Chapter 802: From the Results, Voluntary and Forced Are the Same
The black-clad player who flew out was caught by a companion, who set the severely injured person aside in a corner before charging at Xu Huo to kill him:
Two layers of jelly-like substances attacked Xu Huo from both sides, bubbling like boiling liquid, with splashing juices carrying strong corrosive properties that could even melt the building materials on the ground!
Xu Huo walked forward, and "Same-Sex Repulsion" bounced the black-clad player away, causing the "jelly wall" to wobble and collapse backward, disintegrating on the spot.
The flashy but useless display seemed to satisfy neither the host nor the guests. The black-clad player put on gloves, and as he raised his hand, the surrounding debris was lifted by gravitational force!
A chaotic mess of things clumped together to form a thick wall, but the charging time was too long. Before it could be thrown, Xu Huo flashed to the black-clad player's side, and through a layer of diamond gloves, he grabbed the opponent's face and slammed it hard into the exhibition wall behind!
"Boom!" The wall was smashed into a large hole, and the black-clad player's head split open. Without giving him time to react, Xu Huo tightened and loosened his grip, smashing the man's head against the wall again and again until blood splattered and the sound of neck bones breaking echoed.
Tossing aside the corpse, Xu Huo's anger did not subside. He drew the "Eye of the Dead," turned, and faced the several black-clad players surrounding him.
After killing six in a row, someone called out to those still charging forward, shouting in fury: "Are you blind? This guy is just passing through! Go catch the ones who bombed the building! Don't let a single one escape!"
The ones who bombed the building were Chi Nan and her group. Now Chi Nan and two companions were missing, leaving only Old Zhou. Surrounded by black-clad players, he was already severely injured, and during his retreat, he kept glancing at Xu Huo.
Unfortunately, Xu Huo didn't even spare him a glance. Once no one actively attacked him, he stopped, turned, and dug the Awakening Puppet out of the rubble.
The Awakening Puppet was being used as a medium to open the instance, so he couldn't just take it away—the thing specifically meant to restrict Jiang Jiang hadn't been used, and now he had to waste time retrieving it. Xu Huo's expression darkened as he stood before the puppet and said, "I'll be back in three days."
Random instances usually took a long time, but he didn't plan to stay in Zone 009. Whether he could retrieve the Awakening Puppet would depend on luck.
After unilaterally informing it, he turned and left the building.
"Save me..." As he stepped out the door, Old Zhou, nearly exhausted, couldn't help but call for help, adding: "We killed politicians who raised Evolvers as test subjects! In the past year, they've killed nearly two hundred Evolvers!"
Xu Huo paused, released the Kite String to pull the man along, and used his trait to quickly leave the building!
Although some players excelled in speed, they couldn't keep up with him indefinitely, since using traits to accelerate didn't consume much stamina.
After confirming that the black-clad players weren't following, Xu Huo found a relatively hidden spot, set the man down, and left.
Old Zhou wanted to call him back, but seeing the look in Xu Huo's eyes as he turned, he instinctively swallowed his words.
By now, there was no accommodation to be found in the safe zone. Xu Huo randomly chose a residential building rooftop to rest, but when he got up there, someone was already there.
The person was clearly a player, drinking wine and grilling barbecue. Seeing Xu Huo, he even offered a drink: "Want a sip?"
Xu Huo declined and ate his own dry rations.
The man didn't seem interested in conversation and continued eating after being refused.
After eating, Xu Huo leaned against the railing to rest, fiddling with Jiang Jiang's paintbrush in his hand.
What she said about giving it was real—before entering the game world, she voluntarily gave up the item, and now it was his.
[Painter's Brush: A magic brush that can turn any person or object into a painting model. Who can resist the chance to be hung on a wall? Note: The user must comply with labor laws and balance work with rest.]
Notably, this was a C-grade item.
The message on the bounty platform was replied to by Jiang Jiang, which surprised Xu Huo but also explained some things. From her actions, this person was likely teetering on the edge of sanity and madness.
Predicting her own death made her somewhat self-destructive. "Unable to change the predicted future" was probably a conclusion she had reached after many experiments. Knowing she would die but still staying in Zone 009, even actively seeking him out, showed the significant mental drain from prolonged "waiting for death."
It was precisely because of this pent-up pressure that she showed no regard for the lives of those around her—even actively hastening their deaths, like the players who died earlier in the gallery.
However, everyone has a survival instinct, which was why she fled after failing in mutual destruction.
From a negative perspective, Xu Huo had lost a good opportunity for her to "give up completely."
But from a positive perspective, there was a chance for someone on the verge of madness to find joy in life and return to normalcy.
As things stood, he no longer held much hope for Jiang Jiang. She might be hiding something, but it was likely far from what he expected. At least the person who raised her couldn't be the doctor from the Seventeenth Hospital—her mental state was too unstable.
Putting the paintbrush back into the item slot, Xu Huo closed his eyes to rest.
About ten minutes later, a dozen or so players climbed onto the rooftop.
These people were with the barbecue player. After exchanging greetings, they used a silencing item.
A few minutes later, someone walked toward him and said, "Brother, mind moving over?"
"Sure." Xu Huo stood up, took a running start, and jumped to the rooftop of the adjacent building—the distance between residential buildings wasn't far. It might not have been possible before, but after his trait evolved, it was no problem.
After crossing three buildings, he sat down to rest again.
Coincidentally, someone was on this rooftop too. The person gave him a thumbs-up and said, "Brother, nice moves!"
Xu Huo looked up at the still-early sky: Maybe he should find an underground parking lot instead.
Nodding at the man, he entered the elevator lobby, planning to take the elevator down.
Ignoring the people lying in ambush on the lower floors, he reached the first floor and left the residential area as quickly as possible.
However, although he didn't intend to get involved in others' fights, some people wouldn't let him go. After going downstairs, two players followed him.
Xu Huo searched for directions on his phone and led the two toward a blocked road. Unexpectedly, someone else was there "handling urgent business." As soon as he stopped outside, he heard a female voice approaching: "You don't have to be a good person, but you absolutely cannot be a bad person. Do too many bad things, and you'll definitely get beaten one day!"
As the words fell, a short-haired, energetic Yan Jiayu kneed a man and smashed through a barrier, landing in front of him. The demon-subduing pestle, like a stone rod, knocked out a mouthful of teeth from the man on the ground: "It doesn't matter if it's not voluntary! Being forced to change is still change. From the results, there's no difference!"