Chapter 1927: Clues
Early in the morning, Xu Huo was walking out of the Supervision Department again.
Outside, the sky had brightened, but it was as good as not. Not only were the overly complex buildings blocking the sky, but severe environmental pollution also made the sky gloomy. Not only was it raining, but there was also fog, making it exceptionally oppressive.
However, the morning was quieter than the night, with only relatively normal people moving about.
Xu Huo, holding an umbrella from the Supervision Department, ate a bowl of noodles by the roadside and found a shop with a "House Rental" sign posted on its door, walking inside.
The person guarding the shop was a woman with heavy makeup. The quality of the cosmetics was probably poor, as her face had patches of varying shades of color, and powder would flake off when rubbed. She had dark circles under her eyes and kept yawning. She wasn't enthusiastic about the customer who came in and simply tossed a worn-out booklet at him.
"The crossed-out houses have already been rented out. Look for yourself. The prices are all on there."
The shadow wall separating the East and West Districts ran north-south, appearing roughly as a straight line. A river ran alongside it. The safe residential area that Lin Guang had mentioned was right by this river. The closer to the river, the higher the housing prices; moving in the opposite direction, prices gradually decreased, and the environment gradually worsened.
Xu Huo eventually rented a house not too far from the shadow wall for one thousand a month. This was even after bargaining. Judging from the extremely simple floor plan in the booklet, the house couldn't be much good.
The landlady, carrying a string of keys, rode a modified, old-fashioned aircraft to take him to see the house.
The residential area in the West District was terraced, with floors stacked above and below each other. The Supervision Department where Xu Huo reported was in the middle. Going further down, there were deeper levels. However, the closer to the shadow wall, the shallower this vertical structure became. By the time they reached the rented house, the terrain had flattened out. At least, standing at the rental house and looking down, there was only one layer of buildings below. And this area was still far from the river.
The landlady opened the door and pointed at the old, not-so-clean house. "It has its own bathroom and toilet. There's a window for cooking. When you come out, you can see the shadow wall. If you're frugal, you won't even need to turn on the lights at night."
The landlady wasn't entirely joking. The so-called shadow wall was essentially a high-tech wall that could simulate the surrounding environment. During the day, the wall was active. Looking from this side of the river, you could only see grass and river water similar to the riverbank scenery. At night, the effect was turned off, and the shadow wall became transparent. Not only could the light from the opposite side shine through, but you could also see the East District city from here—the light Xu Huo had seen last night that lit up half the sky came from the East District. It was perfectly reasonable not to need lights near the river.
Anyway, once the colorful lights of the West District were on, it was all the same.
Xu Huo pretended to be troubled and walked around the house for a bit before asking, "Is there anything better?"
The landlady looked him up and down. "There is, but it depends on whether you can afford it."
In the end, Xu Huo settled on a rental house for two thousand a month, about five hundred meters further ahead. Besides anything else, it was at least cleaner.
There were quite a few people nearby who had rented houses through this landlady. When she went, she also collected rent along the way, which gave Xu Huo the chance to meet a few neighbors on either side.
Like most of the West District they had passed through, the residents here all looked malnourished. However, their clothing was slightly better, and the children in some families were relatively clean.
They were all very wary of the new tenant. Apart from two elderly people who beat around the bush trying to find out Xu Huo's background and job, the others wouldn't even speak to him and would even actively avoid eye contact.
Rent in the West District only needed to be paid monthly. Xu Huo paid for one month, got the key, and went out to buy daily necessities.
When he had been caught by the three bald men, he had no luggage besides his wallet. This was actually a huge flaw, but no one in the Supervision Department cared, nor did anyone ask about his past, like where he had trained or anything. They seemed to treat him as a passerby.
The mortality rate among Supervision Department personnel was high, so it was normal for old hands to have this attitude.
Still, Xu Huo planned to get himself a "stolen suitcase" in a couple of days.
After comparing prices, he bought all his daily necessities. On his way back to the rental house, he ran into his new neighbors on the stairs. They were two girls, chatting and laughing as they headed downstairs. As they brushed past him, they winked and said, "Come find us downstairs tonight to play."
Xu Huo avoided them, keeping his eyes straight ahead as he went upstairs, which drew a burst of laughter.
Back in his own house, he closed the door. While tidying up, he observed the surroundings. He had already looked around the area when he went out to buy things. Apart from the occasional passing aircraft, there were no surveillance or jamming devices set up in this area. So, he released his spiritual realm and checked everyone in the nearby blocks.
Within ten minutes, he had located five players.
Two of them had used items to conceal their residences and were currently processing items on themselves. They were most likely Outer Zone players.
The other three showed no physical evolutionary differences from ordinary people, but the space rays emitted from their outer clothing were off. So, they were probably wearing protective suits that could modify body information. One of the three was sleeping, while the other two were bustling about and working like ordinary residents on the street.
To be safe, Xu Huo didn't look further afield. Instead, he focused on a nearby entertainment venue.
This kind of place was relatively quiet during the day, but coincidentally, someone was delivering supplies there. On the surface, it was some vegetables and fruit, but hidden under a metal partition was an injured person. This person had been transferred from three streets away and had even crossed paths with the dark-skinned delivery man at an intersection.
The injured person was taken directly to the back kitchen and hidden behind the freezer by a chef.
A few minutes later, a sloppily dressed doctor came by, gave a simple bandage and treatment, and then left.
Only then did the chef ask the injured person about what had happened.
Unfortunately, this person wasn't a member of the rebel army. The general situation was this: he was a mole planted in another faction's organization. He had been discovered while investigating one of their black-market channels, was nearly killed, and barely managed to escape. This person also brought back another piece of information: their rival faction had somehow contacted a stable supplier and would soon be selling them a batch of obsolete thermal weapons.
This involved a conflict between underworld forces, but the identity of a supplier who could provide a certain quantity of weapons was not simple. So, Xu Huo followed the chef to meet the shop owner. Based on his understanding of his rival, the shop owner was certain that the seller of these weapons must be from the East District. To win this struggle, he planned to offer a higher price and personally contact the East District people.
The shop owner contacted an intermediary, asking him to set up a meeting platform and invite the manager of the "Frozen Processing Plant" for a meeting.