# Chapter 647: The Painting Woman's Evolution
Xu Huo was in a good mood, so he returned the money he had won to her. The joy of regaining what was lost doubled the Painting Woman's happiness. When she discovered the Special Defense Department players' car left outside the woods, she proactively offered to drive so he could rest.
Xu Huo didn't object. The Painting Woman learned on the spot, directly searching for tutorials and watching while driving. She stumbled at first, but within a few minutes she could drive smoothly. The car wobbled along and actually made it to the blockade zone, except when parking she mistook the accelerator for the brake and crashed into a military truck blocking the road.
Many cars were parked near this road, people arguing about wanting to enter the city. When the crash happened, not only did the Special Defense Department players and armed police raise their guns, but the journalists who had come for the Special Defense Department incident also swarmed over.
"Smack!" The Painting Woman slapped the half-hanging door, sending it flying several meters away. She swept her gaze across the gun muzzles surrounding her, finally fixing her eyes on a rocket launcher. She pulled out her phone, tapped a few times, and it started playing a video on how to operate a rocket launcher.
The approaching Special Defense Department player's face changed color, already gripping his prop in hand, "Who are you people...!"
Before he finished speaking, a white light flew through the air, heading straight for his face!
The player retreated by instinct while raising a defense prop in front of him. After crouching to dodge, he didn't suffer the expected attack. Looking up, he saw the surrounding people had all aimed their guns at him!
More precisely, at the person in front of him.
Xu Huo had intercepted the paper knife the Painting Woman had thrown. He turned back to the few players and said, "Xu Huo. I need to pass through the checkpoint. Contact Team Leader Wu."
The player who had been attacked felt humiliated, "So what if you're Xu Huo? The Special Defense Department has ordered that no one can pass now. And you attacked checkpoint personnel—I suspect you're enemy country spies!"
The Painting Woman was an intelligent prop. Xu Huo had no obligation to control her, nor did he have the authority. There was no responsibility between them. The Painting Woman could do whatever she wanted—it was her freedom. He couldn't "order" her to do or not do anything, but he could intervene.
However, if the Special Defense Department wanted to borrow the Painting Woman's power—and in fact they had already received her help—it was impossible for them to completely avoid this kind of risk. Even players were a double-edged sword, let alone an intelligent super prop. So the Special Defense Department's rules could only constrain those who could be bound by rules. The Painting Woman didn't play by those rules, and neither did Xu Huo.
His eyes turned cold.
The journalist standing not far away shouted loudly, "Xu Huo! Are you really Xu Huo? The internet says you caused such big trouble for the Special Defense Department but hid yourself away without showing up—is that true?"
"Are you returning from outside the city now because you know the Black Rain incident is nearing its end? You made a show of preparing to fight against cannibal players like the Twin Serpents organization, but so far there's been no progress. Do you have anything to say?"
"You said you provided detox fungus to the Special Defense Department, but the quantity should be small, right? Now that so many people have mutated, will you tell the Special Defense Department how to obtain the detox fungus?"
"..."
The journalists blocked outside scrambled to raise their microphones, each question sharper than the last, as if they wanted to dig some shocking scoop from Xu Huo to make up for their wasted trip.
"They're so noisy." The Painting Woman came behind Xu Huo, raised her phone, and said unhappily, "Can I kill them all?"
The phone's text-to-speech couldn't control its volume well, but it could certainly control the atmosphere. The noise stopped abruptly.
"Buzz!" A player standing at the back of the crowd had his phone ring. He looked down at it before signaling to the other players, "Team Leader Wu's order. Let the two of them through."
The person relaying the order was Zeng Tai. He and Jian Yuanjie and the others had dispersed to guard different checkpoints after returning. This one was guarded by him and Zhu Yuchan.
The two of them shouted for people nearby to step back as they walked into the encirclement. Zeng Tai gave a fake smile as he looked at Xu Huo, "Mr. Xu, how about you leave quickly? I don't think these people have good intentions."
"They said they want to kill all of us, yet you say we don't have good intentions—what do you people from the Special Defense Department mean!" An angry journalist raised his camera at him.
Zhu Yuchan snapped her fingers, and all the camera equipment on site had their lenses cracked by electricity at the same time. She said with a dark face, "Did anyone say anything here? Have you been hallucinating from being exposed to the Black Rain?"
The journalist wanted to say more but was pulled back by a companion. The Special Defense Department's threat was obvious—they had the authority to centrally detain people suspected of being contaminated. Verbal sparring was fine, but don't end up being locked up without knowing when they'd be released!
The armed personnel dispersed. Zhu Yuchan found Xu Huo a good car and added, "The mutants are concentrated inside the blockade circle now. The ground might not be easy to travel on. If you're not going in for business, you could wait for a helicopter."
"No need, thanks." Xu Huo sat in the driver's seat and gestured for the Painting Woman to get in.
But the Painting Woman's eyes were fixed on the journalists. Two seconds later, she lightly pursed her lips. As she turned around, several cold flashes streaked through the air, and the journalists who had been acting arrogantly had their heads blown off on the spot!
Screams erupted. The Special Defense Department players and armed personnel raised their guns in alert at the same time. However, the Painting Woman didn't even look back. She skipped and hopped to the car with her hands behind her back. Only then did others notice she was still wearing a dress and high heels in the middle of winter. She stepped onto the car with one foot, swung the other foot in the air for a circle, smiled at them, and then sat inside.
The car quickly started and drove away. Zeng Tai and Zhu Yuchan and the others had cold sweat on their backs. Looking back at the crying journalists, Zeng Tai said, "In the player era, saying the wrong thing can also come at a heavy price."
The car drove on the empty road. Xu Huo listened to the continuous game music from beside him. After a while, he asked, "Why did you kill them?"
"They were so annoying." The Painting Woman tilted her head to look at him, "Don't you find them annoying? They seemed to be cursing you."
"They were pretty annoying." Xu Huo lit a cigarette and took a drag, "Does annoying someone mean you have to kill them?"
The Painting Woman hadn't reached that level of philosophical depth yet. She looked slightly confused, "I can kill them."
So she just did it casually.
Killing without any motive, acting on pure whim—that was what was truly terrifying.
Xu Huo exhaled a puff of smoke, "You've been with many people before. Have you ever thought about killing them?"
The Painting Woman shook her head, "They were all good to me. They just liked to talk big. But I saw on my phone that men's promises can't be taken seriously... Are you really going to give me that house?"
Xu Huo couldn't help but laugh, "Have I ever lied to you?"
The Painting Woman thought for a moment and became happy again. Then she pointed at the mutants rushing out from ahead, "So many people!"
Xu Huo stepped on the accelerator and turned into a side road. At the same time, he freed a hand to call Gu Yu, "Where are you? I'll come pick you up."