Chapter 500: Forced Disengagement
The Red Bracelet player who had snatched the door Jiang Feng had his eye on didn’t manage to get out either. After stepping through, he found himself facing the same multi-door setup as before, with identical doors on all sides, leaving him completely unsure which way to go. So he turned back and retreated to the silver door he had come from, but unfortunately, after retracing his steps, the door still led to countless doors.
“Can’t go back to where I was.” Only then did the Red Bracelet player feel regret. If he had followed Jiang Feng, even if they took the wrong path, there would still be a chance to turn back. Now, he couldn’t return even if he wanted to, and since he had chosen wrong, it meant Jiang Feng’s door was the right one.
“He must have deliberately guided me to pick this door so he could get out!”
Feeling he had been tricked, the Red Bracelet player’s face showed frustration. Glancing at the surrounding doors, he gritted his teeth, picked one at random, and charged through.
He continued passing through several doors like this, and only then did the number of doors in the world behind them begin to decrease. A silver-gray door appeared again. Delighted, he was about to head toward it when he suddenly noticed another silver-gray door a bit farther away. Jiang Feng’s figure flashed past the door and slipped into the one right next to it.
Without a second thought, he followed.
“Mr. Jiang!” The surrounding environment kept shifting. The single doors gradually transformed into a world filled with various picture frames, and these frames could also be entered. The Red Bracelet player trailed behind Jiang Feng, watching him go from one door to another, or from a door into a painting.
Seeing how agile Jiang Feng was, the Red Bracelet player became even more certain that he had found a way out. He sped up while calling out to him again, but Jiang Feng clearly had no intention of taking him along. He didn’t even turn his head at the shout and instead quickened his pace.
“Damn it!” The Red Bracelet player cursed as he followed, not bothering to look at the surroundings. He ran for several minutes before stopping, because by then, the original door world had completely changed. All around him—front, back, left, and right—had turned into a study.
The moving study was like a constantly rotating cylinder, layer upon layer. Opening a door still revealed another study. Not only front, back, left, and right, but sometimes even above and below, doors would appear. Caught off guard, the Red Bracelet player’s foot missed the ground, and he plummeted downward. Luckily, he reacted quickly enough to grab the edge of the floor in a narrow escape.
But he couldn’t climb back up, because the study began shifting positions at breakneck speed, flinging him around along with it. He couldn’t find any foothold, and every time he lost his grip, he would fall to the next layer, and with each drop, the room above him would close again.
While the Red Bracelet player was caught in this mess, Xu Huo turned his attention to Jiang Feng’s side.
Jiang Feng was shrewder than the Red Bracelet player. After climbing stairs for a long time without reaching an exit, he began to realize that this path might be a fake. So, midway, he started looking for other exits.
This was an illusion created by the spiritual realm; there was no real way out. But as Jiang Feng groped along the stairs, Xu Huo modified the staircase and opened a door on it.
Finding the door, Jiang Feng wasn’t as pleased as before. He entered cautiously, and upon seeing it was a study, he sneered coldly. Reaching into his chest, he pressed down hard.
In the illusion, the significance of this action wasn’t obvious, but in reality, Jiang Feng had installed an electric shock device on his chest. Pressing it would deliver a strong jolt to wake him up.
Xu Huo’s brow furrowed deeply. Jiang Feng hadn’t sunk deeply enough into the spiritual world. Once he realized his situation, he could use other methods to rouse himself.
Luring someone into the spiritual world didn’t truly imprison them. That is, they could still use items, but under the influence of the illusion, when they tried to retrieve an item, they would think they couldn’t open their game panel, or they wouldn’t actually take out the item but only make the corresponding motion. The deeper they sank, the more their senses and body became disconnected. This was especially true when they didn’t realize it was a spiritual world. Once they did, it was harder to fool them again, and they could even ignore the spiritual world’s influence and continue using items!
Jiang Feng suspected he might be trapped in an illusion, but since he couldn’t use items, he went for the chest device—it was a simple action, and the most likely to succeed, provided he wasn’t completely unconscious or had lost all sensation.
In truth, Xu Huo’s skill wasn’t sufficient yet. Although Jiang Feng failed to use items, he did manage to press the electric shock device. The strong jolt brought him back to his senses. Opening his eyes, he found himself still standing in the same spot, with Xu Huo right in front of him. His finger twitched, and the heavy rain began to fall again!
They hadn’t been in the spiritual world for long, and the “Absolute Safe Distance” hadn’t expired yet. So, as Jiang Feng snapped out of the item’s effect, Xu Huo punched through the rain curtain and sent him flying!
The effect of the “Count the Grids” item ended, but the kite string was still threaded through Jiang Feng’s leg. He crashed into the wall, turned around, and the item he had just grabbed fell to the ground.
Startled, he looked at Xu Huo, only to find that the latter had already killed the Red Bracelet player with lightning speed!
Feeling underestimated, Jiang Feng raised his hand, and a palm-sized magnetic suction device appeared. Between two metal plates was a small, spinning white energy mass. He squeezed the metal plates together, and the white energy mass flew out, expanding into a half-meter-diameter tornado!
The tornado shot toward Xu Huo like a spinning boomerang. Where it passed, even the metal floor was gouged with a long, deep scar, extending forward at incredible speed.
Xu Huo, who had just dealt with the Red Bracelet player, was in front of the shelter. He tried to dodge the wind, but as soon as he changed direction, the tornado slammed into the shelter. While jolting the shelter, it changed course and accelerated toward him!
The “Absolute Safe Distance” had expired. Neither dodging nor using the shelter as a shield would work in time. Xu Huo stood his ground and raised the freshly acquired item, the “Door of Severed Ties,” in front of him!
The “Door of Severed Ties” was the defensive item the Red Bracelet player had used earlier. Once the door closed, it recognized no one. It seemed to block only one side, but in reality, when the item was struck, the person behind the door wouldn’t be affected by the residual impact.
As a precaution, he also poured the other Red Bracelet player’s “Weakening Eraser” outside the door. This thing could even neutralize the power of a water blade gun, so it should help.
With two items stacked, the effect was better than Xu Huo had expected. The tornado, which could knock the shelter aside, only pushed him back a meter when it collided with the door. Seizing the opportunity, he drew his sword and slashed at Jiang Feng!
Jiang Feng blocked the sword’s cutting edge with a folding fan, then lunged forward. A black leather glove appeared on his hand, and he grabbed Xu Huo’s throat from a distance!
Moving metal blocked this attack. Xu Huo retracted the shelter, leaped into the air, cut through the seaweed outside the window, and jumped out, dragging Jiang Feng along with him.
(Chapter End)