Chapter 1285: Fingers Let the Wind Through
"There is, just depends on whether you dare to come," the female player said with a smile.
Xu Huo raised an eyebrow. "Open the door."
Two minutes later, the five players in the room were in a state similar to Jiao Cheng and his group earlier, except they hadn't been injected with any potion. Instead, each of them had one leg broken.
"What do you want to do!" With no choice but to submit, the female player suppressed her voice and asked.
"Didn't you call me up here?" Xu Huo said. "I came to buy something, but you wanted to kill me. Breaking one leg isn't too much, is it?"
The group could only accept their defeat. "We don't have the ore, but we know where it's sold."
"I've already been to the underground market," Xu Huo said first. "If you're talking about that old man, don't bother."
The female player and her group were clearly more "experienced" than small-time swindlers like Jiao Cheng. "That old man is just a trash picker. Most of the time, he just helps make connections. There's someone on this street who can directly get the ore."
Xu Huo turned to look at Jiao Cheng.
"Big brother, I really didn't know that," Jiao Cheng quickly said. "I don't usually come around here."
Xu Huo didn't pursue it further. Instead, he directly told the female player to contact the player she mentioned.
In District 001, communication devices had basically popularized holographic projection, allowing both parties to have "face-to-face" conversations. However, because communications were easy to leak, many players only chose voice calls or text messages.
"Brother Yu, someone wants to get some good ore," the female player glanced at Xu Huo. "He's an outsider player, has money, but whether we can do business depends on you."
Brother Yu on the other end hesitated briefly before saying he would send someone over to guide them.
"Just wait," the female player said.
Xu Huo took her communication device and flipped through it. After a moment, he tossed it aside and said to Jiao Cheng, "Let's go!"
Jiao Cheng thought there was danger and immediately opened the window to jump out, but the next second, Xu Huo pulled him back, and the two of them moved underground.
The underground passages covered the entire city, so there were also tracks beneath this block. Compared to the conspicuousness of the ground, the underground was much more convenient.
They had only been gone for a few seconds when six players arrived near the small building. The man leading them, who had no eyebrows, was the Brother Yu the female player had contacted. He had a close relationship with her, and his first action was to check her injuries.
"Where is he?" he asked.
"He's already gone," the female player said, sitting down with one leg propped up, her face grim. "What bad luck. I shouldn't have provoked them. One of them is a Super Evolver, pretty strong."
Brother Yu immediately suspected the purpose of their visit, but the female player shook her head. "Don't worry, it's not your enemy. They look like they came from an outer zone. They went to the underground market but couldn't buy the ore, so they came up here. Probably the same as those people who heard rumors and wanted to get a prediction prop made."
Brother Yu relaxed a bit and sneered, "They're all idiots. If someone could really make a prediction prop, would they sell it?"
The female player clearly shared the same opinion, but she added, "This isn't working. The goods from the mining side are getting worse and worse. Outer zone players aren't fools. It's not that easy to trick them. Besides, the ore isn't cheap. If they come back to cause trouble, it'll be our trouble. We're the ones on the front lines, but we don't get much of a cut... If you ask me, let's just stop this business?"
Brother Yu's face darkened. "Don't worry about this."
The female player stared at him for two seconds before relenting. "Then at least ask for a bigger cut. Otherwise, what else can we do? Are you listening to me?"
"I know, I know," Brother Yu said dismissively, then changed the subject to her injured leg. After a bit of coddling, he left with his men.
Once they were far away, the bald player following behind him said, "Brother Yu, asking for a bigger cut—Brother Song probably won't agree."
Brother Yu waved his hand. "Don't listen to her nonsense. She really thinks this business is just about making money. She doesn't realize who's behind the ore sales. We're working for the Han Clan."
The group of underlings immediately flattered him, and during the conversation, a bit more information slipped out: the person secretly selling the ore was a young member of the Han Clan with a decent status. Generally, only important figures had access to ore mining. This person could smuggle ore out, which meant he was at least from the current head of the Han Clan's lineage.
"With someone backing us, we have help if something goes wrong," Brother Yu snorted with a laugh. "Otherwise, people like us can't even take a step in Fresh Flower City!"
So he didn't mention the ore matter to the "Brother Song" his underlings referred to. Instead, he ordered his men to tighten security around the area to avoid being watched.
Brother Yu was indeed cautious. His "office" was equipped with sensing devices that could detect spiritual power. Xu Huo's vertical pupil hadn't followed him in. Once the door was closed, the specially treated room naturally couldn't be spied on from outside.
But it wasn't a complete loss. At least he knew that Brother Yu's superior was someone called "Brother Song," and the one with "fingers letting the wind through" might be the Han Clan.
But this needed verification.
In the true information age, anything passing through a Message Collection Terminal was hard to leave without a trace. So, through a channel provided by Jiao Cheng, Xu Huo found a platform worker who dealt in communication information. He paid to get Brother Yu's recent call logs and text message exchanges.
The voice and text messages in the call logs were all encrypted, using specific words like weather or certain fruits and vegetables as substitutes. Fortunately, the cipher was simple, and Xu Huo easily found the parts related to ore shipments, identifying Brother Yu's superior, "Brother Song."
As for Brother Song, he was even more cautious. He used an independent communication device and had only contacted Brother Yu, with no other connections. The signal location of his communications was also inconsistent.
Xu Huo circled a rough area on the map, near the city center, but not even entering the directly administered district.
The city center had collapsed and was under repair, so the other party probably wouldn't appear there again. These contact messages were likely for deliveries—he had previously seen the high-ponytail duo from Card City trading with someone in the city center.
Turning to look at the bored Jiao Cheng, he asked, "Yesterday at noon, what were you and your companion trading in the city center?"
Jiao Cheng was surprised and suspicious. "You were following us all along!"
Xu Huo's expression turned cold, and he didn't bother with nonsense.
Sensing the killing intent, Jiao Cheng quickly said, "It was a commission mission. Someone hired us to find a missing child. Later, we found out the person had been taken to Card City, and since we couldn't get away, we contacted someone else to help!"
(Chapter End)