Chapter 1159: Bet on Luck
The old man’s expression changed, and his body instinctively showed resistance. “Evolver blood!”
“That’s right.” Xu Huo raised the injection, his face expressionless. “Bet on your luck. If you successfully evolve, I won’t kill you. If you’re unlucky, this shot will soon bring out signs of degeneration, and then the military will take care of you.”
“Have you ever tested your evolution success rate before?” He pushed the needle into the old man’s immobilized arm. “Experience what it feels like for those forced to evolve.”
As he finished speaking, the injection and the man vanished from the car together. The old man lunged forward in a struggle, only to find his two bodyguards still sitting on either side. He quickly rolled up his sleeve, and upon seeing the bloody needle mark, his shoulders slumped as he collapsed back into his seat.
“Old Yang, are you alright?” the nearby player asked with concern, also noticing the needle mark. But they had no idea what had just happened, assuming a pursuing player had ambushed them. One player signaled the driver to speed up, while another jumped out of the car.
Xu Huo followed the convoy from the air. In less than a minute, the second car suddenly veered out of formation. With a screeching brake, the driver’s door was pushed open, and the driver struggled out, carrying the old man on his back.
The old man had now lost his mind, biting desperately into the driver’s shoulder, clinging to the strong young man with both arms and legs. The fresh blood made his throat emit a constant gurgling sound.
The two players acting as his bodyguards quickly stepped in to separate them. One struck the old man’s neck with a knife-hand blow, but unexpectedly, it didn’t knock him unconscious.
Two more players rushed over, shocked to see the red-eyed old man trying to bite people. But when they saw the chunk of flesh bitten off the driver, they knew the man was doomed. Even if he survived, he would become a cannibal player, and given his condition, he wouldn’t last until they got back in the car before losing all reason.
Normally, such a situation wouldn’t require reporting up the chain, but the old man’s identity was special. So the players had no choice but to subdue him and take him away, while reporting back that the players attacking the safe zone might be carrying evolver blood.
The safe zone hadn’t yet cleaned up the battlefield, but upon receiving this news, they began urgently arranging for important personnel to evacuate.
Xu Huo arrived late and caught the last transfer plane, following them to a secret safe house.
Fortunately, two people on the list were already staying there, having just arrived from elsewhere.
Not only were foreign forces taking advantage of the chaos to stir up trouble, but some players had also tracked down the targets and launched desperate assassination attempts. Of course, dealing with these players wasn’t difficult, but before that, they needed to lay low.
“These people are lawless!” a middle-aged man exclaimed, taking a big gulp of wine and slamming his glass heavily on the table. “They dared to attack a military convoy!”
In contrast to his fury, a thin-faced man with a gentlemanly demeanor swirled his blood-red wine and said calmly, “These people at the very bottom have been full of resentment for a long time. Now that they’re players, of course they want to vent that anger.”
“A bunch of criminals!” The middle-aged man’s brows were nearly knitted together. “I say, we should have long ago implemented my original proposal—force every player to undergo biometric registration. Even if they shed a single piece of skin, the Special Defense Department could dig up their entire family tree for eighteen generations!”
“Don’t put too much pressure on the Special Defense Department. They’re already overwhelmed trying to recruit more people. If we forced all players to register their identities, chaos would have broken out long ago,” the thin-faced man said. “Come sit for a while. The problem should be resolved in less than half a day.”
The middle-aged man was already agitated and poured himself another drink.
Everyone in this room knew each other. At that moment, a round-faced, stout man spoke up, “Old Yang is dead.”
Since the evolution began, government personnel had been dying from time to time—nothing unusual. The people present offered a perfunctory sigh of regret.
But the round-faced man continued, “He was injected with evolver blood. The reason… you all know very well, don’t you?”
The thirteen people present all changed expression at once. Some were shocked, others guilty. The drinking middle-aged man turned to stare at the round-faced man. “Liu Zhichao, what do you mean by that?”
Round-faced Liu Zhichao leaned back calmly in the corner of the sofa. “Don’t you watch the news? Are you completely unaware that there are people within the Special Defense Department screening ordinary people and forcing them to evolve?”
How could such a major event be hidden from those present? And they knew even more—not only which individuals within the Special Defense Department were doing this, but also the funding chain behind them and the big shots involved. They just chose not to talk about it.
“Of course I know about the Special Defense Department’s mess. I’m asking you what you mean by bringing this up now?” The middle-aged man took another drink, his face flushing with alcohol as he questioned, “Didn’t you have a hand in this too? What, scared?”
Liu Zhichao smiled and glanced around the room. “What I mean is, let’s all turn a blind eye. When the Special Defense Department wraps things up, we’ll pretend this never happened. We’re colleagues, after all. You wouldn’t want to see me end up like Old Yang, would you?”
Not far from him, an old man in a shirt and suit chuckled. “Zhichao, since when did you become so timid? Do you really think the Special Defense Department would dare come after you? Even if they did, they wouldn’t leak the information.”
Several others nodded in agreement.
The thin-faced man said, “It’s a shame about the labs. Built with real money, and now we have to hand them over to the Special Defense Department.”
Liu Zhichao glanced at the few who remained silent and said dismissively, “Labs can be rebuilt. As long as we get rid of those reckless players, the Special Defense Department won’t be a problem.”
No one in the room refuted him. The middle-aged man and a few others just frowned slightly, showing a hint of disgust, clearly unwilling to engage in this topic.
“You may leave now,” the thin-faced man said, waving at the six players stationed in the four corners of the room.
The six players exited without a word.
As the door was about to close, the middle-aged man stood up with his wine bottle. “I’m going out for some air.”
Two others followed him out.
Now ten people remained in the room.
“Big Li is all talk,” the thin-faced man said with a smile, referring to the middle-aged man. “When it comes to actually doing something, he wouldn’t dare take a single step.”
He paused, then addressed the old man in the suit. “Old Wan, as far as I know, the labs managed by two of your students aren’t on the Special Defense Department’s cleanup list this time. No wonder you’re so calm.”
“Young man,” Old Wan shook his head with a smile, “only children distinguish between right and wrong. We serve the country. As long as we follow basic rules and regulations, the results are what matter.”
(Chapter End)