Chapter 1398: Even in a Place of Heinous Crimes, There Are Good People
Xu Huo had originally followed the district government players to the vicinity of the factory. He only transferred here after discovering that "A Thousand Miles of Fate Connected by a Single Thread" was linked to this maternal and infant product factory. He never expected to find not only the Ya clan people hiding here, but also Qiu Ming and Cao Qinglin, who had gotten separated from him on the Stairway to Heaven.
Qiu Ming and Cao Qinglin had no idea so many people were hiding in the factory. Upon seeing Xu Huo, they first breathed a sigh of relief, then quickly adjusted their stance, watching the cargo container area warily.
Bai Jing and several players walked out. The people behind him were likely Ya clan members with altered appearances. After all, standing together, they were easy to distinguish by their eyes alone.
"Miss Cao's guess is correct. The Ya clan and the people controlling the robots are probably not working together," Xu Huo said expressionlessly. "Otherwise, their first target would have been the district government's management and laboratory personnel."
Sensing extreme hostility in Xu Huo's words, Bai Jing frowned and explained, "The Ya clan wouldn't do something so morally bankrupt."
"Why did you arrive at the new district government city ahead of schedule?" Xu Huo remained standing where he was, watching them.
Bai Jing was not weak in strength and could already feel the clear danger. He tentatively touched the air in front of him, but a thread as thin as a razor blade, appearing out of nowhere, sliced through his prop. The blade appeared only for an instant, a flash of cold light passing without even a tremor.
Moreover, the prop's manifestation was not due to his own prop, but because the person controlling it had deliberately revealed it to him.
"Don't move!" Bai Jing immediately warned his companions behind him, then looked at Xu Huo.
"The distance between us is at least thirty meters. A space barrier can be infinitely stacked at this range. Your space evolution won't work," Xu Huo said. "As for the others, if anyone dares to move, the tangent lines distributed among you will activate. Let's see if your movements are faster than mine."
"Everyone, stay still!" Bai Jing warned his companions again. "This person is not only skilled in space ray control, but also a formidable Mental Super Evolver!"
A flicker of caution finally appeared in the group's eyes. Though they hadn't abandoned their intentions, they no longer dared to use their props.
After a pause, Bai Jing said, "We really don't know the players inside the pharmaceutical factory. However, we have companions who saw that person in a city near the new city while passing through. He should have come out of an instance."
"Sunshine City?" Xu Huo interjected.
"No, it was Dedication City," Bai Jing said. "When he came out of the instance, he opened the main gate. The instance was called Bauhinia Flower Restaurant."
Bauhinia Flower Restaurant had indeed appeared in Dedication City. Xu Huo said nothing, waiting for him to continue.
"Generally, players who come out of random instances are local players. It's rare for players from other districts to change locations after finishing an instance. We suspected he might be an instance holder, so we kept an eye on him. Later, we found out he had arrived at the new city."
Whether the Ya clan had intended to come to the new district government city all along or had truly followed that player here, Xu Huo didn't care. He asked, "What are his distinguishing features?"
"He was very well-dressed. His shoes were probably props, the soles spotless without a speck of dust. The buttons on his clothes were a type of expensive black gemstone." Bai Jing also added a description of the person's appearance.
Appearance was no longer important. Xu Huo had already matched this person to the gentleman player who had tricked him in the Bauhinia Flower Restaurant. The details Bai Jing provided all aligned.
The gentleman player definitely wasn't an instance holder; otherwise, High Heels wouldn't have been hunting him. Yet he had repeatedly claimed that the restaurant owner had entrusted him with a task. Combined with his ability to transfer game districts, what sounded like a random fabrication now seemed somewhat credible.
Entrusted with a task, and that task was to destroy the new district government city?
After a slight pause, Xu Huo withdrew "All Things Want to Cut Everything" and signaled that they could leave.
Regarding the grievances between Zone 023 and the Ya clan, he had already heard Bai Jing's account before. Since the Ya clan had appeared here, they must have found some key evidence, or they wouldn't have risked destroying the laboratory. The Ya clan had suffered a tragedy first, so it was naturally impossible to ask them to forget past grievances. Not kicking someone when they were down was already a sign of high moral character.
"Many of the people who died here today seem innocent, but everything they eat and drink is built on the flesh and blood of my Ya clan," Bai Jing couldn't help but say before leaving. "Do you know how many laboratories and underground factories involved in live human experiments we've discovered so far? Twenty. And from the bills found in some labs, the number of laboratories involved far exceeds these few. How many cities has the new district government established in total? And yet there are that many live human laboratories!"
"If you find any place where young Ya clan members are being held, please, if possible, let us know."
Young Ya clan members.
Bai Jing made it even clearer. "A person working in the lab, out of conscience, passed us a message. The new district government city used captured adult Ya clan members to produce a batch of infants. Those children have now grown up."
"Even in a place as heinous as this, there are still good people. It's both pitiful and lamentable."
"You're not a Ya clan member." After a moment, Xu Huo said this.
"I wasn't before, but I am now." Bai Jing finished speaking and left without looking back with his companions.
"Sincerity really is a killer move..." After a few breaths, Qiu Ming let out a long sigh. "Not being a Ya clan member but still willing to risk life and limb for them—that must be a saint!"
"Not necessarily," Cao Qinglin maintained her usual cautious attitude. "Some people end up believing their own words after saying them enough times."
"At least they've shown their stance," Qiu Ming said. "Even if they don't seem like a proper person."
They hadn't encountered Bai Jing on the train. If they had, they would know that the current Bai Jing seemed much more normal.
"What potion did you get?" Xu Huo returned to his original question.
Having dealt with him before, the two were relatively trusting. Qiu Ming immediately brought out a box. "We just grabbed whatever we could find in the lab. They're labeled B-grade and A-grade. We don't know exactly what they are. Why, do you need them?"
Xu Huo had already asked Dr. Duo Er for a potion list. After comparing, he found that about a dozen of them were on the list. The others had similar serial numbers, possibly upgrades or other variants of the same potion. Regardless, he could collect them all.
So he asked how many boxes of such potions there were and offered to buy them all at five hundred thousand per box.
"Seriously buying?" Qiu Ming was surprised. "Although these potions have high grades, they might just be some base solutions that aren't very useful for players. They could even be cough medicine!"
"Some of them might be effective against the Twin Cities' genetic disease." Xu Huo copied the potion list for them. "Look for the ones on this list. Both the old versions and upgrades are fine. I'll buy as many as you can find."
(Chapter End)