Xu Huo didn't linger. He continued forward when he heard people catching up behind him.
He put on his invisibility outfit and walked on, holding the Strings.
The outfit couldn't hide him completely, so it wasn't very reliable. He waited a little farther ahead. When someone appeared, he released the Poster of Repentance. He watched its ugly face move along the stone wall toward the pursuing players, then hurried away.
The people behind found his boat. One of them said, "The boat's here. Where did he go?"
"Players have all kinds of tricks. Maybe he spotted us following and abandoned the boat," another said. "Either way, there's only one path through this River of the Dead. He has to go forward. He can't get away."
After a brief discussion, they continued along the waterway. But as they rounded a bend, the player at the rear turned and slashed with his sword. "Sneaking around. Come out!"
The player beside him held something that looked like a game console. "There's no one nearby."
"Impossible!" the attacker snapped. "Someone's definitely here!"
It was common for one item's effect to block another's. The player at the front of the boat immediately tossed a pebble-like object into the water. Several thin jets of water shot up from the channel, rising a few meters before splashing back down.
"My item only attacks living people. There's no target, so there's no one nearby." The player at the bow asked, "Are you mistaking the venue's entertainment effects for a person?"
After failing to find anyone twice, the player began to doubt himself. He hesitated, then said, "Maybe I really did see it wrong."
The boat continued onward. The group passed the gravestone district in silence. At the next bend, the players who had been facing forward all turned