Chapter 1286: The Route
"The child wasn't found," Xu Huo said coldly. What the high ponytail duo handed over to them wasn't a single person.
"That child is already dead." Jiao Cheng's words carried a hint of barely perceptible regret. "What they stole was a recording carrier of what that child experienced before death... Those child traffickers are truly twisted, even filming this kind of thing at the end..."
Xu Huo's expression remained unchanged. When the high ponytail woman mentioned at the hotel that the materials they stole were related to live human experiments, he knew then that they hadn't told the complete truth. It seemed the real part was about kidnapping and human trafficking, while the false part was that they weren't seeking justice by exposing this supply chain, but had been commissioned to find a child and ended up bringing out something unexpected. Of course, the possibility that they were also going along with the situation couldn't be ruled out.
"Do you often trade in the city center?"
"So that's what you're getting at," Jiao Cheng understood. "There are many out-of-zone players in the city center. Even if you trade openly, as long as both parties' identities are legitimate, the monitors won't raise an alarm. On the contrary, if you're sneaking around in the underground passages, you're likely to be arrested as a dangerous element."
"So if someone needs a face-to-face transaction, many choose the city center."
This clue seemed to be of no further use.
Xu Huo paused and then asked, "Has the carrier you obtained been deciphered?"
"It seems it has been deciphered, but I don't have it here." Jiao Cheng took out his communicator, indicating he could ask someone else for it, but he happened to receive a message from a companion. He said in shock, "Someone has leaked this to the message collection terminal! There's a video on it... but someone is handling it in the background. Many platform messages have already been blocked!"
With technology as advanced as Zone 001, it could even lock onto a person based on their behavior. How could so many human trafficking cases occur? Strict laws had been established on the surface, yet they still couldn't be stopped. That meant the buyers had enough strength and capital to make the sellers take the risk.
However, judging from what happened in Card City, both buyers and sellers should have powerful people involved. It wasn't surprising that they controlled the speech on the message collection terminal.
"Call the city government and report Brother Yu and his gang," Xu Huo said. "Tell them they were involved in this."
Jiao Cheng looked up upon hearing this. "But we don't have evidence..."
"No evidence is needed," Xu Huo interrupted him. "After reporting, you contact that old man in the underground market and have him tell Brother Yu that someone has reported him."
As long as the other party still wanted to live in Fresh Flower City for a long time, he wouldn't flee immediately. Instead, he would try to contact his "backer." Whether it worked or not, as long as he started moving, that was enough.
After Jiao Cheng made calls to both sides, Xu Huo kept an eye on Brother Yu's personal account. Sure enough, not long after, he made several calls to the person he had been communicating with in code. After the other party refused to answer, he switched to text messages.
The content was nothing more than asking about the human trafficking incident and informing the other party that he had been implicated.
Even Jiao Cheng thought this man was incredibly stupid. Whether this matter could be suppressed was still uncertain. If that person really had connections, or was even a big shot, how could they easily get involved with him, let alone find a way to bail him out?
Xu Huo re-marked the other party's range of activity, but this couldn't be taken as accurate because the other party was moving. His main focus was on Brother Yu.
After the man came out of his own territory, Xu Huo first used "A Thread of Fate Across a Thousand Miles" on him. This was a special item obtained from Liang Shuang, which could be used as a tracking item within the same district. Of course, it also had the function of judging good or bad fortune.
In terms of effect, it also seemed to have the ability to predict good or bad luck, but this was more like an unreliable inference rather than a predetermined fact known in advance through precognition.
The white thread showed a faint white color.
Liang Shuang's records mentioned that the depth and intensity of the color represented the corresponding level of luck. Now, the white of this thread was so faint it was almost invisible, indicating it wasn't very good luck, but it wasn't bad either.
The important thing was that it could be used for positioning.
After changing his appearance, Brother Yu walked out of the neighborhood where he had been hanging out. However, he didn't rush to go far. Instead, he lurked nearby, waiting until he confirmed that the city government had indeed sent players to arrest him before leaving with a gloomy face. He used a teleportation item to go directly to the city center.
The city center was still under repair. He disguised himself as a deliveryman and entered the semi-blockaded area.
After confirming the area where he was staying, Xu Huo entered the underground passage from another direction, avoided the flying monitors, and found his exact location.
Brother Yu was looking for a foreman.
When the two met, the fair and plump foreman suddenly dropped his smile and looked at Brother Yu as if he were a dead man.
The latter was completely unaware and, with a hint of threat, asked him to put in a good word with the city government.
Foreman Brother Song spoke kindly and sent him away. Then he contacted other players to take care of the matter.
Xu Huo stayed in the underground passage until dark before leaving. He followed Brother Song, who was off work, to an area outside the directly administered district.
This man didn't live in the directly administered district but in an ordinary residential area just one street away.
He was exceptionally cautious. Before entering, he first checked the marks he had made on the door. After confirming they hadn't been tampered with, he opened the door. Then he checked every window. Any decorations in the house could be seen at a glance. The cabinets had no doors, the bedroom and bathroom doors were semi-transparent, and the sofa was an ultra-thin type that absolutely couldn't hide a person—the entire room was completely visible.
Of course, there were also surveillance cameras, which he checked three times over.
Xu Huo stood in the room, watching him bustle about for a full half hour before he stopped to rest.
A graduation certificate on the shelf, stamped with the Han family emblem, indicated that he was a person trained by the Han family. His current identity was also a manager of some enterprise under the Han family.
Fresh Flower City's talent standards ranged from advanced players to ordinary players, then to highly intelligent individuals who couldn't become players, and finally to ordinary people.
The first three types of people were usually given important roles by some families or enterprises, while the last category could only take on some errand-running jobs. After all, machines weren't as flexible as humans, and some things still had to be done by people.
Brother Song was clearly in the last category.
Judging from the books and materials in the room, he was passionate about mystery and suspense films and literary works, and the furniture arrangement also reflected this. Such a person might not be very intelligent, but he was cautious enough. Therefore, after sitting down, he first contacted a friend in the city government to ask about the human trafficking incident.
Upon learning that there were too many people making report calls, making it difficult to find out who reported Brother Yu, he didn't panic. Instead, he asked his friend to do his best to investigate thoroughly. Then he cut off his personal communicator and only activated one for work.
(Chapter End)