Chapter 2129: Kill to Silence Witnesses
A real-name report was not simply a matter of walking into the city government hall and handing over photos. After verifying the authenticity of the photos, Brother Luo and the others had them copied into hundreds of copies at once, along with some ambiguous photos of the Tian family members coming and going. These were all to be carried on their persons. When Fang Jing entered the city hall, if he hadn't contacted them within twenty minutes, the photos were to be scattered at the main entrance of the city hall—every day, many people gathered at the entrance to handle affairs, cooperate with government work, or repeatedly seek responses over trivial matters that went unanswered, forcing them to come to the city hall in person.
"I'm afraid that as soon as Fang Jing enters the city hall, the Tian family will get the news. It's too easy for them to destroy the evidence and silence him." Brother Luo understood that the main purpose of this move was still to force the city government to publicly investigate the Tian family, but in reality, they might not find any solid evidence in the end.
"It's a pity we can't find the location," Brother Fu sighed regretfully. "Otherwise, with these corpses, we could definitely bite off a chunk of the Tian family's flesh!"
Striking a rock with an egg was unwise, but they still had to let others see their courage.
The group agreed to enter the government hall the next morning. When the city hall opened for business, the media's live broadcast would also begin, making it an excellent opportunity.
Xu Huo still had other matters to attend to, so after waiting for a conclusion, he left first. However, he hadn't gone far before he suddenly turned back. Sure enough, Brother Luo and the others had already been targeted.
Those who came were not players from the city government; they didn't have the authority to activate a blockade barrier in public areas. So they tried to minimize their presence, seemingly intending to take Brother Luo and the others away quietly.
Xu Huo crossed space and moved to their side, taking Fang Jing away in one go while warning them about the stalkers.
Brother Luo and the others, familiar with District 008, dispersed without hesitation. After vanishing into the crowd or behind buildings, they quickly disappeared.
It was unclear whether they had used traits or tickets to leave, but in any case, the three of them vanished in an instant, leaving Xu Huo as the sole target.
The city was filled with space instruments everywhere, not to mention the abundance of space items. With mutual interference, ordinary space teleportation items couldn't function effectively, making it less convenient for players to move around. However, players who could lock onto their opponent's position and memorize the local teleportation routes could use the space teleportation gates scattered throughout the city to achieve the same effect as items. Thus, within just two or three seconds of Xu Huo's departure, three players had caught up.
Sensing people approaching from the front, back, and right, Xu Huo stopped using space power to move and instead stepped into the nearest teleportation gate.
The city's teleportation gates allowed for direct input of a destination or a random mode. Simply put, they were like buses—entering one would randomly lead to the nearest teleportation gate. To avoid traffic congestion, there was a three-to-five-second cooldown after each teleportation, during which the gate wouldn't perform a second teleportation.
Therefore, after exiting the first teleportation gate, Xu Huo quickly entered the next one. Within five seconds, he had put ten nearby teleportation gates into "cooldown mode." Then, just as the first gate's cooldown ended, he stepped back in. This time, he chose a destination on the other end of the city.
During this time, the number of players tracking him increased from three to five. However, because the cooldown times of the nearby gates varied, they split up to save time and facilitate their layout, choosing different gates and positioning their exit points at varying distances from Xu Huo's destination.
But this created a difference in their exit times. Xu Huo's perception covered all teleportation gates within a kilometer radius. So when the first player emerged, he teleported almost simultaneously, releasing his spiritual realm within an extremely small range. He struck the opponent with "All Things Want to Cut Everything" and a materialized object of spiritual power in succession!
Surprise flickered across the opponent's face, but they quickly used a defense item to block the barrage of attacks. However, what they didn't expect was that both their defense item and even their attack item suddenly failed. They only felt a flash of black light before their eyes, a chill at their neck followed by a rush of heat. Then, they sensed someone brushing past them. As their gaze followed, they only caught a glimpse of Xu Huo stepping into a teleportation gate and looking back. Their eyes met amidst the blood and the shifting light and shadow, and it seemed they heard him say something before collapsing amid their companion's shouts.
Xu Huo hadn't fully shaken off these people yet. Using the same trick twice wouldn't necessarily work again, so he set the teleportation gate's destination to another nearby tech company. Upon arrival, he walked straight to the main entrance and demanded to see the company's boss, claiming he had stolen secrets from Haiyun Technology and was being hunted.
Since they were competitors, the Tian family's players couldn't casually enter this tech company. While waiting for the security to report, Xu Huo also sent an emergency distress signal to the nearby law enforcement team.
"It was the Tian family who killed Young Master Fu! He accidentally stumbled upon the Tian family's shady dealings and was silenced!" Before either side arrived, he shouted to the few players who had chased him: "I have evidence!"
The few who had come were indeed from the Tian family. They had originally tracked down Brother Luo and the others through the hotel's surveillance footage. Unexpectedly, they had fled quickly, leaving only this one target. While circling through the teleportation gates, they had even wondered if they had fallen into a trap. But Xu Huo had killed someone—there was nothing more to say. They had planned to just kill him and be done with it. Who would have thought this man would seek help from District 008? Was he out of his mind?
Any normal company would never get involved in the affairs of the Tian family and Haiyun Technology. The law enforcement team was from District 008—would they help an outsider?
But this sudden shout startled the Tian family's players. Fu Jie had died in a hotel under the Tian family's banner, and in such a disgraceful manner. The matter was unresolved, and now a witness had appeared with evidence?
In an instant, the players' killing intent surged. However, the law enforcement team had already arrived. Just as the Tian family's side was about to greet them, Xu Huo shouted, "What, is the city government trying to cover for the Tian family?"
This soured the mood of the arriving law enforcement team. They were about to retort, but Xu Huo, as if panicked, let out a loud roar, turned, and vaulted over the fence into the tech company behind him. As luck would have it, the company's security personnel, seeing the law enforcement team arrive, were just about to come out. The barrier opened, and before anyone inside could exit, the outsider had already entered.
The security personnel, caught off guard, quickly split up—some to chase after him, the rest to block the Tian family members and the law enforcement team from entering. The law enforcement team had strict discipline; without a search warrant, they couldn't flexibly enforce the law without confirming Xu Huo was a dangerous element. As for the Tian family, they had even less right.
Not only could they not enter to search, but they were also to be detained by the law enforcement team. Because the "target of the pursuit" had mentioned Fu Jie's death—the son of Secretary Fu Guan. The current scene seemed to fit the situation of "killing to silence witnesses." The participants naturally had to be detained. They couldn't be allowed to run rampant through the city chasing people down, or else District 008's laws would be a joke.
"That outer zone player attacked our companion! Those words he said were just to interfere with your investigation. Now that he's escaped, who's going to take responsibility?" one player demanded loudly.
"The law enforcement team isn't something your Tian family can order around," the team leader said coldly. "As long as he's in District 008, even if he hides in the deep mountains and old forests, we'll find him. You'd better account for your own whereabouts first!"