Chapter 927: From Triangular Camp to Cooperation
The "Eye of the Dead" slashed down without any obstruction, but the Baby Face was not one to sit idly by. After failing to interrupt his opponent, he held both hands vertically in front of him, parallel to each other, and sliced through the air. Xu Huo, who had been directly in front of him, automatically shifted out of alignment, like two parallel lines maintaining a certain distance as they crossed past each other.
The Baby Face player held the initiative. As the trait took effect, he retreated to the other side, only to be blocked by the young girl who had come up from behind. She formed a heart shape with her hands and then pulled them apart, causing the Baby Face to be bounced back in the opposite direction, flying once again toward Xu Huo.
What greeted him was "Dead End." The Baby Face spat out a curse, curled his entire body into a circle, and flipped sideways, causing his body to spin at high speed automatically as he shot straight up into the air.
But Xu Huo had already stepped onto "Gentleman's Poise" and reached the air. He stomped down directly on the Baby Face's head, sending him crashing back to the ground!
The Baby Face suffered minor injuries. After hitting the ground and rolling, he quickly distanced himself from them.
At this point, Xu Huo, the Baby Face, and the young girl each occupied one corner of the area, while Shangguan Xi stood off to the side holding the "hostage" Xu Huo had tossed to him. The four parties maintained considerable distance, all on guard against one another.
Given the current situation, if the young girl chose to abandon her companion, it wouldn't be easy for Xu Huo to keep her there. But she also couldn't take the living sample with her, losing both her teammate and her chance to clear the instance.
The Baby Face needed the living sample and the vehicle, but he couldn't kill Xu Huo to take both items.
And Xu Huo had to look after both the living sample and the vehicle. If the Baby Face chose to give up, escaping wouldn't be too difficult for him.
Three camps—no matter which side they faced, there was no completely favorable plan. If they fought to the death, the outcome was unpredictable, but the losses would certainly be heavy.
Shangguan Xi looked around, cleared his throat, and spoke up: "How about this—since we can't decide a winner, why don't we just cooperate?"
"Think about it. There are bound to be other players trying to snatch samples along the way. If the three of us work together, covering both air and ground, clearing the instance will definitely be no problem."
"We're all here to clear the instance. Since our goals are the same and we have the means to achieve them, why kill each other? There's no deep-seated hatred here anyway. After we clear it, we can all go our separate ways. Don't take a momentary grudge so seriously."
The Baby Face was the first to waver. He glanced around and said, "I have no objections."
Xu Huo looked at the two of them. "I killed your companions. Are you just going to let that slide?"
"Let me make this clear first," the Baby Face said. "Those two weren't my companions. I just happened to run into them."
The three of them turned their gazes to the young girl. She glanced at her still-unconscious companion. "With better substitutes available, it doesn't matter whether those two live or die."
The Baby Face clicked his tongue and added, "We're cooperating now, so it's fine for me to get close to the living sample, right?"
Xu Huo made a "please" gesture, signaling Shangguan Xi to release the person and call Teacher Ai out.
Shangguan Xi smiled as he placed the unconscious person on the ground in front of the young girl. "You've got those skinny arms and legs—I won't make you carry him. I'll leave him on the ground, and you can wake him up yourself."
The young girl waited warily for ten seconds before using a potion to revive her companion. The moment the player woke up, he instinctively shielded himself in front of her. After hearing the young girl's explanation, he frowned and warned, "These people aren't like those two."
"This is the result of a three-way compromise," the young girl said, patting his shoulder instead.
Shangguan Xi had already carried Teacher Ai over. Xu Huo and the Baby Face had moved the off-road vehicle out of the woods. Xu Huo said to Teacher Ai, "There's a wire that's been cut in the car. See if you can fix it. If not, we'll have to think of another way."
Teacher Ai took a look. "I can fix it, but it'll take some time to replace the entire line."
Xu Huo put away the shelter, nodded, and then took out the "Only Entrance," saying to the young girl, "You can put away your space item now."
The young girl replied expressionlessly, "Already put away."
Xu Huo opened the location item and first stored the vehicle inside. It didn't matter whether the others entered or not; this was mainly to make it easier for Teacher Ai to do the repairs.
The living sample was inside, so the Baby Face and his group naturally wouldn't miss the chance to enter as well.
Shangguan Xi moved the living sample to one side, authenticated it with his bracelet, and leaned in to look through the ventilation holes. "What does a living sample really look like..."
Before he could finish, the living sample, which had been quiet all along, suddenly slammed violently against the metal cage. Then it began to roar madly, its eyes and fingers constantly pressing against the ventilation holes. The occasional glimpse of skin revealed that this was no longer a normal person but a genuine xenomorph.
"Is there really any research value in xenomorphs?" Shangguan Xi stepped back doubtfully. "Xenomorphs carry toxins themselves. What good could come from them?"
"We're here to clear the instance, not to seek the truth," Xu Huo said. He placed a bottle of water at the ventilation hole, and the xenomorph immediately grabbed it, breaking the bottle. Soon, the sound of swallowing could be heard from inside.
The group fell silent for a moment. Then Shangguan Xi suddenly sighed. "I almost forgot they were once human too."
But a xenomorph couldn't be pacified with just a little water. After drinking, it started pounding on the cage again, roaring hoarsely. The young girl listened for a while and said, "Better knock it out."
No one objected, so her companion injected a dose of sedative into the cage.
Once it was quiet again, the Baby Face player suggested they exchange names.
He said his name was Zhu Feiyun. The young girl was Kuang Wenjun, and her companion was Pan Qiao. Xu Huo gave a fake name: Xu Gou.
Knowing each other's names counted as an introduction, but no other information was shared.
However, repairing the car took longer than expected. Shangguan Xi, after a period of silence, started asking about the others' rankings on the leaderboard. Revealing one's rank meant revealing their nickname information. Pan Qiao glanced at him and remained silent, while the Baby Face gave a rough estimate of around fifteen thousand.
"And you?" He tilted his chin toward Kuang Wenjun.
"I'm not on the leaderboard," the young girl replied with the same expression, speaking a few words in a dismissive tone.
Shangguan Xi chuckled. "You guys aren't cutting it. My Brother Xu here is in the top five thousand."
This statement surprised the others, who cast a glance at Xu Huo.
Rankings on the leaderboard didn't just represent strength. Players like Kuang Wenjun weren't weak, but getting high scores in every instance wasn't easy either, so it was normal not to be ranked. What was harder than pure combat strength was performing brilliantly in instances. Those who made it onto the leaderboard were definitely not ordinary, let alone the top five thousand. Maintaining high-rated clears in both D-level and C-level instances was no simple feat. A couple of bad instances could drag down the overall record.
This meant Xu Huo had been clearing instances at a high level consistently.
(Chapter End)