Chapter 1711: The Painter's Playmates
"With all due respect, these places have been thoroughly searched by players over the past ten-plus years," the curly-haired female player said. "Some spots might even be like that small town residence—even the floorboards have been pried up."
"Even digging three feet deep won't find anything. The 'Ember Maiden' is unlikely to be in these locations. They can be ruled out instead."
That reasoning made sense, but it brought them back to their previous predicament. Even after eliminating such places, there were still dozens of locations left, and the workload remained staggering.
"There's no other choice now," the long-haired man said. "Forty days. With the number of people we have here, plus forty days, we can search thoroughly without issue."
The game's background had already made things very clear. The task of this instance was to find the painting, and without clear clues, they had to resort to this brute-force method.
Some players in the bar had already been in the town for several days. The initial excitement had cooled after enduring a massive amount of tedious and useless information. They were still lingering here, unwilling to leave, not because they had found any special clues, but because they had gained nothing yet were convinced this place was very important. They wanted to glean useful information from later-arriving players.
Now that everyone was stuck with no progress, the next step was to change locations.
It was clear that some players were already considering it.
Xu Huo stood up, put on his hat, said "Excuse me" to the group, and left the bar.
Over the past ten-plus years, all the information about Suo Lan's life could be found on the Message Collection Terminal. This had already replaced manual effort; there was no need for players to inspect every single place, because players weren't necessarily smarter than Zone 019's big data.
The starting point of the game was Dingding Flower Town. The ten-plus years of growth here were truly the crucial stage that shaped Suo Lan's worldview, especially the psychological transformation that led her to decide to paint in oils. Even if the "Ember Maiden" wasn't in Dingding Flower Town, there must be very important clues here.
He wasn't the only one who left the bar. Soon, the curly-haired female player, the male player with a scar on the back of his hand, and two other players who were teamed up also came out.
The two teammates headed toward the other side of the town, while the curly-haired woman and the scarred man instead caught up with Xu Huo and asked if he wanted to team up.
The curly-haired woman first explained her intention. "I plan to check out the nearby mountains. There are a few small mines here. The collapsed areas might be blind spots."
The mines near the town hadn't just collapsed recently; they had been doing so for over a hundred years. Some affected the surrounding safety, and the town residents would handle those, but the corners and edges were simply left alone. Her point was that since Master Suo Lan had lived here a century ago and had frequently sent people back here afterward, the collapsed mines might be a good hiding spot for the painting.
This possibility wasn't impossible, but it was hard to say if it would yield results.
The people from Zone 019 who had been searching for the painting had also thought of this after fruitless efforts. The workload was considerable, but Zone 019 made extensive use of machinery. That's why the areas around Dingding Flower Town kept having problems—the collapsed mines had already been dug through.
"Some people have dug, but they might not have dug all the way through. They can't exactly flip the entire mountain," the curly-haired woman said firmly. "Now, Zone 019's laws stipulate that neither mining nor any other underground exploration can affect the surface environment."
Although players didn't have such concerns, their equipment wasn't very effective, so it wasn't surprising that there were oversights. At this point, besides being more meticulous, a bit of luck was also needed.
"Do you have suitable items?" Xu Huo asked. "Digging tunnels underground isn't easy, let alone finding things inside."
"I have the right machines on hand, but I need two or three helpers." She looked at him and the scarred man. "The three of us should be fine."
Xu Huo thought it over briefly and agreed, but he didn't plan to go into the mountains that night. Instead, he intended to rest in town for the night.
"It's not very convenient late at night, and going at night would attract attention from others," the curly-haired woman agreed.
The scarred player didn't object either, so the three of them headed toward a local inn.
The inn specifically designed to receive guests had already been booked by a tour group, so Xu Huo and the others had to go to a nearby inn converted from a private residence. The rental was managed by a robot, which provided them with basic information. After confirming they wanted to stay, the robot led them to open the rooms.
The house had been recently renovated. Although it was handled fairly well, traces of fighting could still be seen in some places.
"Guests can stay here tonight. Please be careful not to damage any items, or you will have to pay three times the cost as compensation," the robot instructed before leaving.
"Didn't expect a fight to break out here," the curly-haired woman remarked casually as she lifted the large bed, revealing the floor beneath, which also showed signs of repair.
"It might not have been a fight. Could be some not-so-bright people trying to flip the inn's floor too," the scarred player said. "I'll take the room across. Meet up tomorrow morning."
The curly-haired woman greeted them and went to the adjacent room.
The room was equipped with household machinery and offered all kinds of services. As soon as Xu Huo sat down, the automatic kettle started boiling water and even brewed a cup of fruit tea for him, wishing him a good night's sleep.
Xu Huo leaned against the edge of the bed and looked out at the sky.
About half an hour later, it was completely dark. The town had a large elderly population; most people went to bed early and didn't leave lights on, making it easy to observe the surroundings.
Besides the nearby houses and street scenes, there were distant hills, woods, the stars in the higher sky, and the occasional surveillance instruments passing overhead.
The town was too quiet.
Xu Huo opened the Message Collection Terminal and carefully reviewed Master Suo Lan's experiences in Dingding Flower Town.
There was very little content narrated by her personally; most of it was supplemented by the town's residents. Her few playmates were generally just background figures, and the people conducting interviews weren't very interested in them, probably because these individuals had left or died early on and had no further interactions with Suo Lan.
He also searched for the names the old lady had given him. As she had said, these people had gradually left Dingding Flower Town. There wasn't much information about them—mostly registration records for schooling or travel, or entry/exit logs for entertainment venues. In Zone 019, as long as you had a name, most people were transparent.
The lives of these people were unremarkable, except for one thing: none of them lived very long. Compared to them, Suo Lan was long-lived.
There were four in total: two died from evolutionary diseases, one from an accident, and one moved away from Zone 019 with their parents—all of this happened before Suo Lan became famous.
That's why they were insignificant in Suo Lan's life story, even less important than some others who hadn't lived in Dingding Flower Town long-term but had only passed through.
These people didn't have deep connections with Suo Lan. The information they provided was all trivial, but it could piece together a list of those who frequently played with Suo Lan.
(End of Chapter) Source: /txt/35960/32886197