Chapter 1340: How Many Dr. Duo Ers
Xu Huo didn't respond to the comment. Instead, he found Dai Song's attitude contradictory and somewhat off, but this wasn't the time to dwell on it.
They were in luck—the vines covering this area likely came from the same mother plant. After a period of clearing, the vines elsewhere showed signs of retreat, and soon a path opened up in the middle. However, as the vehicle moved forward, the group discovered signs of a fight. A large patch of forest had its flowers, trees, and grass destroyed, with lightning-like scorch marks everywhere and large amounts of charred black vines scattered on the ground.
"No bloodstains. The people who passed through here probably weren't injured," Qiu Ming observed after a look.
"Who could be showing up here at this time?" Cao Qinglin frowned slightly.
Indeed, since Dr. Duo Er was with them, no other players should have entered the Stairway to Heaven—at least not this deep. Without Dr. Duo Er, how could they clear the instance? And why would they risk taking this path? If they had come to the Stairway to Heaven early to intercept someone, they should have been near the entrance.
"It should be a substitute prepared by the lab for me," Dr. Duo Er spoke up at that moment, though he seemed unclear about the specific arrangements and only said he knew about it.
"If we chase after them, we might run into them," Qiu Ming said, looking at the map again. "No, they're not taking the same path as us. Otherwise, there would have been traces earlier. This means there are other small paths nearby."
"There are indeed some side trails, but they've been excluded from the safe routes in advance. Those paths are more dangerous than where we are now, otherwise those earlier players wouldn't have switched paths," Dai Song said.
"If there were paths, why didn't you mention it earlier?" Qiu Ming said angrily. "You said it yourself—mutant plants grow fast. What might have been occupied by dangerous plants before might not be the case now. Regardless of the danger, at least it gives us more options. We don't have to be stuck running on just one road like this!"
"Are you messing with us?"
Dai Song's attitude wasn't any better. "The map I provided is the safest route. Once oversized mutant plants take root, they don't easily move. Those paths are remote precisely because they've been taken over. What good would telling you do? Go get yourselves killed?"
"We're all in the same boat. We're clearing the way ahead, but you're holding back information. Whether it's dangerous or whether we should switch paths isn't for you to decide alone," Cao Qinglin said sternly. "Is this your idea of cooperation?"
Dai Song didn't waste words with them and directly looked at Xu Huo. "What do you say?"
"I think my companion makes a good point," Xu Huo said calmly. "We share the same goal. Keeping things hidden is pointless. Getting the doctor to the secondary city is the top priority. Besides, the danger you've judged might not be a dead end. Areas with particularly lush mutant plants tend to have fewer mutant beasts nearby—that's also our opportunity."
"Your estimated time is five days, but I think five days isn't enough. Even if it were, spending nearly a week maneuvering between mutant plants and mutant beasts on just our energy alone wouldn't be sustainable."
"Also, the middle section of the Stairway to Heaven is a danger zone."
He was practically saying he didn't trust Dai Song's judgment. Then Xu Huo had the household robot stop the vehicle. "We'll move on once we've settled this."
As soon as the car stopped, even Qiu Ming and Cao Qinglin tensed up. The vines on the ground were alive, and once the vehicle halted, they began slowly creeping up the sides.
Dr. Duo Er also looked at Dai Song, as if puzzled by what he was insisting on.
"Fine!" Dai Song gritted his teeth. "I'll mark the unmarked paths on the map. Are you satisfied now?"
"One more question—is the doctor we're escorting real?" Xu Huo asked again.
Qiu and Cao were startled. Dai Song paused, squinting as he examined Xu Huo. "What do you mean?"
"Your disguise isn't convincing," Xu Huo said. "Based on your attitude in the basement, you didn't really want to accept the Spring Bamboo Lab's commission. Later, offering to escort us could be seen as goodwill, but you care more about Dr. Duo Er's life than you let on."
"So thinking back, you and your companion probably took on a protection mission. Cooperating with instance players is the lowest-cost method, and you only need one or two people to ensure the doctor's safety. Of course, that protection also targets the instance players."
"You can't be sure if we're really instance players either. Daring to take the risk and come with us alone could be for two reasons."
"One: the Dr. Duo Er we picked up is the real one. You dared to come alone because you must have prepared an escape route."
"Two: Dr. Duo Er is fake. You're just brushing us off like you would any other outer zone player, but the difficulty is a bit higher. You're accompanying us in person to build trust, making us believe the doctor is real. Since you're not an instance player, you can withdraw at any time."
Xu Huo's confident expression made Dai Song's heart race. "Whether the doctor is real or not—won't you find out once you deliver him to the secondary city?"
"That's not certain." Xu Huo glanced at a dark green vine creeping in by the window, then said, "If this doctor is fake, then there's no value in escorting him."
In other words, if the person was fake, he was going to abandon the mission.
"You're mistaken," Dr. Duo Er quickly spoke up when he saw Dai Song staying silent. "I really am Dr. Duo Er! I even brought my credentials!"
He fumbled in his pocket for his work ID while saying, "And you can check—I definitely haven't had plastic surgery."
Xu Huo wasn't interested in his credentials. "Twin Cities has limited information. The photos of Dr. Duo Er in newspapers and books might not be real."
Dr. Duo Er was taken aback, then explained helplessly, "I published medical articles years ago. You must have done your research before coming. Those can't be fake, can they?"
Qiu Ming and Cao Qinglin had never seen Dr. Duo Er's real face, so they looked to Xu Huo.
"For the protection of important figures, it wouldn't be surprising if it's not real," Xu Huo said, ignoring the vines that had already wrapped around his arm. "But if you say you're real, then I have another question. Clearly, we're not the only team entering the Stairway to Heaven. Even the map has been tampered with. Other players probably also received a Dr. Duo Er who hasn't used any disguise items or had plastic surgery. So how many 'Dr. Duo Ers' does Spring Bamboo Lab actually have?"
Dr. Duo Er was slightly stunned and instinctively looked at Dai Song, whose subtle emotional fluctuation betrayed him.
Of course, Xu Huo hadn't made these deductions solely based on information gathered in the instance. Han Yi's incident had given him a different line of thought—not necessarily correct—but he hadn't expected that a bluff would yield results.
(Chapter End)