Xu Huo used two B-grade items, four C-grade items, and one Special Item in succession.

Mobile Metal, Extreme Fatigue, and Progress Bar Disappearance were used as basic defenses, followed by Important Call and Danger Makes You Blind to lock down one hand and both eyes of the opponent, Crimson Sword as backup, and then he layered Joyful Invisibility to blend into the surroundings.

His real goal was not to kill the player in front of him; if there was a chance to run, he would take it—of course Nix was not that easy to kill either, because before the electric flashes faded, the opponent used multiple items in a very short span of time.

First, Xu Huo felt a moment of dizziness, then a random item he was wearing dropped from his body. His legs grew weak and he couldn’t walk, and right after that the plaza tiles automatically fused into two or three-meter-long spikes slanting toward him!

Ding! Ding! The Mobile Metal intercepted two long spikes, and after the opponent’s item effects were shortened, Xu Huo quickly escaped from the spot. While the Painting Woman tangled with Nix, he bolted into a shop near the plaza.

The Similarity Seeker detected that many players were approaching—within ten seconds they would all arrive at the plaza. He glanced at the shop cashier and then walked straight into the staff lounge, closing the door.

Footsteps hurried away outside. Xu Huo released his Mental World, pulling the narrow lounge and the warehouse together, then opened a door inside the lounge and stepped into the warehouse, smashing the light switch and yanking out the electrical cables.

A large number of players arrived at the plaza at this time. Seeing Nix and the Painting Woman locked in combat, they all immediately used items and characteristics, but because there were so many people they inevitably collided with one another. Even Nix, in the middle of it, was affected. Looking at the Painting Woman—completely unaffected by items—he pulled back and ordered, “Ready weapons!”

The players quickly split into two groups: one to capture the Painting Woman, the other to surround the shops. Since there were so many people inside and outside the shops, they dared not just blow the buildings up; instead they sent people to storm inside.

Following the cashier’s directions, the players swarmed into the lounge, but it was empty.

“Did she run?” Then they checked the adjacent warehouse, but there was nothing there either.

Boom! A particularly grating explosion came from the plaza outside. The players rushed out and saw the Painting Woman lift the huge stone ball that players had formed with items into the air, then launch it like a marble at nearby shops!

Chaos quickly ensued. The crowd was pushed and shoved, and because the Painting Woman only needed to float in the air, most players were helpless against her.

“Bring her down!” Nix grabbed a submachine gun from one of his subordinates and fired into the air.

That move didn’t do much to the Painting Woman, but she hated being shot at, so she actively flew away from the plaza toward a nearby skyscraper glittering with golden light.

Sss! At that moment, a large net suddenly appeared in midair. The Painting Woman crashed into it, and as an abnormal-colored electric current coursed through, she fell.

“Got her!” Several players stationed nearby moved in before she hit the ground, armed with tranquilizer guns and the electric net. From a distance others were using sniper rifles.

Head down, the Painting Woman used the falling posture to avoid the sniper bullets. She kept her eyes closed pretending to be unconscious. Once the distance to those players closed, she suddenly opened her eyes and flicked several small sword-shaped paper cuttings from her sleeve, expertly slicing a few people’s throats.

“Why…” One of them clutched his throat and could barely speak.

He probably wanted to ask why their items had no effect on the Painting Woman. Even if you used items to defend, she shouldn’t be completely immune.

The Painting Woman had no interest in corpses. Seeing more players approaching ahead, she grinned and ran into the adjacent building.

There were quite a few people inside the building and they hadn’t had time to evacuate. When the players entered they fired warning shots and ordered everyone to crouch down.

Most complied. Only some wailing children remained standing, and others cowered in corners holding their heads.

The players searched but found nothing, then used items to scan again, only to discover that apart from themselves, the building had no other players at all!

“Damn it! She got away like that!”

A team, furious at failing to catch the culprit, was about to lose their temper when a little girl pointed at the ceiling and said, “There’s dust up there!”

Everyone turned and saw a huge crystal chandelier shedding dust. Players with good eyesight noticed the metal on its base was powdering and yelled, rushing to pull the people under the lamp to safety.

“Evacuate! Evacuate!” News that the previous safe area had been destroyed had not yet reached here. The players didn’t understand the full situation, but to reduce casualties they began evacuating everyone outside.

Only after getting out did they realize the players who arrived here had joined rescue teams. Someone shouted, “The intruder can powder metal in a whole city. Stay away from buildings!”

With these warnings, objects around them continually powdered, and buildings started collapsing. The entire safe area was quickly shrouded in a cloud of dust.

This safe area was done for.

Without metal supports, the city’s buildings would all become dangerously unstable. Fortunately, this safe area hadn’t yet moved in so many people, so many skyscrapers couldn’t collapse immediately, at least buying more evacuation time.

However, once rescue convoys started moving in from all directions, the underground structures that had lost their metal supports began to collapse in many places, which accelerated the collapse of surrounding buildings. Neighboring structures fell one after another, repeating the tragedy continuously.

“Everyone get out of the vehicles!” government personnel ordered, but even players were powerless in this situation—what could ordinary civilians do?

“Another safe area ruined.” Nix entered the empty shop, but when he stood outside the lounge’s door the aura seeping from inside made him instinctively stop. He had a premonition Xu Huo hadn’t left, and asked, “Why did you do this? So many innocent people were slaughtered. They are someone’s parents, siblings, children. It’s already tragic that in the players’ era they became ordinary people. Can you really be utterly without pity?”

“Ordinary people themselves are not tragic. Compared to players they are indeed not strong, but players are finite while ordinary people are infinite—otherwise who made those high-damage weapons in the game?” Xu Huo’s voice came from behind the door, seeming to come from both left and right, flickering and uncertain.

“Ordinary people are tragic because they have to pay for the mistakes of their governments and the actions of players.”

“You appear sympathetic to others, yet you disdain their lives and deaths.”