Chapter 184: Player Chase

"How much?" Xu Huo asked."Two dollars per flower," the girl quickly replied.

Xu Huo had some scattered bills placed in front of his car. He gestured with his chin, indicating she should take it herself.

The girl's expression faltered momentarily before she said apologetically, "Sir, could you please hand the money to me?"

"If you don't want to sell, forget it," Xu Huo made as if to close the car window, but the girl hastily threw the flower into the car.

Already prepared, Xu Huo immediately drew his crimson sword. With a flash of sword light, the rose was sliced in half, falling onto the passenger seat and transforming into two snake segments. The snake head portion was still alive and lunged toward him.

Swinging his sword to deflect the snake head, Xu Huo pushed open the car door and went out, using his piano wire to pull back the fleeing figure who had turned to escape.

The person was dragged back to the car by the neck, heels scraping the ground, clearly lacking both strength and combat experience.

Just as he was about to raise his sword to kill, a powerful gust of wind suddenly surged from the side. He instinctively raised his Ox Shield to block, but the next moment he was sent flying by a strange force. He retracted his piano wire to dissipate the momentum, landing ten meters away. However, the moment his feet touched the ground, a fierce beast at least three to four times larger than an adult porcupine appeared before him. Its steel-cone-like spines pressed against the Ox Shield, sending him flying for the second time!

Xu Huo flew into the air, slicing the beast in half with one sword stroke. However, the bisected beast didn't spill a single drop of blood. Instead, it shrank with a "bang" into two cardboard cutouts, the flipping paper pieces printed with porcupine patterns.

By now, the surrounding street scene had changed—he had unknowingly driven to an unfinished construction site, and a burly foreigner was dragging the flower-selling girl while running desperately away from him!

Heavy rain suddenly began pouring from the sky. Xu Huo stared at the friendliness values hovering between "5" and "6" above their heads, following them all the way to a bustling bar street.

Just as he pushed open the door, he saw a room full of people with values above their heads, including Gu Yu and her two companions whom he had seen earlier at the cemetery. He immediately turned to leave.

Zheng Liang suddenly appeared in front of him, having transferred from the bar. Wiping the rain from his face, he said, "Xu Huo, I wasn't looking for you, but you delivered yourself right to my doorstep?"

Xu Huo raised an eyebrow slightly but before he could speak, he heard lion roars coming from behind. Immediately after, the two people who had run into the bar earlier came crashing through the door riding a lion, followed by Gu Yu and other players!

"Don't be afraid!" someone shouted. "You hurt someone and think you can just leave?!"

"Get out of the way!" The lion was charging toward Xu Huo's position. The flower-selling girl sitting in front desperately waved at him.

Xu Huo compliantly moved aside, but Zheng Liang instead stepped forward to block the two. Unexpectedly, the lion made an emergency stop, throwing off its two riders before colliding with him, transforming with a "bang" into a playing card under his fist.

Xu Huo flew into the air, slicing the beast in half with one sword stroke. However, the bisected beast didn't spill a single drop of blood. Instead, it shrank with a "bang" into two cardboard cutouts, the flipping paper pieces printed with porcupine patterns.

"You little brat, after all these years, it's finally time for my revenge..."

Before he could finish speaking, he saw Xu Huo suddenly disappear from his spot. Before the water splashes from his feet had even settled, he was already right in front of him!

Zheng Liang instinctively used his trait to evade, but Xu Huo's move was merely a feint, simply passing through his position at extreme speed as he pursued the fleeing two.

Heavy rain suddenly began pouring from the sky. Xu Huo stared at the friendliness values hovering between "5" and "6" above their heads, following them all the way to a bustling bar street.

Over a dozen players cheered in response, following him as they charged into the rain.

"Are you all crazy?" Gu Yu shouted as she followed. Another player stopped her, saying, "These people gathered together but none respect each other. This gives them a chance to compete under the pretext of venting Zheng Liang's anger, preventing internal conflicts."

Gu Yu snorted coldly, "I already told you, Xu Huo was the player with me in Decibel Town, and he saved my life. He's my friend. What are you trying to do by attacking my friend?"

The player shrugged, "Those are Brother Qiao's exact words."

Gu Yu paused, her anger growing even stronger. "With their abilities, they're no match for Xu Huo!"

Xu Huo raised an eyebrow slightly but before he could speak, he heard lion roars coming from behind. Immediately, the two people who had run into the bar earlier came crashing through the door riding a lion, followed by Gu Yu and other players!

After saying this, he waved his hand indifferently and went back into the bar to drink.

Gu Yu stared at his retreating back, then looked at the players enjoying themselves inside. The anger on her face gradually turned to disappointment.

No longer staying with these players, she drove off to pursue Zheng Liang's group.

Meanwhile, Xu Huo followed behind the flower-selling girl and her companion, while over ten people trailed behind him. These people sometimes leaped over lower shops, sometimes used slow-moving cars in the rain as shortcuts. The three groups chased along the city streets, none willing to back down.

Zheng Liang was one of the faster ones among them. He could instantly teleport from five or six meters away to Xu Huo's side. Using this ability, he intercepted Xu Huo several times. Initially intending to stop him, Xu Huo first avoided him, but later seemed able to predict his position, accelerating in advance before he could get close, always keeping him two or three meters behind.

"Xu Huo, stop right there!" he shouted ahead.

Without looking back, Xu Huo casually kicked a trash can on the road, forcing the flower-selling girl and her companion who intended to turn onto a side road back onto the main road, then suddenly accelerated.

"He's catching up!" The flower-selling girl had long been unable to run, relying entirely on her companion carrying her, so she had enough energy to look back. Seeing him approaching, she urgently patted her companion's shoulder.

The Burly Man casually took out a playing card and tossed it into the air. A giant leopard appeared beneath them, carrying them forward at a gallop!

The leopard's speed was extremely fast, immediately creating distance from Xu Huo. However, Xu Huo also accelerated. Though not enough to catch up to the leopard, he was difficult to shake off.

"Big brother, I just wanted to sell you a flower. Why are you chasing me so relentlessly?" The flower-selling girl shed tears of regret.

Xu Huo behind them didn't speak, still following through the rain, occasionally teasing Zheng Liang and the others.

Zheng Liang and his more than ten companions began to have doubts as they ran. They had almost run half the ring road. The two ahead occasionally used items to recover, while their group of over ten people had been taking turns resting midway—some chasing, some taking shortcuts to block ahead. The only one who persisted the entire way was Zheng Liang, but he was now physically exhausted...

Only Xu Huo had run from start to finish. Not only had he not stopped to rest, but he also had to deal with sudden attacks while intermittently accelerating, yet showed no signs of fatigue.

A player caught up to Zheng Liang, panting heavily, "What if he's a Player-Eater?"

"If anyone's a Player-Eater, it wouldn't be him. That guy's so cunning, how could he fall for such a stupid trick!" Zheng Liang's face was pale, his voice trembling.

"Wait," he suddenly realized after seeing Xu Huo block the two players ahead from taking a side road back onto the main road again, "He's deliberately leading us in circles!"