Chapter 1578: A Connection from Under Dimension
The main party had arrived, so there was no longer any business for Xu Huo here. He retrieved the Space Blade, turned, and vanished from the conference room, then went to the main control room to pick up the Painting Woman.
The Painting Woman hadn’t yet collected many paper frogs and paper rabbits and was somewhat reluctant to leave. She also asked him what would happen with the Special Defense Department headquarters.
Xu Huo’s main purpose in this trip was to restrict the government’s decision-making layer, cutting off their contact with the outside world as quickly as possible. This not only denied them the chance to swiftly counter Nie Xuan and the others’ actions but also left key departments leaderless, making them easier to take over.
This was something the Special Defense Department couldn’t easily handle. First, they lacked players capable of quickly controlling the base. Second, if they were the ones to storm the conference room and take this group hostage, the nature of the incident would change. Even if the military uniform old man’s side ultimately won, the people who carried out the action would inevitably face some punishment to smooth things over.
It was different when an outsider did it. Words were just words—they could even shamelessly deny any cooperation with Xu Huo.
As for the arrangements at the Special Defense Department headquarters, the main goal was to protect neutral players and those unwilling to get involved. Once Nie Xuan’s side was settled, they could let go over there too.
“Take the spoils and go home,” Xu Huo said, referring to the frogs and rabbits she had forced players and staff to fold.
The Painting Woman wanted ten thousand of them, but unfortunately, not many people knew how to fold paper, and even those who learned on the spot produced ugly results. In the end, she only collected less than a thousand passable little animals.
“They’re so stupid,” the Painting Woman typed out from the bottom of her heart.
Xu Huo made it home just in time for a late-night snack. His father, hungry in the middle of the night, got up to cook some glutinous rice balls and made a bowl for him as well.
Although the environment was much better than a few months ago, ordinary people still tried not to go out at night, especially after midnight. Most people in the nearby neighborhoods were already asleep.
Father and son sat on the balcony, eating and chatting.
Xu Huo’s father asked if his important business was finished and when he planned to leave.
The Special Defense Department would probably need a few more days to sort things out. For now, Xu Huo was waiting for news—first, for the Special Defense Department to fulfill their promises, and second, for the players sent out to find suitable locations for cultivating the King Fungus to return.
“I’ll stay a few more days and take the chance to rest properly,” Xu Huo said.
His father showed a barely noticeable hint of joy. “It’s good to stay home a couple more days.”
After the meal, Xu Huo cleaned up the dishes and prepared to wash up and sleep. Just as he was drying his hair and coming out, he saw the Painting Woman leaning by his bedroom door, twisting back and forth as she raised her communicator. “Where am I sleeping?”
Xu Huo’s room was now being used by Meng Cun, so he planned to squeeze in with Tong Tong. As for the Painting Woman, since she had taken human form, she shouldn’t be hung back on the wall for now.
Under her expectant gaze, he said, “You sleep on the sofa.”
The Painting Woman’s face fell. “The sofa isn’t soft at all.”
“Make do,” Xu Huo said, going to his room to grab two blankets and tossing one onto the sofa. “In a few days, we’ll move to a bigger house. When we come back, you’ll have your own room.”
Only then did the Painting Woman cheer up. “I want it to be like my original room.”
She was referring to the bedroom Mr. Dong had set up for her in the Rose Castle.
“Can’t do that here,” Xu Huo refused, signaling her to sleep early.
The Painting Woman sulkily walked over to the sofa. Before she could sit down, a voice came from the other end of the room: “Turn off the light.”
The Painting Woman huffed and went to turn it off.
Xu Huo slept until noon the next day. The fatigue from continuously consuming spiritual power finally eased after sufficient rest.
Tong Tong had already gotten up and came to call him for lunch, excitedly saying, “Sister Li Chun’s frogs and rabbits are alive! They’re like the frogs and rabbits in fairy tale books—they can run, jump, and even bite!”
Xu Huo wiped his face and walked out of the room. The first thing he saw was paper frogs hopping all over the hallway, and the Painting Woman pressing a paper rabbit hard against the wall.
“You want it to dig a hole?” Xu Huo asked.
The Painting Woman nodded vigorously and led him around the corner to show off her results.
On the wall next to the kitchen door, she had embedded at least twenty rabbits. Depending on the depth, some had their heads stuck in the wall, some had half their bodies buried, and others only had their tails sticking out.
The Painting Woman proudly grabbed a rabbit and squeezed it.
Xu Huo nodded in approval. “Keep it up.”
After receiving recognition, the Painting Woman eagerly picked up the folded paper that hadn’t been ruined yet and continued her research, even losing interest in food.
By the afternoon, as she looked at the growing number of holes in the wall, Ms. Yu’s eyelids twitched. “She’s not going to tear down the building, is she?”
The Painting Woman looked up, glancing at her and then at the others.
Ms. Yu felt a bit awkward. Just then, Xu Huo came out of the room after checking on Meng Cun. She quickly said, “The Special Defense Department just called. They’ll be visiting in an hour.”
Xu Huo nodded, then said to the Painting Woman, “That’s enough. Otherwise, it’ll be hard to patch up later.”
The Painting Woman lazily grabbed the remaining folded paper beside her, walked back to the sofa, and plopped down next to Ms. Yu.
The Painting Woman had stayed with the Xu family for a short time before. Back then, nothing seemed off about her, but now that they knew she was a player and sometimes heard her blurt out strange things out of nowhere… Ms. Yu nervously scooted aside.
The Painting Woman, completely unaware of personal space, shifted closer to her.
“I’m going grocery shopping!” Ms. Yu fled.
The Painting Woman looked a little smug as she took over half the sofa.
Xu Huo walked to the balcony and looked at the Special Defense Department players changing shifts nearby. They had moved quickly—personnel had already been swapped out. He recognized a few familiar faces, which meant the situation at the Special Defense Department headquarters was probably completely stabilized.
Without replying to the probing messages from Gu Yu and the others, he went back into the room and took out some more fungal threads to cultivate with the Nuwa Stone.
The Nuwa Stone could keep the fungal threads alive and growing for a while, but mass production was impossible.
Over the past twenty-four hours, the bounty he had posted under Dimension regarding the types and growth conditions of special detoxifying fungi had received very few replies. Most people mentioned toxic fungi, and few knew much about the specific raw material-type fungi used to make antidotes. After filtering through the results, none met his requirements.
Xu Huo’s account under Dimension could access information up to C-level across the entire E-level wormhole point. This range was already enormous. If there were no results, then the possibility of finding a suitable location for large-scale cultivation of the King Fungus was almost zero. Either such a place didn’t exist, or it was already under someone’s control.
Just as he was about to close his personal panel, a message popped up:
“We met on the C709 train. I don’t suppose you still have the antidote you sold me last time? I can trade you twenty types of toxic substances for it.”
Signed: Cong Yu.