Chapter 1280: Precognition-Type Items
Aside from eliminating the source of danger, the rescue efforts in Fresh Flower City were also relatively fast. A large number of robots replaced players in the role of rescue subjects. As long as it wasn't a danger like a building collapse or an explosion, the robots could generally handle it.
By the time Xu Huo was browsing through this information, the sounds throughout the city had already died down.
However, the search and capture operation targeting Outer Zone Players was not over. He had to change locations after crouching on the rooftop for a while. Passing by a flower shop, he ducked inside to take shelter.
He had just stood still in front of a man-tall mutated flower plant when several short blades flew over, thud-thud-thudding into the wall behind him.
Xu Huo stepped aside and looked up at the small door at the back of the flower shop. A woman stood there, staring at him warily. "Get out, or I'll get serious!"
"You run a flower shop in Fresh Flower City." Xu Huo recognized her. "I thought you were a botanist."
Mu Yan remembered his voice. After a moment of surprise, she stood her ground and said, "Not just anyone can be a botanist. I don't have that much talent."
"You're being too modest." Xu Huo understood her meaning. "I didn't follow you to the flower shop. I just happened to pass by. Things are a bit unsettled outside, so I'm borrowing your place to take shelter for a while."
The two had gotten along reasonably well in the Maze Instance. Hearing this, Mu Yan relaxed slightly. She sat back down in her wheelchair and said, "This trouble outside has nothing to do with you, right?"
Xu Huo smiled. "I'm just a C-grade player. How could such a big commotion be my doing?"
Mu Yan pressed her lips together. "Good, as long as it has nothing to do with you. Fresh Flower City's surveillance is very thorough. If it were related to you, you wouldn't be able to hide for long."
She extended an olive branch. "I have extra food for dinner. Would you like some?"
Xu Huo walked past the wall of mutated flowers and followed her through the small door. Behind it was a small room for cooking. One side had kitchen utensils, the other had a flower rack, and there were two doors in the middle.
"That's the bathroom." Mu Yan pointed to the first door, then controlled her wheelchair to the refrigerator.
"I made some noodles. I don't know if you'll like them." Mu Yan took out a sealed container and placed it on the table.
"Can it be heated?" Xu Huo asked.
Mu Yan pressed a button on the wall, and a hidden heater popped out. She put the container on it and casually said, "Is it a habit from your hometown to eat hot food?"
"Personal habit." Xu Huo sat down at the dining table. "In the game, most of the time I'm eating dry rations. Hot food tastes better."
Mu Yan handed him the heated noodles and made small talk. "I've forgotten what delicacies my hometown had. I've moved through quite a few districts, and my tastes have changed."
Xu Huo picked out the cooked flowers from the noodles and set them aside. "Fresh Flower City isn't a bad place for players."
Mu Yan shook her head slightly. "Players living here have corresponding obligations. It's not that easy. The government can distribute welfare or deduct it. Some people might work for Fresh Flower City for half a year and not even get fifty White Notes."
"Pretty harsh." Xu Huo twirled a mouthful of noodles.
"But the good parts are also good. At least many items and instruments are cheaper than buying them in the game. Some things that are hard to buy can be rented at a low price." Mu Yan said, "It kind of improves the survival rate for players."
Surviving in any district has its pros and cons. Compared to ordinary people, players are relatively free.
"Do you know about the fireworks in the city center?" Xu Huo asked.
Mu Yan's expression turned grim. "You just arrived in Fresh Flower City and you already know about it. You must have been there. How many people died tonight?"
"At least a hundred." Xu Huo said, "If it weren't for someone attacking Carol Field, the death toll would probably be higher."
Mu Yan's emotions were clearly agitated. She pounded her fist on the armrest of her wheelchair, suppressing her anger as she said, "A bunch of little bastards!"
After a moment, she adjusted her breathing and said helplessly, "You've seen it too. Fresh Flower City isn't the paradise that Outer Zone Players talk about. It's not a place where you can come and enjoy a superior status. For those with power and influence, cultivating a few strong Advanced Players isn't difficult. A family, a corporation—as long as they have one or two outstanding individuals, they can control the situation."
"Fresh Flower City is also passed down from generation to generation," she said sarcastically. "Old bastards pass it on to little bastards, each generation less human than the last."
"People who have lost their humanity are indeed terrifying." Xu Huo pushed the empty container aside. "How long have you been in Fresh Flower City?"
"Not too long." Mu Yan answered vaguely. Sensing his intention, she said, "Do you have another purpose for coming to Fresh Flower City?"
"A bit of personal business." Xu Huo looked at her. "I don't know how much you know about Fresh Flower City's situation, but I heard there's a special mineral vein here. The ore produced can be used to make items that can predict the future."
Mu Yan's shoulders relaxed slightly. "The mineral vein isn't much of a secret. Many people know about it. But aside from those who control the vein, outsiders have no chance to access it. Items that predict the future are more of a rumor to the outside world. Occasionally, some scraps circulate on the black market, but no one has made a precognition item... However, quite a few players in the Directly Administered District wear precognition-type items, which might come from the vein."
Xu Huo tapped his index finger lightly on the table. "So you're saying players in the Directly Administered District are good at using precognition-type items. In the incidents you know of, are there any related to precognition?"
"There's one, I suppose." Mu Yan hesitated before speaking. "Minor things are hard to know about, but about a year ago, there was a large-scale attack. A group of notoriously infamous players came, probably for the mineral vein. They headed straight for the Directly Administered District, stayed for an hour, and then publicly took hostages to threaten the families controlling the vein."
"But the people they caught weren't core members. They were fringe characters in the families."
"Later, I found out that they had come up empty-handed in the Directly Administered District. They couldn't even find the entrance to the mineral vein. Only then did they grab people."
"Even if they wanted to take hostages, they should have taken more important people," Mu Yan speculated. "Could it be that they couldn't find or catch any of them? If the Advanced Players in the Directly Administered District had fought back, it shouldn't have been such a loud thunder with little rain. So I guess the important people left in advance."
"It's not strange for them to travel between different districts and cities, but they couldn't have evacuated the entire family, young and old, all at once."
"Based on this, you think they predicted the attack, but the prediction wasn't clear or accurate enough, so they simply all left." Xu Huo picked up the thread.
Mu Yan nodded. "What do you think? Does it sound like a precognition event?"
It does sound like one.
Xu Huo opened the Under Dimension and searched specifically for information on precognition-type items.
Because the overall number of precognition-type items is small, most of the uploaded posts were complaints about how useless they were. There wasn't much truly useful information.
After browsing for a while, he switched to searching for the player Jiang Jiang.
(Chapter End)