Chapter 1503: Convincing Through Strength
However, Shaka's action did not succeed. Before he could touch the door, he was blocked by an invisible barrier, and the powerful rebound force, whether real or fake, knocked him dizzy, as if his consciousness had been momentarily pulled away. By the time he steadied himself and came back to his senses, he found the person in his hands was gone. Turning around, he saw Xu Huo standing behind the mayor, one hand resting on his shoulder in a threatening manner.
"He's just a person without consciousness!" Shaka's voice was somewhat urgent. "You don't need to target him. This matter was mishandled by me. If you want to settle it, come at me!"
Xu Huo stared fixedly at him. "Is he really the mayor of Central City?"
Shaka steadied his tone. "Yes. He once turned the tide in a city war, but later lost control of his power, causing brain damage. He can only live like this now. This is something known to the high-level officials of Central City, but he will always be our mayor."
Xu Huo refrained from judging their decision to place this super evolver, who was like a living corpse, here. However, judging from the old man's condition, the people of Central City had taken good care of him.
After a pause, he said, "It seems Central City really doesn't have any B-level players."
Otherwise, they would have shown up by now.
But if they could lure the player into the previous metal building or the mayor's room, it could indeed achieve a similar effect. Moreover, for players in Zone 026, mental interference was like an overwhelming force. Not to mention being proficient, the vast majority might never have even encountered it.
Shaka didn't think he could fool Xu Huo. A super evolver's grasp of their surroundings was on a completely different level from ordinary players, and Xu Huo was a spatial evolver at that. Anywhere he had been, even underground spaces could be found out. That was why he took the risk to come to the mayor—because after the mayor lost control, his spiritual world became unstable, making it harder to detect...
He just hadn't expected Xu Huo to progress faster than he had thought.
"Have you been to other settlements?" Xu Huo suddenly asked.
Shaka didn't understand why, but Xu Huo continued, "I heard that settlements are separated by dried-up oceans, making transportation difficult and leaving little contact between them. Do you think other settlements have B-level players?"
Zone 026 was indeed poor. Settlement 01 couldn't even produce a single B-level player, but that didn't guarantee there would never be one here. While there were no suitable means of transportation now, it didn't mean there wouldn't be items in the future that could easily cross the ocean.
Due to resource competition, the cities within Settlement 01 were in a competitive relationship, but that might not always be the case. Enemies weren't necessarily forever enemies. Similarly, people and matters that seemed unrelated to oneself might not remain so forever.
Just like Xu Huo.
He had only come to Central City on a whim. If Settlement 01 had a sufficient number of experienced B-level players, he wouldn't be able to control the situation so easily.
Of course, Central City still had its strength.
Shaka understood his meaning. After a moment, he said, "What exactly do you gain from doing this?"
He didn't believe someone like Xu Huo was seeking some kind of psychological comfort. It could only be for some purpose, but Zone 026 truly didn't have much value...
"Not everything needs to be held accountable," Xu Huo said, looking at him. "Can you make decisions on Central City's affairs?"
"I have a say," Shaka said, glancing again at the mayor. "As long as it doesn't harm Central City's interests, I can persuade other players to increase the water supply to other cities."
Xu Huo nodded slightly. "That's good."
"Can you give him back to me now?" Shaka couldn't help but ask. Seeing no objection, he prepared to step forward and take the mayor away. But just as he lifted his foot, his vision blurred. When he came to his senses again, he found himself still half-crouching on the ground, with the mayor still sitting in front of him, not having moved at all.
He abruptly turned his head to look at the person behind him. Shock and admiration instantly transformed into a deep shudder. He, also a B-level player and super evolver, had unknowingly entered someone else's spiritual world!
Such traceless influence, without even arousing his vigilance from start to finish... Shaka's back went cold. The superiority and confidence brought by super evolution were shattered in an instant.
At that moment, he truly realized that Xu Huo had indeed come for negotiation.
In reality, Shaka had fallen into his own trap. It wasn't that Xu Huo's mental interference on him was completely traceless, but because the mayor's chaotic power was uncontrollable, creating a confusing sense of indistinguishability.
On the other side of the wall, Ji Minzhang and the others weren't so easy to control. After all, with so many B-level players present, if he had faked a "Shaka" to go out and meet them, it would have been easily seen through. So he only tampered with the timer.
However, after waiting this long, Ji Minzhang was getting impatient and had knocked on the door twice from outside.
"Knock, knock, knock!" Another knock sounded, and he raised his voice, "Shaka, if you don't come out, we're coming in!"
"Could something have happened?" someone beside him said.
Ji Minzhang frowned and was about to enter when the door opened from the inside just as he reached out. Shaka walked out, followed by Xu Huo. He said, "Call all the core personnel to the office building for a meeting."
Ji Minzhang's expression darkened sharply. After several changes in his eyes, he was about to say something, but Shaka interrupted him first, "Call everyone first. We'll vote on any matters."
Ji Minzhang stared at him directly, then shifted his gaze to Xu Huo behind him. With a cold laugh, he turned and left.
More than half of Central City's government personnel were players, and the players held the power of speech. When Shaka proposed increasing the water supply to other cities, almost everyone present strongly opposed it.
Ji Minzhang propped his feet up on the office desk, lazily saying, "Shaka, you may be a super evolver, but Central City isn't your one-man show. You can't just do whatever you want."
Shaka frowned at him. "That's why I brought it up for discussion. Also, this is a meeting. Take your feet off."
Half the people in the meeting room stared at Shaka, and the other half stared at Ji Minzhang. After a tense standoff, Ji Minzhang finally backed down. He sat up straight and turned his spearhead back on Shaka. "I'm very curious. How did that friend of yours from outside the zone convince you to voluntarily sacrifice Central City's interests for the sake of others?"
"This is also for Central City's future," Shaka said, looking around at everyone. "You saw what happened today. To be honest, even the mayor and I combined are no match for him. If we go to war, our losses will be severe."
"I'm not exaggerating. Choose between losing troops and generals, or sharing the water."