No matter what, he couldn't stay here any longer.

After getting out of the car, Xu Huo opened the rear door, pushed the fungi that had filled the vehicle out, then tied the Desert Windmill to a kite string and dropped it on the ground, letting the sandstorm carry those floating fragments in every direction. While that was happening he rushed over to the research institute and swept up the fungal specimens and the Complete Fungus Encyclopedia.

Afterwards he stowed his items, used Straight-Line Distance to accelerate between two points, and quickly left the scene.

He didn't sense the person in the Clock Tower, but not long after he left, Yuan Cun and several other players caught up.

Xu Huo put on his Protective Suit, sealing his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose, wiped the ground as he dove, then broke through the surface and leaped down into the Underground Nest.

"That trick again!" Yuan Cun, afraid of the mycelium surging underground, didn't follow down and instead told the other players behind him, "I've locked his location, follow him!"

Xu Huo sprinted through the underground tunnels while they pursued him on the surface, heading the same direction. Yuan Cun's speed was slightly better; he even got ahead of Xu Huo and used an item to break apart the city's surface.

Xu Huo had anticipated that move. When he went down he pressed deeper, at least far enough that the others couldn't easily breach the ground above. Sure enough, when the nest ahead was destroyed and collapsed, he accelerated and rushed in before rock and dirt could completely bury the underground passage, successfully passing through the damaged zone.

Little Pink Hat was still by the Protective Wall; he had to recover the Awakening Doll.

He dashed wildly, and after a grueling run reached the collapsed Protective Wall only to find Yuan Cun and the others seemingly convinced he would try to climb over it, so they were already blocking that spot.

After the Protective Wall fell, nearly all the nearby ground fissures were buried, impassable, and Xu Huo was still several hundred meters away from where he had left the Awakening Doll.

"There's no way she was stupid enough to get buried, right?"

Something round pushed up beneath the mycelium in the ravine by his feet. Before he could finish speaking, the object shot up and smashed into the back of his head: "You're the stupid one!"

Xu Huo turned, caught the Awakening Doll, reached in and pulled the grimy Little Pink Hat up, smiling, "Knew you'd escape."

Little Pink Hat pouted. "You grown-ups aren't honest; what you say to my face and what you say behind my back are different."

"Of course. When people grow up, they get another layer of face," Xu Huo said, patting the dirt off her skirt, "You'll get yours when you grow up."

Little Pink Hat eyed him suspiciously. "Really? Where's your extra face hidden?"

Xu Huo ruffled her head. "You'll see when you grow up."

Staring at his face, Little Pink Hat snapped back to herself quickly. "You're lying!"

Xu Huo chuckled. "Hurry and go back, someone's coming."

Reluctantly, Little Pink Hat crawled into the Awakening Doll and reminded him before she vanished, "Don't forget my new dress." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Xu Huo readily promised. He wasn't planning to leave Clown City yet, so he had to find a way to cross the Protective Wall.

Getting tangled up with Yuan Cun and his group would be too costly... He glanced toward the depths of the nest and took out the Fifty-Fifty Air Window.

The Fifty-Fifty Air Window can only be used in non-dungeon areas; if the Clown City dungeon had already ended, this item could let him teleport once within the city.

The dungeon's allotted time hadn't expired yet, but with the Protective Wall collapsed, the dungeon might end early.

The air window popped open and he stepped inside, then both he and the window vanished from underground together.

On the surface, Yuan Cun, still lying in wait, stiffened slightly, quickly looked toward the direction they'd been chasing, and waved, "Return!"

On the other side, this time the air window didn't fling anything high into the air; it deposited Xu Huo firmly on solid ground. He staggered two steps out and happened to come face-to-face with the figure standing in the darkness.

To his right was a gear mechanism that clicked and clacked, and the giant pointer outside the left window rotated in time with the sound. Standing at Xu Huo's position gave him a view of the rectangular object on the street covered in fungi — the little cart he had thrown earlier.

By sheer coincidence, he had not been teleported to the cleanup area or Sunset Clown City as he'd hoped; instead he was sent right back to where he'd just left, and it was directly beneath the Clock Tower!

The person opposite him was undoubtedly the one who had been watching him from the Clock Tower earlier, the one Xu Huo hadn't noticed at the time.

Light and shadow from the outer street streamed through the huge window, and the pointer's shadow rotated rightward from the twelve o'clock direction, gradually approaching Xu Huo and passing through his position, ending at the feet of the man across from him.

A few meters away, the man wore an old leather coat; his shirt and pants were crumpled. He was big, had a full beard, and his hair was long enough that a slight bow of his head hid his eyes.

The man was folding paper birds. Four were already at his feet. He was so absorbed it seemed he hadn't noticed an extra person in the room at all.

Xu Huo softened his steps, backed away quietly, said a low "sorry to intrude," and headed downstairs.

He hadn't even reached the exit of the Clock Tower when Yuan Cun arrived. To prevent him from escaping back underground, one of Yuan Cun's players set up a cannon and fired at the clock!

A massive explosion rocked the area. Glass from buildings on the street shattered, and the torn doors and windows and other flying debris became lethal shrapnel, sweeping across the street and gouging marks into walls and pavement.

Seconds later dust cleared from the Clock Tower. Unexpectedly, buildings for dozens of meters around were affected, but the Clock Tower struck by the blast showed no damage at all — not even a crack on the clock face glass!

Yuan Cun and his group bristled, but the next second a tiny black silhouette shrieked and pierced through the clock face, shooting out and directly through the player who had bombarded the Clock Tower!

The projectile punched a huge hole through the man's chest at the heart. He fell from the roof with eyes wide, breath cut off.

Then a second, a third, a fourth black shadow burst out. Whether piercing the glass of the clock or the thick masonry, it missed nothing and instantly claimed three more players' lives. Only one of those targeted barely escaped using a train ticket.

The overwhelming power made the remaining players present pale with fear. Without hesitation they used train tickets and fled the scene.

The dead hadn't even had time to take out items to defend themselves, which proved the players in the Clock Tower were no weaklings — staying was a death sentence.

In less than a second, everyone Yuan Cun had brought who was still alive was gone. Yuan Cun himself didn't flee. If anything, he looked enraged and, after activating a defensive item, charged straight into the Clock Tower.

Xu Huo was on the first floor and could only sense that Yuan Cun had entered the tower. He had planned to use that moment to leave, but as soon as he stepped out the main door, something crashed down from above!

He reflexively bolted to the diagonally opposite intersection. Running non-stop, he glanced back only once: Yuan Cun, who had gone upstairs less than five seconds earlier, was now lying on the street as a corpse!