Chapter 1572: Happy Cooperation
Nie Xuan remained silent for a moment, then propped his hand on the coffee table in front of him, a somewhat strained expression on his face. He looked up at the person across from him, who hadn't moved an inch, and finally relaxed his fingers, slowly sitting upright.
Before Xu Huo could say anything, the Painting Woman's fingers quickly slid across her phone screen, pulling up an audio file she had saved earlier and asking Nie Xuan, "What are you doing? Want to fight?"
Nie Xuan smiled at her. "Don't worry, I might not even win."
"Of course you can't win!" the Painting Woman said, her face stern. "I could take on twenty of you by myself!"
Nie Xuan didn't bother arguing with someone whose mind wasn't right. He looked back at Xu Huo. "I agree to your terms."
As he spoke, he put away the certificates on the table and took out a new set. However, these few certificates no longer mentioned the secret laboratory for Super Evolvers that had been brought up earlier.
Xu Huo gave him a half-smile. "It seems whether some people live or die doesn't matter. Super Evolvers are more important."
"For the sake of making some sacrifices in Zone 014, I believe they can understand," Nie Xuan said flatly, just as they had sacrificed others.
Xu Huo carefully examined the locations specified on the certificates this time. "This is for real now, right?"
Nie Xuan sat back in his wheelchair and covered himself with the blanket again. "I could drink some truth serum to prove my innocence."
"That won't be necessary. I suspect the potion might not work on you," Xu Huo said. "I hope we can cooperate happily this time."
Nie Xuan efficiently stamped several certificates and handed them directly to the Painting Woman.
With the business concluded, he pressed the call button to have someone come pick him up.
After a pause, he added, "What do you think Zone 014 will become in the future?"
"As long as it doesn't end up like Zone 017, there's still hope," Xu Huo said.
Nie Xuan gave an ambiguous smile. "The moment I figured out the Painting Woman's identity, I knew that without you, Zone 014 might not have reached its current state so quickly."
"Sometimes suffering isn't necessarily a bad thing. A smooth transition makes some people only see what's right in front of them, unaware of Zone 014's actual predicament in the game."
"If the suffering you're talking about comes at the cost of innocent lives, then it's completely unnecessary," Xu Huo disagreed with his view. "After all, before becoming players, you and I were ordinary people too."
Humanity is the foundation of all civilization. The concessions and sacrifices Country X made during the Super Item incident were also to protect more people. The future is unpredictable—no one knows the final outcome of the chain reaction caused by a butterfly flapping its wings. The nation, players, and ordinary people are all on the same big ship, braving the wind and waves. There's no reason to drill holes in the hull just to deal with a few snakes and insects.
Someone knocked on the door to pick up Nie Xuan. The Painting Woman went to open it.
"Happy cooperation." Nie Xuan nodded at Xu Huo, ending the conversation.
"Are they bad people? Should I kill them?" the Painting Woman asked Xu Huo as soon as the door closed.
Xu Huo smiled. "Didn't they just give you a few buildings? Turning your back on them so quickly?"
The Painting Woman looked a little embarrassed, lowering her head, then leaned close to him and whispered, "I can tell. You don't like them. I can help you kill them all."
Xu Huo grabbed a handful of candy and handed it to her. "Get some rest. Things are about to get busy."
The Painting Woman didn't care whether he answered her question or not. She took the candy and went to share it. Her friendship with Tong Tong was growing by the second, so of course she had to save a third of it for him.
After Nie Xuan left, Jiang Qiao arrived with people and documents.
"These are the records of locations suitable for fungal growth that you mentioned earlier."
"Since we weren't sure of your exact criteria, we've screened out all possible places."
"Let's start with the districts."
Xu Huo nodded and began reviewing the districts with abnormal fungal evolution according to Jiang Qiao's arrangement.
Among all the districts that Zone 014 players had visited, such districts accounted for a small proportion. More often, a specific environment within a district would have one or more types of fungi growing rapidly, but nowhere near the scale of the underground fungal cave in Clown City.
Most places didn't meet Xu Huo's expectations. Only a very few looked somewhat promising, with large fungal colonies and diverse species—the diversity being the key factor.
If a place only had a massive growth of a single type of fungus, it actually indicated that the environment was unsuitable for other fungi to survive.
After selecting five locations, Xu Huo gave Jiang Qiao five strands of fungal hyphae he had recently collected, soaked in nutrient solution.
"Place these hyphae in these locations to cultivate. If even one or two new strands split off, it's a success. If the hyphae die, then you'll have to handle this matter yourselves."
Jiang Qiao carefully put away the nutrient solution. "On behalf of all the infected, I thank you, and I also apologize for the Special Defense Department's actions this time."
Xu Huo nodded casually, not taking it to heart, and asked, "How is Lu Yin doing?"
Jiang Qiao paused, her expression complicated as she looked at him. "After being separated from the infection source, she's recovering well. Team Leader Lu will return to Jing City soon."
"That's good."
Xu Huo signaled the Painting Woman to see them out.
Jiang Qiao wanted to say more, but the Painting Woman, who had already walked over, shook her fist threateningly at her behind Xu Huo's back.
Swallowing her words, Jiang Qiao brought over the aluminum case beside her. "This is a small gift from the Special Defense Department. Please accept it."
"It's nothing special—just some health-boosting potions and game supplies. It's not part of the payment."
The Special Defense Department people left. The Painting Woman wasn't interested in the potions, but the game console was right up her alley. After a few seconds of restraint, she happily carried the items over to the TV.
After a while, Xu Huo's father and the others returned, asking Xu Huo to go pick up the old man.
Since taking the potions Xu Huo had brought back from the game, Old Master Xu's health had improved. Later, the Special Defense Department also sent him potions regularly, but the old man couldn't use that many, so he mailed some to his old friends.
However, some of the elderly were simply too old for the potions to have much effect. Coupled with the rapid environmental changes in Zone 014, two of them couldn't hold on and passed away one after another.
The old man felt that if he didn't seize the time to visit his friends, he might never get another chance, so he drove off to visit them himself.
The Xu family had strongly opposed this at first, but the old man had a very detached view of life and death. Being confined to the neighborhood like a prisoner, unable to move around, was what truly bothered him. In the end, no one knew how he convinced the Special Defense Department, but he actually managed to leave the safe neighborhood. He had been gone for a while now. The last time they contacted him, he said he had gone into the mountains with a friend to get up close and personal with nature.
"What 'getting up close and personal with nature'? He might as well plant a few trees at home..." Xu Huo's father, who usually didn't say much, was still very dissatisfied with this. "What if he runs into a random instance or a murderous player on the road? Things aren't like they used to be."
"The random instance guides published by the Special Defense Department are still very accurate. Plus, with order being restored recently, he should be fine if he avoids the dangerous spots," Xu Huo said. "And Grandpa is old. No one would bother him."
"What's an old man doing running around like that? Honestly..." Xu Huo's father wanted to keep going, but Ms. Yu tugged at his sleeve. "Say less. Isn't Dad doing fine? And hasn't Professor Tang been asking people to look after our dad?"
Xu Huo didn't say much. He grabbed his car keys and headed out.
Unexpectedly, the ones who brought the old man back were Gu Yu and Huang Junjie.
Both of them were people Xu Huo had met in instances. Gu Yu had started his own small association, while Huang Junjie had joined the First Player Association.
(End of Chapter)