Chapter 1259: An Adult Long Stuck in a Rebellious Phase
In District 001, it wasn't unusual to have eyes on you from other players, and even being followed by Xue Lang was normal. As long as it wasn't inside an instance, he could leave at any time.
Without paying too much attention to that gaze, Xu Huo activated the Message Collection Terminal in District 001 and casually scrolled through the latest news.
The gossip about Carol Field mentioned by the player he encountered in the maze was still a hot topic among the public, especially the beauty Carol had brought back. The discussion rankings remained high. Someone had posted a secretly taken photo, but due to the use of a special prop, only a white cloak was visible. The person's gender, skin color, and appearance were all kept confidential.
However, some speculated that it was actually a man, because Carol didn't seem particularly fond of his eight wives. Instead, he frequently went in and out with this beauty he brought back. His wives had appeared in public, each a top-tier beauty—even if they were artificially enhanced, people's perception of beauty had its limits. No matter how good-looking someone was, they couldn't surpass technological achievements, so it was inevitable that some questioned Carol's orientation.
Carol never clarified this matter, but his wives kept popping up one after another, "casually" revealing a bit of their loving relationship with their husband.
Eight people sharing one person—this was always a topic of endless fascination.
Amidst the gossip, some mentions of the Field Clan surfaced, especially regarding the recent struggle over the super prop "Field Battle Angel."
The whereabouts of this super prop remained unknown, though rumors claimed that some parts had indeed been taken by other players—something many found puzzling. Why didn't the Field Clan retrieve the prop themselves instead of opening up the battle site to outsiders?
Perhaps because Carol had become the Chief Executive of the E27 Wormhole Point, some reports included information not found in rumors.
From the day the Field Battle Angel was destroyed, the Field Clan had invested massive efforts to reclaim the prop, scraping the battle site multiple times. But since the Battle Angel was a super prop capable of influencing the wormhole point's situation, its power wasn't something ordinary players could control. Moreover, the battle site was so vast that it had even created some uninvestigable distorted spaces.
Of course, these were all rumors. After all, it was too far from the E27 Wormhole Point to verify. But aside from the Field Clan's inability to reclaim, what other reason could there be for them to let outsiders gain benefits?
Players weren't stupid. Even if they got the prop, they wouldn't necessarily sell it back to the Field Clan.
Still, the Battle Angel was indeed an incredibly powerful prop. Take the "Angel's Fangs" Xu Huo had obtained—these teeth could form a free teleportation channel between different spaces. This showed that even if the super prop was damaged or scattered, its parts could still function as standalone props.
He wondered if the Paper Servant Master and the Box Carrier had settled their victory or defeat.
Earlier, he had unexpectedly encountered the Paper Servant Master in Clown City. The other party was holding some parts of the Battle Angel, chasing after "fate," and had left a paper airplane for him.
Xu Huo had left that paper airplane in the Si Fang Palace. Subsequent news mentioned that the Paper Servant Master had met with the Box Carrier, but the final outcome was unknown.
Like the Field Clan's Battle Angel, this topic had been shrouded in mystery from the start.
There were also rumors about Carol "neglecting his duties." As the highest Chief Executive of the E27 Wormhole Point, he should have had countless matters to handle every day. Yet entertainment news reported that he frequently visited high-end consumption venues, showing none of the busyness expected of a major figure.
Public speculation about this was quite interesting. Some believed that Carol Field had been kicked out of the family. Nominally, he was the Field Clan's heir, but he wasn't the only one who could inherit. A wormhole point's Chief Executive sounded impressive, but in reality, it carried little real power. After all, each district had its own district government, and more developed districts already had Game Government bases stationed there. Unless there was a major upheaval between districts, there wasn't much for the Chief Executive to do.
Moreover, this was an E-level wormhole point.
Aside from a few slightly larger districts in the E27 Wormhole Point, the rest could only be considered "the countryside." For someone of Carol's noble birth, this was undoubtedly a "demotion"—being thrown from the heart of his family to a remote area.
And Carol Field's arrival at E27 seemed to be related to his family's super prop—this was a very fringe piece of information, from an analysis by a seasoned political commentator, and it hadn't attracted much attention.
After all, how could a family heir be abandoned over a super prop? That reason was a bit too flimsy.
However, earlier news had mentioned that Carol Field only chose to make public the battle site and allow outside players to obtain the prop after inheriting the family. Shortly after, he arrived at the E27 Wormhole Point. It was hard not to suspect that the family had reshuffled the deck.
Xu Huo glanced at a photo of Carol Field. He looked to be in his early thirties, extremely handsome, with an arrogant brow and a bold gaze, as if he didn't care about anyone. The commentator who had suggested his transfer was related to the super prop described him like this:
"Like an adult long stuck in a 'rebellious phase.'"
Rumors were unreliable, and this was even less so.
After reading, Xu Huo also looked into the families of Carol's several wives. Their families were all very prominent, spanning B-level and C-level wormhole points. As for the news he had heard in the Skinner's instance, his eighth wife wasn't from the E27 Wormhole Point—the E27 Wormhole Point wasn't even good enough. The eighth wife came from a D-level wormhole point. Coincidentally, this wife was also named Jin Xue'er.
The bride's name hadn't changed, but the bride herself had.
Introductions to higher-level wormhole points were also appended after these political figures.
There was no clear hierarchy among wormhole points, but most districts in the higher-ranked ones had evolved earlier, making them stronger, and some districts had more advanced technology.
However, this didn't mean the living conditions in those higher wormhole points were necessarily better. The greater the disparity in strength, the better places got better, and the worse places got worse. It was said that many wormhole points had regular "insect extermination" plans.
This "insect extermination" naturally didn't target real insects, but rather humans who continued to proliferate in harsh environments.
In technologically advanced districts, it was even more brutal, because machines had replaced most people's positions. Those who controlled the technology believed that even without fresh player blood, they could stand firm in the game world.
Many districts relied on unique technologies to survive, such as Bai Kou's hometown, the Platinum Eye, which depended on exporting precision instruments.
The more dependent on technology, the lower the tolerance for ordinary people.