This was another new trial for the players outside the pipes. They could fend off the rain with artifacts and instruments, but they could not completely block the lightning. Players who had stayed longer had experienced it before, so the moment they saw the thunderclouds appear, they joined forces to install lightning protection equipment inside and outside the abandoned buildings.
Yet when the thunderstorm lingered above the City in the Dome and that mass of purple lightning poured down as indiscriminately as the rain, all the players still held their breath. Someone saw a bolt slant through a window into a building and could not help shouting, "Come on! Let's see how lucky I am today-"
His voice drowned beneath the overlapping thunder.
The purple thunderstorm lasted a full half minute before finally subsiding. The thunderclouds vanished in an instant. Looking out through the glass pipes, the gray world outside, already drained of color, had become mottled, as though mold had suddenly grown across the entire world. Blackened, charred marks were everywhere.
Things were worse in the abandoned city. Many buildings had already been on the verge of collapse, and now the lightning strikes caused widespread cave-ins. Some players who had been struck survived the lightning, only to be crushed to death in the rubble because of their injuries.
Artifacts and instruments could not completely insulate them from lightning unless they were instruments specifically designed for such circumstances. Thus, even with ample protective equipment, some players still died in the lightning, while others were injured.
"Good thing I bought some of the instruments I saw other players preparing earlier," Guo Xiaomao said with relief as he withdrew his protective shield.
Keke had no suitable artifacts or instruments herself, but she had shared the protection of the three men from District