Chapter 1813: Night Raid
Most of the town was empty. From the entrance to the government office building, fewer than two hundred ordinary people were gathered nearby, but over a dozen players had shown up.
The buzz-cut man genuinely treated Xu Huo as a passerby, preparing a simple meal for him. "I'm really sorry, but we're short on food here. This is all we can offer as a simple meal."
"Thank you." Xu Huo didn't mind. He took off his protective suit and began to eat.
The environment in Zone 010 was no longer suitable for farming, and the mutant plants that could survive were inedible. So food was generally bought from other zones. Grain from other zones wasn't too expensive, but players willing to stay in Zone 010 and support so many ordinary people definitely wouldn't spend all their money on food alone. Being frugal was only natural.
Xu Huo finished every last bite, thanked the buzz-cut man who handed him a cup of water, and then said, "Compared to other cities I've passed through, this place is pretty good."
"I heard people on the street talking about grain cultivation earlier."
Three players accompanied him into the office building's cafeteria. Besides the buzz-cut man, one stood with arms crossed by the door, and the other sat on the windowsill spinning a Rubik's Cube. They both turned their heads at his words.
The buzz-cut man also looked at Xu Huo.
"I don't mean anything by it," Xu Huo said with a smile. "I'm just curious what kind of seeds can actually grow here."
This topic was clearly not well-received. The buzz-cut man paused for a moment before replying, "In Zone 010, even mutant plants might not survive. But we still hope to improve seeds good enough."
The other party clearly didn't want to dwell on this topic. Xu Huo tactfully didn't press further and instead asked to take a walk around the city.
Since he was already inside the city, stopping him was out of the question. The buzz-cut man said, "I'll have Xiao Zhao and Xiao Song accompany you." He referred to the other two in the cafeteria.
Xu Huo naturally didn't refuse, but he wasn't trying to uncover the town's secrets. He just wanted to confirm all the players here.
The city wasn't large, and many places were completely uninhabited. Figuring out exactly how many people were here was too easy. Unfortunately, there was no target that matched his criteria. All the players here were relatively young, mostly C and D-rank players. However, the person managing this place should be at least a B-rank player. There was a separate office in the government building, and from the furnishings inside, it belonged to the true ruler of the town. But that person wasn't there at the moment.
During his walk, Xu Huo randomly pulled two pedestrians into his mental realm to ask about the player with the black snake tattoo. Unfortunately, they had never heard of such a person. The player managing this place was indeed a B-rank player, but he had no tattoo on his face. According to the residents' descriptions, he was a gentle and optimistic middle-aged man. Every time he returned, besides bringing them food, he would also hand out small items to reward them for guarding their home.
The townspeople trusted him deeply.
After making a full circuit of the city, night had completely fallen. Xiao Zhao and Xiao Song, who had been following him, came over to say they had prepared a place for him to stay.
Xu Huo nodded, then suddenly asked them, "Do you know a man with a black snake tattoo on his face?"
The two instinctively frowned, but the expression vanished in an instant. Xiao Zhao said flatly, "Never heard of him."
"Is that so?" Xu Huo didn't press further. He followed them to the lodging, planning to find someone else to ask later that night.
But just as he arrived at the arranged accommodation, a commotion erupted in the streets. To conserve energy, the town's residents returned home early at night and generally didn't use lights indoors. However, the streets had emergency lights. In that brief moment, a crowd of residents who had run out had already gathered under the dim streetlights.
The messenger was an ordinary person, one of those who had gone out during the day to search for resources. The town encouraged residents to venture out and find new species to exchange for food. It wasn't unusual for someone to travel far and not return for two or three days. This messenger was one of them.
He had happened to run into another person from the town on the road and learned from them that two female players who had just returned from an instance had been captured by people from the safe zone.
"...They were unlucky enough to run into players from the safe zone. Those people were killing for fun, and Tian Min and Lin Na happened to see it right after coming out of the instance. Tian Min and the others couldn't fight them off and got captured together. I rushed back to report!"
"Those safe zone bastards are all scum. Who knows what they'll do to Tian Min and Lin Na now that they've fallen into their hands! We have to go save them!"
After hearing this, the buzz-cut man immediately arranged for players to guard the city and led nine others out of the city.
After they left, the city lights came back on. The player in charge of defense was a young man with white hair. After sounding the alarm, he left two people to help the residents hide, while the rest took up positions at different points around the city to prevent anyone from sneaking in.
"Aren't you going to help?" Xu Huo asked the two still watching him.
Xiao Zhao and Xiao Song didn't dare leave. They wished they could keep their eyes on him without blinking.
"If they were going to kill people, why would they leave exactly one survivor and let them bring back the news?" Xu Huo stared at the streetlights, almost talking to himself. "There should be quite a few players in the safe zone, right?"
Xiao Zhao and Xiao Song held back for a moment. The latter spoke up with a hint of anger, "So what if we know it's a trap? Are we supposed to just watch our brothers and sisters be tortured to death by the enemy? Besides, staying holed up won't make things any better. The safe zone people will definitely bring Tian Min and Lin Na here... This isn't the first time!"
"If both sides have been able to coexist peacefully, your strength should be about equal," Xu Huo added.
Xiao Song's chest heaved. "That's right. Those safe zone bastards only know how to play dirty, but they've never gotten the better of us!"
But this time, they were wrong. In less than twenty minutes, news came from the high wall that the safe zone people were approaching from the main gate.
Before the two startled players could go out to check, frequent tremors shook the city. They could hear the clattering sound of gravel and debris flying and smashing against buildings.
"Is that... an explosion?" Xiao Zhao was startled. He quickly jumped out the window to check and indeed saw several faint plumes of smoke rising near the high wall. Although there was no loud bang, the flying gravel and debris confirmed it was an explosion.
The explosions continued. The safe zone players had already entered the city. One man, whose head was covered in tattoos, grinned savagely as he knocked the white-haired player down from the high wall. Pointing into the city, he said to his companions, "That coward Fu Yi loves to dig holes. The people must all be underground. Dig them all up! It doesn't matter if they get blown to pieces. We can still scrape together the bits and pieces and throw them in a pot!"
Fu Yi was the leader of the town. The insults and the way he treated the townspeople like livestock enraged the town's players. The next second, everyone was plunged into a life-or-death battle.
The town had few people, and the safe zone had a similar number. Both sides had likely split off some of their forces. With equal strength, it seemed the fight wouldn't be decided anytime soon. But that situation changed after another silent explosion.