# Chapter 653: Fierce Clash
The light spots seemed to jump and approach along continuous mirror surfaces, appearing harmless, but player instinct made the burly player at the front throw out a prop: "People People People Crowd!"
A plastic sumo wrestler puppet instantly filled the corridor, but the mirror surface wasn't pushed open. Instead, the inflatable puppets pressing from front and back squeezed the Special Defense Department players' space, forcing several of them together, yet the puppets couldn't block those light spots!
"Whoosh!" A light spot broke through the air, shooting out from the mirror, colliding with a player's defense prop, then ricocheting into another mirror!
"Illumination!" the burly player roared. But by the time the prop lit up, the same light spots had appeared in several mirrors around them!
"The light spots are increasing!" The lantern-carrying player immediately withdrew his prop, but the light spots already in the mirrors didn't disappear. Trembling, they flew out of the mirrors one after another, continuously rebounding in the narrow space like bouncing tennis balls.
In a cramped, confined area, having one "tennis ball" bouncing around was troublesome enough, let alone eight!
Several players took turns using attack props and defense props. Though they could defend against the light spots' damage, they had no good way to stop them. One person carelessly had their arm bone broken.
"Hurry up and take back the puppets to give us some space!" the short player shouted at the burly player, who replied angrily, "Do I dare? What if they multiply even more!"
"We shouldn't have tried this in the first place!" one of them complained.
It wasn't that they shouldn't have tried—it was that Xu Huo had dragged them all in here!
"Don't just hide in the back without saying anything! Think of something!" the short player said to Xu Huo.
Xu Huo had already changed into the protective suit purchased from District 011. He used both props and his hands to catch the light spots. The impact force of these bouncing light spots was indeed great, but as long as one was careful, vital points could be avoided. The only trouble was that even when caught by hand or hitting the body, the light spots wouldn't disappear.
Ignoring the short player, he pulled a roll of cloth from his luggage compartment and violently flung it at the nearest mirror surface.
This was cloth woven from a prop. Xu Huo occasionally stockpiled it for other uses, and its width happened to cover one mirror perfectly.
And the moment the cloth covered the mirror, the two light spots originally flying toward the short player suddenly disappeared.
The short player, who had been shielding his face with both hands, sensed the light spots vanish abruptly. He looked up at Xu Huo, then actively grabbed the cloth roll from his hand. "I'll help!"
With several swishes, the cut cloth covered all the mirrors. The continuously rebounding light spots gradually disappeared. The players' faces lit up with joy. The burly player knocked on one of the mirrors through the cloth, and with a "crack," the mirror shattered.
The group quickly passed through the mirror's gap, but on the other side, they saw the corpse of the player who had left with Team Leader Wang!
"There are bloodstains on the ground." The short player crouched down to examine them carefully and confirmed they were left by Team Leader Wang. "He went further inside."
"If we follow now, we can still catch up!" the burly player said. As they were about to leave, they suddenly realized two people were missing. The mirror that had been broken had restored itself. The short player stepped forward and slapped it twice. "Where did Wu Zhao and 3304 go?"
3304 was the number on the Special Defense Department uniform Xu Huo had been wearing earlier. When the burly player shattered the mirror, he and 3973 were swallowed by a mirror that moved in from behind, forcibly pulled into another mirror space.
The moment they were swallowed, before they could even steady themselves, countless mirror shards flew toward them. Xu Huo pushed 3973 aside, slammed one hand down, and the "Door of Broken Grace" stood erect in front of them with a crash. As shards shot out, he grabbed the door's side and leaped sideways, firing a shot at the center of the nearly closed mirror surface, threading the kite string through.
The string remained taut for less than a second before falling slack. Looking at the perfectly restored mirror, Xu Huo slowly retracted the string, conjured the "Orb of Murmurs" in his hand, and instantly pulled the entire third floor into his spiritual world.
Wiping one hand across the ground, he pulled a grenade from his backpack and threw it forward...
"What the hell!" 3973 jumped behind the Door of Broken Grace.
The grenade's explosion didn't rebound back. Instead, it blasted a large hole in the floor. The building floor, which should have been reinforced concrete, shattered like dry mud, and the mirrors, losing their foothold, fell one after another.
As the surrounding mirrors fell, the Special Defense Department players, who hadn't been far apart, spotted each other's figures. Not only that, but they also saw a woman in red standing not far away.
Team Leader Wang could still speak. Clutching his bleeding chest, he threw a house-shaped prop forward. "Choose the location—can't change it!"
The prop landed and sprayed out a square net that contracted toward the woman. But before it could get close, she flicked it away with one finger. The powerful shockwave formed a nearly visible shield surface. The woman landed on the collapsed concrete blocks, tossed her long hair, and winked seductively at everyone. "Men are so rough. A fun prop like the Mirror Maze, and you break it this way. But that's the beauty of props—they can be used anytime, anywhere."
As she spoke, a small mirror shard appeared in her hand. Just as she raised it, her expression suddenly changed. She jerked her hand back and kicked out!
Xu Huo blocked her kick, retreating two or three steps. The sword in his hand transformed into a water blade gun. After predicting her movement position, he fired continuously!
"Bang! Bang! Bang!" Every shot hit the woman's position, but she seemed to have a transparent protective film on her body, blocking the water streams every time. As she moved, the collapsed concrete rolled along the ground, gathering like a snowball, growing larger and larger.
Avoiding the concrete ball, Xu Huo casually threw on a prop coat, and his figure vanished again, just like when he had ambushed the red-clad woman earlier.
"Still pulling that trick!" The running red-clad woman suddenly stopped. Clapping her hands together, red powder exploded within a five-meter radius around her!
Xu Huo inevitably got covered in this powder. He didn't care whether his whereabouts were revealed and used "Forced Forgetting" on the red-clad woman.
The red-clad woman's expression froze for a moment, but when her gaze met the person closing in on her, her combat instincts kicked in. She pushed both hands forward. "Charm of Refusal!"
Xu Huo, who was right in front of her, was pushed back. At the same time, the Crimson Sword cut through the air, heading straight for the red-clad woman.
"Bang!"
"Clang!"
The sound of Xu Huo bracing himself and the red-clad woman using a defense prop to block the slash rang out simultaneously. Both stopped moving, locking eyes from five meters apart. After a brief standoff, dust flew up from beneath their feet at the same time!
After the fierce clash, they quickly separated and repositioned. The red-clad woman turned back and threw a red thread at Xu Huo: "Love Me, Heart to Heart!"
(Chapter End)