Chapter 319: I'll Give You a Chance to Live
The bald man pretended not to hear Liu Jia's words and made no move to turn around, but even so, his eyes had already turned black.
Xu Huo had already arrived at his right side, slashing down with his sword from a distance. As the sword energy barrier surged forward, the opponent's body was suddenly enveloped by a semi-transparent bell-shaped shield. The Crimson Sword failed to cut through the bell, and the sword energy dissipated on its periphery instead!
His expression shifted slightly as he quickly adjusted his stance and swept his sword horizontally.
The Crimson Sword could only cut through the first target. In this kind of forest, it was difficult to fight with full force, so this strike was meant to divert the bald man's attention.
Although the bald man couldn't see, he still assumed a defensive posture at the sound. At that moment, Yan Jiayu leaped from behind, her hand gripping the Demon-Subduing Pestle with bulging muscles as she viciously smashed it into the back of his head!
The blow didn't directly hit the bald man's head, but the bell emitted a deafening hum. Even those standing at a distance couldn't help covering their ears, let alone the bald man inside the bell. Liu Jia's taunting effect had worn off, but he was now dizzy and disoriented from his own prop's vibrations, with blood even trickling from his nose!
Yan Jiayu took the opportunity to land another strike with the pestle. This time, the bald man couldn't hold on any longer. Whether actively or passively, he deactivated the prop's effect and dropped to one knee.
Xu Huo didn't show mercy just because he looked badly injured. He signaled Yan Jiayu to step back as he swung his sword to strike!
The bald man wasn't as badly off as he appeared. The next second, he suddenly shot to the left, dodging the slash while reaching for Yan Jiayu. A burst of colorful smoke sprayed from his palm!
Yan Jiayu instinctively held her breath, turned, and climbed up a tree. With incredible speed, she scaled the trunk several meters before leaping backward from above, flipping mid-air and landing both feet firmly on the bald man's head!
The bald man tried to grab her, but Xu Huo was already there. He seized the man's arm and twisted it hard. With the sound of cracking bones, the bald man grunted in pain and swung his other hand back!
Xu Huo reversed his grip, holding the sword vertically at his side. The moment the opponent tried to pull back, he kicked him flying!
The bald man flew several meters before crashing into a thick tree and falling to the ground. He opened his mouth to spit blood, then quickly pulled out a potion, but before he could drink it, Yan Jiayu shattered it with a small stone.
Shen Xin and Hu Wenhu had already finished their side, dragging the bound player over. Xu Huo and the others were now free to act.
A flicker of regret crossed the bald man's face, but he immediately knelt and begged for mercy. "Don't kill me! I have inside information! I have no grudge against you—I was just paid to do a job!"
"Is that so?" Xu Huo manipulated the strings to fly behind him. "Tell me, who hired you?"
"If I tell you, will you let me live?" the bald man asked hesitantly.
"Still daring to bargain?" Yuan Yao, who had been hovering on the edge of the fight, finally dared to step forward.
Sima Xiao'er also shouted angrily, "If you die, just wait until I get back to the Special Defense Department—I'll make you pay!"
The bald man ignored them completely, staring at Xu Huo. "Just give me your word, and I'll tell you. You're the one in charge here."
Xu Huo looked at him. "If you speak up, you can die a little quicker."
Seeing that Xu Huo wasn't going to relent, the bald man said, "If I'm going to die anyway, what's the point of telling you? Maybe someone will avenge me later!"
"If that's how you want it." Xu Huo raised his hand, crossing two fingers to guide the strings forward. But the bald man was once again covered by the bell shield. He laughed, "Ordinary props can't break my Golden Bell—you can't kill me!"
"Is that so?" Xu Huo swung his sword twice, cutting down a five-meter-long log. With a push and a kick, he sent it crashing toward the bald man.
The bald man's face changed, and he instinctively tried to flee, but his escape routes were already blocked. His eyes darted over Yan Jiayu and the others before settling on Zhou Ning's direction. But the moment he took a step, Zhou Ning transformed into a giant python, opening her massive jaws to bite him!
The bald man immediately changed direction, but by then, the log had already slammed into him. With the bell shield still active, it pinned him against a tree. The violent impact caused the bell to emit a dull hum that made his eyes roll back!
"I'm guessing this prop of yours can't last forever. But even if it could run nonstop for twenty-four hours, that's fine too. I can ring this bell for twenty-four hours straight—I wonder if you can stand listening that long." As Xu Huo spoke, he loosened and tightened his grip, snapping the tree behind the bald man from five meters away.
"You... you're ruthless!" Not even three minutes had passed, let alone twenty-four hours, before the bald man's Golden Bell prop disappeared. He leaned against the tree and knelt on the ground. "I'll talk..."
"It was Hou Song, a Vanguard Player from the Flower City Special Defense Branch," he said. "He hired me to intercept you. He said that after the job, I'd get a third of your props and a large sum of money."
"Paying with a third of the props—this isn't just about your props, is it?" Zhou Ning looked at Xu Huo. "Do you know this Hou Song?"
Xu Huo quickly searched his memory. "He's Team Leader Liao's driver. He drove me to the hospital."
"That's right, I've seen him before," Yuan Yao said.
Yan Jiayu added, "I heard Team Leader Wu say that the news about your evolution was probably leaked by him."
"So he's the mole!" Sima Xiao'er spat. "That old bastard Liao seizes every opportunity, but he never expected someone to be worming their way into his own ranks. I'll call the team leader right now."
Xu Huo signaled him to wait and asked the bald man, "Where were you supposed to meet?"
The bald man's eyes flickered slightly. Just as he was about to speak, he was startled by Xu Huo's gaze—a calm, unruffled look that seemed to transform into tangible pressure, making his back crawl and cold sweat break out. The words he had prepared stumbled out uncontrollably: "...It's in Ting City! Not far from the First Research Institute!"
"Besides the props, did he tell you to bring my corpse?" Xu Huo pressed.
The bald man's scalp tingled under Xu Huo's intimidating stare. He quickly replied, "How did you know? That's exactly what he said..."
Given the events in Flower City, everyone else understood. The props were secondary—Hou Song was mainly after the secondary evolution. To make things easier, they only wanted to take Xu Huo's dead body.
"But why did he hire people like you?" Yuan Yao couldn't help asking. "You're so weak."
The bald man shot him a resentful glare. It wasn't that they were too weak—it was that Xu Huo's props were too powerful. He had killed half of their men in a single encounter. If it had come to a full fight, the outcome would have been anyone's guess!
No wonder so many people wanted him dead. Just these props alone were enough to make anyone envious.
His gaze uncontrollably lingered on the sword in Xu Huo's hand, and then he heard him say, "How about this—take me to collect the final payment, and I'll give you a chance to live."