Chapter 1729: Passed Down Through Generations
"He won't say anything." Xu Huo glanced at the monitoring device floating ahead.
"That's right, the laws in Zone 019 are very strict. If he confesses in front of the monitor, even if a hundred years have passed, he could still face prison time," Meng Xiaoman said. "Zone 019 has no statute of limitations. Even if it's just stealing a loaf of bread decades ago, as long as solid evidence is provided, the judiciary will still hand down a sentence."
Not only that, but if what Pu Hui said was true—that he merely asked a colleague to cover his shift, and that colleague died as a result, even from a natural disaster—no law would specifically target that for punishment. There must be another reason he couldn't speak about it.
Just then, Zhu Zhongliang sent a message, "Pu Hui contacted me."
"Connect him after two more attempts. Tell him that in ten days it's your birthday, and you want your son to come home and visit." After replying, Xu Huo followed Zhao Yiming and the others to the next household that had applied for a free medical consultation.
Although the people of Zone 019 seemed to act as if the word "trouble" didn't exist in their dictionary, they actually had quite a few psychological issues. Upon learning that Xu Huo was also skilled in psychotherapy, almost every household requested a psychological consultation—the elderly, young adults, and even children were no exception.
Zhao Yiming found it unbelievable. "How could such young children have psychological problems? It's probably just wanting to buy a toy they can't get, or that a neighbor's kid got a registration code for a game before them today."
Meng Xiaoman immediately started to doubt, "Are they really children? People in Zone 019 have such long lifespans; slow development isn't impossible."
"Stop talking nonsense," Xu Huo interrupted them. "This shows that many people in Zone 019 have psychological issues, to the point that many families are starting to pay attention to their children's mental health, intervening from childhood."
"I told you so," Meng Xiaoman said. "There are absolutely no purely good people in the world. Every person has some bad thoughts. Having no outlet to vent and simply suppressing one's nature goes completely against human nature."
Zone 019 actually did quite well in this regard. Every household could apply for a venting robot. These robots were only responsible for handling residents' negative emotions—accompanying them in conversation, letting them cry, even taking a beating. And the law stipulated that as long as the damage to the venting robot didn't reach 30% of its total structure, it was exempt from liability and no compensation was required.
The legal revisions in this area were quite thorough, but on the Message Collection Terminal, few people openly discussed venting robots. On the surface, everything still seemed peaceful.
Of course, in a place like Zone 019, finding private areas on the Message Collection Terminal was certainly more difficult. And regarding the damage to venting robots, the government had never released any data.
"Are these people crazy? Why do they have to pretend to be saints?" Zhao Yiming didn't understand.
Xu Huo felt they were misunderstanding something. The severity of psychological issues among Zone 019 residents didn't necessarily mean they had a strong tendency toward crime. From the people he had encountered so far, the vast majority were very peaceful. Even if they had minor issues, they weren't serious, and they could be resolved through reasonable outlets.
This was also related to the fact that they didn't often face evil directly. When danger arose, robots and players would rush to the front first, maximizing the protection of ordinary people's lives and property. Without severe survival threats, the balance of people's hearts could be maintained. The fact that few people on the Message Collection Terminal discussed punishments for criminals also proved this point.
In fact, even the handling of the mining accident a hundred years ago showed that Zone 019 had never lagged behind in humanities and quality education.
The overall environment being what it was, there were actually some discrepancies between what the players speculated about the mining accident and the mining group.
"How many households are left?" Xu Huo asked.
"Fifteen." Zhao Yiming paused. "If you have things to do, you can leave first. We'll come find you after we finish."
Xu Huo had the same intention. "We should be done before dark. I'll wait for you."
Zhao Yiming and Meng Xiaoman agreed without changing their expressions.
Xu Huo didn't care whether they were trying to run away. He returned to the hotel and asked Zhu Zhongliang about the situation on both sides.
"I replied to Pu Hui as you instructed. His mood was a bit off," Zhu Zhongliang said. "Shen Fei and the others have already spoken with one of the survivors. They kicked them out, seeming very unwilling to recall what happened before."
"How is their daily life?" Xu Huo asked.
"They have sons and daughters, a family of ten living together, with a very high happiness index. When Shen Fei and the others went, the survivor's children were very supportive of their father. It didn't seem fake," Zhu Zhongliang replied. "They're heading to the next location now."
Xu Huo nodded and sat down to pour himself a glass of water.
Zhao Yiming and Meng Xiaoman's companion was still here. He couldn't help but ask, "Why haven't they come back?"
As a "hostage" detained here, he was eager to know whether the person who would ransom him had died or run away.
"They haven't finished their business yet..." Xu Huo looked at him. "We also have two other companions in this instance. With such tedious information needing to be filtered, the more people, the better. If you're interested, you might as well stay and join us."
Jiao Hongyuan hesitated and said, "We'll think about it."
After resting for a while, Xu Huo turned toward the residential area. Pu Hui had come out of his house.
"He's most likely going to pay respects to his wife and children." Xu Huo told Zhu Zhongliang to stay and wait for news.
"Let's go together," Zhu Zhongliang said first. "If anything happens, we can lend a hand."
He also called Jiao Hongyuan along.
Xu Huo didn't mind. Pu Hui definitely wasn't going to pay respects to the friend who died in his place. If his friend's body had been taken by family, he wouldn't have reacted that way when receiving Zhu Zhongliang's message—his friend was probably one of those nameless, faceless people buried under the mine.
Zhu Zhongliang and Jiao Hongyuan's tracking distance wasn't far. Xu Huo compromised and kept the distance around seven to eight hundred meters, using buildings for cover to avoid being locked onto by the flying car's instruments.
And sure enough, Pu Hui was going to a cemetery. He stood blankly in front of a grave for an hour before returning home before dark.
Xu Huo and the other two followed him around without gaining anything. When Pu Hui got home, he shut down all the machines and equipment in the room, even turning off the energy supply. After it was completely dark, he closed the doors and windows tightly, hid in the bedroom, took out a bloodstained rock from a box under the bed, placed it on the table, and sat facing the rock alone.
During the afternoon treatment, Xu Huo had planted a suggestion in Pu Hui, but it wasn't enough to make him confess the whole story on his own. So a little external interference was needed. Through the Spiritual Gate, Xu Huo released a small dose of hypnotic agent into his room, then performed a Spiritual Interference.
With very little information, he couldn't ask targeted questions, so he could only induce Pu Hui to speak on his own. (End of chapter) Source: /txt/35960/32963059