Chapter 435: Removing the Item
Zhao Bi carried a lamp and whistled as he entered the restroom. After relieving himself, he walked to the mirror and used his wet hands to tidy his hair. Suddenly, something bumped into his lamp, and as the light swayed, a ghostly shadow flickered across the mirror.
Zhao Bi initially reached for the lamp, but upon seeing this, he immediately switched to using an item. He grabbed a vacuum cleaner first, then tossed a white food cover outward with his other hand. The semi-transparent large cover enveloped him entirely, and the faint light it emitted formed a barrier.
After standing inside the cover for a while, Zhao Bi began to move outward, the cover shifting with him.
"Could it be that I'm seeing things..." he muttered to himself. Just as he turned to retrieve his lamp, a patch of shadow wrapped around his face. He struggled to aim the vacuum cleaner at his own head, but it failed to suck away whatever was on him.
Then the vacuum cleaner transformed into a knife. He slashed at his own face several times, but it had no effect.
As time passed, Zhao Bi, who had exhausted every means to save himself, was left with only instinctive struggles. He collapsed to the ground, convulsing, and before long, he silently breathed his last.
After his death, the shadow covering his face crawled away like a living thing and vanished at the restroom entrance.
On the other side, seeing that Zhao Bi had been gone for a long time, Kong Cheng sent another player to check. Upon learning of the death, Kong Cheng went over with Dr. Deng.
"Suffocated to death." Kong Hui examined him and said, "At least he wasn't smothered while peeing—that would've been even uglier."
This group of players had been gathered temporarily and shared no camaraderie. In fact, the players who came to investigate had already retrieved the few items that had fallen to the ground.
"Who killed him?" asked another player wearing a rubber coat.
The ticket players had all gone upstairs, and no one had come down since. The others had been together, leaving no opportunity for an insider to act.
"Could there really be a ghost?" the remaining female player said.
"Didn't Dr. Deng say those were all rumors?" Kong Hui shot her a sharp glance and added, "A player must have come down—we just didn't notice."
Kong Cheng nodded and immediately said, "Don't stay here any longer. Head upstairs and regroup with the others."
Upstairs, Xu Huo and his two companions avoided Dr. Deng's group and made their way to the basement level. They didn't encounter Ge Pan or Wu Xiaonan along the way, but they did run into Miao Yu as soon as they came up.
As soon as they met, Miao Yu said, "We've been going around in circles—not a single ghost shadow, not even a person."
The three maintained a considerable distance. Gan Qing picked up a door panel he had removed and held it up to check her reflection before feeling reassured.
Miao Yu raised an eyebrow at his action and said, "So you've seen other players who turned into ghosts?"
Xu Huo briefly explained, and Miao Yu said, "So you really can see ghost shadows through glass. That means I don't have one on me?"
If she did, she wouldn't be talking so calmly right now.
"But don't you think it's a bit strange?" Miao Yu suddenly said. "The laboratory has gotten quieter. Earlier, you could still hear some noises."
Sounds of fighting. Now, it seemed the entire underground building had gone silent.
The group exchanged glances and followed the direction to check the remaining rooms. Before long, they found a player's body in an office with a sea view—one of Dr. Deng's people.
Again, death by suffocation.
"Killed by a ghost shadow again."
After standing in the room for a moment, they headed out. As luck would have it, Dr. Deng's group happened to be at the door. Kong Hui spotted the body first, her expression shifting. The scattered objects in the room floated into the air and shot toward the four like bullets!
"Go!" Xu Huo charged out of the room first, pen in hand. Under the gaze of the group, he reached the corridor. In just a few seconds, the Kong siblings reacted and used items to seal off the corridor. Meanwhile, Kong Cheng clenched his fist in the air toward the two: "Random Grab!"
Chu Yuan, standing beside Xu Huo, was caught by an invisible force and flung backward.
Xu Huo quickly grabbed him but was dragged along as well. One flew while the other was pulled, both completely out of control as they were drawn toward Kong Cheng.
Kong Hui stepped out from the side, flicking her wrists. A pair of long swords appeared out of thin air, slashing toward the nearest target—Chu Yuan.
"Relationship Break!" Just as he was about to be cut into three pieces, Chu Yuan erupted midair, twisting and extending his palm toward Kong Hui. Both the swords and she herself were shifted ten meters away.
But this only dodged the immediate strike. His backward movement didn't slow. Kong Cheng remained stationary, and another female player stepped in to replace him.
Seeing the knife in her hand, Chu Yuan shouted, "I don't want to die!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, a solid wooden cabinet appeared out of nowhere. Its door opened, shut him inside, and then landed steadily on the ground.
Xu Huo, carried forward by inertia, stopped in front of the cabinet. He swung his sword and sliced off the female player's arm, then kicked the cabinet toward Dr. Deng's group. As the cabinet crashed over, he grabbed the strings and leaped into the air, swapping the Crimson Sword for a chainsaw. It roared as it swept toward Dr. Deng!
"Clang! Clang! Clang!" The chainsaw didn't harm Dr. Deng. Instead, it was caught by Kong Hui's twin swords. The woman's strength was astonishing—she pulled her arms apart, and the chainsaw was actually severed. The sword tips nearly grazed Xu Huo's throat, but as he leaned back, he casually tugged at a line. The thread he had been unable to break through all means finally snapped—the binding from the item "Seven-Day Civil Affairs Bureau" was officially lifted!
Though freed from the item's restraint, the danger wasn't over. Kong Hui leaped up from the ground and stomped toward his chest midair.
Seeing the writhing, worm-like things on the soles of her shoes, Xu Huo raised his hand to let the strings shift his direction, dodging the blow. He then threw the "Fair Wallet" at her.
"Bang!" Kong Hui's twin swords fell from her hands. Her eyes darkened, and she didn't bother to retrieve her items. With a flick of her finger, the swords flew up on their own and stabbed at Xu Huo!
"Boom!" The Crimson Sword swung, sending the two swords flying into the wall. Xu Huo pulled out the "Plant's Lament" and, in the brief moment, tapped the cabinet to signal Chu Yuan to come out.
Chu Yuan, inside the cabinet, had also seen Kong Hui's ferocity. Her brother was no slouch either—his trait was bizarre, and his combat ability was overwhelming. Gan Qing had been injured after just a few exchanges, and it was Miao Yu alone who held him off.
But falling into a disadvantage was only a matter of time. No one present was confident they could kill a B-rank player.
"Run, run, run!" Chu Yuan scrambled out and fled. Xu Huo dropped the sofa windmill tied with item strings to the ground and quickly retreated.
The Kong siblings, who had intended to pursue them, saw the sandstorm rolling in and immediately turned back to protect Dr. Deng. An invisible barrier spread around the five of them, shielding them while pushing the sandstorm back. It expanded all the way to the end of the corridor, but by then, the sandstorm had stopped, and Xu Huo and the others had vanished without a trace.
(Chapter End)