Chapter 1408: Reliable Companions
E Shu was a very reliable partner. After swapping to the face the Gentleman player had used earlier, he smoothly sent off two B-level players who had already approached them before leaving the instance.
Xu Huo trapping the Gentleman player in the instance was a high-risk choice. First, a D-level instance itself wasn't secure enough—both he as the instance holder and the instance venue could be destroyed by high-level players from the District Government, and the more advanced players entered, the higher the risk.
The New District Government City had fallen into chaos, but the main force stalling the government players was the robots. Once the Gentleman player lost control, only the Ya Clan and outer-zone players remained in the city, plus perhaps a very small number of 023-zone players. A few scattered cats and dogs weren't even enough to fill the gaps—the District Government could quickly regain control.
Whether they stabilized the overall situation or attacked on two fronts, the worst-case scenario for Xu Huo was the District Government sending a new A-level player into the instance. After all, dozens of people and the player who caused this chaos were all in the same instance. To minimize losses, sending in an A-level player to clean things up was the most economical move, and it wouldn't interfere with the pharmaceutical factory.
He had deliberately thrown out a player carrying a pathogen earlier mainly to buy time. A pathogen that couldn't be dealt with quickly would, first, add to the chaos, and second, make any government players who might enter the instance hesitate, thus prolonging their preparation time—at least until the Gentleman player was dead and they had the jammer.
Xu Huo had previously considered that the Gentleman player might deliberately destroy the jammer. If that happened, almost nothing he planned to do afterward could be accomplished. That was why, during their conversation, he had downplayed his concern about the restaurant owner's situation. He hadn't expected the other party to be so cooperative.
Whatever the reason, his goal was achieved. Once E Shu got out, he could maximally distract the District Government players. Hopefully, that would give Xu Huo enough time to close the instance.
Thanks to the Gentleman player spreading poison everywhere, the pathogen had already begun multiplying in every corner of the hospital. Although only a few people had been infected, it was enough to create immense psychological pressure on the rest.
In this environment, forget about trying to complete the tasks assigned by their superiors—running too slow was already a disservice to themselves. The players began focusing entirely on clearing the instance.
So Xu Huo called them into the psychotherapy room.
He didn't show himself personally; instead, the "doctors" that were supposed to exist in the hospital conducted psychological interventions on them.
The higher the evolution rate, the more stable a player's mental state—this was a general rule. Even in an instance like a mental hospital, their mental states were relatively good. When undergoing "treatment," they could even turn the tables and extract information from the "doctors."
Without their knowledge, a critical battle had already ended in the hospital. As long as no one forcibly destroyed the hospital now, the problems were manageable.
Injecting patients with "new medication" was a normal "medical procedure," even if the patients didn't cooperate.
However, before Xu Huo could drag over the most mentally stable players one by one for injections, some players had already cleared the instance. They had stolen the "important pathogen samples" that Xu Huo had moved from Building 3 to the dean's office, and two others had found the hospital's main gate and completed the "cleanup."
With dozens of people sharing information, even those who had fallen into the hospital's mental traps could get out easily as long as they still realized they were there to clear the instance.
But some players who had already been infected with the pathogen had little chance of survival even if they got out.
Additionally, Xu Huo had "kept" two players who had attacked the "doctors." After dealing with them, there were no other living players left in the instance. He went to the children's rooms, put on the protective suits he had temporarily bought for them, sent them out, then closed the instance and returned to the pharmaceutical factory.
Inside the pharmaceutical factory, it had long become an ocean of toxins. When Xu Huo came out, a robot's eyes flickered, catching his attention before leading him forward down the corridor. About fifty meters away, a large hole had been opened in the ground, leading straight down, with robots already setting up a ladder.
Below was the laboratory. The twelve children in protective suits stood obediently together as he had instructed. Xu Huo brought them out and said to the robot beside him, "Find a safe route out."
"The District Government's main force has already been drawn to Century Building," E Shu's voice came through the robot. "The clones you mentioned—a batch died earlier, but most have probably been sent away. There are traces of two large-scale teleportation devices being destroyed here."
"Also, there's a piece of news you might be interested in," he continued. "When I took over the robot control system just now, there was a newly uploaded piece of information. The District Government has a batch of clone nutrient fluid that hasn't been shipped out yet. That nutrient fluid seems to be made from decomposed human blood, and there's currently no raw material left."
"What do you think? Want to destroy it together?"
Xu Huo thought for a moment and asked, "How much time is left?"
"They've switched to using players for transport. At most ten minutes, and the last freezer's nutrient fluid will be fully packaged."
"Send me the location." Xu Huo said quickly, then led the robots carrying the children out of the pharmaceutical factory.
The pharmaceutical factory was no longer the epicenter of the chaos. Most of the government players who had come out first had already left, with only a few remaining to monitor the factory's condition, since the internal toxic gas had already leaked and there was a risk of explosion at any moment.
"Six robots spotted, carrying items concealed by invisibility props..." One of them quickly noticed the situation, but before he could approach to check, Xu Huo had already arrived behind him, neatly snapped his neck, and informed the others that everything was normal.
Tossing aside the communicator, Xu Huo tried to contact Bai Jing. The communicator didn't connect. Recalling E Shu's mention of the destroyed teleportation devices, he had the robots take the children to hide in a relatively remote spot while he moved closer to Century Building.
Century Building had long since collapsed. The surrounding structures had been washed over twice by the explosions of the devices, leaving two overlapping craters on the ground. The sounds now were mostly government players consuming robots, with almost no other players in sight.
Looking at the underground structure shrouded in spiritual power and the government players constantly trying to enter, Xu Huo paused briefly before finding two Ya Clan members who had hidden themselves.
The two were heavily injured. When they saw him suddenly appear, they nearly stood up to fight to the death. Xu Huo didn't waste words. "Where is Bai Jing? Weren't you looking for the Ya Clan children? Can you spare people to pick them up?"
"You found them?" A figure quickly swept over from a distance—it was Bai Jing. He had lost his left arm, but his condition was still decent. Upon arriving, he didn't even care about his own injuries and immediately pressed, "How many are there? Where are they?"