Chapter 1861: This Isn't Over
Xu Huo was equally enraged. He directly broke through the barrier set by Pink Hair, arriving on the rooftop less than ten meters away, and said in a deep voice, "Give the child back to me."
Pink Hair, however, just smiled. "She's not a newborn from Zone 010. Otherwise, that Vaga who tried to kill her would have cleared the instance instead of dying by your hand."
"Whatever grudge you have against the people of Zone 010 has nothing to do with me. But if you don't return the child, I can't guarantee what will happen." As Xu Huo spoke, his Spiritual Realm and Space Power had already enveloped the entire building. Invisible tangents and Materialized Objects, along with visible attack items, were all set in place, ensuring the other party wouldn't leave easily.
"This is just a corpse." The smile on Pink Hair's face gradually faded, and he asked Xu Huo seriously, "Why go to such lengths for a corpse?"
"Do I need to explain myself to you?" Xu Huo countered.
Pink Hair's hand, holding Little Pink Hat, began to sway, and then he burst into laughter, his whole body trembling. "Your instance mission is different from those who killed the newborns, but this child is already dead. I can't figure out why you'd still want to snatch the corpse. Do you think it can still be used as a research sample?"
"You're not trying to save the people of Zone 010, are you?"
His laughter grew a bit manic, and he staggered around the rooftop. Then, under the watchful eyes of the crowd, he suddenly shouted, "Then I'll destroy their hope right in front of them!"
As he finished speaking, a massive fire erupted from his hand. Before Xu Huo and the Zone 010 players could react, he hurled the already-burning corpse off the roof!
Forgoing the Pink Hair who had leaped off the other side of the building, Xu Huo manipulated Space Rays to pull Little Pink Hat back, quickly wrapping her in a fireproof cloth—Little Pink Hat wasn't dead. He had known this since the Zone 010 players dug her up from underground. Her timing for playing dead was perfect, as the players drawn by the "newborn" needed an explanation. The death of a "fake newborn" was the best outcome. He hadn't expected Pink Hair to interfere and not even spare the corpse.
Feeling a slight scratch on his arm from beneath the cloth bundle in his arms, Xu Huo's heart relaxed a little. He said to the Zone 010 players who were now coming up to the roof, "My apologies, everyone. This is not the newborn you're looking for."
Earlier during the negotiations, the Zone 010 players had been questioning the identity of the "newborn." But now that Xu Huo was voluntarily admitting it, and they had verified it themselves, a strange, conflicting emotion arose in them.
"She might not be the newborn the clearance players are looking for, but that doesn't mean she isn't the child we're looking for," Liao Xiaoyi said.
Xu Huo looked at them. "This child has no human intelligence, and over eighty percent of her body shows signs of degeneration. You all saw it with your own eyes just now. Why are you now willing to admit she's a child of Zone 010?"
"I can tell you the instance content clearly. The newborn known as the hope of Zone 010 is named 'Melissa,' and she is the only newborn."
The sarcastic expression on his face made Liao Xiaoyi and the others feel somewhat ashamed, as if their change of heart was merely to snatch the corpse for further experimentation.
"Unfortunately, this child is not Melissa."
Xu Huo stored Little Pink Hat into an item. "Since the CK12 Safe Zone abandoned this child and left, it means she was a discarded failure. There's no need for you to continue researching her. If medical doctors from other districts couldn't do it, there's no way you can."
"Don't make it sound so harsh," Gao Yong said. "Weren't you aware from the start that this kid wasn't Melissa, and you still used her to negotiate with us?"
"That's right," Xu Huo admitted bluntly, and announced in front of everyone, "The people most likely to know Melissa's whereabouts are the players who once lived in CK12. I lured them here precisely for that purpose."
"But what I didn't expect was that the CK12 players weren't in the safe zone established by the Zone 010 people, but had gone to the Sand Sea Safe Zone..."
This statement shifted everyone's attention to the Sand Sea players.
Whether other safe zones in Zone 010 had CK12 players was uncertain, but the fact that the Sand Sea Safe Zone had them was now out in the open. At this point, no one had time to dwell on Xu Huo using a "fake newborn" to toy with them. Two more important matters were at hand: first, the whereabouts of the CK12 players and Melissa; second, these arrogant Sand Sea Safe Zone people who had stormed into the Polar Safe Zone—they absolutely couldn't be allowed to leave unscathed!
"Kill them!" Liao Xiaoyi turned around, shedding the restraints of worrying about the newborn, a blazing fury in his eyes. "Kill them all! Avenge our fallen comrades!"
"Kill them all! Avenge our fallen comrades!" The Zone 010 players still present echoed in unison.
The melee began again, but this time it was the Zone 010 players hunting down the Sand Sea Safe Zone players. Of course, in their busy schedule, they hadn't forgotten to keep an eye on the Outer Zone players.
Under the tracking of two B-rank players, Xu Huo found Chang Shoujie. This man had now entered the underground fortress with Mr. Yuan, observing the outside situation through instruments while directing the battle.
One of Chang Shoujie's goals in playing along was to eliminate a batch of Sand Sea Safe Zone players to prevent them from becoming too powerful, so he was naturally going all out. After Xu Huo entered, he grabbed the man in front of Mr. Yuan and a few players protecting them:
"I had a prior agreement with Mr. Chang to help me with something. I'm taking him with me."
"Uncle..." Gao Dawei immediately rushed forward, but in the next second, the two had already moved to the surface through the Spiritual Gate.
More than anything else, Chang Shoujie was concerned about Melissa. He asked urgently, "Did you really find her..."
Before he could finish, Xu Huo stuffed him into a picture frame.
By then, Gao Dawei and the Zone 010 players tracking him had come out, along with Deng Xiahei, Juan Er, and a few others, including the young player who had snatched Little Pink Hat earlier only to be scared into dropping her. These people wouldn't let go without seeing results. Seeing that Xu Huo had specifically gone to the Polar Safe Zone to capture someone, they knew there was more to come, so they hurriedly followed.
Xu Huo didn't care how many were following him. As he was about to leave the city, he saw Pink Hair still aimlessly killing people. He turned back to look at Deng Xiahei and the others. "Get him out of here too, or there won't be anyone left by the time we come back."
"I have a rather nasty idea," Juan Er said with a sly grin. "But you guys need to protect me."
Everyone was wondering what the plan was when they saw him flash behind Pink Hair and pull out a five-meter-wide bed, lying down on it. As he lay down, Pink Hair was also constrained by the item's power, flying directly onto the bed and landing beside him.
Their eyes met, and the veins on Pink Hair's forehead bulged visibly!