Free Web NovelChapter 2499: Chapter 2499: Cottony Seeds in the Medicine Field
The group of people, including Lady Yi, all ran away, and of course Wen Xin and the others were also freed from the control of Time Force. They were somewhat unclear about the situation, and before they could ask, they saw Xu Huo stride over to Bubble Bean, slap him awake, and then say: "Now we can leave the city."
Wen Xin and the others vaguely understood they were caught up in another event. However, seeing how fierce those players looked, they could only decide to temporarily leave.
By coincidence, just as they left the city, they ran into the players involved in the gambling conflict who had earlier gone out to look for Xu Huo. Those players must have searched all the way without finding any trace and thought that the group might still be in Pharmaceutical City, thus returned to search.
Although Bubble Bean was slapped, he hadn’t figured out how he fell for it, and thus he didn’t blame Xu Huo. He suggested they run separately, offering to draw the fire.
"No need," Xu Huo handed Old Lady Gui over to Wen Xin and the others, and then took out the law enforcement team gear he had bought before, instructing the Girl in the painting and Bubble Bean to wear it, "Later, Wen Xin and the others will be at the front while we will be at the back."
Everyone present immediately understood his intention, but Wen Xin frowned, "This isn’t what we agreed on."
"If we’re going to set a trap, set a big one," Xu Huo smiled faintly, "Trust me, it’s the right call."
After speaking, he instructed the old lady, "Pretend to be scared later, no need for a great performance, just a little gesture will do."
Considering the high level of Xu Huo’s time-related item, an ordinary Rank-A spatial artifact simply couldn’t interfere. Wen Xin and the others held back their temper, deciding to listen to him one more time.
Xu Huo put on a show resembling a law enforcement team chasing outer zone players, brushed past those gambling players, and ran in a completely opposite direction.
Once they were far enough, Wen Xin and the others considered slowing down, intending to board the next train that passed by.
"Don’t stop," Xu Huo said: "They’ll soon realize what’s happening; you need to use this time to get to the next station."
He increased the speed, saying: "You are not players of this instance, so entering and leaving won’t affect the clearance. There’s a vast medicinal field over the tunnel; in ten minutes, I’ll start a fire there. You need to find a way to lure the players from the law enforcement team over."
"You plan to use the law enforcement team against the gambling players?" Wen Xin asked: "You set up this scenario for that purpose?"
First disguise as the law enforcement team to deliberately show a flaw, let the gambling players catch up again, then lure the law enforcement to confront them. If both parties are unaware, they could easily end up fighting.
"Sounds good, but difficult to achieve," Bubble Bean said: "Those players must have ways to recognize real law enforcement members, and the law enforcement members won’t just start fighting blindly; their identities will be revealed more than once before engaging."
Xu Huo nodded, "That’s why we’ll have to take out a few people first."
When this was mentioned, Wen Xin and the others became interested, "Leave the law enforcement side to us!"
Xu Huo’s selected targets were the gambling players; the law enforcement wasn’t the focus, but Wen Xin and the others acting wasn’t something he could stop.
After agreeing on the time, Wen Xin and the others used a teleportation prop directly to the next station. Xu Huo, along with the old lady, took the dedicated line and headed through the tunnel towards the medicinal field ahead.
"I’m worried those people aren’t that smart," Bubble Bean said, having seen no one chasing behind for a while.
"Even if they don’t come, their companions will," Xu Huo said: "As long as they are drawn into the medicinal field, half the job is done."
Sure enough, no sooner had he finished speaking than pursuers arrived from behind within three minutes; regardless of whether they were companions of those from earlier, they were following them.
Xu Huo wasted no time, using a spatial teleportation device to directly enter the medicinal field.
The so-called medicinal field is actually fertile land with mountains and water, most of the area planted with medicinal plants, filled with trees and vines. Due to mutation, these plants are particularly tall and dense, entering it feels like entering a forest park, the only difference being at least half of these are artificially planted, so the spacing is structured. Some medicine requiring special harvesting have bags placed under them at the early stages of growth, ready to catch the fruits when they mature and fall off.
Beyond the defensive barrier and armed robots arranged on the perimeter of the medicinal field, sensors were scattered all over inside. Since some medicinal plants had high environmental requirements, equipment was buried everywhere for temperature and humidity changes, and machine faults condition different alarms; if an alarm rang and couldn’t be resolved within three minutes by automatic systems, armed robots would be sent over.
The entry made by Xu Huo and the others wasn’t subtle, not to mention deliberately breaking the outside barrier and triggering alarms all the way. When the alarm sounded, the lighting followed them into the depths of the medicinal field in a snaking pattern.
"The scheduled time with Wen Xin and the others hasn’t arrived yet," Bubble Bean suddenly stopped, stared at a cluster of medicinal plants ahead, and frowned, "This thing... seems to be a variant of a kind of flying plant."
"What flying plant?" Xu Huo stopped as well.
"I can’t recall the name, but I know once mutated, these plants inter-sense, once one seed starts flying, all nearby plants release seeds together." Bubble Bean cautiously withheld any more movements, "This kind of spore release generally covers the sky, unlike fog or sand that can be blown away with air-related props; the stronger the wind, the thinner they spread, with varying weights, standing amidst them you can’t see anything."
"Looking at this area, unless a gale comes at once from one direction, once activated, it won’t stop for a short while."
"It’s planted in the medicinal field without defense measures?" Xu Huo looked around but suddenly heard a ’snap’ from Girl in the painting’s direction, turned to see her breaking a sensor from the ground.
Alarm sounded as Xu Huo and Bubble Bean stared at her, she tossed the broken sensor into the medicinal field.
"Don’t—" Bubble Bean’s voice caught in his throat as he saw spores airborne where it landed; in the next moment, the sprawling medicinal field fell like dominos, one plant hitting another, countless white spores rose like a snowy avalanche into the air!
The field of vision was suddenly filled with white; given the scale, using barrier props was pointless. To prevent facial covering, Xu Huo and Bubble Bean wore protective suits.
The Girl in the painting, unfazed, watched the spores fly with astonishment, then after two seconds, excitedly jumped into the field as her backpack fell, scattering notebook pages along with herself, all swept into the sea of spores.
