Chapter 1735: Finding Another Entry Point
That logic made sense, but if players in the game were all deeply aware of concepts like "propriety, righteousness, integrity, and shame," the game world wouldn't be so brutal.
"We can end the cooperation, but you should share the information we found together before that," Shen Fei said, staring at Xu Huo. Zhao Yiming and Meng Xiaoman, who had come to the hospital, were like Zhu Zhongliang before them—ordered around by Xu Huo to do odd jobs, only getting scraps of information. The key part was what Xu Huo and Jiao Hongyuan did after leaving the preaching hall.
"Where did you go after leaving the preaching hall?"
"I've never seen someone make their own incompetence sound so refreshing," Meng Xiaoman said with a roll of her eyes.
Shen Fei ignored her entirely. "Mr. Xu, we're all friends here. Don't make things ugly."
Xu Huo hadn't planned to bother with them, but hearing this seemed to pique his interest. "If I don't want to say it, what are you going to do?"
Shen Fei acted as if he didn't catch the threat in Xu Huo's words. "This is Zone 019. Starting a fight isn't a good choice, but the road is wide open—you can walk it, and so can I."
"Is that so?" Xu Huo opened his spiritual realm and directly teleported the three of them through a portal into the luxury goods store warehouse across the street. As the alarm blared, the store's armed robots, along with nearby patrol robots, all swarmed over and quickly apprehended the three, who offered little resistance.
The theft trial would be handed over to the appropriate judicial authorities. The armed robots would escort them to a designated location.
"If they don't resist, the armed robots will judge them as having a high willingness to cooperate, and the escort process won't use electric restraints," Zhao Yiming quickly said. "With so many robots now, if they resist arrest, they'll draw even more fire. If they escape halfway, they just need to shake off the escort robots."
"They've really figured out the rules of Zone 019," Meng Xiaoman said bitterly.
Xu Huo wasn't too concerned about that anymore. Instead, he turned to Zhao Yiming and the other two. "Do you still want to stay and continue cooperating?"
"Of course we do!" Zhao Yiming quickly said. "We know our limits. We definitely won't get clever on our own!"
Xu Huo gave a slight smile and then entrusted them with two tasks.
First, record all mines on the message collection terminal that had experienced accidents in the past thirty years, regardless of size—every single one had to be noted.
Second, find a way to obtain official credentials, preferably ones that would allow them to openly enter the headquarters of Hales. The main approach could involve various scientific tours, daily appliance repairs, and so on.
"Aren't we going to find the other person in the know?" Jiao Hongyuan paused and pressed further.
Of the two insiders Pu Hui had mentioned, they had only found Mr. Wei. They should hurry to find the other one now.
"If Shen Fei and his group leaked the information to strangers or other companions, we won't be able to find the other insider either," Xu Huo said. "Let's try a different entry point."
He glanced at the message collection terminal as he spoke. "I have some personal business to take care of and need to leave temporarily. The three of you can leave one person here. On the way back, I already notified Mr. Wei's family. The enforcement team should arrive soon."
Mr. Wei was most likely not going to survive, whether or not he had revealed any useful information.
Zhao Yiming said it was no problem, then hesitated before asking, "If there's an emergency, how do we contact you?"
"Still use the message collection terminal, or the communicator. What I'm doing isn't urgent; I can take calls."
After giving his instructions, Xu Huo hurried to Fair's residence.
The registration had taken quite a while earlier, but unexpectedly, the appointment robot had contacted him in advance, saying Fair agreed to see him.
It seemed quite a few people ahead of him had been kicked out of the queue.
Xu Huo arrived at the residential area and, led by the robot, entered the gate, heading to the residence of Solan's youngest uncle and aunt.
The door was opened by a housekeeping robot. Before entering, it reminded him again, "Please do not carry any dangerous items, or we will take compulsory measures when necessary."
Xu Huo cooperated and underwent another inspection before being allowed inside.
The two elderly people were sitting by the floor-to-ceiling windows, basking in the sun. Each had two armed robots beside them. When Xu Huo entered, they first stepped in front of the elderly, scanning his entire body with their eyes before stepping back again.
The visitor did not face the two elders directly. A transparent glass partition separated the clearly prepared guest seat from them, with a distance of about five meters between the two sides. Xu Huo was not allowed to move forward beyond that distance.
"Please sit." The housekeeping robot served him tea and then stood behind him.
"Greetings to you both. I hope I haven't disturbed you," Xu Huo said politely.
Although they were very old, the two showed no signs of frailty. They turned their chairs to face him. "You can find many things on the message collection terminal. Since you insist on seeing us, you must want to know something else."
Xu Huo nodded. "I want to understand the mine accident from Tiantianle back in the day."
"Geological disaster. The mine collapse and Solan's father's death were both caused by that," the old gentleman said. "There are many rumors on the message collection terminal, but my parents also preferred to believe their son died in an accident, not suicide or murder."
"As far as I know, Master Solan's father was a very artistic person. He abandoned his wife and daughter, went alone into the mountains, and didn't disclose his whereabouts. That's not normal. I've seen the safety report Tiantianle submitted. Logically, the mine shouldn't have collapsed."
"So I suspect it wasn't an accident but deliberately orchestrated. Perhaps initially, he only wanted to kill himself, but ended up bringing down the entire mine. Artists are crazy. Master Solan's father wasn't a very mentally stable person."
Over the years, the two elders had heard all kinds of speculation, but connecting Solan's father's death to the mine collapse in this way was a first. Ms. Feifei grew angry. "Are you trying to pin the mine collapse accident on my brother? What's your agenda?"
"I'm just making a reasonable suspicion," Xu Huo said. "Otherwise, with such a clean safety report that year, why would it suddenly collapse? It's not like Tiantianle blew it up themselves."
The old gentleman stopped his sister and calmly said to Xu Huo, "Whatever your agenda, Solan's father just happened to be there at the time. In the past, quite a few artists died in the wilderness while seeking inspiration. There's not much to this incident, and there's no need to slander the deceased."
"I understand that players clear instances to survive, but I'm sorry, this is all the help we can offer. If you still want to see the belongings Solan's father left behind, Mary can take you."
Mary was the housekeeping robot standing behind Xu Huo.
Xu Huo paused as he stood up and suddenly said to the two elders, "So many people died in that mine accident. Has no one ever thought it wasn't an accident?"
(End of Chapter) Source: /txt/35960/32985887 Next Chapter: Chapter 1743 — Try a Different Gender?