Chapter 1289: The Person Who Received the Key
When items were donated, there was no list, so it was unclear whether the key was actually among them. However, if He Pu had taken this person's key and something unexpected happened to the person, that should have been within consideration... This person might not be the correct target.
Next, Xu Huo visited several employees of the mining group and finally obtained another more reliable clue: the keys were indeed originally distributed as souvenirs, but not to people within the mining group itself—they were given to relatively important figures. Of course, the keys weren't the only items; there were also other objects crafted from ore.
Since they were given to specific individuals, the ore keys wouldn't have looked as similar as they do now. Each one must have been specially customized. This list was difficult to find within the mining group, so Xu Huo found the company that produced gifts for the group. In their records, he located the corresponding order and discovered that three keys had been custom-made at the same time. The metal frames encasing the three keys also had special markings, meaning the keys were intended for specific people before they were even made, rather than being randomly distributed afterward.
Xu Huo found He Pu's key and learned that it had been given directly to a director at the Game Government Base. Attached to this director's file was a record of his appearance.
Coincidentally, this person turned out to be one of the interviewers who had interviewed Xu Huo before.
Leaving the control room of the gift company, he began to contemplate the risks of this matter.
Although He Pu had indicated that the key was left for his successor, that didn't mean the item could be retrieved simply by holding the key. He had not explicitly stated that there was no danger involved. Perhaps taking on the risk was the price of obtaining the inheritance.
However, Xu Huo had also speculated about what He Pu had left behind. The fact that he had gone to the trouble of hiding it in Zone 001 suggested either that the stored item couldn't be taken casually, that bringing it back to Rose Castle wasn't safe enough, or simply that he didn't want non-successors to take it later. The ideal method would be to place it in a fixed location and retrieve it with the key. He hadn't expected the key to correspond to a living person, which added another layer of uncertainty.
Since he already knew what he wanted, Xu Huo temporarily left the Directly Administered District and returned to check into Yongxing Hotel.
That's right—although the players had fought fiercely that night, Yongxing Hotel had reopened the very next day.
He wasn't sure what had happened to that A-class player and his companions in the end, but compared to other hotels, Yongxing was relatively safe.
After resting for a night, he began waiting near the Game Government Base the next day.
Around noon, the interviewer came out for a cup of tea. In the afternoon, he came out again to buy a snack and a few bottles of drinks. He didn't leave the Game Government Base to return home until after work.
Some of the Game Government Base staff lived inside the base, while others lived outside. The Fresh Flower City government had set aside an entire street for its employees, and outsiders were not allowed in.
As the middle-aged man entered the gate, he turned and glanced in Xu Huo's direction. Although Xu Huo didn't meet his gaze, both of them understood the situation.
Early the next morning, Xu Huo waited outside the street. When the middle-aged man passed by, he glanced at Xu Huo. By noon, when the middle-aged man came out for lunch, Xu Huo took the initiative to sit across from him.
"You should have already been notified whether you passed the interview," the middle-aged man said without looking up.
"I have to at least try," Xu Huo said with a smile. "A senior introduced me here. He has a friend working at the Game Government Base."
The middle-aged man took a sip of water. "Working for the Game Government isn't necessarily a good thing."
"Besides, many people aren't here for the work."
He set down his water glass and suddenly turned to look at the base building. At that moment, several loud explosions erupted from inside the base, accompanied by billowing smoke. A figure flew out of the main entrance, followed by several more figures and dozens of aircraft. Gunfire, the sound of the ground cracking, the breaking of defense barriers, and the clashing of items all erupted in an instant. In just over ten seconds, the first figure to fly out had both legs injured by several players and fell to one knee.
Xu Huo had seen this man more than once.
Blood stained the man's small mustache. Using a prop sword to support himself, he panted heavily as he looked around at the players surrounding him, then let out a harsh laugh. "Damn it, what a waste—I didn't even manage to drag one of you down with me!"
The expressions of the surrounding players were far from pleasant.
The middle-aged man sitting across from Xu Huo explained, "This admitted interviewee has been feeling out the location of the carrier storage for the past few days. Judging from the explosion just now, part of the carrier should have been destroyed."
Xu Huo's expression remained unchanged. "You're not a staff member from the advanced wormhole point?"
"Of course not," the middle-aged man said. "I'm a Gray Player. I've been working here for over ten years."
No wonder he had this attitude toward the attack on the game base.
"Keep watching," he said.
The players inside the game base were exceptionally skilled in combat, and with the assistance of the aircraft, almost none of the small-mustached man's attacks were effective. But he didn't try to escape into the game either. Instead, he held his ground, fighting until his body was battered and blood flowed freely.
"Can the Game Government Base restrict tickets?" Xu Huo frowned slightly.
A faint, ambiguous smile appeared on the middle-aged man's slightly plump face. "Unless it's an instance, a non-game space, or a train, most places don't have the ability to restrict tickets—not even the Game Government Base. That's why so many players recklessly attack the base."
"They're all pitiful people."
His tone was unsettling.
The center of the base plaza was already soaked in blood, but the players responsible for the siege never approached the small-mustached man. Once they confirmed he was severely injured, they handed the follow-up attack over to the aircraft.
Special bullets flew across the plaza, turning the spot where the small-mustached man stood into a sieve. Although he tried his best to block, both his arms and legs each took two hits, and bone was visible at three of the wounds—and this was with some slight obstruction from his defense items.
"Cough!" The small-mustached man spat out a mouthful of blood, mocking the players for not even having the courage to get close.
Finally, one of the players from the game base spoke up. "He's trying to die."
"I hate this kind of person the most," another player said, scratching his head. "Putting on a show of heroic sacrifice, but really just causing trouble. If you've got the guts, go attack an A-class wormhole point. What's the point of death-attacking these small government bases? We're just employees here. We have to constantly guard against assassinations and attacks just for a salary. Is that easy?"
His companion shot him a look. "Say a few less words. The potion should be taking effect. Get ready to interrogate him."
(Chapter End)