Chapter 1087: No One Behind
"Jiang Wenzhang is very good at psychological manipulation and is extremely loyal to Mr. Kang. Twice before, people tried to bring Mr. Kang down, but he saw through them in advance. He has a very powerful hypnosis item that can hypnotize people for a short time, during which he can make them do almost anything he wants."
"Gong Jiaji isn't very smart, but he's a Super Evolver."
"Surprising, isn't it? Even among Cannibal Players, there are Super Evolvers. His legs are incredibly strong. No player in Xiaohe City can match his speed, except for Mr. Kang."
"These two follow Mr. Kang in and out every day. They should know the most about what's going on in Xiaohe City. If you want to know more, go find them!"
Xu Huo had noticed these two before. Jiang Wenzhang wore an old white shirt and framed glasses, looking honest and frail. He hadn't spoken to anyone else in the restaurant, and the other players seemed to deliberately exclude him.
Gong Jiaji was much more popular. The Short-Haired Female Player who had gone with Miss Ma to pick people up at the bathhouse was probably his lover; the other players called her "Sister-in-law."
After making a brief note, he looked at Miss Ma. "The world you've constructed is richer and more detailed than before. That's not a good thing."
He got up to leave, but Miss Ma broke down a little. "Ask me whatever you want to know! If I know it, I'll tell you everything, as long as you let me out!"
Ignoring the person trying to negotiate, Xu Huo went to Qian Zi and Cao Zheng's rooms. Unlike Miss Ma's painful struggle, these two had already sunk into self-doubt.
He slightly changed his approach with them. They were more "loyal" to Mr. Kang than Miss Ma, so he couldn't guide them to amplify their dissatisfaction with him. Instead, based on confirming the identity of "Dean Kang," he created an enemy for them—a few patients trying to escape by killing the dean.
As for Zeng Shangping, who had been controlled earlier, he had gone downstairs and hadn't returned yet.
Xu Huo went to a space room on the second floor and released his Spiritual Power.
There was no sign of Zeng Shangping on the first floor, but he did see two skinny men trying to climb up to the second floor.
Ignoring them, he went to the basement level.
This place used to be a Commercial Building, with two floors of parking below. Being underground, it was relatively better preserved than the buildings outside. He could see quite a few vehicles, but now only some useless broken parts were left in the corners.
The first basement level had nothing, but the second basement level wasn't so easy to enter. The floor of the first basement level—which was the ceiling of the second—was sealed with special metal, and it had been reinforced. In addition, Gong Jiaji, whom Miss Ma had mentioned, was guarding the passage between the two levels. Zeng Shangping, who had gone to scout ahead, was already dead. There was blood on the ground and a black button he had dropped as a pre-arranged signal with Xu Huo when he went downstairs.
If he encountered unexpected danger, Zeng Shangping was supposed to throw out a black button if he still had the strength, or a white button if he ran into an ally. Xu Huo's instructions to him had been to destroy the filter.
Xu Huo didn't go down to the underground parking lot himself. Instead, he sent his Vertical Pupil along the passage to take a look at the second basement level.
The underground pipes on the second basement level had been rerouted to the surface. In the middle of the water pipes, a metal box two meters high and two meters wide had been connected. It looked like that should be the filter.
The filter looked very old, with signs of multiple disassemblies. Besides that, it also had some dents and bends. On one side of the machine were the words "Stellar Machinery Recycling," along with a recycling date.
A recycled filter produced twenty years ago.
And its size far exceeded Xu Huo's imagination.
He had previously guessed that the urge to binge eat might be related to the Black Rain. In a worse-case scenario, even the air might affect people. But so far, neither he nor Tan Qi had been affected, suggesting it was more likely the Black Rain. Of course, besides the rain, the groundwater, rivers, and things growing from the soil in this high-risk area might also be problematic.
But since the players in Xiaohe City valued this filter so much, it was enough to prove that the water was indeed the problem.
The Dimensional Rift Game held a monopoly on filter technology. Filters developed by knock-off brands or game districts couldn't compare at all. For example, the substance in this high-risk Instance that caused hunger, or the trace toxic elements naturally present in the air of some districts, unofficial filters were often ineffective. These machines were generally sold to large game districts because they were extremely expensive.
Of course, players could also buy them, but the things were huge. One unit would fill up the Luggage Compartment, and they were bulky and hard to move. If it was just for food and drink safety, it was better to use items and bring your own dry rations.
This filter looked very old, so Xu Huo searched the Bounty Platform for water filters. He found that twenty years later, filter technology hadn't improved. The machines were still large, and the amount of water filtered per unit time was the same.
"It looks intentional."
Xu Huo paused, closed his Personal Panel, recalled his Vertical Pupil, and went to the women's room in Zone 002 on the second floor. He hung the two men who had just climbed up outside the window, leaving their bodies dangling there.
The commotion woke the Middle-aged Woman dozing in the room. When Xu Huo turned around, she thanked him with a mix of relief and lingering fear.
"Did anyone go out tonight?" Xu Huo asked.
"Not in our room, but the one next door," the woman said. "I heard someone go to the bathroom."
Xu Huo nodded, opened the door, and walked out. As he closed the door, he looked up and met the gaze of someone across the hall.
The corridor on the second floor was circular. The rooms were also converted from shops, but the railings at the doorways hadn't been sealed off, unlike the upper floors which had been divided in two. So there was no obstruction in view on either side.
The woman across the way was only wearing a small tank top on her upper body, the wound on her abdomen exposed. She was smoking, her eyes fixed on Xu Huo as if she were scrutinizing him.
But after a few seconds, she acted as if she hadn't seen him, walked along the corridor to the stairs, and returned to a room upstairs.
Xu Huo listened to the sound fade away. He was about to check the next room when, just as he turned, he suddenly felt a force descend upon him from the space behind!
He reflexively dashed more than ten meters away, dropped into a crouch, and spun around. The "Inviolable Domain" had just activated, but the spot where he had been standing was now completely empty.
The corridor was dead silent.
After confirming from three aspects—space, the Spiritual Realm, and items—that there was indeed no one around, Xu Huo slowly stood up. He tried using "Destination Arrival" and, confirming that the Space Item was still restricted, furrowed his brow deeply.
(Chapter End)