Chapter 839: Drawn into the Battle

But just as the metal had barely wrapped around part of the sphere, the Masked Player withdrew the item and instead tossed a piece of white substance into the molten metal. Immediately, the vehicle began to jump around as if it were boiling, forcing that Black Epaulets member to retreat.

By then, Ran Ying had already moved in to cover. She relied on her speed to dash straight up to the Masked Player and swung her fist at his face—there was still a gap between them, but several phantom afterimages seemed to stack in front of her fist. Even though she never actually touched the Masked Player, she still struck the defensive shield he had hastily summoned.

Ran Ying must have used an item, because the Masked Player's shield was split directly by the blow. But at that moment, a beam of red light shot up from the ground, abruptly slicing through the floor!

Ran Ying quickly withdrew her hand and retreated, but the next second, the same red light appeared behind her. She couldn't stop her momentum in time and bumped into it, her Protective Suit instantly burned through.

The red light began to appear around her, varying in length and direction, crisscrossing and overlapping like a shrinking polygonal grid, continuously compressing her range of movement.

She couldn't escape through the front, back, left, or right. The only gap was above.

A deliberately left opening was never easy to exploit. When Ran Ying looked up, a Balloon happened to drift right over her head.

At that moment, the Black Epaulets member raised a vacuum device and aimed it at the Balloon, but it sputtered and died as soon as he activated it. He was about to move forward when the Masked Player pointed at the Balloon from a distance.

The Balloon burst with a "bang," dumping out a volume of black liquid that clearly didn't match its size. It poured down like a water column into the small space constructed by the red light!

But everyone present saw it clearly—a split second before the liquid touched her, Ran Ying vanished from within the red light and teleported behind the Masked Player.

The Masked Player had also prepared his defenses the moment the Balloon burst. So when Ran Ying appeared behind him, a blue light burst out from his body. Ran Ying, caught in that glow, seemed to be stuck in midair, unable to advance an inch!

"Please turn around and look at me!" that Black Epaulets member shouted at the Masked Player.

The Masked Player turned his head, but it wasn't forced. He extended his right hand toward the Black Epaulets member, seeming to merely move his lips. The next second, that Black Epaulets member's head exploded. Then he withdrew his gaze and dealt with Ran Ying the same way.

Ran Ying was frozen and couldn't retreat, but she wasn't unable to speak. She looked at the Masked Player. "Distance creates beauty."

The two were only two steps apart, yet the Masked Player could neither move forward nor touch Ran Ying. Even some of his items failed.

The Masked Player was about to change direction when a fierce gale swept out from the dark zone, carrying shredded building debris and broken tiles to form a tornado that lunged at him!

Then three Black Epaulets members flashed into existence around him. One of them used an item to cancel out the Masked Player's blocking item, while another said, "Arrogance is an attitude!"

The Masked Player involuntarily lifted his head, pointing his nostrils at everyone.

At that moment, Ran Ying broke free from the item's effect. She rushed forward in one stride and hammered the Masked Player, along with the defensive item in front of him, flying outward!

The Masked Player was sent flying, crashing into a Black Epaulets member. The two maintained some distance between them, but the Black Epaulets member behind couldn't shake him off. He hurled several items in succession without any effect. Two flying, three chasing—the five of them all plunged into the building next door.

Xu Huo and Wan Tingfang were hiding in that very building, because they couldn't leave for the time being.

The players emerging from the dark zone weren't just Ran Ying and her group. The Black Epaulets and the suspected Holy Sword Society players had split into several small battlefields, almost completely blocking off all the roads around. Stepping out might mean stepping right onto some player's item, so they could only take shelter inside the building.

"Why are these people barging in again!" Wan Tingfang groaned, then turned and ran upstairs.

Xu Huo also chose to avoid the conflict. Black Epaulets members like Ran Ying and the Holy Sword Society players fighting against them couldn't be confirmed as high-level players, but they certainly all had extensive combat experience.

Prolonged battles required not just physical stamina, but also rational item allocation and coordination with allies.

Neither side was someone you wanted to mess with. No need to get dragged in.

But leaving wasn't so easy either. Soon, he and Wan Tingfang were caught in the blast radius of a Black Epaulets member's item, uncontrollably moved to a position ten meters away from that person.

Two Holy Sword Society players were pulled in as well.

Both sides had murderous eyes, completely ignoring whether outsiders had been dragged into the fight. Seeing a Black Epaulets member produce a string of miniature bombs, Xu Huo's brow twitched slightly, and he immediately shouted, "Please take a seat!"

This was a room, and there were even a few chairs. The moment the words left his mouth, every player present sat down and, propelled by the chairs, slid to the center of the room.

Facing each other directly, more than half chose to attack immediately. But as they rose to their feet, they discovered an awkward problem—they couldn't shake off the chairs. The effect of dispelling items was also negligible. Two people did manage to break their chairs first, but they didn't have the spare time to dismantle all the wooden planks, so they had to carry the boards along with them.

The thirty-second seat-lock didn't even last ten seconds.

Xu Huo immediately decided to go have some sturdy chairs custom-made later. But for now, he could only violate the "host-guest relationship."

At that moment, a Holy Sword Society player locked onto him. "The Black Epaulets really have no shortage of dogs!"

"Watch out!" Wan Tingfang tossed a red trampoline from the side, intercepting the Holy Sword Society player's item. The trampoline couldn't withstand the pressure and snapped into two pieces. Wan Tingfang winced at the loss but still yelled, "Run!"

That Holy Sword Society player was held back by the Black Epaulets member and had no energy to give chase. Xu Huo and Wan Tingfang sprinted all the way out of the building, seizing the gap to distance themselves from that small battlefield.

Only after confirming they were safe did Xu Huo say, "Thanks for that earlier."

"It's nothing," Wan Tingfang waved her hand. "We're friends. Helping each other is only natural. But the city is way too unsafe. Let's head outside instead—find some random place outside the city to hide out."

"I wonder how Director Sanyang is doing," Xu Huo said hesitantly. "The weathering has disappeared. Should we go back and look for him?"

"No need, he's definitely way stronger than us. He might even think we'd just be dead weight." Wan Tingfang showed no intention of turning back at all.

Xu Huo glanced toward the dark zone, but ultimately chose to leave the Main City District together with her.

Quite a few players were taking refuge at the edge of the Main City District. It was relatively safe here, and close enough to observe the situation around the dark zone.

"What are these people thinking?" Wan Tingfang said with a hint of mockery. "They don't actually think they can scoop up a couple of heavily wounded high-level players, do they?"

Clearly, that was exactly what all of them were thinking.

Xu Huo didn't plan on going far either. He lowered his voice and said, "Let's wait and see. If something new happens at the base, we'll be the first to know."