Chapter 887: A Double-Edged Sword
“Wh—” Gan Yi’s words were cut off after just one syllable. He quickly turned his head, and what met his eyes was the cold, deformed white wall, the longsword embedded in his chest, and Xu Huo standing a few meters away—everything had returned to normal!
His gaze was momentarily dazed, his expression slightly confused, as if he couldn’t understand why he kept waking up in an illusion.
Xu Huo was also a bit surprised that the mental illusion he had created was so seamless, trapping a C-grade player and making him completely unable to distinguish illusion from reality.
Glancing at the “Eye of the Dead” on the sword, where the eye at the junction of the hilt and blade had opened slightly wider than before, he understood that the sword had also played a role. However, the effect was stronger than he had anticipated. In his severely injured state, Gan Yi had unwittingly entered Xu Huo’s mental world without any defense.
The “Eye of the Dead” had performed brilliantly, but Gan Yi was somewhat disappointing.
Xu Huo retrieved the “Eye of the Dead” and let him fall to the ground.
Gan Yi had already lost too much blood. He looked up at the time and said, “Only three minutes…”
Number 27 was already dead. Gan Yi stared at his corpse for a few seconds, then said, “Do you have a grudge against the Holy Sword Society?”
“Not really,” Xu Huo replied. “But I don’t like the Holy Sword Society.”
In a lawless game, the word “dislike” alone carried many implications, especially for a young player with potential. A biased attitude could bring incalculable losses to the Holy Sword Society.
Gan Yi smiled silently. “I can tell you who that person is, but only if you let me go.”
Xu Huo stood still. “Do you think that’s possible?”
Gan Yi crawled forward, blood streaming from the corner of his mouth as he said, “No one can stop what the Holy Sword Society wants to do… Eternal Brand!”
With a wave of his hand, several spots of light appeared in midair, shooting like arrows through “Xu Huo’s” body and heading toward an empty patch of ground nearby!
Gan Yi lay on his back, laughing with satisfaction. “As I thought, it was fake…”
Indeed, the “Xu Huo” standing in front of him at that moment was still an illusion. The real Xu Huo was to his left, but the prop didn’t have eyes. Even if he couldn’t see where Xu Huo was, within a certain range, the prop would still go after the real person!
Having been on guard, Xu Huo had already teleported a hundred meters away the moment the light spots appeared. The first spot struck where he had been standing, leaving a hexagonal pattern that quickly faded. However, the rest followed him across half the square, chasing and intercepting him.
Xu Huo changed positions several times and used props to block before finally neutralizing the remaining light spots. But just as he returned to Gan Yi’s side, a massive hexagonal light spot appeared on the ground beneath him, then rapidly shrank to the size of a thumb, locking onto his face!
Even through the prop, Xu Huo felt a burning sensation on his skin. His brows furrowed as he flashed in front of Gan Yi and pierced his heart before the man could commit suicide!
But Gan Yi saw the hexagonal brand left on Xu Huo’s face and let out a breathy laugh. “A… mark… any… Holy Sword Society member… will kill you on sight…”
Xu Huo twisted the sword hilt, unmoved. “As you said, as long as I carry this mark, I can keep luring out Holy Sword Society players?”
Gan Yi’s eyes widened sharply, and with a faint trace of regret and anger, he breathed his last.
Xu Huo pulled out the sword and stood before the corpse, silent for a few seconds before retrieving the prop he was wearing.
Aside from Gan Yi, Zhuang Mengtian, the ambushing player, and Number 27 were all D-grade players. Their professions were hypnotist, assembly line worker, and diver, respectively. Their props were average, nothing particularly outstanding. The three of them combined weren’t worth as much as Gan Yi alone.
Gan Yi’s profession was supermarket owner. The props he had used—“Hide-and-Seek Cabinet,” “Life-and-Death Box,” “Heart’s Emptiness,” “Eternal Brand,” and “Stop or Go”—were all of decent quality and not low-grade.
“Hide-and-Seek Cabinet” and “Eternal Brand” were special props. The former could intercept anyone who entered a ten-meter range and had a certain chance of trapping them inside the cabinet. The latter was a tracking prop; once successfully branded on the face, it was very difficult to wash off.
Xu Huo touched the fake mask on his face. It seemed the “Actor’s Mask” was ruined.
“Life-and-Death Box” was a B-grade space prop. Once it successfully trapped someone, it could crush them to death by shrinking the space or cause them to suffocate. “Heart’s Emptiness” was a C-grade prop that would travel through blood vessels into the heart and destroy it. However, using these two props was somewhat troublesome. The former required the trapped person to stand in a fixed position for over five seconds, and the latter required direct contact.
“Stop or Go” was a D-grade prop that could make someone stand still for half a minute.
In addition, his prop slot also contained a “Precise Hit.”
This was the same kind of paper the Holy Sword Society players had used earlier to kill people by writing names.
[One-time A-grade prop. Blood and a name can locate any independent person within a space. When the person’s code name is erased, their life will also dissipate. However, the number of names that can be written on one piece of paper is limited. Please use it carefully. Additionally, any player can only use this prop once in their lifetime, and once the first name is written, its effective time is thirty minutes.]
Based on the prop’s usage, it basically matched Xu Huo’s earlier judgment. However, since so many Holy Sword Society members had it, calling it a one-time A-grade prop didn’t make it seem all that precious.
After checking the more important props, he briefly looked through the potion slot and luggage compartment. Aside from some materials about the Holy Sword Society in Gan Yi’s luggage, he also found a Non-Player Ticket among the ambushing player’s belongings.
By this time, two more players on the square had “gained friendship” under the host’s announcement and successfully cleared the instance.
“Why is it so easy to gain friendship now?” someone asked in confusion. To outsiders, it seemed like two players had simply chosen to complete a task together, without even reaching a life-threatening level. Yet, this method had been tried before.
“You plant flowers but they don’t bloom; you don’t plant willows but they give you shade,” Shaka remarked with emotion.
That was the principle. Earlier, all the players were focused on clearing the instance, with clear goals. They would retreat at the first sign of danger, lacking the conditions for “shared hardship.” But when clearing seemed hopeless, they started thinking about helping each other survive until the instance ended.
Friendship, after all, might not have such a high threshold. How could friendship develop without interaction? So, the longer the time, the greater the possibility of “gaining friendship.” However, the mortality rate for “you’re good, I’m good” was too high, and most people didn’t last until this point.
Of course, there were even more people who didn’t meet the “friendship” standard. “Shared hardship” required not only courage but also ability. First of all, the possibility of Non-Players and players forming friendships was very low.
Xu Huo gave the Non-Player Ticket to Xiaoxiao.
(Chapter End)