Chapter 654: Time to Wrap Up
Xu Huo dodged the red lines several times but failed to evade them. The line moved like a snake, naturally slithering through the air, autonomously seeking its target, and didn't even need the red-clothed woman to control it.
"No man I've set my sights on has ever gotten away." As the red-clothed woman spoke, a miniature pistol slid from her hand, and she fired at Team Leader Wang, 3973, and the others charging at her.
"Bang!" What came out of the gun wasn't bullets, but colorful confetti. The confetti scattered, rapidly expanded, swelled to the size of a palm, and then exploded. The sprayed powder was highly adhesive, sticking to and covering their protective shields.
"Don't remove the shields!" Team Leader Wang shouted a warning, but two players had already taken theirs off. As expected, the powder was toxic. In just the moment it took to remove a shield, one player with an open wound was quickly infected, and inhaling the powder also caused poisoning.
The remaining team members used cleaning agents to deal with the powder on their bodies. The red-clothed woman raised her gun dismissively, but before she could pull the trigger, the prop gun strangely detached from her hand.
Turning around, she saw a wallet on the floor. Her red lips curled into a smile. The red line under her control loosened, and the flying thread shot out at incredible speed, wrapping around the charging Xu Huo!
In less than a second, all the red lines slid off. Freed from their control, Xu Huo looked into her eyes and commanded, "Stop!"
The red-clothed woman, who was about to take a step, found her feet unable to move. She tossed a ring-shaped prop at her feet. The second-floor floor, along with the collapsed cement chunks above it, melted into a large hole, taking her down with it!
Xu Huo rushed to the edge of the hole and threw a grenade down, but after the explosion, the woman had vanished without a trace.
A moment later, sensing someone crossing the middle of the second floor to the third, he grabbed the ceiling and flipped up.
"Woo! Woo! Woo!" As soon as he got up, he was faced with layers upon layers of mirrors. Each mirror reflected his image. Some mirrors showed him moving in sync, while others moved independently, and some even had figures walking out of them right before his eyes.
"You like playing with mirrors so much? Let me play with you!" Xu Huo stepped forward, grabbed one of the mirrors with one hand, and gave it a hard spin.
One mirror, two mirrors, three mirrors... Starting from the first mirror's rotation, mirrors began to spin autonomously one after another. Initially, only his figure flickered in the mirrors, but as more mirrors spun, some began to reflect the red-clothed woman's image.
Their faces overlapped and spun within the mirrors. The red-clothed woman quickly replaced Xu Huo's image. As more of her reflections appeared, figures began to walk out of the mirrors, surging towards the real Xu Huo.
Seconds later, all the mirrors vanished. Xu Huo, who had remained standing in his original spot from the start, flashed in front of the red-clothed woman and slashed her throat with his blade!
The red-clothed woman, of course, didn't wait for death. She dodged the fatal blow, gracefully appearing a few meters away, smiling at Xu Huo. "Looks like it's a prop that affects one's mental state. My mirrors have always been invincible. I didn't expect them to be countered like this."
"But it's fine. I'll take it as a learning experience. Your skills are good, and you use your props adeptly. But your combat awareness is lacking. If you had used that move with your previous sword, you might have actually killed me."
"Is that so?" Xu Huo turned around, a faint smile appearing on his face within the oxygen supply.
The red-clothed woman's expression changed. She wiped her neck and found a palm full of black blood.
Poison!
She shot Xu Huo a hateful glare, no longer wanting to fight. She turned and jumped out the window, climbing the wall towards the upper floors.
Intense gunfire erupted from outside but quickly subsided. It was clear that the Special Defense Department personnel lying in ambush outside hadn't managed to take her down.
"Why didn't you kill her?" Team Leader Wang came up from below. "That move of yours should have been able to kill her."
Xu Huo put his props away. "I have my reasons for what I do."
The two groups of Special Defense Department members who had entered later were already searching the area. He glanced down before speaking. "The mirror maze probably won't appear for a while. I suspect the prop sealing the building is also related to that woman. Now that she's injured, she might change her plans."
Team Leader Wang stopped him. "You want to act alone?"
Xu Huo's only purpose for lingering downstairs was to buy time. Now that the goal was achieved, even if the Painting Woman hadn't successfully rescued the child, she should have killed a few of the enemy's people. It was time to go up and wrap things up.
The person in front of Team Leader Wang suddenly vanished. The next second, Xu Huo's figure appeared at the stairwell entrance, and he said, "You guys handle it yourselves."
Team Leader Wang was exasperated, but 3973 shouted from below, "Captain! Confirmed with Team Two. 3304's uniform was stolen. The one upstairs isn't a Special Defense Department player!"
Team Leader Wang was stunned. "Then who is he? Besides players from the safe zones, who else can fight like that?"
Player props and traits were incredibly mysterious. Some props that seemed to have little use could still affect high-level players. If the opponent lacked a suitable defensive prop, they would likely fall for it nine times out of ten. This wasn't about a killing move, but the ingenious use of props.
It could be said that many props, when used alone, weren't very lethal. How to combine and use them was the key to improving a player's strength. This required not only extensive practice but also a certain amount of talent. In actual combat, the props used couldn't follow a pre-simulated script step by step. What kind of tricks a prop could pull off depended entirely on the player.
3304's continuous and impressive use of props in the fight against the red-clothed woman was astonishing. Someone with this level of strength was among the elite of the elite, often tasked with protecting the nation's core figures.
"I'm ninety percent sure it's Xu Huo!" 3973 said excitedly. "I remember that door of his from when he fought the Twin Serpents. One against ten. There's no one else but him."
Team Leader Wang's tense nerves relaxed. "Wasn't he supposed to be back at headquarters?"
"He rushed over, didn't he? The person captured is his biological brother... well, half-brother from the same father, but they're still blood-related," 3973 said. "Maybe by the time we get up there, he'll have already killed a few."
Team Leader Wang kicked him. "Hurry up! We can't let him steal all the glory!"
The members of Special Defense Department Team Three regrouped and prepared to head upstairs. Xu Huo had already reached the eighth floor. As he ascended, he sensed a few people heading down from another location, but not many, so he didn't stop.
However, as soon as he stepped onto the eighth floor, the space behind the stairwell turned hazy and gray. Then he heard the crying of a child and a woman.
Turning past the elevator corridor, several masked players stood in the open office area of the empty building. Among them was the red-clothed woman from before. Kneeling in front of them, with their eyes covered and mouths gagged, were Tongtong and the Painting Woman.
(End of Chapter)