Chapter 2612: Xu Huo’s Luck
Due to the violent impact, Xu Huo hovered on the brink of unconsciousness. In his shaking vision, he saw the floating silk being restricted inside the Water Rubik’s Cube, moving left and right at an apparently slow pace, yet the surface of the Water Rubik’s Cube rolled violently due to its movement. At the same time, the Water Rubik’s Cube hadn’t completely separated from his body, and this extreme spatial power tugged at his body and consciousness repeatedly. Within just two seconds, he fell into darkness.
After he fainted, his childhood personality didn’t disappear. Although he had a nearly substantial body, it wasn’t enough to collide with spatial power at the level of the Water Rubik’s Cube, so he pushed the Girl in the Painting forward.
Seeing Xu Huo faint with blood still flowing from his mouth, the Girl in the Painting was anxious but lacked the concept of "proper care." She swung the communicator at the Water Rubik’s Cube. With a crisp sound, the Water Rubik’s Cube remained undamaged, while the communicator was completely scrapped. She threw away the remaining half of the communicator and held onto the Water Rubik’s Cube with both hands, trying to pull it out. However, the Water Rubik’s Cube was attached to Xu Huo, and even though she forcibly tugged, she only managed to move Xu Huo slightly to the side.
After a second of thinking, she simply kicked at Xu Huo’s chest and abdomen, then hugged the Water Rubik’s Cube, attempting to pull it away. This seemed to have some effect, as the tail hanging on Xu Huo was stretched a bit. However, he coughed up more blood, and the end of the floating silk, originally trapped inside the Water Rubik’s Cube, slipped out from one corner of the cube and flowed back into Xu Huo’s body.
Continuing like this, the Water Rubik’s Cube wouldn’t be extracted, and the person might die first. The childhood personality hurriedly stopped the Girl in the Painting, signaling her to stop pulling.
Feeling Xu Huo’s breath weakening, the Girl in the Painting could only let go. Yet, these few seconds of back-and-forth seemed to fortuitously balance the Water Rubik’s Cube and the floating silk. The Water Cube stopped boiling and the silk ceased moving, both sinking back into the human body.
"Will he die?" the Girl in the Painting mouthed to the childhood personality.
The childhood personality, wearing pajamas, squatted beside Xu Huo, touched his uninjured chest, and placed his hand on the heart position, tilting his head in some doubt, then stuffed half of his head into Xu Huo’s chest for a look.
When he pulled his head out, there was obvious confusion on his face. He paused, then stuck his head back in again, repeating the action three times before finally seeming to be sure.
"The Water Cube deformed a little and stuck to his heart along with that spatial silk." The materialized item formed words in the air.
"Will he die?" The Girl in the Painting worriedly asked, "Should we take him to the hospital? Or reserve a cemetery plot first?"
"His vitality is strong," said the childhood personality, "It’s just some internal injuries, and the brain isn’t hurt."
"That’s good then." The Girl in the Painting felt relieved, picked up some clothes nearby to cover him, and took out a new communicator to play games.
A few minutes later, dozens of figures appeared on both sides of the riverbank, those openly visible. Many times more hidden in the vicinity remained.
They did not dare to approach or inquire, as neither the Girl in the Painting nor the childhood personality seemed willing to engage. One was playing games, the other busily pulling grass to wipe blood off Xu Huo’s face. They both guarded him, busy with their tasks and didn’t spare an extra glance.
Every second counts in the Night Tour Dungeon, and District 001 players are impatient. When one of them took a tentative step forward, the Girl in the Painting and childhood personality raised their heads simultaneously. In the next instant, countless scraps of paper and toys made of layered tape surrounded Xu Huo, while the childhood personality flashed behind the advancing player, hovering in the air, grabbing his head from above—not simply holding it, but stabbing a hand materialized by psychic power into his skull.
The player didn’t lose consciousness but was unable to move, as any motion might result in his brain being extracted.
"We mean no harm," spoke a silver-haired elder at a steady pace, "Before formal negotiations, I want to clarify one thing. Did you truly escape from the restricted area within the Night Tour Dungeon?"
The childhood personality nodded.
The silver-haired elder’s expression relaxed slightly, "Can you tell when he might wake up?"
The childhood personality shook his head.
"The situation is urgent, if he’s seriously injured, we can provide treatment immediately," the silver-haired elder said promptly.
"No, no," the Girl in the Painting interjected, "Who knows if you’ll do something nasty?"
The silver-haired elder slightly frowned, "The treatment will be under your watchful eyes. I guarantee with the reputation of District 001 that nothing untoward will occur during the treatment!"
"You’re really funny," the Girl in the Painting earnestly asked, "I don’t even know you, why should I trust you? Unless..."
"Unless?"
"Unless you give me a city, all the land and properties under my name..." the Girl in the Painting stopped following Xu Huo’s interruption when he sat up, "Alright, don’t tease people."
The childhood personality disappeared on the spot. The Girl in the Painting happily leaned forward, pretending to casually wipe away two footprints exposed when her clothes slid down.
Xu Huo pushed away her hand, took out the cleansing potion to clean blood and stains, speaking to the people of District 001, "Indeed, we escaped from the restricted area space, but not through the conventional clearance method. We managed to escape entirely because of a life-saving prop, making the process difficult to reproduce."
"But there is one thing that matches your intelligence; the Night Tour Team did indeed move from the restricted area space directly to the outside venue without a fixed channel. Anywhere they walked could be an exit. Theoretically, if a Night Tour Team can exit completely through a channel, players wearing the Night Tour Set might also do so, but it can’t guarantee players to emerge alive."
"The Night Tour Team I followed met with an accident and was completely destroyed."
He paused here, emphasizing again, "The way I escaped is hard to replicate, not only requiring the appropriate life-saving prop but a bit of luck as well."
Indeed, it was luck. He didn’t know if the Water Cube was genuinely damaged or deliberately seized a portion of spatial power from that space. In any case, it was fortunate that the two could temporarily maintain equilibrium within his body. From now on, until a proper viable solution is found, he could not attempt to use spatial power again, as breaking the balance might dissolve him through spatial silk or tear him apart through the Water Cube.
"I can’t help with anything else. If you really want to try, you can arrange Psychic Evolvers with Space Defense Super Tools or instruments for an attempt, though the success rate might be very low."
Quickly passing through a channel may not face the risk of spatial power disintegration, but successfully passing equally completes Night Tour Team’s requirements; nobody knows what might happen in-between.
"But my suggestion is to delay until the seven days instance ends."
After hearing, the silver-haired elder said, "Thank you for your honesty, but this is an unconventional Rank-A Instance newly arisen. Failing to grasp its rules during the first opening will likely lead to more severe consequences next time."
"Mr. Xu, if you temporarily have no plans to leave District 001, we can arrange for you to rest at a temporary safe house. Please understand, this is to avoid the expansion of instance range."
Xu Huo quickly left the sight of District 001 players, fearing unpredictable changes from the collision of spatial powers with the Water Cube. While things hadn’t developed how he expected, the issue was temporarily suppressed, and indeed he didn’t plan to leave, so he accepted the proposal.