Chapter 407: A Bumper Harvest of Items
After searching fruitlessly, Xu Huo changed his strategy, fully materializing his spiritual world and adding more structures on top of the original foundation.
As he repeatedly reinforced his spiritual world, the original structure became increasingly complex, and its area expanded again and again.
The strength and area of a spiritual world both represent the spiritual power of the person who created it. The stronger the evolution, the larger the area of the spiritual world, and correspondingly, the easier it is to create various complex scenes.
After expanding the original area threefold, Xu Huo finally felt the strain, so he stopped focusing on size and instead worked on the furnishings inside.
Doors and books were symbols of himself, while the dagger, playing cards, and black shard represented the other three personalities. He controlled this spiritual world, so books were the most abundant thing here. These books could be real or fake, but since he had successfully created a picture frame before, he could similarly put some effort into the books.
Appearing casually in a certain room, he reached out and pulled a book from the shelf, gently pressing on its cover. The pages automatically flipped open, stopping at a certain page where a clear image gradually emerged.
Within a few seconds, a cityscape appeared on the paper. The flowers and trees in the painting seemed to tremble, looking as if they were alive.
After perfecting this painting, Xu Huo sank his hand into it, but contrary to his hopes of successfully entering another illusionary world, his hand came out from the back of the book.
Materializing scenery outside the spiritual world—this should be another level of mastery altogether.
He let go, and the book expanded into a picture frame upon hitting the ground. He casually stepped into it, and before him appeared a black zipper again.
The giant zipper symbolized the gateway to Butterfly Lady's spiritual world. He paused briefly before beginning to shuttle back and forth through these gateways once more.
After about an hour, he found a golden zipper, and the monotonous repetition finally showed a change.
"Click! Click, click, click!" The golden zipper opened into a vertical slit, but behind it was no longer an empty space. Instead, there was a massive wall of metal gears that couldn't be fully taken in at once.
Circular, square, and even irregularly polygonal gears interlocked one after another, forming a huge movable door wall from bottom to top. By shape alone, these gears shouldn't have been able to mesh perfectly, but within this wall, they turned in an orderly fashion.
Xu Huo tried to open a door on these gears, but as soon as he attempted to get close, the gears would suddenly change their rotation trajectory at a certain point, causing the entire wall's operating speed to alter. It was like a complex combination lock, and it even ground one of his doors to pieces.
Just as he was about to continue his attempts, the scene before him suddenly changed back to the hall of Rose Castle. Mr. Dong was still nearby, but Butterfly Lady had disappeared.
"Those two bodies have been dealt with. This was found on one of them," Mr. Dong said, handing over a badge. It bore a black-and-white pattern symbolizing District 011's government.
The Wooden Sword Player was carrying a government badge?
Xu Huo took the badge and returned to his room, taking out all the belongings of the Wooden Sword Player.
Besides items and potions, he found a field operations manual for the District 011 Government's external personnel and two sets of uniforms in the luggage compartment. They weren't Enforcement Department uniforms but the specific uniforms of the police department under the Municipal Works Hall.
Xu Huo had always thought that those chasing him were either players from the Lower City or internal traitors from Rongxin Group. He hadn't expected the Municipal Hall to be involved. Being followed right after leaving the Lower City meant this person might have been in that small courtyard at the time.
Was it the seller or the buyer? Was he acting on behalf of an individual or the Municipal Hall?
If he represented the Municipal Hall, and he had been missing for so long without new players being sent from the Municipal Hall, even if only the Wooden Sword Player had used a special method to target him initially, their subsequent fight in the mall wasn't exactly top secret. If the Municipal Hall wanted to find him, it wouldn't be difficult.
However, on the day of the transaction with Deng Xuan, only a retired employee originally from Rongxin Group had tailed him.
But players sometimes enter instances under special circumstances. This wasn't unusual in District 011. Unless there really was only the Wooden Sword Player at the time, the other party's inaction must have had another reason.
Xu Huo's gaze lingered on the work manual for a few seconds before shifting to the items beside it.
Besides the items he had seen during their fight—the "Undead Wooden Sword" that could grow flower vines, the amber "Plant's Lament," the glass protective cover "Oxygen Supply," the transparent raincoat "Invisible Protection," the golf ball-sized "Irresistible Straight Ball," and the "Do Not Disturb" sign that could be stuck on doors—there were also the "Real Wooden Man," the "Actor's Mask," the "Fresh-Scented Dried Flowers," "See It or Not," and the "Date Artifact."
Among them, "Plant's Lament" and "Actor's Mask" were special items.
"Plant's Lament" was a non-discriminatory sonic attack item that could temporarily cause deafness and blindness. With a good effect, it could even make someone faint.
"Actor's Mask" was an item that could change one's appearance, but it could only fix three faces. Once set, it could only switch between those three faces before changing owners.
"Undead Wooden Sword," "Real Wooden Man," and "See It or Not" were C-grade items.
"Undead Wooden Sword" was simply a wooden sword. With the blessing of its trait, it could automatically grow plants. It was a very suitable item, coinciding perfectly with the Wooden Sword Player's plant-related trait. He used it very smoothly, but for Xu Huo, it was a white elephant.
"Real Wooden Man" was a palm-sized wooden figure. Sticking it on a target could make them stiff for three seconds.
This item had been taken by the Gluttonous Snake item before the Wooden Sword Player could use it during their fight. Xu Huo had only seen it fall and disappear, not paying much attention at the time. It was only when he checked the items Butterfly Lady had stolen the day before that he discovered the wooden man was also in the Gluttonous Snake's stomach.
"See It or Not" was a flower stamp. It could be stamped on any object, including people. The pattern stamped was invisible. Only after stamping it on a person would that person be able to see it. It was a very safe landmark item.
The rest were all D-grade items.
"Oxygen Supply" allowed a person to breathe in harsh environments.
"Invisible Protection" was fireproof and frost-resistant, and not easily corroded.
"Irresistible Straight Ball" would automatically fly and hit the target's face when aimed, even if the thrower had poor aim.
"Do Not Disturb" lived up to its name, making people unconsciously overlook something.
"Fresh-Scented Dried Flowers" could continuously release a fresh floral scent for twenty-four hours, to some extent resisting unbearable stench.
"Date Artifact" was a sachet. Carrying it on one's person could give the body a fresh scent.
Besides these, there were over 130,000 White Notes, a large number of potions, and some illegal smuggled goods.