Chapter 1987: Flipping the Table
The prop aimed at Xu Huo's spine ultimately left a hole in the side of the table before vanishing along with the bespectacled man, while the metal syringe remained on the table. Pulling out the thin needle that had pierced through the space ray barrier and stabbed into his palm, he glanced at the blackened needle hole, picked up the metal syringe, and prepared to leave.
"Wait... sir, your hand has turned black..." The waiter, startled by his suddenly discolored hand, quickly caught up to ask if he needed to go to the hospital.
"I just ate some color-changing candy. It's nothing serious." Xu Huo politely declined.
The waiter looked at him with a mix of doubt and suspicion.
Leaving the breakfast shop, Xu Huo glanced in the direction of the school but ultimately chose not to continue tangling with the Rebel Army members. This trip had yielded some gains, after all.
Among the batch of psychotherapists who had been captured and then released, there were definitely Rebel Army members—either Pigeon or the Strategist. However, considering that the "Strategist" had deliberately shown his face in front of the therapists at the time, and the Rebel Army needed leadership, the one disguised as a psychotherapist was most likely the Strategist.
As for the "White Blood," even if what he had been given wasn't genuine, verifying it wouldn't be difficult. He could simply find any Eastern District player to test it on.
However, "White Blood" wasn't a potion, nor was it necessarily a chip. The answer to this could be obtained from Zheng Yuci or from the Agor Headquarters.
The toxin on Xu Huo's palm took an hour to slowly dissipate. After confirming that his body was fine, he found an opportunity to acquire two corpses of Eastern District players. He wasn't skilled at craniotomies, so he took the bodies to an underground clinic.
The middle-aged man, who served as the boss, doctor, and nurse, opened up one of the heads under the temptation of a generous reward.
"There are indeed traces of surgery." The boss pointed to a small area of proliferative tissue on the bone. "This is a mark left by a special recovery potion. Using it after surgery can help bones heal faster and better, but improper dosage might cause a bit of extra bone growth. Minor issue."
Then, with deft movements, he removed the skull and showed Xu Huo the cerebrum and cerebellum.
Xu Huo immediately spotted several blue-black lines radiating across the sulci and gyri of the brain. "What are these?"
This was beyond the doctor's knowledge. He pondered for a moment, took a sample, and speculated, "It might be a side effect of some potion. Players these days just drink anything randomly."
"Check if there's anything at the end of those lines," Xu Huo said directly.
The doctor put on his tools and searched carefully for a while before extracting a tiny metal fragment. Though small, it made a distinctive metallic sound when it dropped onto the metal tray.
"What kind of device is this? I've never seen one before." The doctor gave it a quick clean before saying, "This is much smaller than the usual implanted devices."
Xu Huo's gaze shifted between the chip and the blue-black substance on the tray. After a moment, he purchased a specialized identification device from Under Dimension to analyze the composition of the blue-black material.
"This substance is extremely close to human brain tissue, but please note that it contains an unknown toxin. Do not ingest it under any circumstances."
Hearing the device's report, the doctor quickly rechecked his gloves to ensure they weren't damaged before saying, "So he was poisoned to death. But this poison is interesting—it converges right at the device."
"He wasn't poisoned to death," Xu Huo said, pulling open the corpse's coat. "His heart was pierced."
The doctor was confused and muttered, "Lucky for him... died early, spared the suffering..."
Xu Huo pointed to the other corpse. "Switch to this one."
The doctor complied. The second person's condition was the same—traces of poisoning in the brain, but the toxin hadn't spread far, still converging at the chip site.
Both corpses being the same meant it wasn't a coincidence. Was the chip itself toxic?
The rumor about removing the brain might be nonsense, but could using toxins to numb players' emotions be feasible?
Some mental illnesses had long been treatable with medication. In the rapidly advancing technological world of the game, controlling players through similar but more refined methods might not be a fantasy. However, releasing toxins through implanted chips would require controlling not just the dosage—since the toxin couldn't be administered all at once and would have to be delivered in small, multiple doses—but also the precise timing of release...
Was this what Zheng Yuci was researching?
Indeed, players who underwent surgery were highly efficient in combat, but it left severe aftereffects, and these aftereffects were fatal. Anyone with common sense wouldn't choose this method. Zheng Yuci was using Eastern District players as experiments. Since Eastern District players were required to report those who developed symptoms, he wanted to perfect this method of enhancing strength through continuous experimentation—Dr. Zhang selected geniuses to cultivate, but Zheng Yuci was even more audacious, wanting to mass-produce geniuses through certain means!
"Delusional." Xu Huo sneered coldly, collected the two corpses and the chip, and left the underground clinic.
Afterward, he sent one of the chips to Xin Rong through Under Dimension, asking him to help analyze the chip's structure and determine the level of toxin stored within it.
Xin Rong happened to be out of an instance and readily agreed, promising results within two days.
At this point, things were very clear. If "White Blood" didn't refer to the toxin on the chip, then it should refer to an antidote or buffer potion developed specifically for this toxin.
After some thought, Xu Huo released both of his speculations regarding "White Blood," though he made some simple edits.
Within just half a day, all the Outer Zone players who frequently engaged in virtual games knew that the reason Eastern District players were so strong was because they used a potion called "White Blood." However, unlike the perfect S-grade evolution potion, prolonged use of this potion made players irritable and prone to anger. The only solution was to take a sedative potion developed under Zheng Yuci's leadership. On the surface, Zheng Yuci was Agor's psychotherapist, but he was also a player himself, skilled in medicine and potion-making. That was why Agor had dispatched so many A-grade players to protect him.
The mixed bag of true and false information ended there. There was no need to add that Zheng Yuci was at the Agor Headquarters, nor that Agor was using Eastern District players as test subjects and was eager to capture Rebel Army members. As long as people knew that "White Blood" was a good thing, plenty of people would try to verify it.
Not long after this news spread, the Rebel Army struck first, bluntly revealing the discovery of chips in the heads of Eastern District players.
They didn't offer further speculation about the chips, but combined with Xu Huo's released information, it was easy to deduce that this was likely another method for training and controlling Eastern District players. As for what the chips did—wouldn't it be clear if they took one out and looked at it?
(Chapter End)