Chapter 2153: Early Outbreak
Xu Huo turned his head to look at her. "What do you want to eat?"
The Painting Woman glanced around and pointed at a restaurant not far away. "Let's eat that. I saw someone order that dish in the villa, and it smelled especially good."
The two entered the restaurant. Xu Huo ordered food while asking about what had happened.
The Painting Woman had been lucky. Taking advantage of someone's sneak attack on the Tian family, she slipped in and randomly picked a house that turned out to be the young master's residence. The players in the villa mistook her for a local ordinary person they had captured and locked her in the basement. That night, she was called out to accompany someone to sleep.
There were female players in the villa. She seized an opportunity to transform into one of them, swaggered into the surveillance room, found the room where the young master kept his instruments from the monitors, and grabbed two ready-made ones. Originally, she planned to dig a hole from the house to sneak into another, but the instruments came with a detection function that scanned the underground pipes and their dimensions.
So she simply had the instrument drill a small hole from below, went down, and discovered that the filtration pipes connected to the lake.
"I figured you'd definitely like those corpses, so I stole a few. But there were people watching everywhere, and it was hard to carry them. I almost threw them away."
"But I got lucky—digging a hole out, no one would ever think I was under the lake."
The Painting Woman gave herself a thumbs-up for her cleverness, then said regretfully, "The bodies were fished out by someone else."
"It doesn't matter. The people at City Hall like those corpses more than I do." Xu Huo placed the food the robot had brought over in front of her. "Was someone else the one who brought you out?"
"There was a girl who was very obedient. I had her carry me out." The Painting Woman found the news on the message collection terminal and pointed out the girl.
Xu Huo memorized that face and signaled her to eat.
After the meal, he took her back to the Double-Bright Bird Administrative District. Outside the pharmaceutical company, he pointed out Dr. Dian from a distance.
"That's a new friend I've made. I have something very important to do tonight, so I need you to stay here and guard something very important for me." Xu Huo looked at the Painting Woman seriously. "This matter carries some risk. If you're discovered, 008 District might send out super players, and you might not be able to escape."
"Can we not do it?" The Painting Woman frowned. "I don't want to get caught."
"You can refuse, but I have to do what I need to do," Xu Huo said.
"Then if I don't do it, who will you ask for help?" she asked again.
"A backup plan." He had already told Dr. Dian it was his sister, so he would have to reluctantly make Nie Xuan dress up as a woman.
The Painting Woman looked very troubled. After hesitating for a moment, she asked, "If I don't agree, does that mean I can't hang out with you anymore?"
"It has nothing to do with that." Xu Huo's expression relaxed a bit. "It's just that I think no one else is as capable or trustworthy as you. This task is better entrusted to you than anyone else."
"But if you don't agree, that's fine. I'll come find you after I'm done."
"The thing is, what I'm about to do is very risky. I might die, or I might not be able to come find you for a while. If you've had enough fun in 008 District, you can buy a ticket and go back on your own."
"When Mr. Dong asks, don't tell him the truth, so he won't worry."
The Painting Woman tilted her head and looked at him. After a moment, she asked, "Are you trying to trick me?"
Xu Huo raised an eyebrow. "You saw through that?"
The Painting Woman's eyes held a hint of resentment. "People only talk a lot when they're lying. You never used to talk like this."
Xu Huo smiled but said nothing.
"Then will you really die?" the Painting Woman emphasized. "No lying."
"Possibly." Not just Dou Shengnan, but the players of 008 District were also a potential threat. Operating outside the game area meant he faced the same level of risk.
"I don't want you to die." The Painting Woman let out a theatrical sigh. "Then I'll help you. If I help you, can you give me those two medals Little Fish gave you?"
Xu Huo immediately took out the Light Gentleman medal and handed it to her.
This seemed to make the Painting Woman a bit uneasy. Her eyelids fluttered—one moment she looked down at the medal, the next she looked up at his face. After going back and forth a few times, she put her hands behind her back and shook her head, mouthing the words, "Give them to me when you come back."
The Light Gentleman medal seemed to have some indescribable use for her. Xu Huo thought it would be better to give it to her in advance, so he pushed it forward again. Unexpectedly, the Painting Woman acted as if she had been burned, jumping back twice and frantically tapping on her communicator. "I said I don't want it! What are you doing!"
"I saw on TV that people speak kindly when they're about to die. You're usually so stingy, and now you're suddenly so generous. Are you really going to die?"
Xu Huo immediately wiped the smile off his face and put the two medals away.
The Painting Woman eyed him suspiciously for a moment before leaning in. "You're not going to die?"
Xu Huo patted her on the head. "No plans for that anytime soon."
The Painting Woman relaxed and smiled, promising, "Don't worry, I'll definitely keep a good eye on it for you. I won't let anyone take it!"
"If you run into danger, you can ask Dr. Dian for help. If Dr. Dian can't help, leave on your own," Xu Huo instructed. "It doesn't matter if the thing is lost. We can come back for it later."
The Painting Woman said she would handle it.
Just then, Nie Xuan contacted him. Xu Huo thought it over and decided to let them meet.
Nie Xuan recognized the Painting Woman at a glance. Appearance could be changed, but the eyes were hard to alter.
He greeted her in his own voice, and the Painting Woman recognized him too, happily waving at him.
"Li Chun will take one of my items into the Double-Bright Bird Pharmaceutical," Xu Huo said. "Your luggage compartment is big enough, right? If I can't make it in time, please help me retrieve the item."
Nie Xuan's expression shifted, but he didn't ask any further questions and agreed.
"There's some new news," he said instead. "Another player organization is also going after Dou Shengnan. They've estimated the battlefield to be in Station City. I went to check it out. They seem to have coordinated with the city government in advance. The Enforcement Team has brought in quite a few A-rank players. The hotel where Dou Shengnan is staying has three times the number of people compared to other parts of the same city."
"They haven't evacuated the ordinary citizens?" Xu Huo frowned.
"No," Nie Xuan said. "Most likely to prevent Dou Shengnan from leaving. There are several fixed instance entrances in Station City. From the perspective of the 008 District players, forcing her into an instance is the optimal plan."
"That depends on whether Dou Shengnan will fall for it." Xu Huo pondered. Using mental interference devices in Station City would be very difficult. The population was too dense. A mental device capable of interfering with someone of Dou Shengnan's level would have exponentially greater lethal effects on ordinary people. The city government and player organizations definitely wouldn't risk so many lives to play along with her.
Accidentally entering an instance or stripping her of her player status were both options, but it was highly likely that the 008 District player organization would choose the latter.
"Let's see how it plays out..." Before he could finish, a message suddenly popped up on the message collection terminal: the Tian family hotel had been sealed off.
"It's started," Nie Xuan said.
Xu Huo's face darkened. Too early.