Chapter 1848: Truth and Falsehood
Xu Huo had always been very amiable and easy to get along with. Apart from deciding the next plan of action, he almost never had any conflicts with others, mainly going with the flow.
Deng Xiahei had followed on his own, while Brother Wu and his two companions had been hired. But Xu Huo treated them with great respect and even took care of their daily meals and accommodation.
So now, his words slightly changed the atmosphere.
To be honest, Juan Er and the others hadn't come on this trip solely for the White Notes. Deep down, they also wanted to try their luck. The past two days had gone well, so they had somewhat formed a team, which was why they hadn't brought up payment with Xu Huo. His attitude now seemed a bit cold and impersonal.
Juan Er shrugged calmly, "Fine, don't look then."
It was at this moment that Chang Shoujie finally came downstairs with the help of Gao Dawei. Seeing what Xu Huo was holding, he gripped the armrests of his wheelchair tightly. "Doctor... he actually succeeded!"
Xu Huo gestured for Gao Dawei to push Chang Shoujie upstairs. "I have something to discuss with you."
Chang Shoujie was equally curious about what this newborn, born in Zone 010, looked like, and quickly urged Gao Dawei on.
Once upstairs, Gao Dawei remained outside the door as before, while Xu Huo and Chang Shoujie spoke privately.
Entering the room, Xu Huo set Little Pink Hat down. She removed the instruments attached to her body, hopped onto the sofa, and grabbed a banana to peel and eat.
"This is..." Chang Shoujie wasn't stupid. Seeing Little Pink Hat, he knew she absolutely couldn't be the child cultivated by Dr. Joyce. He just didn't understand why Xu Huo would do this.
"Are you deliberately making others think you've found the newborn? Once the news spreads, do you know what the consequences will be?"
Xu Huo had certainly thought of that. He admitted frankly, "I'm just giving others misleading information. Although the newborn isn't in my hands, she does exist."
"Let me tell you, Dr. Joyce's experiment should have succeeded. Because the content of this Instance of mine is to find the child born two years ago. I just don't know the child's whereabouts for now."
"But it's not without gains." He took out the chip obtained from Zone 017 and placed it before Chang Shoujie, then wrote down the number CKX8911. "Using your locator, I found Dr. Joyce's positioning device. He placed it on a Xenomorph. I retrieved it from the belly of one. The chip is damaged, and only this number was parsed out. I'm not sure if it's complete."
"Do you recognize this number?"
Chang Shoujie hadn't yet recovered from the shock that a newborn actually existed in Zone 010. Looking down at the numbers placed before him, his expression clearly paused.
"You know it?" Xu Huo quickly pressed.
Chang Shoujie seemed to recall some unpleasant memories. After a moment, he said, "This is a number from a Xenomorph. It first appeared during the first large-scale Xenomorph tide. In the nearly ten subsequent Xenomorph outbreaks, similar numbered Xenomorphs appeared."
Chang Shoujie's past life had been spent moving through different parts of Zone 010, trying to save his homeland. So he had a more comprehensive understanding of the information buried in the yellow sand, like a living history book.
"At the time, we suspected these Xenomorphs were artificially released. So after repeatedly finding these numbered Xenomorphs, we deliberately marked many Xenomorphs with numbers to confuse them. We also found some similar chips, but when we tried to extract and parse them, the chips self-destructed. So we didn't get any more useful information."
Chang Shoujie finished in one breath, then returned to the main topic. "Once the news of the newborn spreads, not only Zone 010 players, but also Outer Zone players from the Sand Sea Safe Zone will come looking for you. What are you trying to do?"
"Even if the newborn was taken by people from CK12 Safe Zone, doing this won't force them to expose the child."
His expression was somewhat heavy. Before this, no one knew a newborn had been born in CK12. Leaking the news would only bring endless danger to the child. It had only been two years. Even if the remaining people wanted to use this child for something, time was far from enough.
"Don't think so optimistically," Xu Huo said. "The birth of a newborn doesn't mean Zone 010's fertility problem is solved. Otherwise, Dr. Joyce wouldn't have died in CK12. He was the only one who mastered the technology. His priority should have been higher than the newborn's."
Since Dr. Joyce died, it meant there were other hidden circumstances.
Chang Shoujie seemed to want to convince himself. "Maybe other medical doctors came to Zone 010."
Xu Huo didn't argue with him. "Let's assume what you say is true. Then where are they hiding? And how are they giving birth to newborns?"
Anyone could figure out that the conditions for a newborn's birth were extremely harsh. Over the past two years, not a single rumor had surfaced—not only in the Sand Sea Safe Zone, but Zone 010's local players had also been expanding their search range in their spare time. Since they had absolutely no leads, either large-scale reproduction of the next generation was fundamentally impossible, or the child had been sent to another district.
The former was understandable. But if the latter had gone smoothly, there would be no need to keep the newborn a secret. Unless the players who took the child out of Zone 010 had already abandoned their homeland.
"Impossible!" Chang Shoujie said decisively. "If they took the newborn and directly gave up on Zone 010, why would they have wasted so much time here?"
Xu Huo nodded in agreement. "So no matter what, there's only one conclusion."
"The birth of one child doesn't mean a second or third child will be born." Chang Shoujie's grave expression carried a hint of darkness.
"Dr. Joyce left the chip for a reason," Xu Huo said, slowing his speech. "Since he devoted the last moments of his life entirely to Zone 010, the clues he left must also be related to Zone 010."
"Besides, don't you want to find the child born two years ago? Two years without any news means no progress. No one knows how long that child can live. Taking the child to find a more suitable person is the right move."
Chang Shoujie's expression gradually recovered. He looked at the young man sitting across from him. "You just want to clear the Instance."
"The same destination, different paths," Xu Huo said. "Whether it's clearing the Instance or having the child undergo experiments, we have to find the person first."
Chang Shoujie didn't believe him. "Since you've obtained the clues left by Dr. Joyce, you shouldn't have made the newborn's news public."
He should have searched for the child secretly.
"Double insurance." Xu Huo tapped the paper slip on the table. "You also know this is just a number from a Xenomorph invading Zone 010. The information it can represent is probably very limited. Besides, Zone 010 is already mostly buried in sand."
"I'm more hoping someone will come to me with clues about the newborn." (Chapter End)