Chapter 1538: The Observer and the Paper Servant Master
Appearances can be disguised, but a person's eyes are difficult to change. The old woman's eyes, weathered by the vicissitudes of life, held expectation and hope for the younger generation. She smiled, gesturing for him to take the ticket.
Xu Huo extended both hands and received it solemnly.
Neither side said anything more. Lady Gong waved her hand and sent him out of Xiaoyue City.
Turning back to glance at the city still engulfed in heavy rain, Xu Huo slightly bowed his head in respect, then prepared to leave.
"Mr. Xu!" Just as he turned around, someone called out from a distance. The voice wasn't unfamiliar, but he had no intention of responding. He cast a glance at the "begging" trio chasing after him and used the "End-to-End Linking Ring" to quickly shuttle to the next city.
To avoid unnecessary trouble, he changed his face again and altered his appearance. Unexpectedly, as soon as he entered this blighted city, he was already being watched.
Normally, for players encountered by chance on the road, the colored numbers above their heads would constantly fluctuate, frequently switching between "Killable Target" and "Stranger." This was common because most players who had never met before would randomly select targets—if there was profit to be made, they might give it a try; if the risk seemed too high, they would simply give up. District 017 was full of opportunities; there was no need to fixate on every person they saw.
But the few people following him this time were very special. Their numbers were basically all below "5," and their emotional coloring was weak, indicating neither friendliness nor hostility.
After the trait "Good Friends Rate It" evolved into "Emotional Coloring," Xu Huo could not only judge others' attention toward him by the size of the numbers but also gained a new color change that intuitively displayed a person's current emotions toward him.
From past experience, "5" was a standard number. Due to the occupational trait of "Passerby A," he was very easily forgotten. People who could remember him and had a certain degree of attention toward him usually had numbers above "5." Numbers below that generally indicated strangers who had brushed past him and would soon forget.
When he changed direction, he deliberately checked. All four maintained a "3," and the number color was singular, as if they had absolutely no emotion toward him at all.
This was too strange. Even the "begging" trio who had tested him earlier didn't have such a pure color toward him—it was as if they were emotionally deficient.
The occupational trait had never been wrong since the day it was developed. The problem most likely lay with those four stalkers.
Under what circumstances would a person have a minuscule yet abnormally persistent focus on another?
When this thought flashed through his mind, Xu Huo suddenly thought of a possibility. He pretended to have just discovered he was being followed, abruptly turning back to glare sharply at the people behind him.
The four had no intention of dodging. After being discovered, they simply stopped in place. Four people, four faces, staring at him with the same expression, the same gaze, without even a fluctuation in emotion. The numbers above their heads were as steady as a mountain.
The feigned retreat didn't work, so Xu Huo directly attacked. But unexpectedly, when he moved in front of one of them, the person suddenly vanished from the air!
The black blade slashed through the spot where the man had just stood. After a two-second pause, the vanished person reappeared beside another tracker, maintaining the same state as the other three while staring at him.
Xu Huo paused, then attacked the other three in the same way. All three reacted like the first—when attacked, they disappeared from their spot, only to reappear elsewhere two seconds later. Long-range props and traits were almost entirely ineffective, as if the four people he faced weren't real humans.
But judging by their physical signs, they were indeed living people.
It was certain they were using props or instruments with spatial power, because when it activated, the people directly vanished from space. The "Cube Space" fluctuated but didn't merge with their rays.
He tried four times without success.
Moreover, when he attempted to attack one of them, the other three kept their eyes fixed on him, not shifting for their companion or the prop's transfer. Their target seemed to be only him.
Xu Huo finally stopped his probing actions. He took two chips dug out from the body of the "Wisdom Xenomorph" from his luggage compartment. At this, the four people's eyes slightly moved away from his face, looking at the chips in his hand.
Tossing the small chips up and down, Xu Huo spoke, "Is this what you want?"
The four didn't respond. After a brief distraction, their eyes returned to him.
Xu Huo's gaze darkened. He understood that he had probably become an observation target for these people—only toward experimental subjects would one produce such a completely indifferent attitude. So these four looked at him and the xenomorphs without any difference.
He didn't understand why they didn't directly snatch back the chips, but he guessed these chips were still relatively important items, otherwise they wouldn't have traveled so far to chase him.
Gripping the chips, just as he hesitated whether to crush them, the four suddenly looked up in unison toward the other end of the city, then instantly vanished from their spots.
Xu Huo paused, then turned to look. Two or three seconds later, a dark, wall-like mass rolled in from that side of the sky, moving rapidly toward the city.
But upon closer inspection, one could see that the surging mass was a large amount of paper scraps. As it tumbled, one or two people of unknown fate could occasionally be seen swept past, rolling around like they were caught in a washing machine.
Before Xu Huo could turn around, a man in an old leather coat, with a full beard and hair covering his eyes, appeared before him.
Well, now there was no need to leave.
The Paper Servant Master sized him up with gray pupils, "Didn't expect you were still alive."
Back then, he had thrown the "Paper Airplane" into the Square Palace City Instance, triggering a battle between him and the Box Carrier. So the Paper Servant Master thought he had died.
But he didn't bother about Xu Huo using him to deal with the Box Carrier. Instead, he asked if Xu Huo had run into any Holy Sword Society people.
The Paper Servant Master had been harassed by the Holy Sword Society ever since obtaining the relics of the Field Battle Angel. Since Clown City, he had occasionally sought trouble with the Holy Sword Society. Coincidentally, since he was in District 017 this time, he had nothing better to do than take out a group of Holy Sword Society members who were causing chaos.
Xu Huo gave him two addresses, obtained from the belongings of Holy Sword Society members he had killed earlier. "The Holy Sword Society has setups in these two places."
After saying that, he mentioned the split within the Holy Sword Society.
The Paper Servant Master stroked his chin, "The old Holy Sword Society at least did some good things."
He wasn't a man of many words and had no real connection with Xu Huo. He had only shown up because of the "Field Battle Angel" and the "Paper Airplane." He was about to leave with the massive cloud of paper scraps, but before going, he offered a reminder:
"The Box Carrier is also in District 017."
(End of Chapter)