Chapter 1281: A New Sun Rises Again
Jiang Jiang had quite a few discussion posts under Dimension, and a death-predicting item was clearly a standout among similar items, especially in a dungeon game with such a high mortality rate. Many people wanted to avoid fatal disasters by predicting death, so when word spread that a player possessed such an item, the news naturally circulated.
After Zone 009, Jiang Jiang had caused incidents at other wormhole points, but from comprehensive information, her ability to predict the death scenes of those around her was not solely due to the item—it was also tied to her own trait. Not just anyone could take her item and successfully perform death predictions.
Still, many people sought her out, though most ended up giving up, because the primary condition for prediction was to stay by Jiang Jiang’s side—which added an unstable factor, not worth the risk for players.
Other publicly known prediction-type items were somewhat similar; in short, they were definitely not “danger sensors” that could directly help players avoid risks.
However, Xu Huo had seen Jiang Jiang’s death prediction paintings, so he couldn’t rule out the possibility of similar items in Fresh Flower City.
The core personnel controlling the mineral vein in the Directly Administered District had all left at once—even a family gathering wouldn’t have been this complete.
He then searched the Message Collection Terminal for major events in Fresh Flower City around that time a year ago, but found nothing significant. The only thing worth Fresh Flower City making such a “big fuss” might have been Carol Field’s arrival in Zone 001, but that had been confirmed much earlier, and he hadn’t arrived in Fresh Flower City at that specific time a year ago.
“Doesn’t Fresh Flower City have Super Players stationed there?” Xu Huo asked. “Could a group of robbers force the core families of the Directly Administered District to flee together?”
Mu Yan thought it over and nodded. “Aside from that, there’s nothing else that could be linked to prediction… Are you interested in the mineral vein?”
Before Xu Huo could answer, she added, “If you were an A-level player, you could try.”
Xu Huo waved his hand, indicating he had no interest.
But this left him at a dead end.
The Game Government Base couldn’t be entered freely, and the seemingly involved mineral vein was about to be heavily guarded, likely impossible to approach.
“Maybe I came at the wrong time.”
“Hoo… hoo…” The mutated flower in the room made breathing sounds like a human, and the roots buried in the soil stirred on their own, loosening the dirt while bringing up some white fragments.
Mu Yan went over, used a small shovel to cover them with soil, and said to Xu Huo, “There’s a sofa in the room, or you can sleep on the bed.”
Xu Huo lay on the sofa until dawn.
After a night of fermentation, the Fresh Flower City attack incident had taken over the Message Collection Terminal, but while the online chatter was lively, the now-quieted Fresh Flower City had returned to its former bustling prosperity.
Except for the damaged buildings cordoned off for emergency repairs, the city’s order remained unaffected.
“The government has released the list of invading players on the Message Collection Terminal.” Mu Yan also came out of the flower shop.
Many Outer Zone Players had died last night. Since their names and nicknames were unknown, the government had published their death photos, none of which included that A-level player.
It seemed he had escaped again. Being able to fight players around Carol Field even while so injured showed how formidable high-level players were.
How much water was in the “love triangle” aside, Xu Huo was curious about the other party’s intention in urging him to find the mineral vein, even tracking him in the midst of “busyness”—it was all baffling.
Of course, he couldn’t rule out the possibility that the other party was just taking a shot in the dark, since the more enemies of an enemy, the better.
Fresh Flower City’s government released a new message. A holographic projection showed Carol Field, sitting sternly behind an office desk, hands clasped in front of him, body leaning slightly forward, dignified yet gentle as he said, “The night has passed, and a new sun rises again.”
Outside, thunderous cheers erupted, with many shouting “Long live Carol!”
“The night has passed, and a new sun rises again.” This single-sentence message began to play on repeat. Xu Huo turned off the Message Collection Terminal, greeted Mu Yan, and left the flower shop.
Fresh Flower City’s residents continued their normal lives, but besides aircraft, there were now more players on duty in the streets.
Xu Huo bought a bag of steamed buns at a breakfast shop, took an aircraft to the Game Government Base, and asked the intelligent robot outside when the interview results would be announced. The unsurprising answer was that if he didn’t receive a game notification within three days, it meant the interview had failed, and he didn’t need to return to the Game Government Base.
As he left, he saw the mustachioed player he had met on the spaceship walking out dejectedly, talking on the phone, “Honey, I definitely failed the interview. Fresh Flower City is too expensive. How about we go somewhere else to play today…”
After taking another turn around the Directly Administered District, Xu Huo returned to the city center and entered the library with his borrowing card.
He found Fresh Flower City’s economic records and carefully read the section on ore mining.
However, the library’s description of this mineral vein differed somewhat from what the A-level player and Dimension had said.
The entire vein was actually composed of Subclass Stones, meaning there was a Primordial Stone that could alter the properties of surrounding ores. But at the start of mining, the Primordial Stone in the vein had been appraised and found to have no special attributes. The Subclass Stones it produced were ornamental gems, similar in form to diamonds, but diamonds were worthless in the game world, so these gems sold for little.
It wasn’t a particularly valuable vein.
What truly changed the vein was a Super Player from the Han Clan. He brought back a Primordial Stone that caused a qualitative transformation in the entire vein, producing some special ores that could be used to craft items. The so-called prediction-type items came from these ores. This was why, even after that Super Player had passed away, the Han Clan could still hold the mining rights.
The library records didn’t detail the struggle over mining rights, but they mentioned that the Super Player had sealed the entire vein with a special item to protect the Primordial Stone. Without a specific method, even the entrance couldn’t be accessed.
Coincidentally, this deceased Super Player was a Mental Super Evolver.
According to the comprehensive records, the vein’s entrance was in the Directly Administered District, but it wasn’t an ordinary entrance.
This seemed somewhat like multiple spaces within a Spiritual Realm, though in physical space, separate spaces could still exist, such as Location Items and Container Items.
(Chapter End)