Players, Please Board the Train

The gray-robed men had originally been determined to take the two injured players; the people were within arm’s reach, and one of them was even preparing to circle forward to deal with Little Zhang and Guan Zuhong together. But the moment Xu Huo stepped out from behind the tree, the two reflexively halted and retreated, swinging their gun muzzles and items toward him!

What came next showed them the gap between players. Although they worked for Mr. Qiu, they were military-trained and, after becoming players, had gone through comprehensive training. Their mastery of characteristics, flexible use of items, and coordination of physical techniques and firearms were all very high. Don’t mention E-grade players, even a comparable D-grade player shouldn’t have been so much worse than them…

Yet when Xu Huo passed by, the two didn’t even have time to react. The items and guns in their hands turned to ash, and the person who had swept past them like a gust of wind had already appeared at the far end of the lakeside club. Neither the black-cloaked men nor the helicopter in the sky could catch up to his speed. In the blink of an eye, the lakeside club was engulfed by a sandstorm that rose from flat ground!

The swaying helicopter held on only a few seconds before being twined into the lake. As the churning water battered the club, the sandstorm vanished. Before anyone could search for Xu Huo’s whereabouts, the sound “ding ding ding” rang out. The black-cloaked men holding guns ignited one after another, burning like torches in a chain!

Others, of course, wouldn’t wait to be slaughtered and opened fire, but Xu Huo moved like an uncatchable shadow. Skirting the club’s edge, he sent more than a dozen players flying into the lake in succession!

The remaining black-cloaked men, panicked, emptied their magazines, then tried to grab replacements, only to find that the boxes and bullets had turned into piles of gray ash on the ground!

Watching this, people on both sides of the lake were stirred. Players who had lost their nerve regained their morale; some grabbed at the gray-robed men while others took the chance to board the club. Even First Association players who had been arriving and hesitating began to act, and the lakeside club instantly became a battlefield!

“Kill him!” Mr. Qiu slapped the table and stood up, angrily pointing at Xu Huo!

Facing such a formidable player, the gray-robed men assigned to protect him first reacted by trying to evacuate him, but Xu Huo wouldn’t let them get away. Someone blocked the numerous black-cloaked men, and he turned and charged straight for Mr. Qiu!

“Stop him!” One gray-robed man shielded Mr. Qiu and leapt onto the lake surface. Pressing the remote in his hand produced a lifting platform not far away, and when it opened, a helicopter was revealed!“Trying to run?” Xu Huo swung his sword to force back the gray-robed man in front of him. Kite string shot out and snagged Mr. Qiu’s back, and with a tug the man floated lightly backward. The gray-robed man beside him immediately spun around and grabbed his arm in alarm!

Mr. Qiu was no weakling; even restrained by an item he wasn’t flustered. He emptied three rounds at Xu Huo, then threw a stone-like item at him, shouting, “Hands up!”

In the fight, Xu Huo couldn’t help but raise his hands. The three gray-robed men surrounding him acted: one used an item chain to lock his legs, another formed a triangle with his hands and created a large triangle beside Xu Huo to pin his body in place, and the last sent a metal serpent from his arm that moved at bullet-like speed!

With both hands and body controlled, Xu Huo couldn’t leave the spot. Even using defensive items wouldn’t allow him to continuously block repeated item and characteristic effects. Mr. Qiu’s gunfire didn’t stop. Just as they thought him certain to die, the constraining triangle suddenly collapsed. The fired bullets and the metal serpent were precisely intercepted by a metal square plate, and at once several onlookers’ eyes displayed a brief bewilderment, as if they felt inexplicably off about the situation.

“It’s a characteristic!” The gray-robed man beside Mr. Qiu was the first to react. He produced a transparent blade and slashed the lake surface, immediately raising a high wall of water. Through the water screen, they saw the two figures enter the helicopter whose rotors were already turning.

The “Forced Forgetfulness” had failed, the kite string dropped to the ground, and three gray-robed players along with several black-cloaked players closed in. With characteristics and items stacking, ordinary items were useless. Xu Huo sheathed the Crimson Sword and activated the characteristic “Truth Transcends All.”

That characteristic lasts only three seconds, but during those three seconds he is immune to characteristics, items, and weapon damage—in short, invincible time. Accelerating with “Straight-Line Distance,” he retrieved Hugo’s severed hand…

Tan Yang, collapsed to one side, dragged the gravely wounded Pu Kang aside, his eyes still on the club. When Xu Huo burst in, the mask-wearing players who had been preparing the banquet were thrown into disarray. There was nowhere easy to run—the more players that surrounded the club, the harder it was to escape. Some people grabbed those at the dining tables to use as hostages.

These pampered people clearly had no combat experience. Sima Xiao Er and several other players, having been accidentally shot, were already awake, and they effortlessly broke free of restraints and killed a few attackers in the process.

Because of Xu Huo, the club’s dining room became the most dangerous place. Tan Yang and Pu Kang couldn’t flee. They had originally counted on help from others; instead, the near-naked Sima Xiao Er, seeing about ten players closing in to encircle Xu Huo, picked up a table and smashed it toward them!

It was at that moment Xu Huo, boxed in by players, rammed forward like a bull. He plowed through and sent several players flying, then broke through the water screen and leaped onto the already lifting helicopter!

“Since you came, you might as well not leave,” he said as he leaned over, both hands pressing on the fuselage.

The helicopter’s nose began to disintegrate under his hands, crumbling into gray dust. In moments, the three people inside and outside the craft plunged toward the lake together!

Xu Huo stepped down on The Severing Ties Door as they fell. The gray-robed man tossed Mr. Qiu back into the club midair, then a pair of little wings appeared on his shoes. Clinging to The Severing Ties Door, he bounded up.

The Constraining Star Sphere hung at Xu Huo’s waist and jostled. The gray-robed man who climbed up froze, and before the two could hit the lake, he slit his own throat with a knife.

Only in his dying moments did the gray-robed man come to clarity. Xu Huo, mercifully, finished him with an additional thrust to spare prolonged suffering. As the corpse tumbled into the water, Xu Huo steadied his fall with the piano wire and landed back inside the club.

Back in the club, Mr. Qiu finally revealed some fear. Flustered, he produced an item, looked up, and realized Xu Huo had vanished. Before he could find a trace of him, several gray-robed and black-cloaked players suddenly dropped to their knees.

They let out pained wails and tore at their clothes. Their chests and legs were already covered in an inky blackness; skin, blood vessels, and flesh visibly withered before their eyes!