# Chapter 2127: A Small Disturbance
The spatial gates operating simultaneously throughout the city were countless, with people passing through portals almost every second, so locating the player carrying the metal box could only be done with external assistance.
The previous trait-based tracking had already failed, so Xu Huo used both a specific trait and an item to locate the two individuals.
Placing the man he had swapped out from the restroom into a container item, Xu Huo calmly walked out of the bar. As he passed through the first floor, he brushed past a long-haired young man who was searching for the short-haired youth Fu Jie. Their eyes met briefly, and the long-haired young man seemed momentarily stunned, but was soon surrounded and pushed forward by others. Someone said, "Young Master Tian, Young Master Fu just took a few people upstairs. Can we follow you to the VIP room to take a look?"
The long-haired young man pinched the face of the person beside him and said with a smile, "Of course!"
Xu Huo stepped out of the bar's entrance and noticed that the trait-locking chain had appeared. He immediately stepped into a portal and moved to a nearby location, but when he came out the other side, the trait chain had disappeared.
The trait hadn't failed; it was as if the targeted person had suddenly vanished.
But just a few seconds later, the chain reappeared, though in a different direction.
Xu Huo entered another portal, and the same thing happened. By the time he reached the vicinity of the chain's endpoint, the target had vanished again. When it reappeared, it had changed direction once more.
After four or five such rounds, he hadn't found those two players, but he discovered that three other people were also tracking them.
Xu Huo deliberately slowed his pace to observe. These three were using a special tracking insect that could locate targets by scent, but it was inefficient, and they were also running in circles around the city.
"The Tian family is too cautious. If they go through the portals a few more times, it'll be hard for us to track them," said the middle-aged man among them with a serious expression. "Leave someone near the next portal to guard, in case they double back."
"We have to keep a close watch. Even if we can't catch the Tian family's slip-up, we have to rescue Fang Xin and Fang Jing."
The other two nodded.
Sure enough, when they changed portals again, one of the younger players stayed behind.
Since the two targets were circling within the city, their destination was likely inside the city. With six people total, they might have been sent to different locations, and it was hard to tell if anyone had been swapped in between. Finding the short-haired youth Fu Jie, who had been swapped in, would be difficult. After a moment's thought, Xu Huo placed the man from the container item near the player who had stayed behind to watch.
The man, who had been concentrating on tracking the Tian family members, was startled to see someone leaning against the street corner. He quickly went over to help him up. "Fang Jing, how did you get here!"
Fang Jing had taken a drug and was disoriented. The man quickly injected him with an antidote, and only after he had recovered did he ask about what had happened.
In truth, Fang Jing himself didn't know exactly what had happened. He had some resistance to the drug, but couldn't hold out for long. After barely managing to follow the Tian family into the room and rub the scented powder from his clothes onto the metal box, he had completely lost consciousness. According to the Tian family's plan, he should have been sent to a hotel to entertain some important figure.
"Brother Fu, what about Fang Xin?"
The player called "Brother Fu" was also confused. "Could the Tian family have discovered we were following them and deliberately dumped you here to warn us? No, I need to contact Brother Luo immediately!"
Brother Fu contacted the two players who had left, but Brother Luo and the other didn't return because they had caught up with one of the Tian family members and were about to enter a hotel to search for someone.
Brother Fu couldn't spare any more attention for Fang Jing. He scanned him with a removal item, then told him to find a place to stay for the night, not to go home or contact anyone else, and to wait for further instructions.
Xu Huo didn't go to the hotel. Instead, he followed Fang Jing into a low-cost, all-night holographic game arcade.
Fang Jing was suffering from the drug's aftereffects and just wanted to find a place to sleep. So after entering the game room, he didn't turn on the equipment but planned to spend the night on a chair. However, after he spread out his clothes and turned around, he saw a person suddenly standing by the window. Startled, he instinctively reached for the room's alarm, but was trapped by a barrier, unable to turn around.
"Don't be afraid," Xu Huo said. "Aren't you curious about how you left the bar?"
Fang Jing realized, "It was you! You're from the Tian family!"
"Not exactly," Xu Huo said calmly. "It's a pity I didn't realize you and the other girl were together, or I would have brought you both out."
Fang Jing didn't believe him at all. "Don't waste your breath. I don't know anything you want to know. If you don't believe me, you can inject me with truth serum."
Xu Huo wasn't in a hurry. Instead, he asked, "I've only been in Zone 0081 for a few days, but I've already seen how formidable the Tian family is. The players they keep aren't useless, and even their residences are impenetrable. Their underground business must be even more tightly guarded. You're just an ordinary person, completely helpless against them. Why take such a risk?"
Judging by the tracking skills of those players, they didn't seem to have a well-thought-out plan. They might have sacrificed two people without even making a splash.
Fang Jing sneered. "If you're going to kill me, just do it. Stop wasting words."
"It seems a little persuasion is needed." Xu Huo injected a needle into the back of his hand and pushed the liquid in.
Looking down at his watch, after a minute, he repeated the question, "Why take the risk?"
Fang Jing's emotions were agitated. "For revenge! I have a grudge against the Tian family!"
"What? Are ordinary people not allowed to take revenge on players?"
"I came here prepared to die. Whether the Tian family kills me or not, I'll be dead by tomorrow. When a person dies, the district government has to file a case and investigate. Even if I can't kill the Tian family, I'll tear a piece of flesh off them!"
"I wish they would all die!"
"Calm down," Xu Huo said, raising a hand. "Do you know who replaced you in the metal box?"
Fang Jing was stunned. "What?"
"A person named Fu Jie," Xu Huo said, checking the time again. "I put some poison on him. If it works as planned, he should have died along with the guest the Tian family was receiving by now. At worst, maybe only one of them dies?"
"But that doesn't matter. Fu Jie's father is a secretary in the city government. Fu Jie himself is on good terms with a young member of the Tian family. He disappeared from the Tian family's bar tonight, and his bodyguards should find him before dawn."
"On Tian family turf, the first to discover him should logically be the Tian family. But because the bodyguards who followed him received a special suggestion, they will contact the Fu family first. When any member of the Fu family—or even their bodyguards—appears before the Young Master Tian, he will use the item dagger he always carries to commit suicide."
"At the same time, a concerned citizen in the bar will report the gathering for using illegal drugs. Zone 008 isn't that strict about illegal drugs; they just impose a hefty fine. So the enforcement team should be happy to make the trip. When they check for drugs, they'll stumble upon a 'murder scene.'"
"How things develop from there will depend on the power struggle between the city government, the enforcement bureau, and the Tian family."
"But given the family influence of the Fu and Tian families, a couple of wayward children won't cause much trouble. After a bit of fuss, they'll probably reach a compromise. At that point, what do you think would stir the pot even more?"
Fang Jing was stunned for a moment, then instinctively continued, "It's hard for outsiders to infiltrate Tian family territory. But the city secretary's position rotates once next year. The chief secretary is stepping down, and the remaining three secretaries are all competitors. If the other two secretaries find out about this, they'll definitely take action..."
As he spoke, his eyes gradually lit up. "I need to go back to the bar. I'm a supporter of Secretary Jiang. I've participated in every public event since he took office. It's perfectly reasonable for me to pass this information to him!"
Xu Huo handed him a communication terminal. "Contact him now."
Fang Jing immediately dialed Secretary Jiang's personal contact terminal. The person who answered was a dedicated manager. After hearing the information, he said he would have the secretary speak with him personally.
Soon, the person on the other end changed. Secretary Jiang, after hearing the full story, immediately arranged for verification. He also asked for Fang Jing's address, intending to send people to protect him.
But Fang Jing couldn't answer, because Xu Huo had already taken the communication terminal.
Fang Jing was surprised, but his overly excited mind had now calmed down. He suddenly asked, "Will Young Master Tian really commit suicide? It's easy for a player to kill someone, but it's also easy to save them."
"So now we need to go back and check," Xu Huo said, taking him along.
The bar was already in chaos. Unfortunately, Young Master Tian hadn't died. He had been rescued in time, with only a shallow wound on his neck. After applying medicine, it would probably heal in a couple of days.
"Well? Is he dead?" Fang Jing asked nervously, but then added, "Secretary Jiang's people have arrived!"
Xu Huo glanced at the enforcement team that had suddenly appeared, then quickly moved away from the bar.
If no one had died, the Tian family might take the initiative. With Fu Jie dead, the Fu family was no longer a good partner.
A public-facing politician, even if someone wanted to fish in troubled waters, would find it hard to kill Young Master Tian. As long as he was alive, whoever had him in their custody had an extra bargaining chip. The final outcome was predictable—just a matter of which side made more concessions. After a few days of wrangling, the matter would be resolved without much damage.
Xu Huo needed to go to the hotel to patch things up.
But by the time he arrived, the hotel was already sealed off. The Tian family had arrived quickly. Just as he was about to enter, two naked figures fell from the sky, crashing straight down in front of the hotel entrance. Both were face-up, immediately captured by passersby and the ubiquitous surveillance equipment.
The older of the two hadn't died yet. He stretched out an arm covered in black toxin patterns, begging for help from the passersby. He was clearly a well-known figure, and someone immediately recognized him as an official from the city government.
No one helped him. More people were curious about who the other dead person was. After all, such a scene easily evoked images of the powerful oppressing the weak.
Although the hotel staff immediately sealed off the scene and blocked outside view, the identity of the other protagonist was still revealed, because Xu Huo, standing in the crowd, threw out Fu Jie's student ID.
"Isn't this Secretary Fu's son?" Fang Jing, quick-witted, shouted in coordination.
Brother Fu and his two companions, who were about to slip away, heard the shout and quickly signaled Fang Jing to leave. The group pushed through the crowd, and after exchanging glances, they didn't bother clarifying identities but quickly moved to a safe location.