Chapter 934: Gao Xiaoyan
The atmosphere was a bit tense, with everyone's attention on Gao Xiaoyan's hand. She suddenly stopped and smiled teasingly at Xu Huo. "Your friend isn't being honest."
Xu Huo tilted his head back and took a sip of wine, wiped his mouth, and made a "go ahead" gesture. "Fellow travelers, not really friends."
Zhu Feiyun's face darkened, and Kuang Wenjun and the others immediately became alert, guarding against Gao Xiaoyan's group while also keeping an eye on Xu Huo and Shangguan Xi. Whether these people were W37 players was one thing, but Xu Huo's trio might abandon them and form a new alliance.
"But since we're fellow travelers," Xu Huo continued after a two-second pause, "if you kill him, we'll be down one person, which doesn't fit my plan."
"I hope we can deliver the xenomorph to W37 Base City together."
Firelight flickered across him, the boundary between light and shadow shifting. The players' vision wasn't weak, yet they seemed unable to clearly see the half of his face hidden in darkness—a unique sense of pressure seeping out from the shadows!
The ponytailed man and the muscular man closest to him stood up, shifting their hostility from Zhu Feiyun to Xu Huo!
"Super Evolver!" Gao Xiaoyan's attitude changed completely, a look of surprise flashing in her eyes as she strode toward him.
"Xiaoyan!" The ponytailed man's smile vanished as he quickly reached out to stop her.
"It's fine!" Gao Xiaoyan waved her hand. "Xu and I had a good chat on the road. That was just a misunderstanding. Everyone, keep drinking and eating!"
The ponytailed man and the others looked worried but couldn't stop her from actively moving closer to Xu Huo. Unlike the others, she didn't think Xu Huo was dangerous and asked curiously, "How did you complete your Super Evolution? Can you teach me?"
Xu Huo's goal was to reach W37 Base City safely. Since she was willing to make peace, he was happy to share some experience.
"Have you started your secondary evolution?"
Gao Xiaoyan immediately shook her head. "I've tried many methods but none worked."
"Then it's very difficult," Xu Huo said. "Only those who have crossed that threshold can understand."
"You're a Mental Super Evolver, right? Can you let me experience it?" Gao Xiaoyan made a slightly excessive request.
"Gao Xiaoyan!" The ponytailed man called her full name this time.
Gao Xiaoyan kept her eyes on Xu Huo. "I know you Mental Evolvers usually don't show your abilities to higher-level players, but don't worry, I promise I won't hurt you."
Xu Huo didn't think she was overestimating herself. Mental Evolution really wasn't as strong as it sounded. Against players with firm willpower, if you couldn't successfully pull them into an illusion, it was hard to weaken their strength. And there were plenty of items that could counter Spiritual Interference.
Opening up the Spiritual Realm was itself a double-edged sword, especially when a player wasn't very strong. Misusing it could easily hurt oneself—he had learned this deeply from his sparring sessions with Bai Kou. He generally only used the Spiritual Realm when he was fairly confident.
So Xu Huo refused the request.
Gao Xiaoyan looked disappointed but didn't insist. "You're a C-level player, right? It's really asking too much for you to use your Super Evolution ability in front of me. How about this—I have a younger brother who's still a D-level player, but he's halfway across the threshold. If you could give him some guidance, I guarantee you'll have a safe journey this whole way."
This time, her companions didn't object, and Xu Huo was also quite interested, so he readily agreed.
Gao Xiaoyan's emotions showed clearly on her face. She turned to him and said, "The companions you found aren't very reliable. More than half of my group are B-level players. If he pulls any tricks, isn't he just dragging you all to your deaths? Want me to handle it for you? Consider it an advance gift for taking you as my teacher!"
The fear in Zhu Feiyun's eyes was visible to the naked eye, but before he could react, the ponytailed man and the lightning-tattooed man had already grabbed his shoulders from both sides. The former even intercepted his attempt to crush his bracelet, taking it into his own hands.
Failing to clear an instance or failing meant that instance players couldn't use their tickets to leave the station, so they couldn't escape from two B-level players—Gao Xiaoyan's group was well aware they were instance players.
Xu Huo's deliberate vagueness earlier wasn't meant to fool them. Whether they were instance players or not didn't make much difference to Gao Xiaoyan's group. It was just a small flaw he had intentionally exposed.
Zhu Feiyun stood frozen in place, while the others surrounded Kuang Wenjun and Pan Qiao. Gao Xiaoyan smiled. "So you're instance players. Your clearance task is to deliver the xenomorph to W37, right? Don't worry, I can give you a ride."
Her words didn't sound reassuring. Shangguan Xi and the others felt heavy-hearted. Being unable to leave at will meant Gao Xiaoyan's group could easily control them. If a fight broke out, their only option would likely be to fail the instance and leave.
"As I said, losing one person doesn't fit my plan." Xu Huo smiled slightly. "Please, Miss Gao, do me this favor."
Gao Xiaoyan snapped her fingers. The ponytailed man and the others stepped back but didn't return the bracelet to Zhu Feiyun.
"Get some rest early." Xu Huo didn't plan to use a location item tonight. He took out two sleeping bags and handed one to Teacher Ai.
Teacher Ai was already exhausted. Only when the crisis was resolved did he relax and accept the sleeping bag. "Can I get a bottle of stamina supplement?"
Xu Huo handed him one. "You don't look well."
"My body is too weak, and I haven't been able to exercise for a long time." Teacher Ai gulped it down, closed his eyes, and collapsed into the sleeping bag. "I'll be fine after a good sleep."
"He probably won't die." Shangguan Xi moved closer to Xu Huo and whispered, "Brother Xu, if you go teach, can you take me with you?"
It was possible that Gao Xiaoyan and her group were the key to triggering a branch mission.
"We'll see." Xu Huo didn't outright refuse them. He then said to Kuang Wenjun and the others, "When we get to W37, we'll all rest properly before doing anything else."
Kuang Wenjun and the others were quite surprised. Was he willing to take them along?
Kuang Wenjun glanced at Teacher Ai and relaxed slightly. "Thank you."
She wasn't in great shape either. Before long, she leaned against Pan Qiao and fell asleep—truly asleep, not like other players who pretended to sleep while staying alert.
"I'll get an alarm sooner or later..." With Shangguan Xi's grumbling trailing off, the resting spot fell silent.
The next day, before dawn, Gao Xiaoyan woke them up to set out. "Today we have to pass through two high-temperature zones. We need to get into the transition zone before noon, or even the vehicles will be wrecked."
Xu Huo looked at the map. It showed that the ground in this area was covered with a type of ore that could absorb heat. In small amounts, it was nothing to worry about, but in large quantities, it could turn the earth into a scorching pan. Before the formation of the W37 Base Station, this ore had been widely used, but after machinery was completely destroyed and energy from other zones impacted the area, the ore became useless.
"Can we go around it?"