Chapter 1786: The Reputation of Passerby A
The Magician might be He Pu's friend, but to Xu Huo, he wasn't someone absolutely trustworthy. A person whose strength in the game was close to that of a Super Player was an extremely dangerous existence in itself. Trusting someone you've only met a few times was not advisable.
The issue of the quadrangular pyramid had to be set aside for now.
Mr. Dong brought new bandages and medicine, and with the help of Xiao Yuan and the Painting Woman, he carefully re-treated all the wounds on Xu Huo's body.
The wounds were quite deep. Even after using a self-healing agent, recovery wasn't easy. Just the external injuries alone would take several days to heal.
"The guests heard that you've returned and want to see you," Mr. Dong said after finishing the wound treatment.
"Did they say when they're leaving?" Xu Huo asked.
"They've already booked dinner for tomorrow evening," Mr. Dong replied.
It seemed they didn't plan to leave anytime soon.
"As long as they don't wander around the castle, let them stay," Xu Huo said. "I won't see them."
During the days of recovery, Xu Huo basically didn't go downstairs. Aside from familiarizing himself with new items each day and replying to the invitations sent by Lady Lily and other ladies devoted to charity who had heard of his return, he spent the rest of his time learning about the situation in other districts.
Besides the D03-019 district he had just visited, he also looked up some C-rank instance guides from other districts. His access permissions at the C and D wormhole points were all below the C-rank player section. Although he couldn't see B-rank player content, he could purchase some B-rank guides through the bounty platform.
He wasn't short on money now. The two hundred million white notes given by the Special Defense Department hadn't been spent much, and this trip back from the 019 district had netted him another one hundred fifty million white notes. Even if B-rank instance guides had some premium pricing, it wasn't a problem.
After a few days of fermentation, the turmoil caused by the "Ember Maiden" in the 019 district had taken a relatively clear direction.
First, the government players making a move on him right at their own doorstep had indeed brought considerable negative consequences. One reason was that the government had promised peaceful negotiations beforehand, with Zheng Nineteen personally vouching for it, only to go back on their word in front of the entire district—this inevitably made people look down on them.
Second, he was just a C-rank player, yet the government had deployed so many high-level players. The approach was unsightly and made people feel it was out of sheer humiliation and anger.
Due to the Magician's unconditional retreat at the end, the government players couldn't release footage of Xu Huo leaving alive. Coupled with the fact that the city's aircraft had been damaged by the airwaves from the portal earlier, and a protective barrier had been added over the city afterward, there weren't many witnesses.
However, after two days of fermentation, players around the Son of Solan came forward to testify, confirming that Xu Huo had indeed left the 019 district. Of course, they wouldn't say whether Xu Huo had escaped on his own or if the district government had suddenly kept their promise and let him go, which caused a bit of trouble for the district government. Some people believed they had been coerced.
The turning point came when someone publicly revealed Xu Huo's player nickname.
That's right—it was the few players who had made puppets in Ember City but ultimately failed to reach the district government in time to clear the instance. Although they hadn't cleared it, they learned from other channels about the team's clearance and that Xu Huo had indeed kept his promise. The players captured by the 019 district not only regained their freedom but also cleared the instance with a high rating!
How could they swallow that? So, while the 019 district was shaping Xu Huo into a tragic hero and planning to write him into their historical milestones, they publicly revealed Xu Huo's player nickname and mentioned that he was on the fifty-thousand-player leaderboard at the E-rank wormhole point. The obvious evidence was that after clearing the instance, Passerby A's ranking had jumped significantly.
An SSS-rank clearance—how many C-rank players could achieve that?
Of course, this only added luster to Xu Huo, so those few people embellished things with some nonsense, denying the 019 district's belief that Xu Huo had risked his life out of sympathy to uncover the truth of the mining disaster. Instead, they claimed he wanted a high-score clearance and used the chaos in the 019 district to achieve his goal.
However, their claims were quickly drowned out. The Son of Solan personally came forward to testify, relaying the facts witnessed by some players, and used a lie detector to state that Xu Huo, when he could have safely left the 019 district, only demanded compensation for the items and robots he had lost. When Zheng Nineteen proactively offered to make up for his other losses, Xu Huo even refused, and he entrusted the painting "Ember Maiden"—now of incalculable value—to a player to hand over to him.
Thus, he and several witness players were willing to believe and testify that Xu Huo had not deliberately caused trouble in the 019 district. The truth of the mining disaster was real, Xixi Duolaiti had indeed been killed by avengers, and after the incident escalated, some cities did experience problems. This proved that even after a hundred years, those involved in the mining disaster hadn't truly forgotten.
The purpose of Solan leaving behind and having people search for the "Ember Maiden" was, first, to repent and admit fault, and second, to have the 019 district resolve the historical hidden dangers so that it wouldn't cause irreparable losses at some point in the future. Addressing this issue proactively during peacetime was the best course of action.
Xu Huo had not only uncovered the truth of the mining disaster but also understood Solan's intentions. Not only the Son of Solan, but even those who admired Solan's paintings considered him a person worthy of respect. So what if he did it to clear the instance? No one had told him that doing so would guarantee a high score, and the fact was that he had nearly died at the hands of the district government. Therefore, more people felt that his actions were driven more by emotion than reason.
Additionally, some of the players who had followed Xu Huo through the instance also came back to testify for him. First, out of admiration—after all, he had dared to challenge the district government alone. Second, they recognized his character. Under those circumstances, he still remembered to pull people out and take them through the instance. To be honest, even if Xu Huo had cleared the instance on his own, other players wouldn't have said much.
Those willing to speak up for him naturally wouldn't skimp on a few good words, indirectly corroborating that Xu Huo was indeed an honest and trustworthy good person.
At this point, the core members of the district government, represented by Zheng Nineteen, decisively determined how to handle the incident. Besides dealing with the cancerous elements of the mining group and punishing some government players who had violated orders, they also publicly acknowledged that the district government had indeed known some truths about the mining disaster. Of course, they downplayed their words, trying to minimize the district government's role in the matter... This was standard procedure, since someone else was already taking the main blame.
What was rare was that, at the very end, they also thanked Master Solan and Xu Huo, acknowledging Xu Huo as a friend of the 019 district. They stated that if Xu Huo ever returned, all government-controlled industries in the 019 district would be free for him. He could also settle down in the 019 district, with housing and identity not being issues. They could open a special channel for him.
(End of Chapter)