Chapter 1344: Plan to Occupy the District
"I have it, no problem." Xu Huo responded, looking at Dai Song. "As you said, we'll reach the Tian Tian Fruit Forest before midnight and rest there."
Dai Song had nothing to say to that.
What followed was similar to before—every so often, they had to deal with bizarre mutant plants and animals. This not only consumed props but also drained the group's energy. The prolonged high alert and combat left everyone exhausted. However, Xu Huo had already instructed Cao Qinglin not to intervene, letting her sit back like Dr. Duo Er.
Just before one in the morning, they finally arrived at the Tian Tian Fruit Forest.
The forest was naturally not small. Dai Song mentioned there was a picking garden inside, originally built for tourists. A few years ago, when Twin Cities explored the Stairway to Heaven, they reinforced the picking garden, which should provide temporary shelter.
"If it's still needed," he added.
"My location prop isn't high-level, so entering the picking garden would be better." Xu Huo had the household robot drive the vehicle into the garden.
But Dai Song had been too modest. The so-called "reinforcement" was merely iron bars added to the glass windows and some haphazardly nailed boards on the walls—more for psychological comfort. The outer fence of the picking garden was completely destroyed, and part of the accommodation wall had collapsed. Only a relatively spacious empty dining hall remained undamaged by the alien species.
Location props worked best in open spaces, and the "Only Entrance" also had a dining hall and kitchen, so Xu Huo chose the spot in front of the picking garden, positioning the entrance arch facing outward.
The vehicle was also driven into the "Only Entrance." Seeing that the tools inside were fairly complete and the doorway could block odors from escaping easily, Xu Huo was satisfied.
"I'll handle the cooking," Gou Wu immediately said. "Fighting tooth and nail in the game, I'll make everyone a good meal!"
Xu Huo readily handed him the pig leg to prepare, then gestured for Cao Qinglin and Dr. Duo Er to sit at the same table while he sat at the adjacent one.
The aroma of food soon wafted out. Fan Zhigang's table received a pot. Cao Qinglin cooperated with Xu Huo, first seeking his gaze for approval, then picking up her chopsticks only after he nodded. Dr. Duo Er wasn't stupid either, moving in sync with her.
Fan Zhigang and his two companions had been watching these two. However, they weren't sure who the real "Dr. Duo Er" was. Naturally, the "Dr. Duo Er" Xu Huo's group had picked up might not be genuine either. But if it was, traveling together to the secondary city was a bargain, so there was no need to pry too much.
Thus, both sides enjoyed the meal in harmony.
With the location prop for protection, they could rest for a few more hours before continuing.
Fan Zhigang was quite interested in blade-type props. After the meal, he approached Xu Huo, hoping to borrow his black blade for a look.
Xu Huo took out the black blade named "Indestructible," an A-grade prop. Although it couldn't attack from a distance, it could destroy similar props, and killing a few alien species was as easy as cutting vegetables.
Of course, props like this, which had no activation conditions or special effects, could be used smoothly even by non-holders.
"This is at least a B-grade prop, right?" Fan Zhigang ran his hand over the blade, unable to hide his admiration. "It's beautifully made!"
He then showed Xu Huo his own collection—over a dozen blades, ranging from C-grade to B-grade. But he hadn't dared to use the B-grade one, sealing the edge with materials.
"Were you a doctor before?" Xu Huo asked casually.
Fan Zhigang nodded. "A surgeon. Pretty famous in my hometown. Studied hard for twenty years, was about to make a name for myself, then ended up in the game. Still poor. Accumulating wealth in the game is much harder than working diligently outside."
"Have you looked into the genetic disease at the Spring Bamboo Laboratory?" Xu Huo said. "In other districts, I haven't seen a collective outbreak of genetic illness in one or two places unless there's some local pollution source."
"That's hard to explain," Fan Zhigang agreed. "Besides, I heard the people of Twin Cities migrated from elsewhere later. They were fine originally, but after living in Twin Cities for a few years, they all got sick. Calling it a genetic disease is a bit strange."
"I saw some research materials at the Spring Bamboo Laboratory. Probably these people from District 023 have inherent genetic defects. The natural illusion realm changes in the district are significant, and those living near Twin Cities got sick due to their defects. Even leaving doesn't cure it. Moreover, once the disease appears, it's passed down through generations. Without a fundamental solution, future children will also get sick."
"People from District 023 have genetic defects?" Xu Huo raised an eyebrow. "Is that why District 023 lacks high-level players?"
"Most likely." Fan Zhigang shrugged. "From a doctor's perspective, inferior genes are more prone to elimination than others. District 023 has been in the game for a long time, and reportedly, they can't even find a few native B-grade players, let alone A-grade."
"And they're not united internally," he suddenly shifted to another topic. "When we came from other cities, we saw bounty posters targeting locals—tens of thousands per head, even higher for players. Look, killing their own kind—how can good talent grow?"
"Those people on the bounty list aren't from District 023 at all," Dai Song spoke coldly. "They were the first batch of migrants from other districts. Their own districts disappeared, and District 023 took them in out of goodwill, even allocating land for them to live on. But instead of gratitude, they tried to completely occupy District 023, aiming to replace the original population. To that end, they caused a large-scale evolution event, resulting in the deaths of many District 023 natives."
"Looking at the bounty posters, you can see the clear difference in appearance between them and true District 023 people."
This was the topic he had avoided before, and he added, "We're not having internal strife."
Fan Zhigang wasn't very familiar with this part, so he just shrugged and said nothing more.
As for Xu Huo's group, they each had their own thoughts. Although Mr. Chi and the others they encountered in the desert hadn't spoken explicitly, their attitude matched Dai Song's—they considered themselves the true people of District 023 and denied that residents of cities like Twin Cities belonged there.
Both sides claimed the other was the invader and responsible for the deadly evolution event.
"Is that what you're saying?" Qiu Ming spoke up. "On our way here, we passed a ruined city with many dead. Most of their facial features differed from yours. Since you say they're from outside, why did they suffer so many deaths in the evolution event instead?"
Dai Song was now somewhat angry. "That's because you didn't see the scene where dozens of cities in District 023 lost two-thirds of their population in the same few days. Even killing them all three times over wouldn't be enough to vent our anger!"
(Chapter End)