Chapter 79 - The Player Who Got Hooked

After turning down Cai Zhiyuan’s invitation for a drink, Xu Huo called Huang Junjie, telling him to stay away from the haunted house for the time being.

Then he reached out to Nie Xuan to find out if there were any other random instances in Ting City.

“No new instances have been discovered yet,” Nie Xuan said, his voice sounding tired, “After the collapse of the Skinning Artisan’s Copy, there hasn’t been a large number of people disappearing in Ting City.”

“What, got addicted to doing random copies?” Laughter came from the other end of the phone.

Though Sima Xiao’er was notified about the collapse of the instance, he didn’t know exactly how the instance collapsed.

The Special Affairs Bureau speculated that other players had done something, or there was some issue with the instance itself.

However, they did not investigate these possibilities to the bottom, including the box that Sima Xiao’er had brought out.

With the Evolvers appearing so suddenly and everything else not quite on the right track, followed by the games and copies, they were short on manpower.

Even though Nie Xuan thought highly of Xu Huo, he could not focus solely on him.

“Old Eagle died by your hands?” He shifted the conversation to the matter of the Holy Sword Society, “My people kept watch for a long time, only for you to swoop in and reap the benefits in the end.”

“Including the corpses, I’ve handed over more than a dozen Cannibal Players to the Special Affairs Bureau.

For a while, Ting City will definitely be quieter than other places.

Isn’t that a good thing for you?”

Nie Xuan didn’t deny it.

He had earned merits for this incident and his rank had been increased as a result.

“This time, I owe you a favor.”

After saying a couple more sentences, Xu Huo hung up the phone and turned around to look for Huang Junjie.

Huang Junjie hadn’t entered the haunted house directly but had found a coffee shop nearby to settle in.

“Is there a problem?” Xu Huo sat down opposite him.

“Not for the moment, but a man and a woman were loitering around here just now,” Huang Junjie said, scratching his face through his mask.

“They were also observing that haunted house.”

He wasn’t the only one who had been drawn here.

Xu Huo glanced in that direction.

The area near the haunted house was sparsely populated, making it very conspicuous to walk there during the day.

After waiting for a while and not seeing the couple Huang Junjie spoke of reappear, Xu Huo decided to head back.

As the two left the café, they brushed past a woman wearing sunglasses and a wide-brimmed sun hat.

A familiar scent wafted from her.

Xu Huo looked back.

The woman entered the café and took a seat by the window, her back to them.

“Do you know her?” Huang Junjie asked.

“She’s a female celebrity,” Xu Huo replied.

This woman happened to be the big star who left the film and television city just a few hours ago.

With the same experience, her being nearby the haunted house again couldn’t be considered a coincidence.

Someone was luring players to this haunted house.

“Looks like someone’s doing this deliberately,” Huang Junjie noticed, as the woman was subtly sizing up the haunted house.

“Shouldn’t we go in and have a look?”

“There’s no need,” Xu Huo replied.

“If the other side was capable of killing, they would have made their move last night.

Luring players here is just because they lack the conditions.

Going in would be playing right into their hands.”

Huang Junjie thought that made sense, and the two of them took a taxi and left.

A security camera on the street across from them swiveled a bit, following the direction the taxi had gone.

“Pity, two got away,” a middle-aged man dressed as a security guard in a security room of a nearby community lamented, shaking his head.

Next to him, a young man with glasses and his feet on the table said, “Well, there are still three left.

We don’t have to take any risks.

Picking up items for free, one is a gain.”

“That’s true,” the middle-aged man nodded.

“That big star is really beautiful.

It would be great if we could take her for a play,” the young man licked his lips as he spoke.

“Don’t go looking for trouble,” the middle-aged man warned.

“Everyone who comes here is a player.

With your little ability, you can’t trouble others.”

“I was just saying,” the young man said sullenly.

“Have you seen the two who just left?

Where do they live?” The middle-aged man clearly had no intention of letting Xu Huo and Huang Junjie escape, deciding to keep an eye on them before figuring out what to do.

“I haven’t seen them,” the young man replied impatiently.

“You should know by now that my special ability is like being blind unless I have a face-to-face look at someone.

But I’m guessing it’s the person who sent me a private message yesterday wanting to trade props.

It’s probably one of those two or three people.”

“Ah, the big star has left!”

Dressed in a floral dress, Gu Yu settled her bill and left the cafe.

Under her sunglasses, her eyes harbored a touch of anger as she found an inconspicuous corner to climb over the haunted mansion’s fence and walked in through the front door.

This mansion used to belong to a wealthy owner and was decorated lavishly; all the furniture and flooring were of high value, making it a true luxury property.

However, Gu Yu didn’t care for the luxurious decor and trinkets at all, frowning at the dust stirred up by the opening door.

As she walked through the living room, she caught sight of fresh footprints on the floor and called out loudly, “Stop hiding, come out.”

Seconds later, a young man and woman emerged from beneath the stairs and the adjacent restroom, respectively.

Gu Yu’s gaze swept over the two of them, then settled on the man, “It’s you, isn’t it?

Using such disgusting things to harass me.”

The young man was taken aback, and before he could speak, he saw Gu Yu pull out a handgun – its barrel aimed straight at him!

The man’s face changed color, and he quickly dodged to the side.

A colored pellet grazed his head and splattered against the wall, where it left a splash of blue liquid that subsequently melted the entire brick wall into a greenish fluid, trickling down.

“Bang!

bang!

bang!”

Gu Yu fired three shots in succession.

A white pellet hit a table lamp, and the area covered by the color looked like dried mud suddenly full of cracks, breaking into fingernail-sized pieces that clattered to the floor.

A yellow pellet struck the sofa.

The genuine leather backrest instantly shrank into a small lump, and the third black pellet hit the chair raised by the young woman.

The chair itself turned into a crackling firecracker, bursting open, sending wood splinters flying!

All three shots missed, and Gu Yu, removing her sunglasses with fury, exclaimed, “If you have the guts, stop hiding!

I’ll beat you dead, you freak!”

“Hold on!” the young man pulled wooden splinters out of his arm and said urgently, “I don’t even know you!”

Gu Yu laughed out of extreme anger, “Look at my face, you don’t know me?

You’re lying through your teeth!”

The young man was clearly clueless and could only reply, “I really don’t know you, nor have I harassed you.

Can you not be so agitated, let’s talk this through!”

Gu Yu scoffed, too impatient to waste words, as she relentlessly fired at the two of them.

The man’s anger flared up as well, “If you don’t stop now, don’t blame me for getting rough!”

“Come at me if you’re a man!”

The man flicked his hand and a whip appeared out of thin air, lashing towards Gu Yu.

Gu Yu jumped back and fired two more shots then casually flipped a coffee table towards him.

The whip coiled around the coffee table, flinging it aside, and the man turned to strike at Gu Yu again, saying, “I don’t know if you’ve mistaken me for someone else, but I’m here to trade props!”

Gu Yu dodged his whip and leapt onto the dining table, standing firm, “Prove it!”

The man laughed in exasperation, “Why should I have to prove anything to you?

I was attacked the moment I got here.

For all I know, you could be the one who posted the bait!”

“Heh!” Gu Yu retorted with a cold snort, “You still have the nerve to mention the post…”

Before she could finish, the man suddenly stared at a spot in the living room and cried out, “Shen Xin!”

Gu Yu turned around and only managed to catch a glimpse of a fruit knife falling to the floor – the young woman who had been standing there had disappeared.

“What happened?” She turned to look at the man, only to find he had vanished too, the whip falling from the air.

Gu Yu’s face went pale with shock.

Just as she was about to run outside, she was enveloped by a force and, in the next second, disappeared from the spot.