The moment she saw the opponent pull out the remote device, Miss Chai continued to grip Ji Jiu's neck with one hand. With her other, she immediately crushed the wrist bones of the hand holding the remote, exerting all her strength to trigger the Petrification Special Effect, attempting to turn Ji Jiu's palm to stone.
Li Ang's reaction was equally swift. He spun the muzzle of the Barrett, aimed at Ji Jiu's faintly petrifying right arm, and pulled the trigger, blowing his entire right arm away. The yellow paper Talismans would only autonomously defend against attacks that directly threatened life.
Li Ang and Miss Chai had responded swiftly. However, in the Killing Field game's settings, a player only needed to think of taking an item from their backpack for it to appear, leaving no time for defense.
Ji Jiu's flying arm had already pressed the red button on the remote device.
To ensure he killed the enemy on their first encounter, he had filled the previously thrown package with astonishingly powerful explosives. Even the protective Talismans on Ji Jiu's own body offered no chance of survival at such close range.
However, it no longer mattered. Ji Jiu, now missing an arm, seemed to have heard the booming noise behind him in advance and envisioned the look of utter horror on Li Ang's face.
But there was no thunderous explosion, no shockwave crushing everything, nor any light and heat engulfing the Grey-white World.
There was only a cold, merciless System alert.
[Player "Ban Zhuo" has been killed by player "Wu Dai"]
What's happening?
Ji Jiu's thoughts plunged into chaos.
He knew very well that the player [Ban Zhuo] was John Joyce's teammate, Martin. Ji Jiu had obtained considerable intelligence from Martin when he captured him.
At this moment, Martin, who had completely lost his mobility, should be lying with Zhi Jue, creating the Grey-white Domain. How could he have died so suddenly? And not at Zhi Jue's hands?
Atop the rooftop, Liu Wu Dai, holding her Wooden Short Bow, wiped the sweat from her forehead. She looked towards the distant rooftop where Zhi Jue was—now no longer covered by the Grey-white Domain—and let out a long sigh of relief.
Moments before, Li Ang had fired the Barrett sniper rifle at Ji Jiu's temple. While the bullet was easily deflected by a yellow paper Talisman, Ji Jiu was also wounded by Liu Wu Dai's [Purification Edict] skill. During this, Liu Wu Dai had not been idle.
Based on Ji Jiu's actions and the package's appearance, she deduced it was definitely some kind of high-powered explosive, detonable remotely or by a timer.
Liu Wu Dai's backpack contained a portable Electromagnetic Pulse rifle from the Special Affairs Bureau. It could capture airborne drones or release a small EMP to destroy nearby electronic devices.
However, who knew what kind of explosive device was actually inside the package? What if triggering the EMP prematurely set it off?
In that split second, she faced three choices.
First, she could turn and run immediately.
But since Ji Jiu had chosen such an explosive for an ambush, it proved his confidence in its power. Escape was likely too slow. Besides, her teammate Li Ang was still hanging off the edge of the rooftop. Betraying him would make the subsequent mission phases even harder.
Second, she could throw the package off the building.
The Grey-white World had a radius of one thousand meters, and this high-rise was only two to three hundred meters tall. According to the Pythagorean theorem, unless the explosive device had a lethal radius of nine hundred and sixty meters, the pedestrians below would be safe.
However, Liu Wu Dai couldn't control the extent of Ji Jiu's injuries from the [Purification Edict], nor the timing of his death. If Ji Jiu died before the explosive detonated, the Grey-white Domain would vanish instantly. Then, the explosive device she tossed from the building would destroy the street and pedestrians below.
Allowing innocents to die because of her conflict with other players was absolutely intolerable for Liu Wu Dai.
The third option was to send the package away. She could neither allow herself to die nor let the innocent people below come to harm.
So, Liu Wu Dai bent down. She used a skill that, despite considerable side effects, could greatly enhance her physiological functions for a very short time. She pulled the bowstring to its full extent, launching the explosive device as if it were an Arrow.
The Arrow's target was, naturally, the unfortunate Zhi Jue on the distant rooftop.
The explosive device streaked through the sky. It landed directly above Zhi Jue, who was slowly healing, and was triggered by Ji Jiu pressing the button, detonating with a thunderous boom.
The resilient Zhi Jue escaped death. However, the player Martin, also lying on the rooftop, wasn't so fortunate and was torn to shreds by the shockwave. For Martin, whose body was twisted, consciousness lost, and life worse than death, this was actually a relief.
After Martin's death, the Ball Technique vanished instantly.
A relatively quiet rumble echoed above the rooftop where Ji Jiu was, stirring up a fierce gale, but that was all.
The pedestrians below had no idea they had narrowly escaped death.
Is it over...?
Ji Jiu's left shoulder gaped open, his entire right arm had been torn off by bullets, and the [Purification Edict] was still on cooldown, rendering the teleportation gun's Special Effect unusable.
If he were in good condition, with his skills and equipment far surpassing those of ordinary players, he would still have a fighting chance.
But now, the Red White Puppet firmly clenched his neck with one hand and pressed against his chest with the other, its touch steadily petrifying his internal organs. His condition was beyond terrible.
CRACK. CRACK.
Li Ang easily, almost cheerfully, broke off Ji Jiu's left arm and legs as if snapping lotus roots.
Bright red blood dripped down, splashing onto the ground. It was stepped on by oblivious passersby in the Grey-white World, smearing across the pavement before slowly flowing into a roadside drain.
Am I going to die here...?
Ji Jiu's consciousness grew increasingly blurry. Half of his body had already turned to stone, and no blood flowed from his severed limbs.
Forget players; even an ordinary person wielding a weapon could easily take his life now.
Ji Jiu, having previously used the Datura Type III reagent, felt no pain. His abundant vitality as a player allowed him to keep his eyes open.
He knew perfectly well that the only reason his opponent hadn't killed him yet was because of the explosion heard from the distant high-rise. Ordinary people might not have noticed, but the Special Affairs Bureau was surely rushing over. His enemy also needed an opposing player to maintain the Isolation Technique.
Ji Jiu looked at Li Ang, about to speak, when suddenly a golden metal block at his waist shone brightly. The next second, he appeared on the rooftop of another high-rise.
Here, he could faintly see traces left by the explosion.
Ji Jiu's expression changed drastically. He knew the function of that metal block well: two wearers could switch places.
His appearance here meant Zhi Jue had actively triggered the Special Effect, choosing to face Li Ang and the others himself.