Chapter 916: The Upside-Down Clown
The pollutants in the experimental building might not have had a long growth period. If the living samples were placed in the laboratory before that, the samples themselves might not be able to withstand the pollutants. Therefore, the safety of the living samples had to be considered before entering.
If the wall was directly breached, one would need to reach the living sample before the pollutant dust in the air. However, Xu Huo himself was now covered in pollutants, essentially a "pollution source" himself. Directly touching the sample could also contaminate it.
Glancing at the time, Xu Huo melted the metal wall in front of him, crossed through space, and instantly arrived at the location of the living sample in the laboratory. What appeared before him was a sealed black metal box, about as tall as an adult. There were several ventilation holes at the one-third mark from the top, too narrow to see through, but low, inhuman whimpers could be heard.
With one sword strike, he sliced off the top lid of the metal box. He pulled out the canvas of "World Within the Painting" and collected the mutant that was eagerly trying to crawl out into the prop. As the frame closed, a ferocious, twisted face immediately appeared on the white paper. Its mouth was open but couldn't speak, only able to emit roars.
"World Within the Painting" was a container prop gifted by the curator of the Hundred People Art Museum. It could hold two people alive for thirty days at a time. Whether player or ordinary person, entering the painting meant temporarily leaving the game, and the game panel could not be opened.
Of course, this didn't mean there was no danger inside. After thirty days, the person who entered the painting would merge with the prop, meaning death. The last player who was put inside had already died. Xu Huo hadn't had enough opportunities to verify whether there was any difference between continuous or interrupted thirty-day periods, but for containing a human mutant, such considerations weren't necessary.
As he put away the prop, a large amount of black dust surged in, filling every space in the laboratory in an instant.
He lifted the already contaminated mutant sample from the adjacent culture container and placed it into the metal box. Just as Xu Huo was about to leave, he suddenly sensed movement ahead. He ducked sharply, and the next second, a palm-wide white arc of light sliced the entire laboratory in half at the waist!
This force came from outside the building. Judging by the commotion, it had cut through the entire building. The separated upper and lower halves of the building didn't remain in place; the upper part slowly began to lift. At the same time, two players entered the building from different directions, charging precisely towards Xu Huo.
The Invisibility Cloak could no longer conceal his form. The pollutants clinging to it basically outlined his general silhouette. Without revealing his face, he dodged the space barrier of the female player who had been chasing him outside the building, then turned to face another male player with a tattoo on his face.
The opponent was wearing a fully transparent protective suit. Although pollutants could still adhere to it, their reproduction rate was drastically reduced. Therefore, besides clearly seeing the tattoo on the opponent's face, he could also see bullet-like sparks flying from his hand:
"Fleeting Meteor Shower!"
Before the words faded, dozens or even hundreds of burning bullets flew out from beside him, rushing towards Xu Huo like a meteor shower!
The female player chasing from behind quickly retreated, but she didn't retract her prop. Instead, she used a space barrier to seal off Xu Huo's escape route!
Under the pincer attack, Xu Huo activated "Three Hundred and Sixty Defenses." Rhomboid white blocks densely unfolded in the air, precisely intercepting the "bullets" flying around him. Although the rhomboid blocks could neutralize the impact of the bullets, they themselves only appeared once before disappearing. The three hundred and sixty defenses were halved in the blink of an eye.
Such a powerful attack wasn't entirely without benefit for him. The scattered bullets shattered the female player's space barrier, clearing the path behind him.
Changing direction, Xu Huo used "Destination Arrival" to quickly move away from the building. However, the moment he exited the prop, his entire body involuntarily began to float. In an instant, he was upside down, head and feet reversed, falling towards the building debris suspended in mid-air. There, a player dressed in a clown suit, wielding a large scythe, was staring at him while standing on his head.
Being inverted felt like gravity had been reversed. Still, Xu Huo could feel the blood rushing to his head. He used the Kite String to adjust his direction and activated "Destination Arrival" again.
Actually, he shouldn't have needed a second use. A single "Destination Arrival" should have been enough to leave the gravity-distorted area. But the first time hadn't covered a kilometer, and this time was the same. After exiting the prop, the distance was shortened again. A mere two or three hundred meters...
"Hee!" The clown player suddenly appeared before him, raising the giant scythe.
A white arc of light swept horizontally across the sky, slicing through all the nearby suspended buildings from hundreds of meters away. However, it didn't hit Xu Huo. Seeing the person rapidly rushing towards the ground, the clown player let out a strange laugh and swooped down to follow.
In this area of distorted gravity, although the clown player was upside down, his movements were no different from normal posture. Thanks to this peculiar state, he could achieve flight without using any flying prop. Xu Huo, unaccustomed to this gravitational pull, had to rely on props just to move left and right.
But the control of this gravitational distortion wasn't particularly strong. "Gentleman's Poise" could completely counteract the pull trying to drag him back into the sky. Piercing through the air again, Xu Huo successfully entered a ground-level building.
With a roof overhead, the gravitational pull immediately weakened significantly. Xu Huo dodged the white arc of light that came slashing straight down from above, then picked up his communicator to signal Shangguan Xi and the car to leave first.
"Hee hee!"
In the brief moment it took to send the signal, the building above his head was sliced away again. Using the inverted flight posture, he quickly closed in on the clown player. After "Eye of the Dead" clashed with the opponent's large scythe, he used "Dead End" to force the opponent back.
However, just because the opponent couldn't approach temporarily didn't mean he could leave. The moment "Dead End" took effect, he was caught by an invisible force. Although he immediately used "Compressed Air" to create a barrier, one of his legs was still trapped in place.
"I want to break it!"
Shouting this sentence towards the clown player, Xu Huo's right leg immediately regained its freedom. But looking up, he saw the clown player had already killed his way back in front of him!
Frowning, he reached out and grabbed the space, continuously changing his position.
For the first few times, the clown player could keep up with his rhythm. But as Xu Huo got closer and closer to the edge of the gravity-distorted area, the opponent's speed became slower and slower. By the time he left this area, the clown player could only use his scythe to expand the kill range.
Noticing that the opponent didn't want to leave the gravity-distorted area, Xu Huo walked out and then quickly turned back. Sure enough, the moment he approached, the clown player retreated. Using "Eye of the Dead" to block the opponent's scythe, during the clash, he quickly raised his index finger and flicked it against the scythe!
A crisp sound caused a large hole to appear on the scythe's blade. The smile on the clown player's face, which had been constantly grinning and making strange noises, visibly vanished. He opened his mouth and blurted out: "Holy shit!"
(Chapter End)