Chapter 1570: Replacement of the Decision-Making Level
As expected, the Special Defense Department did not send any more players to interfere with Xu Huo afterward. He returned to his residence smoothly and met with a representative from the former Special Defense Department two hours later.
Nie Xuan was brought in by another player, seated in a wheelchair. A thick blanket covered his knees. He had lost a lot of weight, his mental state seemed poor, and a layer of stubble had grown on his chin, as if he hadn't groomed himself for two or three days.
The person who brought him in left immediately after setting him down. Father Xu and Ms. Yu had taken Tongtong out for a walk, while Li Chun stayed in Xu Huo's room watching over Meng Cun. To prevent their conversation from being overheard, Xu Huo used a silencing item.
"There's no need for that. Shangguan Jing suffered a loss at your hands, losing about twenty B-grade players, and has already been punished. To avoid provoking you further, the new person in charge won't dare make any small moves." Nie Xuan spoke slowly and methodically, his voice not sounding weak at all.
"I almost thought you were dead," Xu Huo said, glancing at his legs. "Looks like you're recovering well."
Nie Xuan touched his own legs. "I almost died. Several times I felt like I couldn't hold on anymore, but thinking about the situation in the Special Defense Department, I still had to live."
The last time they met, Nie Xuan had an urgency about him, as if he needed to settle everything quickly. Under the dual pressure of death and responsibility, he had become somewhat extreme, like a blade eager to taste blood.
Now, he seemed to have returned to the appearance he had when they first met on the preliminary train.
"Congratulations," Xu Huo said.
Nie Xuan smiled, then turned back to the main topic. "You didn't actually need to come back for this mutant fungus infection incident. Three hours before we contacted you, the government had already decided to secretly execute those infected, including some government officials or high-level family members. This decision was passed unanimously by the government's top echelon."
"The contagiousness of the mutant fungus isn't as strong as you imagine. It requires a certain concentration to infect another person. After special disinfection procedures, even the isolation room of an infected patient can be brought below the infection concentration standard."
Xu Huo already knew this. To keep Lu Yin continuously infected, the Special Defense Department had deliberately placed human tissue attached with the mutant fungus in the ward, and even had to open the cabinet several times.
"Have you caught the people who deliberately spread the mutant fungus?" he asked.
"We caught a few, but that doesn't solve the root problem," Nie Xuan said. "But sometimes solving a problem doesn't have to start from the problem itself. Our country was the first to have the mutant fungus outbreak and preserved a large amount of live mutant fungus. Players have already taken batches to several other major countries. The deployment was successful a few days ago. News should come out in about a day or two."
"By then, to avoid mutual destruction, someone will take the lead to sign a truce agreement, and someone will also restrain the country that first deployed the mutant fungus."
If everyone didn't want to completely collapse or engage in this meaningless mutual attrition, they would have to back down.
"That's one way to solve it," Xu Huo said. He said "one way" because the already infected could only be abandoned.
"What a country can do is ultimately limited. It can't guarantee that everyone lives or lives well," Nie Xuan said. "You know very well what the situation is in Zone 017. Zone 014 is now starting to prepare for the integration of the district and the game."
"That's appropriate," Xu Huo nodded. "Zone 014 is making rapid progress."
Hearing this, Nie Xuan said meaningfully, "How many people does our country have? Are we lacking geniuses? Why do you think Shangguan Jing's operation plan against you was approved?"
"The military has already cultivated Super Evolvers?" That was the only answer Xu Huo could think of.
Nie Xuan stroked the cartoon pattern on the blanket. "Of course, Mental Super Evolvers are still very rare, just one or two, and their progress is slow. But there are quite a few physical Super Evolvers. There are already several Spatial Super Evolvers like me. The only ones missing are Temporal Super Evolvers. Currently, the military is investing a lot of money and effort in this area. Perhaps soon, it will go from zero to one."
"Temporal Super Evolution... that's a different dimension from us."
In all his time in the game, Xu Huo had only encountered a Temporal Super Evolver once, during the Eerie Sound Knights' attack on Zone 011. Although there were ways to counter it, the unknown represented danger.
"What did the military send you to discuss with me?" he returned to the topic of the mutant fungus. "Providing some of the detox fungus mycelium is the greatest help I can offer."
"Relationships between people are very subtle. There are no unchanging bonds," Nie Xuan said. "When a person is sick and weak, helping them up earns gratitude. But when they become strong and far surpass you, your existence becomes dispensable, and naturally, there won't be a solid friendship."
"No one is willing to live under someone else's thumb, and a country is even less willing to be constrained. As long as you haven't joined the military or the Special Defense Department, this kind of testing will never stop. Right now, you're the whetstone for B-grade players; in the future, you'll be the whetstone for Super Evolvers."
"And it's not just you. Player organizations within the country have all been affected to some extent."
"The state machine is ruthless."
He didn't say it outright, but the meaning was clear. As a team leader in the Special Defense Department, he couldn't directly tell Xu Huo to simply leave. As a friend, he had to fulfill his duty to warn him.
"The state machine is ruthless..." Xu Huo repeated the phrase, then suddenly switched to another topic. "Quite a few high-ranking government officials have died recently, haven't they?"
Nie Xuan's expression didn't change as he continued listening.
"The state machine might be ruthless, but the people operating the machine are human. Whether it's the changes in the Special Defense Department or the shift in strategies targeting player organizations you mentioned, they all imply the attitude of the decision-making level. A person usually doesn't undergo such contradictory changes. The only possibility is that the people have been replaced."
"The large number of players cultivated by the military and the Special Defense Department has made those second-line personnel who have never faced the pressure of Super Item incidents get cocky, hasn't it?"
"Or perhaps the era of players seizing power is about to begin, and these people are desperately trying to seize the last opportunity to consolidate their power and pressure other player organizations, so they won't be completely voiceless after being pushed out of the power center."
"Maybe it's not just that. Perhaps players have already entered the decision-making level, which is why they intentionally or unintentionally target other players and player organizations."
"The consequences of a few individuals' selfishness affecting the overall living environment of players are very clear to you. If a large number of players leave, does the government have any way to salvage things now?"
After all, once ordinary people become players, their dependence on the country drops significantly, and it's very easy for players to leave Zone 014.
Nie Xuan listened quietly, then said after a moment, "The reason lessons are called lessons is because you have to suffer the consequences. Only pain that cuts to the bone makes people remember. Otherwise, no matter how much others advise or block them, sooner or later they'll still jump into the pit."
"But for our own people, rather than letting others teach them a lesson, it's better to do it ourselves."
(Chapter End)