Chapter 1341: Advanced Player Intervention
"Who exactly are you!" The tension and seriousness on Dai Song's face instantly turned into killing intent. Although Xu Huo was right in front of him, he held back the urge to strike because Xu Huo's hand was already resting on Dr. Duo Er's shoulder.
Although Dr. Duo Er was buried in his research, he wasn't completely oblivious to social cues. Realizing he had become a hostage, he spoke up. "Mr. Xu probably isn't here to kill me. Otherwise, with his abilities, he could have acted much earlier."
However, Dai Song seemed to have some nerve touched, making it impossible for him to calm down. Sweat poured from his forehead as his eyes darted rapidly between Xu Huo and Dr. Duo Er, as if he were extremely shaken.
Everyone was sitting there, and the vines outside had nearly buried the car, but these two seemed determined not to let this matter rest until it was resolved. Cao Qinglin couldn't help but remind them, "Both of you, calm down. We can talk about this when we get to the resting place!"
"Yeah, yeah, we've been traveling together for so long. There's no rush for this moment..." Qiu Ming was squeezed together with Dr. Duo Er. He was naturally on Xu Huo's side and had been on guard against Dai Song suddenly making a move. At that moment, a small prop he was wearing on his clothes began to flash. He paused, then immediately said, "His mental state is unstable. He might be poisoned!"
"Who's poisoned..." Dai Song subconsciously asked, but when he saw the three people in front of him—Qiu Ming, Xu Huo, and Dr. Duo Er—all looking at him with strange expressions, he was momentarily dazed. Then he snapped out of it and shoved two pills into his mouth.
After taking the antidote pills, his expression visibly improved. When he looked at Xu Huo and Dr. Duo Er again, he no longer seemed as unhinged. After a pause, he said, "Many plants emit trace toxins through their scent. Even without wounds on the body, prolonged inhalation can lead to poisoning symptoms."
"No wonder you've been like a powder keg the whole way," Qiu Ming said with a hint of sarcasm. "I thought all the players from your Twin Cities had something wrong with their heads."
Dai Song didn't defend himself but instead answered Xu Huo's question. "We did prepare some substitutes for the Doctor. As for the Doctor's appearance, it's not hard to fool outsiders. Some players think the same as you, even believing that the old photos released by the lab in the past were fake."
"So each team took away a different person?" Xu Huo raised an eyebrow. "Then the maps you carried..."
"The maps are real, but the routes were planned," Dai Song said. "Everyone who picks up the 'Doctor' will take a route map to ensure they don't run into each other."
"I don't understand. Aren't you trying to get the Doctor to the secondary city? Wouldn't it be better to choose the best option? Why deceive the outer zone players?" Cao Qinglin felt that the Spring Bamboo Lab could even issue a mission bounty, letting outer zone players cooperate to complete this task. After all, a few people could deliver him, and dozens of people could deliver him too.
"We wanted to, but ever since we prepared to send the Doctor to the secondary city, besides mission players, many people have come to assassinate the Doctor," Dai Song said after some hesitation. "Among these people are outer zone players. It seems someone is hiring outer zone players to assassinate the Doctor."
So, outer zone players couldn't be trusted at all. Before this, none of the teams they sent out had succeeded. They would either inexplicably die halfway or be ambushed, especially on the seemingly safer longer route. Players seemed to be everywhere.
The Twin Cities were too lacking in players, and they didn't have many powerful advanced players. So far, they hadn't managed to successfully send the Doctor out. As for players who could completely overpower them, the Stairway to Heaven, which they had some understanding of and knew how to avoid, became the only choice.
Of course, the Stairway to Heaven was also dangerous, but that danger could be dispersed.
"So you're saying that B-rank players, or even A-rank players, are intercepting you halfway?" Qiu Ming thought for a moment and said, "Then why don't they just come to the capital city to kill him?"
"This might be related to the substitutes sent out from the capital city," Dai Song said with a hint of pain. "We've sacrificed many lab staff and players along the way."
The people in the car were momentarily speechless. It wasn't that they found this instance particularly difficult, but rather that they felt the players in Zone 023 were in such a dire situation. A mere C-rank instance had already cost them so many lives.
"Can you confirm that the people intercepting you halfway include B-rank players?" Xu Huo asked.
Dai Song thought carefully for a moment before saying, "Confirmed."
"How could B-rank players get involved in this? Assassinating an ordinary person doesn't sound like something a B-rank player would do," Cao Qinglin looked at Xu Huo. "This instance might not be as simple as it appears on the surface. Players entering both the capital city and the secondary city can trigger instances. Perhaps the tasks on both sides are different."
As for Dai Song and the others thinking they were B-rank players, they might actually be C-rank players. It was just that the overall level of local players in Zone 023 was low, leading them to mistake more powerful C-rank players for B-rank players.
Xu Huo thought the same, but he asked one more question about Dr. Duo Er's research direction.
"Gene recoding," Dr. Duo Er subconsciously answered, then explained, "Actually, it's not that profound or as difficult as you think. It's specifically aimed at the genetic defects of the Twin Cities residents and is only useful for Twin Cities people. Others can't use it."
In other words, the potion he developed was only valuable to the Twin Cities people and wasn't worth anyone else fighting over or destroying. The Twin Cities were such backward cities that no one would target them.
"Anything involving genetics usually leads to all sorts of problems," Cao Qinglin said from experience. "Dr. Duo Er's research might have exceeded the value he himself believes it has. But this is a blind spot for us players."
Xu Huo nodded. "Whether it's B-rank player intervention or competition from players in the same instance, our mission remains unchanged."
"But since there's another Dr. Duo Er in the other team, it's best we don't run into each other."
He said this while giving Dai Song a meaningful look. "You'd better ensure that the Dr. Duo Er we're escorting is the real one."
Dai Song didn't show any unnecessary emotion and said firmly, "I can swear on the lives of everyone in the Twin Cities—Dr. Duo Er is real."
Although not everything he said was entirely true, at least this statement was.
"The car is trapped," Cao Qinglin reminded them.
This was a minor issue. Xu Huo loaded a poison agent into his potion gun and fired it from the gaps in the vines at a slightly larger branch in the distance.
The toxin and pollutants quickly spread through the vines, turning large patches of them black in an instant, causing even the nearby plants to wither.
Mutant plants were more sensitive than ordinary plants. Sensing the danger, they automatically retreated, and even the vines wrapped around the car slowly pulled back, leaving behind the poisoned companions and moving away.
(Chapter End)