Chapter 1736: Words Hard to Speak
The two elderly people had already lived for over a hundred years, so there wasn't much they couldn't come to terms with. Thus, they didn't show any particular emotion toward Xu Huo's somewhat offensive remarks. Of course, they mostly felt that what he said was completely impossible. First of all, a mine collapse wasn't something someone outside the mine could cause. Secondly, if it really was man-made, the Eternal Joy Group would definitely have found out, especially since so many people had died.
Xu Huo didn't press the issue. He followed Mary to look at the belongings left by Suo Lan's father.
Because he had died early, the things related to Suo Lan were only some diaries and article fragments he had written after her birth, along with a few not-so-refined toys he had made himself. There was nothing else.
And after Suo Lan grew up, she didn't show any particular nostalgia for her father, at least not in her works. Although there were character paintings themed around her father, there was no portrait of him.
Among the belongings, there were more items related to Suo Lan's mother—some videos, photos, love letters from their courtship, and so on.
Judging by the dates on some notes and poems, the couple had a good relationship right up until Suo Lan's father's accident. The possibility of infidelity was low; otherwise, Suo Lan's mother wouldn't have been unable to move on for so long after his death.
Suo Lan's mother neglected her child, so Suo Lan's feelings toward her parents were probably complicated. Having been ignored by her mother for a long time, she would inevitably become distant from her. And since her mother treated her this way because she missed her father, hatred and anger might have been redirected. But after she grew up, wouldn't she really be curious about what kind of person her father was, to the point that her mother abandoned everything?
She had visited the Eternal Joy Mine area several times to sketch but never went to see the place where her father had his accident. Whether it was because she truly didn't care or deliberately avoided it was unclear.
After looking through these things, Xu Huo returned to the place where he had been talking earlier, but the two elderly people had already left.
The household robot Mary asked him to leave.
Xu Huo didn't mind and smoothly left the old couple's home. Just a few steps out of the yard, he ran into the little girl he had seen when registering at the residential area gate. The girl had two braids and was carrying a small fruit basket. When she saw him sitting at the yard entrance, her eyes widened. "I know you! You're also here looking for the painting!"
Xu Huo waved at her. "Can you give me one of your fruits?"
The girl hid her hands behind her back. "Why should I give it to you!"
"Can I buy one?" Xu Huo deliberately sighed. "I came all the way here without even eating, and I don't have much money on me. I can only buy a fruit from you."
The girl didn't believe him at all. "You players are the best at lying!"
"You're so smart, you can definitely tell whether I'm telling the truth or lying." Xu Huo said with a smile.
The girl was still quite kind-hearted. She picked a small one for him and said, "Eat it and then leave quickly. Don't bother Grandpa Fei anymore. They're very old and in poor health. They have to meet so many people looking for the painting every day. It's really tiring."
Xu Huo nodded. "I think so too. Actually, after meeting them, the things I asked were all things they had already posted on the Message Collection Terminal. It's not very interesting."
The girl gave him a "you're being reasonable" expression. "I think so too. I don't understand why Ms. Suo Lan made the 'Ember Maiden' public. If she wanted to give the painting to someone, why not just give it directly? Why play riddles?"
"Probably because there are some things that can't be said directly," Xu Huo said. "The adult world is complicated. Sometimes you know something, but due to emotions or external pressure, it's hard to say it out loud. Keeping it bottled up inside is unbearable, so you have to think of all sorts of roundabout ways to reveal it."
"Adults are so boring," the girl said dismissively. "With all that time, why not do something better?"
"Can I ask you a question?" Xu Huo said.
The girl put down her basket and stood two or three meters away from him. "Go ahead, but I might not answer."
"If you did something wrong, afraid others would find out, and worried about being punished, what would you do?" Xu Huo asked.
The girl tilted her head and thought for a moment. "If I made a mistake, isn't it only right to accept the punishment? If I lie or make more mistakes to avoid punishment, wouldn't I have to carry that mistake for a very, very long time? That wouldn't be happy at all, and I might even get a mental illness."
"You make a good point." Xu Huo took a bite of the fruit. "If one thing isn't settled, things will only pile up."
The girl stared at him for a few seconds and then said, "Did you do something wrong?"
"Probably not." Xu Huo smiled at her.
"Then why are you asking!" The girl was a little angry and a little wary. "I'm telling you, don't even think about doing something wrong. Some wrong things won't necessarily be forgiven!"
Xu Huo placed a hundred White Notes on the bench. "The fruit is very sweet. I'm leaving."
The girl watched him walk away in confusion, then picked up the White Notes and ran into the yard.
After leaving, Xu Huo contacted Zhao Yiming, then turned and headed toward the mining area closest to the Chuanwan City district. He got off nearby and followed a mountain path around to the back of another mountain.
This area wasn't part of the mining zone. The vegetation was dense, the scenery was nice, and people often came here to sketch. There were some winding paths on the mountain, sometimes quite steep. Once people walked in, covered by the trees, it was easy to get lost.
Avoiding the nearby tourists, Xu Huo slipped into the woods. With a slight rustle of leaves, he disappeared into a patch of lush green.
A few seconds later, two players appeared nearby. After looking around, they exchanged glances and split up, intending to enter the dense forest from left and right.
But they had only taken a few steps before they were forced to freeze in place. Both of them had touched the sharp blades hidden among the gaps in the leaves. Although they couldn't see the physical objects, the occasional falling leaves that automatically split in half and the sharp sensations they felt on their limbs and bodies gave them a clear awareness of the danger.
The Space Teleportation Item had failed, and they didn't dare use short-range teleportation items. So they could only stand still. One of them tried to speak, but Xu Huo only asked him one question. "Was Mr. Wei taken away by you?"
"I don't understand..." The player opened his mouth to deny it, but before he could finish, his head was cut off.
After the body fell, Xu Huo asked the other one, "Was it you?"
The player with a keen sense of smell knew his companion was probably dead. Gritting his teeth, he said, "It was us, but we didn't get much useful information out of him. After we woke him up, he killed himself."
"Are you companions of Shen Fei and the others?"
The man didn't deny it, seemingly struggling to think of what to say. But Xu Huo quickly provided the answer for him. "You should be companions, but not necessarily of all three. Maybe just one of them. Otherwise, you wouldn't have known that I was investigating that man-made mining disaster from a hundred years ago. If you hadn't asked about that, Mr. Wei wouldn't have killed himself."
(Chapter End)