Chapter 1099: I Only Sold Myself
Forced to stay?
What kind of external factors could make a player give up their freedom and remain here?
Exceeding the instance time limit?
But even if someone failed to leave the instance within fourteen days, they wouldn't miss the next instance. Besides, even if they did miss it, it was only a month—not enough to scare someone into staying here.
"Has anyone ever gone missing and then reappeared?" Xu Huo asked instead.
Wang Mo didn't understand his meaning. "How could someone who goes missing reappear?"
Xu Huo's brows furrowed slightly.
On the first night he arrived, he had indeed sensed a fluctuation in spatial power. At that time, Xiaohe City was still under the general restriction of spatial limitations. And if the disappearance incidents had nothing to do with the players in Xiaohe City, perhaps the problem lay with the space itself.
Back when he was searching for the Perfect Evolution Potion in Zone 009 of the E27 Wormhole Point, the Sun Natural History Museum had also experienced chaos in time and space. If Xiaohe City happened to be in such a place, then those missing players might have been swallowed into another space—naturally, this was merely a conjecture, with no solid evidence for now.
But assuming this premise held true, then the players who chose to stay in Xiaohe City might have missed the opportunity to leave the high-risk instance for this very reason.
Not everyone had the courage to face another high-risk instance.
"Speaking of which, with so many players in Xiaohe City, don't you find it strange?" Xu Huo looked at Wang Mo.
"We have Mr. Kang to thank for that." Wang Mo stared at him. "Without Mr. Kang, how could so many people have survived?"
"I heard that children have been born in Xiaohe City." Xu Huo didn't care about his sarcasm, speaking calmly. "But I also heard they don't live long. Were those children really natural deaths? And where did their bodies go afterward?"
Wang Mo's emotions drained away in an instant, his expression turning wooden.
Xu Huo released 114 to continue digging the hole and changed the subject. "How long have you been here?"
Wang Mo glanced sideways at his own hand. "I want to bandage my finger."
Xu Huo loosened the Tangent slightly, giving him some room to move, and said, "Time is limited. If you still want to leave, you'd better answer my questions first."
Wang Mo let out a mocking laugh. "You'd still let me go?"
"Why not?" Xu Huo replied. "I'm a man of my word."
Wang Mo couldn't tell if he was telling the truth or not, and asked skeptically, "Are you serious?"
Xu Huo smiled. "You're not going to ask me to write you a guarantee letter, are you?"
Wang Mo had no choice but to reveal some of his information.
He was a wanted criminal and had also stolen a mechanical technology from a company under the Game Government, which led to him being hunted—actually, he hadn't known the item was important at first. It was only after being repeatedly tracked by players that he realized the truth, because the Game Government usually didn't bother to specifically hunt down a low-level wanted criminal. But he couldn't bear to give up the good thing he had obtained, so when he was randomly assigned to this high-risk instance, he decided to gamble.
As it turned out, he really was randomly sent to another wormhole point. Not only could he escape the endless instances, but he could also shake off his pursuers. Apart from the poor living conditions, what was so bad about staying?
"Are you sure the ones hunting you were really players sent by the Game Government?" Xu Huo questioned.
Wang Mo was silent for a moment before defending himself. "I lost several good life-saving items."
It was precisely because he had reached a dead end that he had no choice but to stay.
"Crossing wormhole points means your previous wanted status no longer counts." Xu Huo shook his head. In other words, a ticket to a non-original wormhole point could grant a new life.
"Who wants to live in constant anxiety doing instances every day?" Wang Mo let out a cold laugh. "Judging by your appearance, you probably haven't done many C-grade instances yet. C-grade instances are different from D and E-grade ones. Most of them are large-scale venues. It's not like D-grade instances where you go in with a clear target. Sometimes you can't even find the location. And there are even trickier ones—if you fail the instance, you can't leave the venue and are forced to work as free labor for the instance boss until the next random instance arrives... Damn it, risking your life in the game is bad enough, but you also have to be free labor!"
"Month after month, year after year—is this a life fit for humans?!"
The more he spoke, the more agitated he became, pressing his severed finger so hard that blood seeped out. "Enemy factions, friendly factions, traitorous rumors, clues hidden in obscure corners—if this keeps up, I'll go crazy sooner or later!"
"Compared to endless instances, what does it matter if I never see the light of day? What does it matter if I have to eat people? At least I can get a solid night's sleep, eat what I want, play what I want, without worrying about being screwed over in an instance, without worrying about not having enough items prepared, without having to scramble every second to find money to buy equipment!"
At this point, he glanced at Xu Huo's expressionless face and sneered, "You'll find out sooner or later."
Xu Huo couldn't fully empathize, but he offered some appropriate sympathy. "You can save the complaints for after we get out of here."
Wang Mo still didn't believe he would let him go. "If you had the chance to kill me, would you really hold back?"
"Why not?" Xu Huo countered. "As you said, you've already lost all your life-saving items. Killing you would only get me some low-quality items that wouldn't sell for much. And it just so happens I'm not short on money lately, so I can let you off."
Wang Mo suddenly burst out laughing. "In all my time in the game, I've only ever heard those rich second-generation types and government officials' kids say they don't lack money. Too bad they don't live long even with good items—after all, the game world isn't as 'forgiving' to the rich and powerful as the outside world."
Xu Huo nodded. "I've also met people who covet items, but they weren't as lucky as you."
Wang Mo glanced at the hole 114 had dug and wisely shut his mouth.
If he kept talking, Xu Huo might really change his mind.
At that moment, he noticed Pu Gaoshan. "He's still alive?"
Pu Gaoshan was indeed still alive. The injection Xu Huo had given him was diluted, making the poison less potent than the original. Of course, that didn't mean it couldn't kill him—the fact that he was still alive was also due to his strong physical constitution.
Xu Huo put away "All Things Want to Cut Everything" and signaled Wang Mo to wake the man up.
Wang Mo saw that Pu Gaoshan no longer seemed as pained as before and directly stepped forward to slap him a few times. "Are you awake or not?"
Pu Gaoshan's face was swollen. Groaning, he opened his eyes. "Where's that Xu guy..."
"Hey." Xu Huo tilted his head and greeted him.
Pu Gaoshan was still hanging, and due to the poison, his limbs were numb and immobile. Seeing Wang Mo standing with his back to Xu Huo, he immediately understood and shouted angrily, "How dare you betray Mr. Kang! You ungrateful dog..."
"I don't know Mr. Kang well enough, so I only sold myself." Wang Mo cut him off.
(Chapter End)