Chapter 1333: The Doctor Has Already Left
"What business do you have here, what do you want..." The staff member stepped forward to block them, but before they could get close, they were slammed against the wall behind them. The player holding the photo pressed them down from a distance and asked, "Where is this person?"
"Doctor Duo Er has already left..." The staff member struggled to say. "Players hired from the Secondary City took him away several hours ago..."
The player suddenly released his grip. "Do you think I'm stupid? With so many players coming here, you'd just hand him over easily?"
"We've been watching you from outside for a long time. No one has left. Hand him over honestly, or I'll start killing!"
"Wait... are you really people hired by the Secondary City?" The staff member questioned. "You're sent by another laboratory..."
Before he could finish, his throat was seized again. The man holding the photo walked up to him and slapped his cheek contemptuously. "I know you researchers are used to being particular. If we talk nicely, you might not listen. Our mission is just to deliver the person alive to the Secondary City. We're not like bodyguards who take care of your eating and drinking. Anyway, all we need is his brain. Breaking an arm or a leg shouldn't be a big problem, right?"
The staff member glared at him hatefully. At that moment, two older staff members came out from inside. Seeing the situation, they immediately understood and said, "Doctor Duo Er has already left. If you don't believe us, come check the surveillance footage!"
The player squinted at the two for a couple of seconds, then released the staff member. He gestured for them to lead the way and warned, "If you're lying, you know the consequences."
The two, with grim expressions, led them to the surveillance room. Seeing Xu Huo and Qiu Ming, they assumed they were with the group and said, "You should come watch too, so there's no endless trouble!"
The player holding Doctor Duo Er's photo had four companions. Two followed him inside, while two stayed outside. They completely ignored Xu Huo and Qiu Ming, not caring whether they were there for the instance mission.
Xu Huo gestured for Qiu Ming to follow, and they went to watch the surveillance together.
The surveillance footage indeed showed that three hours ago, three players had come to pick up Doctor Duo Er. They were not only much more polite but also accommodated the doctor's requests as much as possible and presented a contract showing they were hired by the Dongfeng Laboratory.
"What the hell is a contract?" Qiu Ming blurted out.
The other three clearly hadn't expected such a thing either, but they didn't take it seriously. Since instance players could start the instance from either city, it was entirely possible that players who had arrived at the Secondary City first had come to the Primary City and used their advantage to take the doctor.
"Without Doctor Duo Er, we can't clear the instance," Xu Huo muttered to himself. "I wonder how far those people have gone..."
The others exchanged glances after hearing this and immediately left the surveillance room.
"They're going after them. We should hurry too!" Qiu Ming urged Xu Huo, who hadn't moved.
"No rush," Xu Huo said. Only after the five players had gone far did he turn to the staff and ask, "Can I look at other footage?"
"What footage..." The staff member was startled. When Xu Huo pointed to the room next door, his eyes widened slightly. "How did you know there's another surveillance room next door?"
"Two surveillance rooms?" Qiu Ming followed behind Xu Huo in confusion. "The footage we just saw was real. I saw the front and back doors, the garbage chute, and the hallways were all covered."
"I didn't say the surveillance route was fake," Xu Huo said as he entered the adjacent room and pulled up the storage drive. "That surveillance probably doesn't cover the entire laboratory."
He found footage from twenty minutes ago. Sure enough, several people had left from another part of the laboratory, but he didn't see them taking anyone with them.
"We ran into these people earlier," Qiu Ming recalled the vehicle that had passed them.
"These are also people who came to pick up Doctor Duo Er," the staff member explained. "We told them the doctor had already left, but they didn't believe it. They insisted on searching the entire laboratory before leaving."
"If you don't believe it, you can search too," the older staff member said irritably. "But be careful when you look around. The equipment in the lab is very expensive!"
Xu Huo looked at the white-haired elder among the three. "Has Doctor Duo Er really left?"
"Your two colleagues might not know, but you should be clear."
"The video is very clear. The players who came three hours ago clearly knew some of the staff members. Pretending not to know each other—I can only think of one possibility. Those people were hired by the Chunsun Laboratory themselves to deal with the endless stream of players."
"Is that right?"
He directed the question at the white-haired elder, who looked surprised before saying, "I didn't expect you to notice they knew each other. So many players have come through, and you're the only one who caught it."
"That's right. Those players were indeed hired by us. It's a performance to protect Doctor Duo Er. Recently, many players have come to Twin Cities looking for him, and we can't tell if they want to protect him or kill him. Some come with hostile intent and don't look like good people. Because of this, most of the lab staff have been sent home... Even when people say they're taking Doctor Duo Er to the Secondary City, we can't trust them. We can only find trustworthy players to escort him away."
"The video might show them acting, but Doctor Duo Er really isn't in the lab anymore. You've made a wasted trip."
Qiu Ming used a lie-detection item. "He's telling the truth."
Xu Huo nodded and gestured for Qiu Ming to hand the lie-detection item to the staff. He said, "We really did receive a game mission to escort Doctor Duo Er to the Dongfeng Laboratory. You can use the item to verify whether our words are true or false."
Qiu Ming performed a simple test in front of the three, proving the item was effective, then repeated Xu Huo's words. The lie-detection item concluded it was the truth. "With this insurance, can you tell us which direction the hired players went?"
The elder hesitated for a moment. "For safety reasons, we don't know the specific route arrangements. But they entered the Stairway to Heaven through the Huaiye Canyon. If you hurry, you might catch up."
The lie-detection item confirmed this was the truth.
Xu Huo glanced at it and said, "Thank you then. If we catch up, we'll definitely deliver Doctor Duo Er to the Secondary City."
"Let's go."
Calling Qiu Ming, the two walked out of the laboratory. As the door opened, a tiny shadow flashed quickly past outside, unnoticed by anyone else.
Xu Huo pretended not to see it. Once outside the lab, he contacted Cao Qinglin, asking if she had found the car. If so, she should come pick them up at the lab.
As they headed in the direction of Cao Qinglin's location to meet up, the players who had forcibly entered the lab earlier finally left.
(Chapter End)