Chapter 903: Neither Side Has Sincere Intentions for Cooperation
Shangguan Xi, having been looked down upon, laughed heartily without a care. "You're too young to be so serious. When you grow up a bit more, you'll understand—being optimistic does you good."
No sooner had he finished speaking than a "crack" sounded from beneath his feet. The next second, a powerful explosive flame erupted from the ground, sending him flying!
Xu Huo caught him from behind, using an air barrier to block the sparks flying toward them. The explosion wasn't very powerful—at most, it had blown a hole in the passage. Without protection, a person might have lost a leg.
Shangguan Xi was wearing prop shoes, and his clothes also had defensive properties. He went from anger to confusion. "Why don't these people just destroy the passage outright? Why bother setting traps?"
Xu Huo examined the breach in the passage. "These metal materials aren't easy to damage. To truly destroy the passage, they'd probably have to blow through the ground as well, which would make using the underground passage pointless."
W37 Base Station had once been a fairly well-developed game district. With such a large territory reduced to just thirty-seven cities, the last place for survival and reproduction, it was only natural to reinforce it as much as possible.
"Attracting the alien species is indeed troublesome." Shangguan Xi looked ahead. "How much farther to the exit?"
"Almost there," the youth said.
After about another ten minutes or so, the youth signaled them to be quiet, then crawled up a passage that sloped upward for at least fifty meters before turning a corner. Only then did they see a small iron door ahead.
The small iron door was likely located high on the outer wall of the city's protective barrier. When they opened it, they were met with a vast expanse of yellow sand. The windy zone could cover any trace in a short time, let alone the fact that several people might have already left from here long ago.
"They're gone. Where do we chase them?" Shangguan Xi said, somewhat disappointed.
"They can't have gone far," the youth said with certainty. "Entering the desert zone at night is suicide. The wind doesn't seem strong here, but a little further ahead is a heavy sandstorm area. There's nowhere to hide, and it's easy to get buried by the sand. Even if Teacher Ai wanted to die with them, they'd come back on their own!"
Shangguan Xi was about to say something else when Xu Huo patted him on the shoulder and pointed downward.
The people hadn't gone far—they were hiding right beneath their feet, a total of four people.
"I'll go down and talk to them." Xu Huo signaled Shangguan Xi and the youth to stay above.
The four were hiding in a small prop space, most of which was buried in sand, like it was underground. Only a palm-sized glass seal was exposed on the surface.
After coming down, Xu Huo directly knocked on the seal. "If you all are also heading to W19 Base City, why don't we travel together?"
There was no response from underground, but two seconds later, the raised sand suddenly collapsed. Several figures leaped out from below one after another. One of them grabbed a thin, middle-aged man and immediately retreated backward, while the other two charged straight at him!
Meeting like this, it was clear neither side had any sincere intentions for cooperation. So Xu Huo first sidestepped the two charging at him, instantly teleporting behind the retreating player. He grabbed the longsword the other swung back at him, used "Life Core" to melt it, and then directly used "Same-Sex Repulsion" to send the man flying.
The player was first surprised to see his prop melt, but the moment he was repelled by the prop, he immediately took the opportunity to retreat to his companion's side, speaking urgently, "This guy is tough. If he goes to W19 City, he'll definitely become a formidable opponent. Even if we have to kill this guide, we can't let him have him!"
The other two saw him making a "grabbing" gesture in front of him and immediately understood. "Careful! He's a player who's undergone mental evolution!"
The one who had fought with Xu Huo also realized his hands were empty. Looking at the opposite side, the person was indeed already in his hands!
"Teacher Ai?" Xu Huo asked the middle-aged man.
The middle-aged man had already seen the youth above waving frantically. His voice hoarse, he said, "Thank you for saving me. I can take you to W19 Base."
Teacher Ai was a smart man—he didn't beat around the bush and went straight to the point.
Xu Huo nodded, threw the "Desert Windmill" to the ground, and a dense sandstorm immediately covered the area outside the protective wall.
It was already a sandstorm prop, and combined with the special climate here, the storm caused by the prop was far greater than any before. The sky-filling sand not only interfered with people's senses but also made movement difficult.
As Xu Huo was taking Teacher Ai up, one of the three players intercepted them from ahead, throwing down a prop that looked like a transparent film from high above. The thing wasn't affected by the storm and flew straight toward their faces!
Xu Huo didn't change direction but swung his sword in advance. However, the moment the film was cut in two, he immediately realized that destroying this prop wouldn't make its effect disappear—it might even double it. So he used the "Sticky as Glue" protective suit to block in front and conveniently caught the two pieces of cut film.
"Sticky as Glue" was a protective suit that secreted a sticky liquid, capable of adhering to any object. But once it stuck, it required a special solvent to dissolve. He had always found it troublesome and never used it, but now it was perfect—the two pieces of film, which had auto-targeting and auto-wrapping functions, spun around the clothes as soon as they touched them. After two loops, they finally tangled up. Xu Huo casually threw them both into the luggage compartment, then used "Important Call" and "Eternal Brand" together.
The opponent probably also had props with defensive prop functions. "Important Call" didn't work, but "Eternal Brand" was six automatically tracking light spots. While the player dodged, Xu Huo circled above him and directly dropped 101—a very heavy prop. The player couldn't withstand the gravity with his prop and was pressed toward the ground. During that time, the light spots caught up, branding a fresh mark directly onto his face!
By this time, Xu Huo had already sent Teacher Ai up. When he came back down, he used "Dead End" to slash at the ground. The fifty-square-meter laser cut not only through the sandstorm but also sliced the player who had just crawled out from under 101 in half.
Blood seeped into the flying sand. The remaining two sensed the smell of blood and instinctively retreated. One of them tapped a glass bottle, and the wildly flying sandstorm was put on pause, then fell in a rustling shower: the Desert Windmill had lost its effect, and this area returned to how it was before Xu Huo came down.
In the strong wind, the player who had been holding Teacher Ai shouted with wide eyes, "See who doesn't blink!"
In an instant, Xu Huo felt his eyelids lock in place, unable to close. Meanwhile, the other player hoisted a strong spotlight and shone it directly at him!
He couldn't close his eyelids, but he still had his hands. He covered his eyes with them.
The two opposite were waiting for this opportunity. One flashed to appear three meters in front of him, and then the wind around Xu Huo formed a small storm, with him right at the center of it!