Chapter 1747: Clear Clues
"You say that, but that's not what you're thinking," Xu Huo said. "Otherwise, you wouldn't still be keeping these materials, and you'd remember Xixi Duolaiti so clearly."
"There's not much difference between ordinary people and extraordinary people. Whether it's a magnificent life or a plain one, neither is superior or inferior. Both are part of the world, moving forward in the tide of time. Forgetting might not be a bad thing, and remembering is the same."
Old Mr. Yue stared blankly at the flowers in the garden ahead, lost in thought. After a moment, he said, "Yes, the choices we make at this moment might not matter much to the world or to others, but they certainly matter to ourselves."
"If Xixi Duolaiti is the Ember Maiden, then Master Solan probably remembered her for a lifetime too." Xu Huo handed the USB drive back.
"Keep it," Old Mr. Yue declined. "If you get the chance to return it, do so. If not... forget it."
"I'll come again." Xu Huo gripped the USB drive in his hand.
After leaving the nursing home, he contacted the Short-Haired Female Player and the Bald-Headed Man.
The two had been chased out of the city by robots and were hiding in a small town, looking disheveled. When they received Xu Huo's message, they were too embarrassed to talk about their progress.
They had originally gone to investigate the key personnel of Tiantianle, but these people were hard to approach. To get their information, they had to resort to unconventional methods—searching on the Message Collection Terminal was the least of it. They also bribed private detectives and tabloid reporters, or directly bribed media companies to get inside information... But the consequence of this was being targeted by robots. Although they had been targeted before, this time the robots were preparing to arrest them directly. The reason given was that they had excessively and frequently obtained illegal information on the Message Collection Terminal, and they were asked to cooperate with the investigation.
From ancient times to the present, no matter which district, once you entered an official law enforcement agency, it wasn't easy to get out. The two certainly wouldn't go along with that, so they ran and escaped out of the city.
"Brother, I'm a bit embarrassed. We haven't gotten much. How about you?" the Bald-Headed Man asked.
"I've made some progress," Xu Huo said. "Now I need you to do me a favor."
"Just say it!" the Short-Haired Female Player quickly chimed in.
"Go back to Dingding Flower Town and investigate whether Master Solan and her friend actually left the town before they altered the oil painting. Check the other townspeople, Solan's mother, her father's relatives, and the neighbors she was close to." Xu Huo detailed the direction of the investigation.
"Official records might not show Solan leaving the town, but that doesn't mean she didn't leave quietly with someone else. If no one made it public, the reason might be related to the clues we're looking for."
"No problem," the Bald-Headed Man agreed, then paused. "Although we didn't find any information related to the instance, we did get a lead on the group of players who went to Dingding Flower Town to kill people."
"They were sent by a fan of Master Solan. This person has some money and doesn't want players to find the painting, so they're secretly dealing with some players."
"This person has quite a background, connected to the District Government."
"Don't know if this information is useful?"
Xu Huo didn't say much after hearing it. "Be careful, then."
After their exchange, they each headed toward their own goals.
Xu Huo didn't rush to go to Sanhui City. Instead, he returned to the employee resettlement community of the Tiantianle Group and found the two technicians.
During the day, as long as they were out and about, it wasn't too hard to find them.
However, there was a hiccup during the hypnosis. One of them had a tracking chip installed in his heart. Within half a minute of the injection, he was surrounded by armed robots that arrived swiftly.
He had no choice but to put the other one into the picture frame and take him away, escaping the city in the process.
But the 019 District's robot system seemed to be paying close attention to him. The first three times he used "Doorstep Visit," he was immediately locked onto by nearby armed robots. In the end, he had to hide in a nearby hospital.
This time, he ended up in someone else's ward.
No one was surprised. The young woman on the hospital bed waved at him. "Come here, I have a secret to tell you."
Xu Huo glanced at the "Level 2 Mental Patient Danger Warning" display beside the bed and said, "If you can stay quiet for half an hour, I'll listen to your secret."
The young woman tilted her head and thought for a moment. "Deal, you have to listen!"
"Do you want to tell this secret to anyone else?" Xu Huo asked again.
"No," the young woman shook her head. "Only you."
"Then keep an eye on the door. Don't let anyone in." Xu Huo walked to a corner of the room and sat down. "If someone comes in, I'll have to leave."
The young woman immediately ran to the door, her eyes wide as she stared through the small glass window at the outside.
Aside from better facilities, the way mental patients were restrained hadn't changed.
Xu Huo met the second technician here.
"You don't have a tracking chip on you, do you?" he asked with a smile.
The technician quickly shook his head. "I don't have any tracking devices. You already took my watch earlier."
Xu Huo nodded slightly. "You should know what I want to ask."
The technician didn't dare to play dumb. "I've only done one shameful thing in my life. You must be here about the flying vehicle accident. I don't know much about the details. The young master of the Tiantianle Group asked me to modify a few data points on the flying vehicle. As for why he wanted me to do it, I really don't know..."
"Don't know?" Xu Huo showed him a photo of the flying vehicle accident survivors. "Do you recognize these people?"
The technician clearly still remembered them. He swallowed hard before saying, "They're the survivors... That blind old lady came to Tiantianle Group many times to demand an explanation. She only stopped when the government settled her in a retirement town."
"Good that you remember." Xu Huo said. "Have you seen her since?"
"No, I haven't... But I heard she comes back every year on the anniversary of her children's deaths. Many of the deceased in the flying vehicle accident had no remains left, so they were collectively buried in a cemetery built by Tiantianle. Her children were the same. A colleague told me they'd run into her when visiting the graves."
"She lost two sons in the mine." Xu Huo's gaze turned cold as he stared at him. "How did they die?"
"I really don't know about that! I specialize in flying vehicles, not mining..." the technician explained, afraid of being blamed. "But I know where her two sons are buried. They were originally buried by the company. Somehow, the old lady secretly moved their ashes herself. Not many people know about this. I only paid attention to her because I felt sorry for her, and I even quietly helped out..."
"Where?" Xu Huo cut off his self-serving rambling.
"Sanhui City! It's now called Sanhui City!" (End of Chapter)