Chapter 471: Flying a Kite
The Train Butcher Monster, also known as Blood Aberration, is formed from players of considerable strength who have degenerated. They don't like eating people, but they enjoy killing by violent means. Xu Huo encountered one on his first trip to District 011 on the train—its speed and strength were astonishing. For such xenomorphs, it's impossible to estimate an average strength value; as strong as they were as players, they become just as strong as xenomorphs.
He later looked up information about Blood Aberrations. Their numbers are not large, and they usually appear alone, occasionally in pairs of two or three. But the current number was far too abnormal!
"Lawrence Li couldn't be here for the Train Butcher Monsters, could he?" the tattooed man said.
The player beside the coffin box said expressionlessly, "Try to see if we can lure him out."
The tattooed man nodded, signaled to another player beside him, and the two took out a crescent-shaped jade stone and pressed it against the metal wall on the right. The crescent quickly expanded into a doorway that could be entered and exited. The tattooed man shot the xenomorphs trying to squeeze in, then grabbed the top of the crescent and climbed out.
After the two went out, a third player sealed the entrance with ice. The excess ice grew up to the top of the carriage, and that player wiped his hand across the ice surface, causing an image of the carriage roof to appear on the ice covering the crescent doorway.
The tattooed man and his companion stood inside a huge box-like container shaped like an open crate, luring all the xenomorphs to the front and killing them. Although the Blood Aberrations were fast, the container item had a very convenient defensive function—it could only be exited, not entered.
Every time the xenomorphs attacked the tattooed man and his companion, they were blocked by a light screen, while the attacks from the two could kill the xenomorphs outside without any hindrance!
"This item is way too useful!" Dr. Deng exclaimed.
Xu Huo also saw the whole process. This item clearly had flaws. First, although the container looked bulky and could withstand the strong air currents outside the train, it wasn't completely immovable. Under the frequent impacts of the xenomorphs, the container shifted quite a bit.
Also, after the tattooed man and his companion went in, they stopped using guns and only used cold weapons like knives and swords, indicating there was a damage limitation.
But it was still a very practical item, at least extremely useful in the current environment.
His eyes lingered on the container item. One of the escorts beside him wiped his gun and gave him a warning look.
Xu Huo consciously stepped aside.
But at that moment, a sudden change occurred—the container on the roof was flipped over by an unknown force!
The heavy container fell off the train. The tattooed man and his companion urgently broke free, but before they could get down, they were surrounded by a swarm of Blood Aberrations. Their defensive items were breached, and the tattooed man had an arm forcibly torn off!
"Crack! Crack!" The ice on the crescent door grew rapidly, spreading onto the carriage and freezing both the people and the xenomorphs solid.
Then the tattooed man and his companion broke free from the ice and quickly returned inside the carriage.
Just as the crescent door closed, the frozen xenomorphs also broke free and began frantically destroying the train again.
The tattooed man brought his arm back, wrapped it with bandages, and quickly poured two bottles of potion on it, reattaching the arm.
"What a waste of that item!" Dr. Deng said urgently and regretfully. "It was so convenient for killing xenomorphs!"
"That was just a big box made of A-grade metal," the tattooed man said indifferently. "There are plenty more."
Dr. Deng paused, looking a bit embarrassed, and shut his mouth.
These people were calm and composed, but the six people in the first carriage were both shocked and furious. The xenomorphs that had been lured away were now back, and it was clear that the people in the second carriage had no intention of taking action again.
"Since we can't survive, neither will you!" Wei Wei sneered at the players in the second carriage and threw out a micro bomb!
The people beside her, along with the escorts whose expressions changed at the sight of the bomb, immediately reached out to stop her, but it was too late. Everyone could clearly see the flames from the explosion being wrapped by an invisible force for a moment, but then it burst through the next second!
The powerful shockwave from the explosion completely shattered the protective shields outside both carriages. The first carriage, already in tatters, had an injured player roll off the train from the blast. The second carriage initiated a secondary defense—the outer metal carriage was flipped over, but the nearly identical metal container blocked the front first, so the damage was minimal, and even Dr. Deng wasn't injured.
This force also took out most of the xenomorphs. By now, the train had passed the cliff section, with grasslands on both sides. The xenomorphs that had rolled off but weren't dead quickly got up and chased after the train!
Now, apart from the engine, the train only had the floors of a few carriages left. Although the speed had slowed somewhat, the strong air currents were still hard to withstand, even with something to block them!
But that wasn't the most urgent issue. Seeing the xenomorphs gathering from all directions, Xu Huo took out the Crimson Sword and signaled Dr. Deng to retreat into the crowd. Instead of retreating, Dr. Deng took out a music box and shouted, "This is an item Kong Cheng gave me!"
Xu Huo watched as he opened the music box. A ring of pink circular light arcs appeared around them. As the little figure inside the music box turned, the light arcs outside also rotated. It didn't look fast, but when the first xenomorph charged in and had half its head ground off, the item's power became apparent. In the next ten-plus seconds, the item sliced off the heads of several dozen xenomorphs!
Dr. Deng was more surprised than anyone. "This item is so powerful, and Kong Cheng actually gave it to me!"
Xu Huo glanced at him. "When he gave it to you, you weren't a player yet."
Some effects of items can only be used by players, but the item itself is also a weapon—like a sword, it produces sword energy in his hand, but in someone else's hand, it's still a sharp tool.
"That's true." Dr. Deng sighed and immediately added, "But this effect only lasts a minute and a half."
"Can it move?" Xu Huo asked.
"Yes." Dr. Deng followed the direction Xu Huo indicated and took two steps, watching as Xu Huo pulled a line from a crack in the metal plate on the floor edge that hadn't been completely torn off.
It was a kite string.
When he saw the metal container, Xu Huo had already started letting out the string through the gaps in the carriage. It was only a matter of time before the carriage was breached. He wasn't sure if he could keep up with the train's speed, but if he could tie it to a chasing xenomorph or retrieve the metal container, it would be good for him.
Of course, he had initially thought the metal container was an item, and items might not be usable with kite string. He hadn't expected the container to fall off the train. He was just trying, and it happened to catch.
He pulled the container floating in the sky back and placed it on the carriage floor. Just then, the music box's time limit expired. He used the kite string to tie up Dr. Deng and threw him directly out, then stood at the container's opening, killing the xenomorphs that came one after another!
(Chapter End)