Chapter 1540: Important People and Hope
The scene was not a pretty one.
More than half of the people rushing over were cannibal players. Killing and chaos were their pursuits, and Zone 017 happened to be an ideal venue to vent their murderous desires. They didn't care at all whether they could snatch super items, and probably didn't care whether this trip would turn a profit. They looked like a pack of beasts in human skin.
When they entered the hundred-meter range, the two players at the front suddenly stopped, as if they had just noticed that there was another player standing in front of that group of ordinary people. They stared at Xu Huo, raised a hand, and waved it to the side, signaling him to move aside.
Xu Huo didn't leave. Instead, he imitated their gesture and waved his hand back, telling them to get lost.
"Ha!" the tongue-pierced man laughed. "I'd like to see if your bones are harder than your mouth!"
Whether Xu Huo's bones were hard remained to be seen, but his own bones weren't necessarily so. However, after taking just a few steps forward, the man's body scattered and fell to the ground in pieces, the light and airy manner not even splashing a single drop of water, as if what had been cut apart wasn't a person, but a fragile object.
It was as easy for a player to kill an ordinary person as it was for a player to kill another player.
Blood traced a few brief lines in the air before fading away, but none of the players behind the tongue-pierced man dared to step forward again.
Under the tense gazes of the crowd, Xu Huo raised his hand again and brushed it to the side.
This time, the few people opposite him didn't dare to shout anymore. They obediently made way.
"Buy a few container items and take them to other districts," Xu Huo said, turning to the players behind him. "Zone 017 probably can't be saved."
This was even more despairing than watching the city turn into a sea of fire. Zone 017 being unsalvageable meant that staying here meant only death, and leaving Zone 017 wasn't easy either. There weren't even enough players here to transport the people. Moreover, which district would unconditionally accept so many ordinary people? As the lowest of the low in the game, leaving Zone 017 might mean becoming targets of enslavement!
Of course, they would have to find that answer themselves. Under the current circumstances, the Zone 017 government was probably already working on personnel transfers.
Seeing that he was about to leave, it was the fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl who spoke up again. "Wait! I haven't given you the gold I promised!"
Xu Huo gave a slight smile. "Players are generally adults. The game has almost never absorbed minors. Don't pretend to be a child; it will only backfire."
With the girl's player identity exposed, the few players accompanying her group immediately shielded her, signaling her to leave quickly.
But the girl calmly negotiated terms with Xu Huo. "We can't get far on our own. We might run into mutant groups. I want to hire you to escort us to the capital safe zone. Once we get there, I can give you three A-grade items."
This was no small offer. Xu Huo asked her, "What makes you think the government will pay out those three A-grade items?"
"My grandfather is the highest leader of Country A. If I promise something, he will definitely help me get it done." The girl stared intently at his face, watching for any change in expression. "Zone 017 doesn't have A-grade players, but that doesn't mean there are no A-grade items. If Zone 017 is really going to be destroyed, the players who survive will take all their assets and leave, never leaving them for players from other zones!"
"Also, if you can help me rescue one more person in the AS9 safe zone, I promise to add two more items. I mean what I say. If you don't get the items when you reach the capital safe zone, you can take me as a hostage."
This statement, let alone for players, even the ordinary people standing beside the girl thought she was being delusional. Trying to get a high-level player to serve her with just a promise? Were players from other zones that easygoing? No one was a fool.
Besides, wasn't she afraid that someone would skip the middle steps and just take her directly to the capital safe zone to demand the items?
The girl was clearly prepared. She pulled open her clothes to reveal a fresh scar on her chest. "A micro bomb is sewn inside. It can be remotely detonated. I might not be able to escape from you, but the moment I become a hostage, someone will press the button! Then you'll get nothing!"
"Helping me get A-grade items versus fighting other high-level players for them—the former should be much simpler!"
A micro bomb wouldn't change much, but it did show the girl's determination.
Xu Huo paused for a moment, then asked, "Under such dangerous circumstances, you still came to the AS9 safe zone to find someone. Who are you looking for?"
"Only by telling the truth is there a chance of getting help."
The girl bit her lip. After a long while, she said, "I can tell you alone."
Xu Huo nodded. He casually moved the players guarding her aside, pulled her close, and used a defense item to isolate them from the outside.
After showing a silencing item, he said, "You can speak now."
The girl also put on a silencing item and cautiously covered her mouth with her hand. "We decoded a chip."
"A chip dug out of a big-headed mutant?" Xu Huo raised an eyebrow.
The girl was surprised for a moment, then quickly said, "That's right. The chip contains some experimental data that can prove someone deliberately released mutants into Zone 017 to create a testing ground."
"Is there anything else? Like mutation data from the test subjects?" Xu Huo asked.
The girl hesitated. "The data hasn't been fully decoded yet. We only know part of it."
Xu Huo looked down at her. "I'll give you one more chance. Don't lie."
The girl panicked and tried to defend herself, but he interrupted her first. "The mutant groups appearing in Zone 017 can only be man-made. The game will only default to Zone 017 becoming a mutant breeding ground. The evidence you mentioned doesn't mean much, unless the chip contains other, more important content. Otherwise, it wouldn't be worth the risk of cooperating with a player from another zone."
"Or rather, what you're looking for isn't the person who decoded the chip or the chip data, but something else entirely."
Unexpectedly, after hearing this, the girl became very calm. She didn't avoid Xu Huo's gaze and said sincerely, "What I said is indeed true. The chip really hasn't been fully decoded. But the person who decoded it is very important. He is the first and only player in our country with an abnormally evolved brain after Zone 017 began evolving. Someone has already taken the chips worn by the mutants to other districts to find people to decode them, but so far, there's been no news. Yet he managed to extract part of the data using a decoding instrument bought from the game that was almost obsolete."
"He is our hope. His life is more important than anyone else's in Zone 017. I am willing to take this risk."
At this point, a bone-deep hatred burst from the girl's eyes. "It was the game that turned my country into this. The chips also came from the game. If we can't even break through this technological barrier, how can we ever take revenge!"
Xu Huo's expression didn't change. "You said he's a player?"
(End of Chapter)