Chapter 1109: Speculation on the Truth Behind the Player Disappearance Incident
"Migrate?" Jiang Wenzhang looked at him. "Migrate where?"
"Can you find a second city in this high-risk instance?"
"If you run into a xenomorph swarm, how many people can guarantee they'll survive?"
Xu Huo didn't refute his words, only said, "Known danger versus unknown danger—you chose the latter... though it's not like the space chaos is entirely unknown. You know how to avoid it."
"I've noticed the rooms of Xiaohe City players. Unlike the rooms on the floors below, yours have all been renovated, with a layer of metal plates embedded in the walls."
"A single layer of metal plates can block chaotic space?"
"Seems like it's true."
"Since you know how to avoid it, why deliberately lure outside players to their deaths? Keeping them alive should be more valuable. Unless the irregular chaotic space only temporarily stops when someone actually disappears?"
Jiang Wenzhang really hadn't expected him to deduce so much. His face darkened as he said, "Since you've already figured it out, what's there left to ask?"
Xu Huo smiled faintly. "The chaotic space is concentrated in the center of Xiaohe City, right where the players live. And it only disappears after a few players die... Who would believe that's a coincidence?"
Even if the area outside Xiaohe City was dangerous, the city itself wasn't small. There was no need to cram everyone into the commercial building.
"Why can't it be related to the players themselves?" Jiang Wenzhang countered. "This is a high-risk instance. What's strange about space chaos? Maybe the game set up special space rules specifically targeting players, just to make sure none of them survive."
"You mean you've tried moving locations before, but the chaotic space still appeared." Xu Huo immediately said. "So the chaotic space exists because of you stranded people?"
"I didn't say that." Jiang Wenzhang said, "Even if what Zheng Da said is true, it's a minority case. Most of the time, space swallowing people happens around the arrival of outside players."
"How long have you been here?" Xu Huo suddenly asked.
"Five years."
"Then you've been here longer than Wang Mo and Pu Gaoshan." Xu Huo said. "That means no one knows what the situation was like when the chaotic space first appeared."
He thought for a moment, then asked, "When you say 'most of the time,' does it happen before players enter Xiaohe City or after?"
"Both before and after." Jiang Wenzhang looked at him suspiciously. "What are you getting at?"
"Has there ever been a situation where no new player arrived in Xiaohe City, but a player disappearance still occurred, and then Zheng Da brought back new corpses from the wild?" Xu Huo asked.
Jiang Wenzhang understood his meaning and couldn't help but laugh. "You don't think the space chaos is man-made, do you?"
Xu Huo didn't jump to conclusions, but said, "There are only three situations when players disappear in Xiaohe City."
"One: A new player enters the city."
"Two: A new player misses the chance to leave and is forcibly teleported out at random. At the same time, original Xiaohe City players also disappear. Zheng Da goes out and brings back corpses."
"Three: No outsiders in Xiaohe City. Zheng Da goes out and brings back corpses."
"The key person to verify this is Zheng Da. Just ask him."
With a wave of his hand, a chair quickly slid out from the black water. Sitting on it was Zheng Da, but he wasn't treated as well as Jiang Wenzhang—he was tied to the chair.
Zheng Da wanted to curse Xu Huo as soon as he saw him, but just as he opened his mouth, a stream of water shot out from the water curtain and forced its way down his throat, choking him for over ten seconds before stopping.
Zheng Da coughed harshly a few times, then turned to stare at Jiang Wenzhang. "You betrayed us?"
Jiang Wenzhang sneered. "Picking on the weak?"
Xu Huo raised his hand to stop them and asked Zheng Da to verify the third situation—when chaotic space appeared, players in Xiaohe City disappeared, but no outside players were found.
"Sometimes I did fabricate the corpses." Zheng Da had learned his lesson and answered honestly for now. "But not often. I've found fresh corpses too."
Xu Huo nodded slightly and asked Jiang Wenzhang, "When Zheng Da brought back corpses, did any other players leave Xiaohe City at the same time?"
"Sometimes two or three teams would go out."
"Did the other teams bring back corpses too?"
"Of course. Two or three teams would all bring back fresh corpses."
Xu Huo cross-checked the situations where multiple teams brought back corpses simultaneously. Among them, three times matched his third scenario—no outside players in Xiaohe City, yet players disappeared. In one of those three times, Mr. Kang had explicitly instructed Zheng Da to fabricate fake corpses if no outside player corpses were found.
The other two times, Gong Jiaji led the team.
"Usually, it was Zheng Da who went out. Gong Jiaji rarely left." Jiang Wenzhang had no psychological burden selling out Zheng Da.
"So what?" Zheng Da said. "Some fake, some real. What does that prove?"
It proved a lot.
Xiaohe City linked the chaotic space swallowing people to outside players. But of the three situations Xu Huo listed, only the first one was a definite case of player disappearance with outsiders present. The second and third situations couldn't be one hundred percent confirmed to have outsiders, even after excluding Zheng Da's fabrications. And Mr. Kang's orders to him further proved this point.
Another key point: if the chaotic space swallowing people really was related to outside players, why didn't Xu Huo and his group encounter it when they arrived?
Even if we concede that Xiaohe City players, as stranded individuals, were being attacked by the high-risk instance, why didn't the players who went outside encounter the same situation? Zheng Da and the others bringing back corpses proved that the chaotic space and their departures happened simultaneously. Did that mean the chaotic space purposefully and selectively only attacked players inside Xiaohe City?
But Jiang Wenzhang and the others had confirmed that simply having players evacuate wouldn't end the chaotic space—someone had to die.
Putting all this information together led to one conclusion: the appearance of the chaotic space might be related to a specific player in Xiaohe City.
Aside from players like Zheng Da who went out during disappearance events, and those who had already experienced disappearance events before coming to Xiaohe City, the remaining candidates were very few.
Jiang Wenzhang and Zheng Da both looked at him in disbelief, momentarily unable to react. After a long pause, the former said, "It can't be Mr. Kang. Three years ago, during a disappearance event, a few players rallied nearly half the people to hide elsewhere in the city. Mr. Kang didn't go with them, but people still disappeared."
That was why everyone had gradually resigned themselves to staying in the commercial building. At least they had a way to avoid the danger in the short term—better than risking it outside.
Xu Huo smiled calmly. "That's just a matter of controlling the range."
(Chapter End)