Chapter 918: Only One Choice to Verify Truth or Falsehood
Unfortunately, the vehicle ahead showed no sign of turning back. Ding Wei's face darkened. "Better to rely on yourself than others!"
She signaled Zhao Jiahui to put away his prop, while simultaneously pulling out a two-meter-tall glass-like prop to shield herself—it wasn't real glass, as the burning bullets that struck it were instantly rebounded along their original trajectory, flying back toward the tattooed man!
The tattooed man sidestepped to avoid it. Perhaps due to distance constraints, the black ring that had trapped the two vanished instantly. Zhao Jiahui pulled out a rubber gun and fired at the off-road vehicle. The suction cup attached directly to the metal plate on the rear, and then he and Ding Wei grabbed the retracting rubber rope, quickly springing toward the off-road vehicle.
But before they could board, continuous debris from buildings rained down from the sky. The off-road vehicle swerved as it advanced, and the two swayed wildly along with it. The rubber rope prop proved insufficient to support a zigzag path, so they detached mid-way. Fortunately, Ding Wei used a grappling hook prop to take over, successfully pulling Zhao Jiahui onto the vehicle.
Just as they landed on the roof, the Baby Face and the Tattooed Man caught up again. Repeated attacks nearly overturned the vehicle several times. With no other choice, the two stayed outside to fend them off, but props were being consumed, while the opponents' health seemed undiminished. After two minutes, Ding Wei turned and shouted toward the car below, "If we're going to die, let's all die together!"
This meant that if Xu Huo and Shangguan Xi didn't come up to help soon, they would switch sides!
"Stop your yapping! We want to help, but we can't get up there—what can we do?" Shangguan Xi yelled through the window. "Other players have gotten mixed in!"
In reality, before Ding Wei and Zhao Jiahui had even escaped, Xu Huo had already signaled Teacher Ai to turn the vehicle around and head back. First, there was no road ahead. Second, with four against two, they weren't entirely at a disadvantage.
But at that moment, the vehicle was seized by an unknown force. While maintaining forward motion, it automatically dodged attacks from the sky, even without Teacher Ai's manual operation.
At the same time, the vehicle transformed into a sealed space, making it impossible for anyone inside to get out!
"It's been two minutes already!" Shangguan Xi checked the time. "No road ahead, and the rear of the car is almost destroyed!"
Xu Huo was well aware of the situation on the roof. Ding Wei and Zhao Jiahui could hold out a little longer, but this new development was the real problem. As Shangguan Xi said, whether it was a prop or a trait, the field control duration was too long. If they could only run in a straight line, it might be manageable...
Just as this thought crossed his mind, the road ahead was blocked by a collapsed building. Even a fully metal off-road vehicle couldn't crash through it. Teacher Ai shouted in panic, "You guys, act now!"
Shangguan Xi, beside him, had no more patience. He pressed a metal square box against the door frame, and the next second, the entire door detached from its hinges. Just as he was about to exit, the entire off-road vehicle lifted off the ground, spinning as it flew over the pile of obstacles!
The vehicle was far from light. Even Xu Huo's weightlessness prop couldn't make it float, let alone fly. If the opponent didn't have a prop specifically designed for vehicles, then their strength was enough to control such a heavy object.
Either possibility was bad news for them.
He decided to abandon the vehicle.
As the vehicle spun, Shangguan Xi accidentally rolled out. Xu Huo grabbed Teacher Ai and jumped out after him, quickly using "Destination Arrival" to widen the distance from the Baby Face and the others.
In fact, when the vehicle took flight, Ding Wei and Zhao Jiahui had already retreated. They didn't just leave the vehicle—they completely withdrew from the battlefield, abandoning their alliance with Xu Huo's group and fleeing in different directions to avoid the Baby Face and the Tattooed Man.
Thus, when everyone abandoned the vehicle and fled, the off-road vehicle still took a round of attacks mid-air. The last compartment was completely wrecked, and after landing, it was buried under falling debris.
The vehicle that landed beyond the obstacles went silent. The Baby Face and the Tattooed Man quickly redirected their pursuit toward Xu Huo. Meanwhile, Xu Huo handed Teacher Ai over to Shangguan Xi on the other side, warned him to be wary of Ding Wei and Zhao Jiahui, and then turned back to the spot where the vehicle was buried.
Under the effect of "Standardized Weightlessness," part of the debris pressing down on the vehicle floated up. But just as the pressure eased, the off-road vehicle burst out, speeding past him straight ahead!
The opponent was after the vehicle.
Xu Huo used "Shared Location" to mark it and then withdrew from the vehicle's vicinity. Using traits combined with props, he quickly moved back and forth through the city, refusing to engage the Baby Face and the Tattooed Man directly, simply leading them on a wild chase.
The two were also fast, possessing long-range movement props. However, compared to spatial evolution movement, theirs seemed somewhat sluggish and poorly coordinated. After failing to corner him in the first half-minute, they began to coordinate—one chasing, the other blocking.
But they couldn't simply vanish from space. Xu Huo could predict their positions and directions. After several rounds of back-and-forth, the two sides still hadn't clashed head-on.
However, during this process, the off-road vehicle suddenly disappeared.
Xu Huo raised his head, scanning the surroundings with his glasses. Soon, the "Shared Location" mark appeared in his field of vision, no more than a kilometer away. Ding Wei's mark also appeared nearby.
Using "Gentleman's Poise" to send himself high into the air, and then "Light Sandwich" to create a five-meter barrier around himself, he addressed the Baby Face and the Tattooed Man, who had both pursued him to the vicinity: "I think we won't be able to settle this anytime soon. How about we join forces to get the living sample first?"
"Isn't the laboratory's living sample in your hands?" the Baby Face immediately retorted.
Xu Huo smiled faintly. "Don't you know what happened in the lab?"
The Baby Face and the Tattooed Man exchanged a glance. Although the former had been intercepting Xu Huo outside, the Tattooed Man and the now-dead female player had checked the lab. The metal box containing the living sample did indeed hold a corpse. While using defense props could temporarily resist pollutant erosion, that didn't mean a player could successfully retrieve the sample after finding it—this was precisely why the three had been relentlessly pursuing him. If Xu Huo hadn't been so reckless, they would have eventually come up with a suitable method to extract the sample.
After guarding the living sample for most of the day, it had died like this. How could they swallow that anger? Yet, in the few short minutes of chasing Xu Huo, they had changed their view: the opponent wasn't someone without real skill. He wouldn't have failed to consider protecting the sample. The remaining possibility was that he had successfully retrieved it!
"Killing you won't be easy for us, but shaking us off won't be easy for you either," the Tattooed Man said after a two-second silence. "How about you take out the sample, and we'll deliver it together to W37 Base City?"
Xu Huo raised his left hand, revealing the unverified bracelet on his wrist.
"A single bracelet proves nothing," the Tattooed Man said.
"From this perspective, there's only one choice left to verify truth or falsehood." Xu Huo raised his arm, holding the "Eye of the Dead" in his hand. As he moved, the half-open red eye on the hilt strained to open a little wider at both ends.
It's the end of the month again. Starting in April, I'll resume two updates a day. If you have extra monthly votes, feel free to throw them my way. Thank you.
(Chapter End)