Chapter 1824: A Reasonable Reason
For people who have lived long-term in Zone 010, especially those who cannot leave the zone, a meal of fresh food is an extremely rare thing. No matter what happened before, when faced with food, it's hard for anyone to put on a bad face. Whatever needs to be done can wait until after the meal.
Worried that someone might have sticky fingers, "Deng Xiahei" took the initiative to watch the cooks. Fan Yunhong helped out for a while before returning to Xu Huo's side. He had previously guessed that Xu Huo was looking for a child, but now the topic had suddenly shifted to finding an unnamed doctor. He was quite curious and asked Chang Shoujie if that medical doctor had developed any useful potions.
Unfortunately, Chang Shoujie didn't want to talk to him. He said "tired" and closed his eyes to rest.
Fan Yunhong walked back to Xu Huo and lowered his voice, saying, "I don't think he's telling the whole truth."
Probably thinking that since the other party was no longer a player, his ears might not be as sharp, he tested it by seeing no reaction before continuing, "There's no such thing as a completely selfless good person in this world. What's he after by doing this? It doesn't fit normal human nature at all."
Xu Huo glanced at him. "You've done a lot of research on human nature?"
Fan Yunhong smiled. "Judging others by myself, I think if it were me, I definitely wouldn't be this great. Running around for a lifetime, you have to want something—either profit or fame. But in the end, he has nothing."
"Even if he really is a saint devoted to Zone 010, after decades of effort only to be abandoned by everyone, anyone would go crazy. He's too calm, and he can coexist peacefully with so many cannibal players. That's definitely not simple."
"Makes sense." Xu Huo didn't refute his words but instead brought up the safe zone. "You've heard about the situation in the Sand Sea Safe Zone. How about I drop you off at the Polar Safe Zone? It's relatively safe."
Fan Yunhong had no objections, but he reminded Xu Huo to be careful.
The players from the small city arrived soon after, and Xu Huo met the person Buzz Cut and the others had mentioned, Fu Yi. He had originally come with people to seek revenge, but unexpectedly Ao Quan and Brother Lou were already dead, and there were only a few C-level players left. The fully armed group had come for nothing.
Fu Yi came over specifically to thank him and also saw Chang Shoujie. After nodding slightly in greeting, he took out a relatively new safe zone map and handed it to Xu Huo.
"This is a map of the surviving safe zones nearby. I hope it helps you clear the instance."
Xu Huo took it and looked it over, then took the opportunity to invite them to eat together.
Fu Yi didn't stand on ceremony and stayed. However, like Buzz Cut and the others before him, he didn't have much goodwill toward Chang Shoujie. Not a single word was exchanged between them throughout the entire meal.
This attitude could be called abnormal.
Even if Chang Shoujie had caused many Zone 010 players to lose their lives in the struggle to reclaim and destroy the Sand Sea Safe Zone, generally speaking, people who had heard his story—even if they weren't as outraged as Gao Dawei—would at least have some respect for the man. For everyone to uniformly despise him, there must be another reason.
Chang Shoujie remained calm, unaffected by the cold treatment and disgust from his own people.
After the meal, Xu Huo prepared to head to the Polar Safe Zone. Not only did he bring Chang Shoujie along, but he also agreed to let Gao Dawei come with them.
Chang Shoujie still objected, but Gao Dawei was very firm in his decision, so he could only nod.
Additionally, "Deng Xiahei" voluntarily followed, saying he could continue to recover from his injuries while returning to the Sand Sea Safe Zone later, since he wasn't in a hurry.
Xu Huo didn't say much, but since he was bringing Gao Dawei, he couldn't use a prop to directly reach the Polar Safe Zone. He also intended to slow down the pace, so while traveling, he would put Chang Shoujie and Fan Yunhong into container props and let them out during breaks.
Along the way, they didn't encounter much danger. The mutated venomous insects that ordinary people found hard to guard against were no problem for them. With the RV, they could even stop and get a good night's sleep.
Gao Dawei was envious. "When I become a high-level player, I'm definitely going to get a car like this."
"This kind of car can't run in the desert," Xu Huo said with a smile.
"That's okay, I'll just find a way to modify it," Gao Dawei thought it wasn't a big problem. "The game world is so advanced, there must be cars that can drive in the desert."
"How about buying a flying vehicle?" Xu Huo suggested.
"A flying vehicle works too!" Gao Dawei nodded vigorously. "I can't even imagine how awesome it would be to fly back here in one! Too bad these things are so expensive."
"It's okay. As long as you're alive, you'll have them sooner or later." Xu Huo handed him a bottle of low-alcohol drink.
Gao Dawei was also full of hope for the future, rambling on about taking Chang Shoujie to live in another district. Once he saved up enough money, he would find a way to leave the game and settle down for a peaceful retirement.
His plans didn't include marriage. "People with the disease can't have children anyway. Why burden someone else? Besides, I probably won't live very long. I just want to have a few comfortable years."
At this point, he seemed a bit puzzled. "Speaking of which, sometimes I don't understand those people who refuse to give up on Zone 010 even in death. Can't have kids, no descendants—that means the native population of Zone 010 will be completely gone by my generation. In the end, the ones left in Zone 010 will be outsiders, and the ones surviving and reproducing will be outsiders too. What's the point of fighting for it if it's just going to be handed over to outsiders in the end?"
"Feel like it's meaningless?" Xu Huo said casually.
"Do you think it has meaning?" Gao Dawei countered, then added, "Some people even risk their lives to fight for the Sand Sea Safe Zone. Sometimes I think it's just baffling."
"Just because there's no hope now doesn't mean there won't be hope in the future," Xu Huo said. "Maybe they're just fighting for that one chance."
Gao Dawei's view wasn't wrong. In fact, this was exactly the predicament facing Zone 010 residents. As for the players who hadn't completely left, first, the last generation of Zone 010 players still had new players emerging, and second, there were still many ordinary people scattered in different places. It was normal for the older players to be unwilling to abandon these last remaining compatriots.
But the move to reclaim the Sand Sea Safe Zone depended on Chang Shoujie's rhetoric. A few thermal weapons wouldn't be enough to make other safe zones sacrifice their own players. There had to be a sufficiently tempting bargaining chip to make these people rush in one after another.
After traveling for about two days, they finally arrived at the Polar Safe Zone.
Before entering, Chang Shoujie specifically asked to alter his appearance, worried that someone might recognize him and cause trouble for Xu Huo.
Xu Huo did as he asked and gave him a disguise, but there was no need for him to show himself for now.
The Polar Safe Zone was relatively large in scale, and players from other zones frequently passed through here, so the inspection of outsiders wasn't very strict. When Xu Huo and the other two entered, they were only watched for a while. After they struck up a conversation with an outer zone player and followed him to a small tavern, the watchers left.
This so-called small tavern was a drinking establishment converted from half of a school. It was also the only place in the Polar Safe Zone that served alcohol. Clean water and alcohol were both very expensive. Besides outer zone players, there were also Zone 010 players here, though it was unclear how many of them were from the Polar Safe Zone itself.