Chapter 1763: The Announcement
"I didn't go back to the government to seek justice. Thanks to my abnormal evolution, two years later I discovered I had an exceptional talent in message collection programs. So I taught myself the relevant knowledge, hoping to get a certification and land a normal high-paying job."
"But the government didn't even give me that chance. The law at the time stipulated that people suffering from illnesses were not allowed to engage in high-intensity work, especially someone like me. Overusing my brain could worsen my condition. No company would hire me, so I never even set foot inside the exam hall."
"Seven or eight years passed like that, and I still hadn't scraped together enough for the surgery. Tian Tian could never be cured. Not only that, but every day I had to buy expensive medication just to maintain basic mobility."
"I lived a life worse than death for over a hundred years. Zone 019 never treated me well. What does it matter to me where it goes or what happens to it?"
"You don't need to test me. I only want revenge before I die—for my husband, for Tian Tian's father, for myself, for Tian Tian! To demand justice! I don't care whether Zone 019 is good or bad!"
The old woman finished speaking, already gasping for breath. She leaned on Tian Tian's arm, her eyes fixed on Xu Huo. "Can you do it? You can do it, can't you?"
"I can't give you a definite answer," Xu Huo said. "After all, once things start, they can no longer develop according to anyone's personal will."
"Haha!" The old woman laughed bitterly. "Good, good. Stir things up, make them as big as possible. Make it so those people can't clean up the mess. Force them to spit out the people they've devoured while lying on mountains of corpses and seas of blood over the past hundred years!"
"Are you alright?" Xu Huo pushed the glass of water toward her. "Don't get too excited. Tomorrow is the main event."
The old woman's eyes never left him. With Tian Tian's help, she slowly calmed down and sat back properly. From the armrest of her wheelchair, she took out a button-sized device. "Stick this on your terminal tomorrow."
"Is there a distance limit?" Xu Huo took it and asked.
"No," the old woman said solemnly after a moment's thought. "But it's better to be closer to the district government headquarters. It'll make it easier for me to influence the intelligent systems placed inside the government building."
"Are you confident?" Xu Huo asked again.
The old woman didn't answer that question, but from her lack of panic and the fact that she hadn't asked for preparation time, he knew she had probably been working on this for a very long time.
"Also, can you interfere with the defense system of the Hailes Corporation?" Xu Huo said. "Inside that company, there's a cemetery specifically built for the victims."
"I'll find it," the old woman said firmly.
The conversation could end here. Xu Huo stood up to leave, but turned back at the door to say, "You told me everything the moment we met. Did I slip up somewhere?"
The old woman must have known what was happening on the message collection terminals. He hadn't proven his identity, yet she trusted him. The only explanation was that she clearly knew his movements.
Xu Huo had already tried to minimize the use of his watch terminal.
"Last month, the district government updated its intelligent system. It can pinpoint your location within less than a second of you taking your terminal out of the luggage compartment," the old woman said. "You were smart to use a device bought on the black market as a relay. But I built my own continuous tracking system that can link to all terminals within a thousand-meter radius of me. I don't need to eliminate them one by one like the government does—I just need one of them to show up at my doorstep."
Xu Huo's expression relaxed slightly. "Thank you for clearing that up."
With the communication issue resolved, he went to see Old Master Yue again to ask if he could make his information public.
Old Master Yue was very surprised to see him return. After a long silence, he said, "If I refuse, will you give the materials back to me?"
"Yes, but I've already copied the contents," Xu Huo said frankly.
Old Master Yue's eyes widened. "Then why are you even asking me!"
Xu Huo smiled. "Actually, you don't need to worry too much. There are many more people like you in Zone 019. Even the descendants and relatives of the victims want the truth, but they don't want to destroy the peace of Zone 019 either."
Think about it carefully—even those people on the message collection terminals who are clamoring for justice for the victims don't have much conflict of interest with the district government or the mining conglomerates. On the contrary, they are also beneficiaries of the human bone gems. They've already shouldered part of the sin, and that sin cannot be repaid. The dead are already dead. All the voices will eventually fade away.
Old Master Yue was puzzled. "Why are you doing this? Aren't you looking for the painting? Is Xixi Dolay really the Ember Maiden? Why did Master Solan paint such a picture? Why... why make it public?"
"Master Solan's thoughts were probably the same as yours," Xu Huo said.
Old Master Yue's pupils rapidly contracted and dilated. After a moment, he calmed down. "So that's how it is."
"It's not that by waiting until all the relevant people are dead, you can completely erase this sin. Sooner or later, atonement must be made, and it should be made."
Xu Huo stayed at Old Master Yue's place. When the agreed time came the next day, he put on his mask, used a prop to slightly modify the old man's room, stuck the button device onto his terminal, and then sat down to connect to the public channel.
The puppet Amber incident was just a small disturbance, but an outer zone player demanding a public dialogue with government personnel was something the entire Zone 019 would pay attention to. So when he logged onto the public channel, the terminal interfaces across the entire district were almost unified.
The government hadn't responded yesterday. Xu Huo had unilaterally issued the notice. Now it was up to Mattley Dolay to take the bait.
After waiting about three minutes, he could even feel the button on his watch heating up. So, facing the audience of onlookers, and also facing Mattley Dolay, he said, "Do you know who killed Xixi Dolay?"
"She disappeared in Funiu Village, now known as Sanhui City. The district government's players couldn't find her. Under normal circumstances, people would think she was taken by a player. But that's not the case."
Xu Huo took out the portraits of the blind old woman and Enbo, drawn based on descriptions, and displayed them in front of the camera.
"First, her child was stabbed to death in the mine. She then led her family of over a dozen people to seek the truth, but lost all of them in a man-made aircraft accident. She now lives alone in Dingding Flower Town, where she formed a connection with Master Solan."
After briefly explaining, he provided the news reports related to the aircraft accident and the oral testimonies of those involved, including the technician who tampered with the data.
After the video finished playing, he moved on to the second person:
"An ordinary person with a strange temper, living in a small town not far from Sanhui City. He was raised by the kindness of the whole village. Many of the fellow villagers who once helped him died in mining disasters. His hometown was renamed Enbo Town because of him, later changed to Jiusang City due to the appearance of new amber, and then changed back to Enbo after Master Solan released the painting 'Ember Maiden.' It is now Enbo City."