Chapter 1152: The Special Defense Department's Inhuman Acts
The beating came too quickly. This young man realized that if he didn't speak up, the next thing he might have to account for would be his own life. So he quickly reported several room numbers. These buildings, including the one where the Xu family lived, all had them inside.
Xu Huo knocked the man unconscious and left him by the green belt beside the building. Following the same pattern, he brought down all five people from the nearby buildings, pulling up turnips and dragging out mud. Soon, he locked onto three more targets. This time it was a bit more troublesome, but it didn't take too long.
A total of nine people. He lined them up in a row and gave each one an injection.
"This is a muscle relaxant used by the Special Defense Department. I borrowed a few doses—it seems effective. You're the first batch to experience it."
"Kill us if you're going to kill us. Losing before we even started is just our bad luck!" one of the injured players said bitterly. "That's fate! But the Special Defense Department doesn't act like humans. One day, they'll get their comeuppance!"
"What has the Special Defense Department done?" Xu Huo pulled out a stool and sat down. "Tell me about it. I'm curious what reason could justify you harming ordinary people without any bottom line."
Although the facial muscles of the few had become sluggish, their attitudes showed no trace of guilt. The player who had just spoken even said, "They're all idiots brainwashed by the Special Defense Department. Whatever the Special Defense Department says, they believe. Not only do they obey the Special Defense Department, which doesn't treat them as human, but they also turn around and condemn us clear-headed people. Don't they deserve to die?"
Xu Huo's brow furrowed. "Get to the point."
The drug was starting to take effect. The man's tongue wouldn't obey, but because the dosage wasn't heavy, he could still speak in a slurred manner: "Don't you know? When the Special Defense Department verified the identities of safe zone residents, they took blood from everyone. They can use instruments to detect who has a higher chance of successful evolution. Anyone screened out is first tested and encouraged by the Special Defense Department. If they're willing to try evolution, then all is well. If not... for those with high success rates, they use underhanded means to force evolution!"
"You're a player too. Don't you know the risks of evolution?"
"Not everyone can evolve successfully. Those who naturally evolved at the start of the game had the highest success rates. Later, those who evolved using evolver blood—can they even reach half the success rate? Many people never even had the chance to board the preliminary train. They had already degenerated when evolution began. Some people unsuitable for evolution might die quickly from illness or turn into aberrants! When they die, even their corpses can't be found!"
Xu Huo fell silent. "Do you have evidence?"
"My phone..." The man's eyes slanted downward.
Xu Huo used kite string to pull the phone from his pants pocket and found a video shot in panic. It showed a woman.
"Big brother... I might be dying..." she said while scratching at her skin. "Most of the time, I'm not very clear-headed... Just now, I stole a researcher's phone while he wasn't paying attention..."
"...I didn't choose evolution voluntarily... Many people here aren't here by choice... Never trust what the Special Defense Department says... The success rate of injecting evolver blood to start evolution is very low... I see corpses every day... I've turned into this inhuman, ghost-like state myself..."
"...Is little sister still thinking about becoming a player? Don't let her sign up..."
"I should never see you again... I regret it so much... I shouldn't have drunk that cup of tea... I felt the taste was off when I tried it..."
The expression of the person in the later part of the video became chaotic, her eyes gradually losing their spark. The video ended with her opening her mouth and biting the phone to pieces.
Xu Huo didn't speak, because he knew that since the universal playerization began, the Special Defense Department and the government had deliberately blurred one thing: the failure rate of evolution. At the same time, they had also induced the public to suspect that those who participated in evolution and didn't return had failed the preliminary examination.
This was actually not hard to understand. To accelerate the playerization process, sacrifices had to be made. If the failure rate of evolution had been announced from the start, no more ordinary people would have signed up. This could be seen from his two returns to the outside world. Last time he came back, there were still many people lining up to sign up outside institutions like the Special Defense Department. Now, there were almost none.
One reason was that most of those brave enough to sign up had probably already done so. Another was that people might have realized the risks of evolution. Even if they didn't know how high the failure rate was, players who signed up for evolution and never returned would eventually make people catch on.
But Xu Huo believed that the current player count in X Country should be the largest in the entire 014 zone. There were already enough players. Whether screening and forced evolution were happening still needed verification.
"From her last sentence, you concluded that the Special Defense Department tampered with her?" He looked back at the man.
"It's not just this one video!" the man said. "Some who successfully evolved also said afterward that the opportunity for their evolution was strange. When they recalled it, they had all eaten or drunk something with a weird taste..."
Xu Huo raised his hand to interrupt him. "If the Special Defense Department needed to increase player numbers through such means, direct injection would be more convenient. Tampering with food and drink is time-consuming and labor-intensive. And the Special Defense Department has enough manpower to do it quietly without anyone noticing."
"Would they dare?" the man seemed to have thought of this long ago and laughed bitterly. "How could ordinary people, trying to control players, hand over leverage to them?"
"Besides, if players knew they treated lives so lightly, would they still serve them faithfully? Everyone has family. One day, their own family might become the Special Defense Department's target!"
"Such rhetoric alone isn't enough to convince me," Xu Huo said. "X Country already has enough players—so many that they can't be controlled for a long time. According to what you say, is the Special Defense Department's purpose in using such despicable means to play with lives to further shake its own foundation?"
The current situation in X Country had reached a point where the Special Defense Department had to go to war with civilian players to decide who had the say. They had no energy left for screening. Even if they did, they wouldn't use such an indescribably stupid method.
"They can train players..." the man continued. "Anyone who successfully evolves, as long as they have a bit of talent, is given key training. With the Special Defense Department's resources and clearance guides, these people will only rely on the Special Defense Department, serving it tirelessly... Isn't that the case for you, and for the players living in this neighborhood?"
"What effect a single elite player can have might not be obvious right away. But once a player's level goes up... even if dozens, hundreds, or even thousands die, what does it matter? If it can produce a capable player, it's worth it to the Special Defense Department!"