Chapter 1409: Farewell If Fate Allows
Xu Huo told Bai Jing the locations of the twelve children and added, "Have your people withdraw from the city as soon as possible. There's a toxic gas leak at the pharmaceutical factory. If an explosion occurs, the consequences will be unpredictable."
Bai Jing thanked him and immediately arranged for people to retrieve the children. He then asked, "Is the person in that video from the pharmaceutical factory the force behind the New District Government?"
"What good would knowing do?" Xu Huo glanced at him. "That place is different from this temporarily established district government. Even if you go there, you won't be able to do anything. The new city has been destroyed, and the people who evacuated are just short of fresh raw materials to cultivate new clones."
"They won't have any more raw materials." Several more players approached the area. The man at the front removed his mask, revealing his true face—he was Mr. Chi, who had met Xu Huo and the others in the ruined city before.
"Thank you," Mr. Chi said, bowing deeply to Xu Huo before continuing, "The Ya clan has been persecuted for twenty years. We also want to know the truth, no matter how much or how little."
"I definitely don't know more than you do," Xu Huo said. "My original purpose in coming here was to track down a person. The video material I released at the pharmaceutical factory was something I brought with me. Did you notice the reaction of the new city government?"
"There should be a connection between the two. But now that many of the new city's clones have been killed by you, if they can no longer continue cultivating clones, my business here is done."
"As for the rest, since you've destroyed the New District Government, you should have obtained some concrete evidence. Those things are more convincing than my speculations."
Mr. Chi was silent for a moment before saying, "You are an admirable and respectable person. The Ya clan will not forget your kindness."
He handed over a diamond-shaped seal. "This is a token of the Ya clan. With this item, no matter where you are, the Ya clan will regard you as one of their own."
Xu Huo initially intended to refuse, but after a moment's thought, he accepted it. After reminding them again to leave quickly, he headed to the cold storage where the nutrient solution was stored.
A massive container sat in the center of the cold storage, and workers in protective suits were continuously decanting the nutrient solution from the large container into smaller tanks.
Xu Huo did nothing else but pour a small bottle of E-grade venom into the large container.
His goal was to contaminate the nutrient solution. Whether the contaminated solution was eventually consumed by clones or detected in tests, it would at least render useless a large batch of the nutrient solution that had already been successfully taken away.
Of course, how effective this would be in the end depended on luck. As long as the source of raw materials for clones was cut off, the clones that had already been taken away were merely consumables.
Thinking of the medicine that the Ya clan had to take at regular intervals... they should have realized by now how to completely change the Ya clan's predicament. Once the Ya clan, as raw materials, adapted to that trace toxin and passed it down through generations, even if the New District Government was rebuilt later, the tragedy of the Ya clan would not repeat itself.
Looking back at the liquid rolling inside the container, Xu Huo only paused briefly before going to rendezvous with Eshu.
Eshu was also struggling to hold on, after all, the players from the district government were not weak. If it weren't for the Gentleman player's jammer having a certain repelling effect against other jammers, relying solely on the Spiritual Realm wouldn't have lasted until now.
"I thought this favor would be easy to repay," Eshu said, clutching his chest as he sat down to rest. "The old injuries haven't healed yet, and now there are new ones. I won't be able to recover without resting for at least ten days to half a month."
"A few injuries are a small matter." Xu Huo took the jammer from his hand. "Think about it—you're doing a good deed."
Eshu let out a scornful laugh, too lazy to even engage with the topic of "good deeds."
"Consider this favor repaid. From now on, we owe each other nothing," he said.
"No problem," Xu Huo nodded, then paused before adding, "But I have news about the Magician. Do you want to hear it?"
Eshu had also seen the video from the 001 District Fresh Flower City. He said, "I've been to Card City."
Xu Huo smiled. "The Card Maze is most likely the Magician's instance. Since the instance is still open, he might be in the 001 District as well."
"The instance might have been created by the Magician, but that doesn't mean it can't change hands," Eshu said. "The Magician has been missing for many years... A more reliable rumor is that he's actually dead. Otherwise, there wouldn't have been no news of him for so long."
"Don't be so pessimistic," Xu Huo countered. "An A-grade player going silent doesn't necessarily mean he's dead. Maybe he's upgraded to an S-grade player somewhere."
"No super evolver matching his characteristics has appeared in the game over the past decade." Eshu had clearly considered this possibility before.
Xu Huo said no more. After receiving messages from Li Kun and Qiu Ming, he indicated that matters in the new city could be wrapped up.
"There are still quite a few robots left outside. Enough to blow up the city again," Eshu said. "It's a bit wasteful, though."
"All the robots have self-destruct devices anyway. We can't take them with us." Xu Huo pressed the controller, and as the sounds of explosions rose outside, he solemnly extended his hand. "Thank you for your help this time. Until we meet again."
Eshu lifted his eyelids to glance at him, then stood up and shook his hand. "Goodbye."
The two left the underground structure one after the other. Eshu headed directly for the station, while Xu Huo used a prop to leave the city. After rendezvousing with Qiu Ming, Dai Song, and the others, he drove away from the New District Government city, which was now echoing with continuous explosions.
At that moment, the sun was setting in the west, but thick black smoke billowed over the new city. As the explosions gradually diminished, flames burst forth from the city, momentarily driving back the evening glow on the horizon.
"When we arrived, it was a proper city. I never thought it would be burned clean to the ground when we left," Qiu Ming said, gazing in the direction of the city with emotion.
"This is called just retribution," Cao Qinglin said. "If they had done fewer bad things in the first place, today's fire wouldn't have happened."
"Who can really say what's good and what's bad?" Qiu Ming remarked. "I saw many laboratories filled with medals for conquering diseases. Perhaps in their eyes, what they were doing was actually a good thing."
At the very least, it showed that this city wasn't completely steeped in sin.
"Don't overthink it," Xu Huo said at that moment. "Good and evil aren't decided by anyone's single word."
Good and bad merely intertwined, pushing each other forward.
After safely arriving at the next city without any government players in pursuit, Xu Huo handed over the medicine and some materials to Dai Song and Dr. Duo Er.
"Let's part ways here," Xu Huo said.
Dr. Duo Er and Dai Song were nearly in tears as they took the items. The latter said, "Mr. Xu, I will remember this kindness. If there ever comes a day when you need me to do something, I, Dai Song, won't even furrow my brow!"
"Alright." Xu Huo also settled accounts with Qiu Ming and Cao Qinglin. He looked around at everyone and smiled slightly. "Everyone, farewell if fate allows."