xu Huo didn't tell the truth. "But this ore has a unique shape. Maybe it's something good."
That made sense. Ding Xiang understood that no matter how much she asked, she wouldn't get a different answer, so she didn't press further, but she firmly memorized the key's appearance.
With the key in hand, it was time to prepare for the cross-zone journey.
The two followed the direction of the fading red light for another two days before finally escaping the chaos space.
When they came out this time, they didn't see Old Duan and the others. After traveling for a while, they instead ran into the Ice Shovel group who had ambushed them before. The group had changed some of their companions, but their purpose in surrounding them was the same—to take their points.
Xu Huo and Ding Xiang's points had already exceeded five thousand, and they were alone. Dealing with them should be a piece of cake, right?
But what neither side expected was that before the fight even started, Challenge Island suddenly announced the start of a arena match.
The Ice Shovel side had seven people. The disparity was too great. Under normal circumstances, even if they met, a arena match wouldn't be triggered, since such a match had no suspense.
"Don't let them surrender," one of the players said.
Ding Xiang looked at these people with a hint of sarcasm and quietly took a step back.
Xu Huo didn't waste time either. He used his space power to inject a toxin into one person's neck, then used a space blade from a distance to restrict their movements. In just a few seconds, the shout of "I surrender" rang out on the arena.
The seven from Ice Shovel each had around five thousand points. When averaged out to Xu Huo and Ding Xiang, their points shot up to nearly twenty-three thousand, instantly surpassing the score the white-haired man had estimated earlier.
However, no cross-zone notification appeared on their personal panels, nor was there any reminder. This meant the score still hadn't met the cross-zone requirement.
Ding Xiang glanced at the points above Xu Huo's head and felt a little relieved. Her own score was lower, so the opponent could only challenge Xu Huo.
The seven-person team looked at the player who had surrendered with some anger, but since things had come to this, they could only pick one person to fight the second round.
Half of them favored Ice Shovel, but Ice Shovel hesitated for a moment and then looked at another man with a buzz cut. "I'm not a spatial evolver, so I'm afraid I won't be as nimble in a fight. Let Brother Yong handle it. Brother Yong is faster. Brother Yong, what do you think?"
In the second round, there was no room for surrender. If they lost, the whole team would die, and Xu Huo was clearly a tough nut to crack.
Thinking of this, someone couldn't help but look at Ding Xiang. Why was her score so low? A difference of a few hundred points—even if the audience supporting them deliberately tried to raise her score, it would be too late.
Ding Xiang's score was low because she had said the wrong thing earlier, falling a few hundred points behind Xu Huo and the others. The gap hadn't been closed since, and now she felt grateful for it.
Not having found what he was truly looking for yet, Xu Huo put on a bit of an act, trading blows back and forth with the person sent by the losing team, barely managing to win.
After losing two consecutive rounds, the remaining 100 points from each of the losing team members went to Xu Huo. Their numbers zeroed out, and without Xu Huo needing to act, Challenge Island killed them one by one!
Six blossoms of blood exploded in succession, leaving only Ice Shovel from the seven. At the same time, a light screen appeared in front of him:
"Congratulations, player Ice Shovel, for receiving a resurrection ticket gifted by a supporter!"
This had clearly cost a lot. Although the points above Ice Shovel's head were only 100, they were shining gold, with a small countdown in the bottom right corner.
Ice Shovel was overjoyed. Without waiting for Xu Huo and the others to make a move, he immediately used a teleportation device to leave the area.
"Why didn't you stop him?" Ding Xiang asked, puzzled. This Ice Shovel wasn't the first time he had targeted them. If they ran into him again, he might cause them more trouble.
Xu Huo glanced at her but said nothing. Stopping him would have been simple, but there was no need.
Ding Xiang didn't press the issue, but she became even more cautious.
She didn't dare say much, afraid of revealing information that might alert Challenge Island. If she caught its attention, Xu Huo would probably kill her first to vent his anger.
The team they had just fought left behind seven backpacks. Each contained some food and water, just enough to replenish their supplies. Besides that, there were some useless items and a mess of ores, and they managed to piece together three sets of protective suits.
The two rested for a while before continuing on. Not long after, low hills appeared ahead of them again, but this time the hills stretched far and wide. They walked for two days without getting out, though after those two days, the environment around them noticeably improved.
Sparse patches of grass appeared on the ground.
Ding Xiang, who had been tense for days, couldn't help but relax a little. With a hint of joy, she said, "After so many days, staring at this yellow earth until my eyes are going blind, finally there's a different color."
Xu Huo nodded slightly. "We should be getting close to the center of Challenge Island."
With that, they didn't waste any more time. After a brief rest, they hurried on their way. Half a day later, they finally ran into Old Duan, the white-haired man, and the others.
After separating from Xu Huo, they had each participated in two arena matches. Both teams' scores were nearing ten thousand. When they suddenly saw the numbers above Xu Huo and Ding Xiang's heads, they were a bit surprised but could understand.
And now, the white-haired man's map finally came in handy, pointing directly to the cross-zone location.
However, the closer they got to the cross-zone point, the more players they encountered. Although there were no arena matches, skirmishes were inevitable. After another day of bumping along like this, they finally saw a massive city at the end of the hills.