# Chapter 808: New Clues
However, that player had quite a few good items on him, and even with Xu Huo and Yan Jiayu working together, they couldn't gain the upper hand for a while.
The three of them were stuck inside the building, but because the pursuing player had used an item to seal off the entire building earlier, no one—including that government player—could get out.
Several nearby floors had been riddled with holes from the fighting. The pursuing player didn't want to keep tangling with Xu and Yan. After using a defense item to force them back, he suddenly accelerated and charged straight for the government player who was suspected of carrying important items and trying to escape!
The government player couldn't leave the building, so he had been watching from nearby. He also wanted to join forces with Xu Huo and the others, but couldn't find an opening, so he had consciously moved aside. Now seeing the enemy charging at him, he was first shocked, then quickly threw down two or three items to buy time before turning to flee.
"Non-Existent Distance!" The pursuing player used an item, and the fleeing man was uncontrollably pulled back. Just as he was about to take his life, a thin thread suddenly wrapped around his wrist!
The pursuing player frowned and used a cleansing item, but couldn't get rid of the thread. He couldn't help but turn his head to look back at Xu Huo and Yan Jiayu, but the next second, his hand was neatly severed!
The pursuing player's face changed drastically. He immediately retreated and rolled up his sleeve, only to find that the protective clothing he was wearing was useless. The same thin thread had appeared on his arm... In the next few seconds, his hands and feet fell off piece by piece like soft butter!
Xu Huo and Yan Jiayu stepped back in unison, while the government player who had been panicking just moments ago twitched his fingers and neatly severed his own player's head!
This development was unexpected, but then they saw the wandering thin thread fly out from the corpse, crawling like a snake back into the government player's hand.
"Thanks for buying me time, otherwise killing him would have been a bit harder." This player smiled at the two of them. "Is there anything I can help you with?"
Quite a few players had gathered outside the building. Xu Huo put away his sword before speaking. "We want to know this person's identity and the killing paper in his hand."
"Let me check." The government player was also straightforward. After examining it, his expression darkened slightly. "The paper he used to kill people isn't in his item slot."
"But for a powerful item like that, it's likely single-use."
"As for his identity, I found this in his luggage compartment."
He tossed over a thin booklet. Xu Huo caught it and saw that it was actually a Holy Sword Society rulebook.
"So he's from the Holy Sword Society." Yan Jiayu glanced at it.
Xu Huo wasn't the only one present who had dealt with the Holy Sword Society. The government player across from them said, "If it's the Holy Sword Society, that's not surprising. It's always been an organization that straddles the line between good and evil. If you want to cause them trouble, it might be difficult, because the few players who showed up here today aren't particularly strong."
After saying this, he collected the corpse and left.
Yan Jiayu waited until he was far away, then tore off the sticker on her face and said, "Is that guy telling the truth? Is the rulebook his or the dead player's?"
"Hard to say." Xu Huo said, "Today's situation feels a bit like a trap, possibly specifically designed to lure these people out."
Yan Jiayu nodded slightly. "But no matter what they were trying to snatch, it's not worth so many players dying."
"That paper definitely isn't a single-use item. I don't know if it was transferred in advance or if that guy was lying."
"That's not hard to figure out." Xu Huo said, "Before, we didn't know the killing method. Since it's a piece of paper that can write names, and it might be related to the Holy Sword Society, finding relevant information shouldn't be difficult."
"Besides, back in Zone 014, the Holy Sword Society did come to join in the fun."
"That's true, but I feel like if it were the Holy Sword Society, would they entrust such a powerful item to a few mediocre players?" Yan Jiayu said.
Both she and Xu Huo were only D-rank players.
"There's no need to dig too deep into the reasons," Xu Huo said. "Whether these people were bait released on purpose or just a coincidence doesn't matter. We didn't come away empty-handed."
Yan Jiayu laughed. "That's true."
After speaking, she turned back to look at the stone lion, which had already skillfully lay down on the ground dozing off, and whacked it with her stick!
The stone lion was hit and jumped up. After a restrained mutual beating, Yan Jiayu finally put it back into her item slot.
"If I don't hit it for a day, it won't behave," she explained.
Xu Huo expressed understanding. After all, most items were "diligent and conscientious," but this was the first time he'd seen one that slacked off and played tricks during battle.
Although this trip hadn't achieved its goal, at least they had some clues. As they left, Yan Jiayu asked him if he still had any bounty platform slots for this month. Hers were already used up.
"I've used mine too." Xu Huo said, "Let's wait until we get to Zone 011. That district has more information."
Continuous explosions sounded from the government building area, and two large buildings wobbled and collapsed. Now not only ordinary citizens but even players were scrambling to escape.
Yan Jiayu looked over there. "Even with player rescue support, the buildings are probably going to hit the ground. I need to go help."
"Together." Xu Huo said.
The two quickly rushed toward the incident site.
The players in Zone 009 did their best. Some used high-level items to hold the two buildings mid-fall, but that couldn't withstand the continuous attacks. The damaged buildings shifted from the middle and began to topple in different directions.
Even elite players found it hard to rush in and rescue people at this point. After all, the buildings might collapse in just a few seconds, not enough time to pull people out from inside. So their first choice was to dodge, planning to conduct rescues after the buildings fell.
Fortunately, evacuations had been ongoing since the incident began. Otherwise, the death toll today might have been more than just a hundred.
Xu Huo and Yan Jiayu moved quickly. Just before the buildings hit the ground, they snatched two people from the nearest positions. Then came several loud crashes, and massive amounts of dust mixed with construction debris surged outward in all directions, blotting out the sky and sun!
Xu Huo retreated to the side of a nearby building to take cover. Once the sound of collapsing structures died down a bit, he put on protective gear and jumped onto the rubble.
Finding people wasn't difficult, but those buried deep were harder to dig out and required heavy machinery.
Yan Jiayu handed him a handful of small flags. "Use these. Mark the ones you can't get out, and the Zone 009 players will come back to rescue them later."
These were small items. Each flag had the words "Person Here" written on it. Xu Huo stuck one at his feet, and the flagpole immediately displayed scrolling text: "Person ten meters directly below."
After he made the mark, Yan Jiayu brought Big Mao over to dig. Soon they had rescued nearly thirty people from the rubble. Some died shortly after being pulled out, but most were still alive.
For those who could move, Yan Jiayu gave them some food and water and asked them to help take care of the seriously injured.
(Chapter End)