Chapter 1945: Replacement Deal
"We contacted someone in the game, and from her, we locked onto your account." The visitor said.
"The owner of the game hall is a member of the Rebel Army." Xu Huo raised his hand to invite him in to sit.
The other party seemed hesitant, still maintaining his distance, "You're different from the other inspectors."
This person was actually the same Rebel Army member the mute girl had encountered earlier. Although he hadn't agreed to take her away, he had followed her all the way until she was safe before leaving.
"There's no difference. I just do a little good deed when it's convenient while ensuring my own safety." Xu Huo flexed the hand holding his sidearm. "Just say what you want to say."
"The East District will soon take inspectors from all branches to the East District for training." The Rebel Army member said. "We hope you'll let our people replace you."
"Did I hear that right?" Xu Huo looked surprised. "With the situation between the East and West Districts so tense right now, how could the East District still be holding inspector training? Besides, inspector training is an opportunity to enter the East District. Why should I give it up to you?"
"It's been like this for years. No matter what happens, inspector training has never been interrupted. The cleanup plan is fake. The East District might delay it, but they won't completely cancel the training." The Rebel Army member's expression was solemn. "You can ask the old members of the Supervision Department about this. Ask them if they've ever seen the inspectors who went for training again. Even if inspectors are assigned to different areas to work, how big can the West District be? It's impossible for contact to be completely cut off."
"Training is a high-risk matter. We suspect it's actually an excuse for the East District to use inspectors as test subjects."
"We want to investigate the truth. You can keep your life. This is mutually beneficial."
Xu Huo pretended to be hesitant and said with some delay that he had indeed heard a bit of wind from the old inspectors.
The Rebel Army member wasn't lying. In their view, inspectors weren't much different from ordinary people—they'd just drunk some Evolution Agent. The East District was already taking people from the West District, so why did they specifically need inspectors?
There had to be a reason for it. All the Rebel Army wanted was to find out, but unfortunately, their people had difficulty infiltrating the East District through the Supervision Department channel.
"I'll think about it." Xu Huo said thoughtfully. "If I agree, I'll open both windows."
He pointed above the Rebel Army member's head.
The Rebel Army member nodded, then climbed back out the way he came, conveniently closing the window for him.
To enter the East District without making a sound, going through the Supervision Department was the best option. Xu Huo had observed earlier that, besides the Shadow Wall, the East District likely had at least three more super-large Defense Barriers. Breaking in was one thing; doing things after breaking in was another.
The first clearance mission was obviously out of the question, so he planned to go check out the East District. The person who knows you best is often your enemy.
As for the Rebel Army's "Pigeon" and "White Blood," it might be more convenient to look for clues in the East District. Not just for clearance, but the fact that Dr. Zhang and the Holy Sword Society, who should have had nothing to do with each other, appeared here at the same time was worth investigating.
However, this didn't conflict with tracking the Rebel Army member who had just visited.
The Spiritual Realm had already been released. Xu Huo watched him stagger into a small alley, seemingly crashing headfirst into a trash can, but in reality, he slipped through a passage beneath the trash can into a snack shop separated by a wall.
Usually at night, the snack shop was packed with people, but with the special circumstances these past two days, aside from those driving wildly through the streets, the small shops on the roadside had few customers.
Inside the back room of the snack shop was a game machine. The Rebel Army member put on the goggles and logged in, probably planning to use this method to pass on the message.
This way, Xu Huo couldn't find out who he was contacting.
When he took off the goggles, the snack shop owner came in and nervously asked how things were going.
"Although he didn't agree outright, there's a high chance we can convince him. People with a conscience are still in the majority." The Rebel Army member said.
The owner breathed a sigh of relief but couldn't help asking, "Could he be an Outer Zone Player?"
"It doesn't matter whether he is or not," the Rebel Army member said. "As long as he agrees to let our people replace him. It's hard to get through the Shadow Wall checkpoint with just our forged identity cards. So we have to wait until they enter the East District before swapping. If he's a player, that's even better—being swapped out at least guarantees his safety. And if things blow up, it'll be hard for him to return to the Supervision Department with his identity compromised."
The owner's somewhat plump face was etched with deep worry. "The cleanup plan is clearly fake. Why is the Strategist using such a radical method? The East District is checking everywhere for our people. Many members have already lost contact. Even if he wants to force those Outer Zone Players to side with us... could it backfire?"
"The Strategist has never made a mistake. He must have his reasons for doing this. We just follow orders." The Rebel Army member rubbed his face. "I haven't slept in three days. I'll rest for a while. Call me if something comes up."
The owner agreed and locked the room door again.
With little business, the owner simply closed up shop and started tallying the accounts. As he wrote and calculated, he heard the sound of dripping water. He called out for someone in the shop to turn off the faucet, but no one answered.
"Where did you run off to again!" the owner grumbled, going to turn off the faucet himself. But after he turned it off and sat back down, the dripping sound started again.
"Could it be broken?" The owner quickly grabbed his tools to check the pipes. After checking everywhere, he realized the sound was coming from next door. He pressed his ear to the wall, listened for a moment, and only relaxed when he confirmed the sound was from the neighboring unit.
The "drip, drip" noise was a bit annoying, but since it wasn't his own pipes, and it was late at night, the owner soon got used to it.
His pen scratched across the paper, comparing the numbers in the ledger without feeling the slightest bit tired.
Xu Huo appeared behind him and asked softly, "What's the name of the Rebel Army's leader?"
"Pigeon." The pen wrote these two words on the paper.
"Have you seen him?"
"No."
"Where is he? Does he have any distinguishing features?"
"Not sure."
"Who is the Strategist?"
"The leader's teacher. He's responsible for arranging our operations."
"Do you know his identity?"
"No."
"Pigeon and the Strategist—who might know their identities?"
"Qiao Ruxin. He said he's seen them."
Though it didn't seem very reliable, Xu Huo pressed further about Qiao Ruxin's identity and had the owner write down everything he knew about the Rebel Army members and their contact channels.
A moment later, the owner snapped out of his daze. Hearing that the dripping sound next door still hadn't stopped, he shrugged his shoulders and continued writing in the ledger.
Xu Huo found a nearby game machine, logged into the game world with his AFK account, and arrived at one of the Rebel Army's contact points.
The information was left in a public manner, but it was unclear if this place had been abandoned—the posted message hadn't been updated in three days.
He switched to several more locations, only to find that they were either no longer updated or completely empty. He gained nothing.
Was there trouble within the Rebel Army?
(End of Chapter)