Chapter 1542: Your Standards for Good People Are Too High
"If you truly have value to the people conducting the experiments, whether you fall into their hands or die, it makes no difference to them."
Xu Huo paused, then added, "A few hours ago, someone tracked me down using these chips."
Before Meng Cun could react, Jin Zi's face changed color instantly, and she immediately reached for a prepared item.
But at such close range, how could Xu Huo let her take out the item? With a flick of his finger, he sealed her inside a space barrier.
"It's only a matter of time before they find us again." Meng Cun sat up, the wires hanging from his head swaying. "Where are you planning to take me?"
"Another district." Xu Huo pointed at his head. "I have a doctor friend who's been researching evolution agents. Maybe he can help solve this problem. While you're being treated, you won't have to enter any instances."
"Do you have a way to get a Gray Player identity?" Meng Cun probed.
"Gray Player is impossible," Xu Huo said, since he couldn't even get one himself. "A Paused Player identity should be fine."
Paused Player identities could be applied for through the district government, with relatively lenient conditions. He had an identity in District 011, so spending some money shouldn't be too difficult.
"Don't believe him!" Jin Zi said anxiously. "Who knows what he'll do to you! What if he's in league with the people who released the xenomorphs? They'll use you as an experiment!"
Meng Cun turned to look at her. "You should have thought of that before bringing him here."
From Jin Zi's perspective, the reason she could unreservedly tell Xu Huo about Meng Cun's situation was twofold. First, she judged that Xu Huo wouldn't be interested in Meng Cun as a person—because even though he was extremely intelligent and sharp-minded, it wasn't a path players could replicate. On the contrary, once most players saw Meng Cun, they would lose interest entirely. This was how the country had abandoned him. A dying man, no matter how smart, what good was he?
If there was no tangible benefit to be gained from Meng Cun, then the A-grade item she had promised was naturally more tempting.
To save Meng Cun, Jin Zi was willing to take this risk. At the same time, she naturally assumed that for a lone player like Xu Huo, an item would be the top priority. Who knew he wouldn't play by the rules!
His interest in the dying Meng Cun surpassing an A-grade item—who else could that be but the people who released the xenomorphs? Would an ordinary C-grade player care about such things?
Meng Cun's attitude left her speechless. Taking a deep breath, she said, "It was my oversight, but you absolutely must not trust him. He talks nicely, but only by going to the capital and having elite players escort you to another district can you be safe!"
Meng Cun couldn't enter the game alone. His condition made him dangerous no matter which district he went to, unless he remained under someone's protection at all times.
"Haven't you figured it out yet?" Compared to Jin Zi's agitation, Meng Cun was very calm. "When you brought the player here, we no longer had a choice. Going with him is the best option."
If the government was willing to arrange elite players to escort him to another district, they wouldn't have waited until now. He had long been abandoned. Even if he went to the capital, he would most likely not be placed on the evacuation list.
Xu Huo's offer to take him to another district for treatment was already an unexpected blessing.
"Fortunately, you didn't find a B-grade or A-grade player." Meng Cun gave Jin Zi a faint smile. "If the player you found was a higher level, they wouldn't be here to see me now—they'd already be holding me hostage in the capital."
The implication was that only a C-grade player would worry about other out-of-district players in the capital. If it were a formidable B-grade or A-grade player, with the capital to match their strength, Jin Zi would have had no choice the moment she revealed her identity.
Jin Zi's expression was pained—disheartened by District 017 and her own situation, but also filled with pity and sympathy for her friend.
"You can look at it from a different angle," Xu Huo interrupted the somber mood. "Maybe this situation is because you were lucky enough to run into a good person."
Jin Zi didn't know what expression to make. Suppressing a sob, she said, "If you're such a good person, why don't you save the innocent people being killed right in front of you?"
"Your standards for good people are too high." Xu Huo stood up and walked to the hospital bed, taking the chips from the terminal device. He added, "Next time you meet a saint, you can ask them that."
Just as he finished speaking, a sharp and powerful surge of energy suddenly erupted within the range covered by "Cube Space." Realizing what was happening, he quickly pulled Meng Cun and Jin Zi into "Staff Dormitory" and used the "End-to-End Ring" to escape from the AS9 Safe Zone.
These two actions were completed almost simultaneously, so in the blink of an eye, Xu Huo had teleported to the next city—a small safe zone adjacent to AS9.
Before his feet even touched the ground, a massive explosion of flames surged toward him from ahead. With his vision completely blocked, explosions rang out one after another around him!
Defense items could protect his body, but they couldn't stop him from being thrown back by the shockwave. The city, already engulfed by the massive explosion, was invisible. As Xu Huo was hurled in one direction, two more flame bursts erupted, sweeping toward his back from all sides... Adjusting his posture slightly midair, the next moment, he vanished from the gap between the explosion flames and the shockwave.
Xu Huo didn't stop until he had passed through five cities. Yet the four players who had once disappeared remained close behind him, as if they could track the teleportation device's trajectory, landing in these cities without a single misstep. They made no move to retrieve the chips, maintaining the same distance as before.
Xu Huo's target this time was the city controlled by Dou Shengnan of the Eerie Sound Knights, but before he could reach his destination, he was trapped in Dagang City, and the space teleportation device had failed again.
This wasn't even the worst part. Although his space teleportation device was useless, the four pursuers were still protected by space power.
Though he had suspected they might come from a high-level wormhole point, if even the area covered by an A-grade item couldn't interfere with them, the power disparity was too great. An A-grade hypnosis player might not be able to hold them off, but unfortunately, Lawrence Li's whereabouts were unknown...
Before Xu Huo could decide which direction to take, strands of rain-like space rays suddenly descended from the sky, gradually covering the entire city piece by piece—unlike the space rays he understood, these rays in the air were colorful, composed of countless tiny diamond-shaped fragments. Depending on the angle, their colors shifted. At first glance, they looked like colorful threads hanging from the sky, but everywhere the "threads" connected was covered by space power. In an instant, large, dazzling "patches" appeared throughout the city!