Chapter 839: Drawn Into Battle
But just as the metal wrapped around part of the sphere, the masked player withdrew his prop and instead tossed a white substance into the molten metal. The car immediately began to bounce as if boiling, forcing the Black Epaulet to retreat.
At that moment, Ran Ying had already moved up. Relying on her speed, she charged straight at the masked player and swung her fist at his face—though she was still some distance away, several phantom images seemed to stack out in front of her fist. Even though she didn't actually touch the masked player, she still struck the defensive shield he had hastily summoned.
Ran Ying must have used an item, because the masked player's shield was directly cracked. But then a red light rose from the ground, abruptly slicing through the earth!
Ran Ying quickly withdrew and retreated, but the next second, the same red light appeared behind her. Unable to stop in time, she collided with it, and her protective suit was instantly burned through.
The red light began to appear around her, varying in length and direction, crisscrossing and overlapping like a shrinking polygonal grid, constantly compressing her range of movement.
She couldn't go forward, backward, left, or right—the only gap was above.
A deliberately left opening was certainly not easy to take. When Ran Ying looked up, a balloon happened to float right over her head.
At that moment, the Black Epaulet raised a vacuum cleaner prop aimed at the balloon, but it sputtered and died as soon as he activated it. He was about to move forward when the masked player pointed at the balloon from a distance.
The balloon burst with a "bang," pouring out a stream of black liquid that was clearly disproportionate to its volume, like a column of water flooding into the small space constructed by the red light!
But everyone present saw clearly that, a second before the liquid touched her, Ran Ying had vanished from the red light, then teleported behind the masked player.
The masked player had also set up defenses the moment the balloon burst, so when Ran Ying appeared behind him, a blue light burst from his body. Ran Ying, caught in the light, seemed to freeze in midair, unable to advance an inch!
"Please turn around and look at me!" the Black Epaulet shouted at the masked player.
The masked player turned his head, but not compulsively. He extended his right hand toward the Black Epaulet and seemed only to move his lips. The next second, the Black Epaulet's head exploded. Then the masked player withdrew his gaze and dealt with Ran Ying in the same manner.
Although Ran Ying was frozen and couldn't retreat, she could still speak. She looked at the masked player and said, "Distance creates beauty."
They were only two steps apart, but the masked player could no longer move forward, nor could he touch Ran Ying. Even some of his props failed.
The masked player was about to change direction when a fierce wind swept out from the dark zone, carrying shredded buildings and floor tiles to form a tornado that surged toward him!
Then three Black Epaulets flashed into existence around him. One of them used a prop to cancel out the masked player's blocking prop, while another said, "Arrogance is an attitude!"
The masked player involuntarily lifted his head, pointing his nostrils at people.
At that moment, Ran Ying also broke free from the prop's effect. She stepped forward in one swift motion and hammered the masked player, along with his defensive prop, flying outward!
The masked player flew backward, crashing into a Black Epaulet. The two maintained a certain distance, but the Black Epaulet behind him couldn't shake him off. He threw out several props in succession without effect. Two flying, three chasing, all five of them entered the nearby building.
Xu Huo and Wan Tingfang were also hiding in this building because they couldn't leave for the time being.
The players emerging from the dark zone weren't just Ran Ying and her group. The Black Epaulets and the suspected Holy Sword Society players had split into several small battlefields, almost completely blocking all the surrounding roads. Stepping out might mean landing on some player's prop, so they had no choice but to take shelter in the building first.
"How did these people get in again!" Wan Tingfang complained bitterly, then turned and ran upstairs.
Xu Huo also chose to avoid them. Although he couldn't be sure that Black Epaulets like Ran Ying and the Holy Sword Society players they were fighting were all high-level players, they definitely had rich combat experience.
Prolonged combat required not only physical stamina but also reasonable prop arrangement and teamwork.
Neither side was easy to mess with, so there was no need to get involved.
But leaving wasn't that easy either. Soon, he and Wan Tingfang were caught in the effect of a Black Epaulet's prop, uncontrollably moving to a position ten meters away from him.
Two Holy Sword Society players were also moved there.
Both sides were bloodshot and completely ignored whether outsiders had been dragged into the fight. Seeing a Black Epaulet produce a string of micro-bombs, Xu Huo's brow twitched, and he immediately shouted, "Please sit!"
This was a room with a few chairs. The moment he finished speaking, all the players present sat down and, propelled by the chairs, moved to the center of the room.
Facing each other directly, more than half chose to attack immediately. But as they stood up, they discovered an awkward problem: they couldn't shake off the chairs. The effect of removing the prop wasn't obvious either. Two people did manage to destroy their chairs first, but they didn't have enough time to dismantle all the boards, so they had to move with the boards still attached.
The half-minute seat lock actually didn't last ten seconds.
Xu Huo immediately decided to go back and order a few sturdy chairs, but for now, he had no choice but to violate the "host-guest relationship."
At that moment, a Holy Sword Society player targeted him. "The Black Epaulets sure have a lot of dogs!"
"Watch out!" Wan Tingfang threw a red trampoline from the side, catching the Holy Sword Society player's prop. The trampoline couldn't withstand the pressure and snapped in two. Wan Tingfang winced at the sight and then yelled, "Run!"
The Holy Sword Society player was held back by the Black Epaulet and had no energy to pursue. Xu Huo and Wan Tingfang ran all the way out of the building, seizing a gap to distance themselves from this small battlefield.
After confirming they were safe, Xu Huo said, "Thanks for earlier."
"It's nothing," Wan Tingfang waved her hand. "We're friends; helping each other is only right. But the city is really too unsafe. Let's head out of town and find somewhere to hide, even if it's just anywhere."
"I wonder how Director Sanyang is doing," Xu Huo said hesitantly. "The weathering has disappeared. Should we go back and look for him?"
"No need. He's definitely much stronger than us. He might even think we're holding him back." Wan Tingfang showed no intention of turning back.
Xu Huo glanced toward the dark zone but ultimately chose to leave the main city with her.
There were quite a few players taking refuge on the outskirts of the main city. It was relatively safe here, and they could observe the situation near the dark zone from a close distance.
"What are these people thinking?" Wan Tingfang said with a hint of sarcasm. "They don't actually think they can pick off one or two heavily injured high-level players, do they?"
Clearly, that was exactly what these people were thinking.
Xu Huo didn't plan to go far either. He lowered his voice and said, "Let's wait and see. If there's any new development at the base, we'll know right away."