Chapter 2096: Purpose
"That's the key issue." Tang Ming gave Wang Ling a meaningful glance. "Nine in the morning."
"After the home invasion, Dr. Wu never came back?" Xu Huo asked again. "What happened at 12:03?"
"Nothing happened." Tang Ming said. "I also thought it was a special time, so I specifically went to the hospital and waited until 12 o'clock, but nothing happened at that time. The hospital couldn't even contact Dr. Wu; his communicator never connected."
"However, Sunshine Tree Security contacted Little Star Company through the system, and the company's reply was that Dr. Wu had left the company around 8 o'clock."
"Later, I went to Little Star Company to look for him. There was indeed no one in the company, and Dr. Wu's information was confidential. I checked the data of other staff members who were close to him, and no one was with him. Employees who left work early either went home or went out for group dinners. They all had places to go. I visited the people who might have crossed paths with Dr. Wu afterward, and none of them had seen him."
"So whether this person went off to have a good time or do something else shady, there's no way to know."
Players' perception of Dr. Wu wasn't really clear. He was a legendary figure, yet he held the Perfect Potion that players dreamed of, and he seemed to toy with people by placing the potion in some bizarre places. Whether you could find it depended entirely on luck, and the potion wasn't given for free; it often came with considerable risk. It was unclear whether he was truly dead or just playing hide-and-seek with everyone. In short, most people regarded him as a symbol. A symbol doesn't generate emotional interaction, so many people, when looking at him, set aside his human emotions.
Therefore, when the home invasion occurred, more people thought he might have also encountered danger, rather than, as Tang Ming suggested, having delayed his own return home.
"Dr. Wu is a workaholic." Xu Huo said. "He often sleeps at the company because of work. Unless it's something important, he probably wouldn't give up work and time with his family to do something else."
"Aren't you overestimating Dr. Wu? He's human too, and humans have human desires. Eating, drinking, whoring, gambling—it's all possible." Tang Ming's face showed an incredulous expression.
"This has nothing to do with human nature or desire." Xu Huo said.
Dr. Wu himself was engaged in technological development. In the two hundred years after his wife and daughter died, he developed the Perfect Potion. Apart from him, no one in the game world has developed such a potion to this day. Besides that, he also taught himself multiple disciplines, achieving accomplishments in each one. And during this time, he moved between different wormhole points, arranging and placing the Perfect Potion everywhere... A person with such strong willpower and extraordinary talent would absolutely not easily indulge in boring desires. Being completely unreachable for an entire night cannot be explained by ordinary circumstances.
"You plan to investigate Dr. Wu's whereabouts?" Tang Ming was surprised.
"Could there be another possibility," Long Jianfeng said, "that during the entire night of the home invasion, Dr. Wu was never involved? Now that we know Dr. Wu's home address, if we rush over in advance to prevent his wife and daughter from being killed, would this space create a new turning point?"
"That possibility is the most likely." Wang Ling said.
Xu Huo was silent for a moment before saying, "Let's act on this line of thinking first. You go to Sunshine Tree No. 12, and I'll go to Little Star Company again. The two places aren't far apart. If anything comes up, contact me with a signal flare or communicator."
Wang Ling and the other two had no objections.
After parting with them, Xu Huo quickly headed to the 16th Street. As he crossed the street, that electric shock sensation appeared again.
He paused on the street. Earlier, when he was searching along the street for Tang Ming, he hadn't felt this sensation. So the electric shock only occurred when crossing the street. He wondered if other holders of time items felt the same way, or if this was because he had already begun his Temporal Evolution.
"Found the person?" As soon as he stood at the entrance of Little Star Company, Meng Wenguang walked out.
Xu Huo nodded and briefly told him about Tang Ming's experience.
"You didn't go to Sunshine Tree No. 12 but came here instead. Do you think Dr. Wu's side is the key point?" Meng Wenguang asked.
Xu Huo had encountered Dr. Wu once before in Midsummer Night Star River. Before seeing the image left by Dr. Wu himself, he had experienced multiple time rewinds trying to save the people tied to the tracks. No matter how hard he tried, he ultimately couldn't save them. This time, he worried it would be the same situation.
Moreover, the foundation of "traveling through time to change the past" is the ability to go back to the past. If you can't achieve "going back to the past," then everything is empty talk. And as long as you accomplish "going back to the past," other problems would be solved instead. The meaning of Pumpkin City's existence couldn't possibly be just to demonstrate what "going back to the past" could achieve.
Similarly, he couldn't be sure that the key lay with Dr. Wu. Both 9:17 and 12:03 emphasized time, so the home invasion was the main existence of this space. Based on this, whether Dr. Wu appeared or not wasn't important. If Dr. Wu had another purpose, everything after the home invasion could also be false.
"Let Yue Rui and the others go to Sunshine Tree No. 12 first. I'll stay here." Xu Huo said. "Since Tang Ming said Dr. Wu left the company at 8 o'clock, I'll see if I can run into him when he goes out."
Meng Wenguang thought for a moment. "Tang Ming successfully stayed behind, so Lu Miaomiao should have also stayed from yesterday to today. She might also have a recorder in her possession. We can't bet everything on one person."
"If she's unwilling to cooperate, tell her I have a way to restore her arm." Xu Huo added one more sentence.
Meng Wenguang and Feng Hui quickly left, while Shen Liang and the five members of Kong Ying's group remained at Little Star Company.
"If you need any help, just say the word." Shen Liang lay on the ground, lazily waving at Xu Huo.
"Did many players come just now?" Xu Huo asked.
"A few came one after another, but they left when they saw how many of us there were." Shen Liang pointed to his own face. "Just by looking at us, you can tell we've been trapped for a long time. Others would think we can only hold them back, and they'd worry we might eat people if we get too hungry. It makes sense that no more people joined."
"Let me state clearly: I don't want anything you find here. I just want to get out."
Kong Ying and the others quickly expressed the same.
Xu Huo smiled. "What good things could be in a place like this? Probably not as rewarding as killing two players."
He took out some biscuits and water and handed them to them. "Replenish your strength. Tonight is going to be another sleepless night."
(Chapter End)