Chapter 1354: Chapter 1355: Dummy Team

Almost at the moment the words were spoken, a white figure streaked through the dense forest and descended from the sky, landing like a cannonball with precision among the group. Instinctively, Bai Jing and the other three moved backward in different directions, putting some distance between themselves and the figure in the center. However, by then, the tall white figure in the center began to mechanically disassemble, its body splitting into four parts: head, torso, and legs, each part attacking one of them!

This dummy was different from those Xu Huo had seen before. It had a metal structure inside, and each part could move independently once detached. The head and body could fly at high speeds, constantly shooting metal needles.

In the blink of an eye, the places where Bai Jing and the others stood were riddled with holes, but this was not to actually kill or injure the four of them, but rather to provoke the Wishful Fruit Vine.

Starting from where the needles struck, the Wishful Fruit Vine, covering the ground and treetops, began to writhe rapidly. Unlike the sluggish vines encountered before, these could manipulate the tendrils to mimic whips or form cages.

The Ya Clan woman was hit by a vine lashing out from behind. Although she was protected by a Defense Prop, and thus suffered no real harm, when she tried to retreat, the vines that had been lying in wait quickly wound around her legs!

The Ya Clan woman wielded a Prop to cut through the ever-growing vines around her, but even if she managed to break free from this, it was of little use. Around twenty to thirty meters away from them, the Wishful Fruit Vines had already fully descended from the trees, entangling with branches on the ground to form an enclosing sphere.

“Blast it!” The other two Ya Clan People coordinated to throw small bombs at the vine wall. After two “bangs,” the wall was not blown open, and the holes created were quickly filled by other vines, gradually forming into a seamless solid wall.

After taking care of the fragmented dummy, Bai Jing moved to the center of the vine sphere and raised a cross-shaped Prop, then two beams of light intersected, cutting the vine sphere open both horizontally and vertically.

After the vine sphere opened, the four leaped out one after another.

But outside, dummies were already waiting for them. White mannequin-like dummies with bald heads and very human-like faces stood on the ground, in the trees, and hung upside down from the vines, their eyes fixed on them—upon meeting face-to-face, the dummies hanging on the vines dropped down, the ones near the ground sprinted at high speed, and from a distance, some dummies even threw their comrades directly at Bai Jing and his group!

These dummies weren’t very damaging by themselves, but they were numerous, and especially since there was no single method to destroy them all at once, they were somewhat troublesome. Smaller Defensive Barriers could be buried by them, while larger ones were not convenient to move, and if not moved far enough away, they would still get entangled by these dummies.

Seeing the Defensive Barrier being covered by dummies, Bai Jing pulled out a round doorknob and pressed it into the air. The doorknob attached itself to the air. When he turned the doorknob, a translucent door appeared.

“Go!” The other three passed through the door in succession, and when he was about to go, a dummy arm crawled out from underground, grabbing his leg and being dragged into the door with him.

The doorknob disappeared along with it, and all the dummies halted their movements. A second later, they all turned northward, running in that direction like a massive regiment!

Impressive indeed.

Xu Huo trailed behind the dummies. The Player controlling them was not nearby. From the range, it seemed the opponent could control the dummies from at least fifteen hundred meters away. At fifteen hundred meters, not to mention perception, even far-reaching Teleportation Props might not reach, allowing for complete remote control far from the battlefield, making it tricky to locate the person.

However, Bai Jing and his group had moved a bit further. The dummies paused once during their tracking before resuming the command.

Xu Huo slowed down and distanced himself from the dummies, and shortly after, a Player disguised as a dummy appeared within his perception range.

The opponent wore a short jacket covered with eye designs, and when the Vertical Pupil appeared, one of the eyes actually moved.

The Player was quite cautious, and after finding no clues when he turned around, he used a long-range Teleportation Prop and immediately vanished from Xu Huo’s perception range.

Xu Huo retracted his Spiritual World and turned to continue forward.

The dummy squad had agitated numerous Mutant Plants, some getting pierced or tangled, while a large cloud of poisonous gas emerged in the forest, quickly covering a vast area of the grove, its multi-colored, fog-like appearance easily obscuring visibility.

Sidestepping the traps left by the dummies, Xu Huo caught up with Bai Jing and the others, who were already in combat with three other Players by then.

Those three were dressed distinctively, clearly not from Zone 023, but they were formidable in combat and fought fiercely, quickly putting Bai Jing’s group at a disadvantage, and one of the Ya Clan men was killed.

“You go first,” Bai Jing pulled two companions in front of him and quickly said, “I’ll take them to find the dummy.”

“They might be in cahoots. Staying behind is like walking into a lion’s den,” the Ya Clan woman opposed, “Let’s go together…”

“Ha!” The man with the small braid among the three Players sneered, “Listen to what they’re saying; they actually still think they can leave!”

As he spoke, he threw a cocoon-like small Prop into the sky, and soon a faint white light screen unfurled, covering an area near a thousand meters.

“Hahaha!” The braided Player laughed out loud, “Didn’t expect there’d be two more fish hiding!”

This was a Spatial Restriction Device. Once unfolded, long-range Teleportation Props couldn’t be used, and even if they were, the farthest they could go was the edge of the light screen, not beyond it.

As Bai Jing’s side was contemplating whether to use their Tickets to leave, the dummies that had stopped not far away suddenly charged over in a frenzy, all dismantling themselves mid-way and spreading in four directions to encircle the three braided Players!

“Better when they come to us!” The braided Player lightly tapped the circular pendant hanging on his chest, and an almost visible shockwave bounced out, directly shattering the dummies coming towards him, then psychically seizing a dummy head, casually attaching a direction sign on it. In the next second, the arrow on the sign shifted direction, pointing to his right.

“Exchange the captives!” The Player beside him wearing gold boots yelled in that direction, after which the gold boots Player disappeared, replaced by the Player disguised as a dummy—they had swapped places.

“Hey!” The braided Player chuckled, swinging a folding knife towards the head.

The dummy Player’s Defensive Barrier was shattered, but he himself remained motionless, merely raising an arm in defense.

“Ding!” The collision between blade and arm produced a crisp sound, and the knife broke instantly. Then the braided Player, as if prisoner to reluctance, moved towards him.