Chapter 1098: Strange Matters
The expression on Pu Gaoshan's face shifted from surprise to mockery. He twitched the corner of his mouth and tilted his head, clearly having no intention of answering his question.
Xu Huo's gaze darkened slightly. He raised a hand and locked Wang Mo inside the Library Tower, then brought out the insect cage. Inside, one of the creatures was courting, its mushroom-like bubbles squeezing together in the narrow box, pressing several land jellyfish against the glass. One of them had unfortunately died, with black fluid leaking out.
"If you don't want to answer, that's fine," he said, pressing one hand on the insect cage. "Let me ask another question: Do you value your own life more, or the lives of the other players in Xiaohe City?"
Pu Gaoshan showed no fear. "I can't stand people like you the most. You act all virtuous and kind on the surface, but when it really counts, you'll stoop to any dirty trick. So what if you're a wanted criminal? I bet the people I've killed are far fewer than those hypocrites!"
"If I'd given you a good face, you'd just get suspicious anyway. I should never have let you into the city in the first place!"
"Well said." Xu Huo reached into the insect cage, grabbed the dead land jellyfish, and used a syringe to extract its venom. He held it up, slowly pushing out the air, and added, "Say a few more words, and I might actually believe you."
"Since you're so loyal to your companions, as a sign of respect, I'll send you on your way."
Pu Gaoshan laughed loudly. "You really think I'm afraid of death!"
Xu Huo raised an eyebrow. "If you weren't afraid of death, why would you hide in this high-risk instance?"
He then took out a small mirror. "Look here."
Pu Gaoshan reflexively looked over. Under the effect of "Danger Makes People Blind," he was temporarily blinded. At the same time, the items in his hand and the defensive items he had used earlier all failed. The next second, the syringe plunged into his thigh.
"I'll take you down with me!" he roared. Two bomb metal balls rolled out from his suspended hands, but the explosion never came. Instead, he convulsed under the effects of the potent venom, screaming in agony.
Xu Huo released Wang Mo.
The man who had been trapped on the rotating staircase just a moment ago was suddenly back in the real world, looking somewhat disoriented, as if he couldn't tell whether the person in front of him was real. But Pu Gaoshan's screams snapped him back to reality.
Seeing the man opposite him still twirling the bomb balls he had made, Wang Mo's expression darkened. But before he could act, the fingers on his left hand were severed cleanly at the base!
"Don't move recklessly," Xu Huo warned him, simultaneously activating the pre-arranged "All Things Want to Cut Everything." The crisscrossing lines had already locked Wang Mo in place.
Wang Mo clutched his fingers, glaring angrily. "I don't know the real reason! This was an order from Mr. Kang!"
"Why?"
"How would I know!" Wang Mo raised his voice slightly. "I only care about the machines!"
"Jiang Wenzhang didn't tell you... it seems he did." Xu Huo paused. "What did he say?"
Wang Mo took a deep breath, wrapped his wound with gauze, and then said, "He said Mr. Kang mentioned that you might stay and join Xiaohe City."
Xu Huo frowned slightly. "Has anyone stayed before?"
"What's so strange about that?" Wang Mo retorted. "Players changing their permanent district is also..."
Before he could finish, the tangent lines around him closed in by half an inch, forcing him to straighten up and cutting off his words.
"Stop playing dumb. Do you think the game wouldn't notify me that I entered a high-risk instance?" Xu Huo raised an eyebrow. "You don't actually believe that building a small city of a few hundred people inside a high-risk instance would convince anyone that it could be a normal game district, do you?"
"Even a ten-year-old wouldn't fall for that."
Wang Mo glanced at the tangent lines around him and said, "People really have stayed."
"But I don't know why, and neither does Pu Gaoshan." He continued, "People like you who stumbled in by accident, or those who got randomly assigned here from high-risk instances—some of them always end up staying."
"Didn't you ask why?" Xu Huo pressed.
"Why would I need a reason?" Wang Mo sneered. "If they could survive out there, who would want to stay in this godforsaken place? Since they didn't leave, they must have their own troubles. We're not brothers or friends, so why would I ask or care?"
After a pause, he added, "Jiang Wenzhang definitely knows. He and Gong Jiaji are the ones who listen to Mr. Kang the most."
Xu Huo tossed out a small bag of green mushrooms. "Have you seen this before?"
Mushroom soup often appeared on the dining tables of Xiaohe City, so Wang Mo naturally recognized it.
"When I came down, I heard Jiang Wenzhang and Zheng Da talking about specifically picking these hallucinogenic mushrooms. You didn't feel anything after eating them?"
Wang Mo was stunned. "In this hellhole, what isn't edible?"
"Since everything is edible, there's no need to specifically pick these mushrooms." Xu Huo thought for a moment and then asked, "When those mysterious disappearances happen, outsiders make up the majority, right?"
"Is that strange?" Wang Mo said quickly. "Can you honestly stay in your room?"
"About how many people have to disappear before it stops?"
"It varies. It's different every time. Sometimes it takes longer, sometimes shorter. And a longer time doesn't necessarily mean more deaths."
So there was no pattern at all... Xu Huo pondered for a moment and then asked, "Has anyone ever suspected Mr. Kang?"
Wang Mo let out a cold laugh. "You think Mr. Kang did this? I'll tell you, that's impossible. Mr. Kang once had a son who disappeared just like that. I saw it with my own eyes—Mr. Kang was there too!"
It was clear he wasn't lying.
If that was true, then the mysterious disappearances in Xiaohe City had nothing to do with the players. They were an irregular danger targeting outsiders within this high-risk instance.
This should be uncontrollable, only avoidable through certain methods.
But another point was very strange: Mr. Kang seemed very confident that some players from the outside would stay in Xiaohe City. From an outsider player's perspective, this was almost impossible.
Whether they were randomly assigned here from a high-risk instance or stumbled in by accident, as long as the instance time ended, they could leave. It wouldn't affect the player themselves. Why would they stay? Even if someone had water in their brain and wanted to stay and share the hardships with a group of cannibal players, they would be randomly teleported away once the three months were up.
That meant the only ones who could ultimately be filtered out to stay were those who randomly jumped from one wormhole point to another... How could Xiaohe City manage to keep people?
Xu Huo's gaze fell on the mushrooms on the ground, but he looked away the next second. A few hallucinogenic mushrooms alone were definitely not enough. Besides, the players in Xiaohe City were all eating this stuff, and no one noticed anything wrong.
Or was it related to the unique phenomenon of mysterious disappearances in Xiaohe City?
Regardless, the possibility of Xiaohe City's players using means to force outsider players to stay was extremely slim. Since it wasn't voluntary, it could only be forced.
(End of Chapter)