Chapter 1165: Familiar Faces Make Things Easier
The residential area where the Xu family lived was heavily guarded by players. After returning to Jing City, Xu Huo had a phone call with his father and, upon learning of this, didn't go directly home. Instead, he first went to find Gu Yu and the others to settle the previous accounts.
Because of an unexpected incident midway through, there were no items to distribute. However, the price he offered was generous, and Gu Yu and the others hadn't taken too much risk, so the cooperation was still satisfactory on both sides.
Only afterward did he return to the safe zone.
Bian Ling's family had already moved away. Xu Huo's father and the others had apparently been questioned by the Special Defense Department and were a bit on edge.
"It's nothing serious," Xu Huo reassured them. "There's an internal problem in the Special Defense Department, and they're just taking it out on everyone right now."
Xu Huo's father was quite perceptive. "The questions those Special Defense Department people asked were all about the murdered government personnel. This really has nothing to do with you?"
"It was their own operational failure. Besides, with so many dead, it could be some player organization acting behind the scenes." Xu Huo said dismissively. "Maybe they've done too many shady things in the past, and now they can't even figure out who killed them."
Xu Huo's father clutched his chest, looking deeply troubled. "I knew it."
Xu Huo kindly patted him on the back. "You're not young anymore. Just focus on playing with Tongtong. Don't worry about things you shouldn't—you can't worry about them all anyway."
Ms. Yu, sitting nearby, nodded repeatedly in agreement.
Just then, Tongtong came over with a fish he'd caught from the aquarium, showing it off. "Look how stupid this fish is! It ate until its belly was full and still bit the hook!"
"Greed is harmful," Xu Huo said casually, then answered a call from the Special Defense Department headquarters. In a rather cheerful tone, he said, "Minister Fan, not on vacation yet?"
Since the situation was already settled, Minister Fan was calmer now. "You're quite capable and ruthless, kid. An eye for an eye—you've really scared those government people. Getting assassinated might have earned you a merit, but turning into a cannibal player would ruin half a lifetime's work and generations of effort, and the family would carry that stain forever."
"You're making too big a deal of this," Xu Huo said. "Becoming a cannibal player isn't voluntary. It shouldn't implicate the family."
Minister Fan let out a cold laugh. "That statement would only carry weight if it came from the family members of someone attacked by a cannibal player... But there's one thing I don't understand: how did you do it?"
"All safe zones and safe houses have very tight security. Some of them weren't built that long ago. Where did you get the addresses?"
"Minister Fan, you're not trying to drag someone down with you just because you're about to step down, are you?" Xu Huo countered.
Minister Fan sighed. "I just want to know what loopholes exist in the Special Defense Department's work."
Xu Huo laughed. "How would I know about loopholes in the Special Defense Department's work? A proper conversation is fine, but I'm not taking the fall for anyone."
"...I know getting even a hint out of you is difficult." Minister Fan said with a note of caution. "But you need to think about the future. The Special Defense Department will soon have players catching up to you, young man. You need to leave yourself an escape route."
Xu Huo didn't budge. In reality, most of those killed weren't on the Special Defense Department's assignment list. Minister Fan's casual question about it being a department loophole was just narrowing the scope. Whether Xu Huo gave a positive or negative signal, the government and Special Defense Department could reduce their workload significantly and more easily trace who leaked the information this time.
Minister Fan went back and forth but finally had to give up, saying meaningfully, "When someone else takes over as minister, they probably won't be as easy to deal with as I am."
"That doesn't matter. The game world is huge—what difference does it make which district you live in?" Xu Huo turned and waved toward the surveillance point in the building across the way.
This kind of threat was useless. When the cost of survival far outweighs people's attachment to their homeland, many will choose to leave.
So it didn't matter who was in charge. Persisting with high-pressure policies would only drive more and more players out of Zone 014. If those who could leave did so, then when the zone merged with the game in the future, who would be left to resist the invasion of players from other zones?
Minister Fan was in the building across the street. He hung up the phone in disappointment and said to the people around him, "Find two familiar faces to talk to him."
The first familiar face to show up was Team Leader Wu.
As a native of Ting City, Team Leader Wu had been protective of Xu Huo since they first met, and most of Xu Huo's dealings with the Special Defense Department had gone through him. Their relationship was still fairly cordial.
Since things had come to this, the Special Defense Department wanted to narrow the scope of their internal investigation in the most economical way, so they had to send someone to appeal to emotion.
Team Leader Wu really didn't want to come. When he walked in, his smile was uglier than a crying face.
Xu Huo could understand—after all, he was an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire, dragged thousands of miles away to do this thankless job. So Xu Huo treated him to lunch and sent him on his way.
That evening, Nie Xuan came.
Nie Xuan had always been a hardliner within the Special Defense Department. Having him show up meant their attitude had shifted.
"You and Team Leader Wu are really unlucky. No share of the good stuff, but you're first in line to take the blame." Xu Huo teased.
"Can't be helped." Nie Xuan sat down and said, "The Special Defense Department's idea is that if I can take you down, great. If not, it's my personal action, and there's still room for negotiation. After all, I've disobeyed orders many times before. Attacking someone who 'refuses to cooperate with the Special Defense Department' this time wouldn't be surprising."
He sat with his back to the window.
Xu Huo sat down across from him. "But I can't help you this time. It's not like I killed those people. How would I know anything about it?"
Nie Xuan took a sip of the tea Ms. Yu had brewed and said, "It would be best to know where you've been these past few days. The timing is too coincidental, and the last city you appeared in also had an incident."
"That's my personal business, nothing to do with the Special Defense Department..." Xu Huo paused, as if suddenly remembering something. "If you have time, you can look into someone for me."
"His name is Song Xiaohua. Here's his business card."
"This guy was on the same flight as you. He was just arrested, but the Special Defense Department is planning to release him." Nie Xuan took the card.
"Don't let him go so soon. He might be a big fish." Xu Huo said with a smile.
Nie Xuan didn't comment, but his expression suggested he didn't believe Xu Huo's words. After a few seconds, he said, "When are you leaving?"
"I'll stay a few more days." Xu Huo said. "I came back to recover from my injuries."
Nie Xuan snorted derisively. "In a few days, I'll be entering an instance again. There's something I want to entrust to you."
Xu Huo gestured for him to go ahead.
"A small island near the coastline suddenly disappeared from satellite images. But according to the detection results of instruments brought back from other zones, a relatively chaotic space has appeared around the island." Nie Xuan looked at him sharply. "You know what that means."
(Chapter End)