Chapter 2232: I Have Money Too
This meal was a pleasant one for both host and guest. As they were leaving, both sides expressed reluctance to part ways. Dr. Dian packed up everything he had added to his home since the Painting Woman's arrival and gave it all to her. In return, the Painting Woman gave him a notebook filled with contact information for blind dates, job applications, and social connections. The two faced each other, both seemingly seeing excitement in the other's eyes.
"I'll come visit you again," the Painting Woman promised solemnly.
"It's best if you don't," Dr. Dian said with a full smile as he closed the door.
"If you really can't bear to leave, you could stay a little longer," Xu Huo said to the Painting Woman, who stood at the door, reluctant to go.
The Painting Woman turned around without hesitation.
"What are we going to do next?" she asked as they left Dr. Dian's residence.
"Go kill someone," Xu Huo said.
The Painting Woman was very interested and offered to help.
Xu Huo didn't intend to make too big a scene, so he politely declined her help. Besides, he might leave Zone 008 at any moment. Not only could she not help, but she would also have to turn back into painting paper and hide in his clothes beforehand.
The Painting Woman clearly didn't like this suggestion. She proposed finding a place to play on her own and meeting up with Xu Huo after he finished his business.
"Then buy your own ticket and go back," Xu Huo offered another option.
"Fine," the Painting Woman had no choice but to agree.
The Tian Clan's businesses spanned multiple cities, but the family members primarily resided in two locations. One was the previous Station City, which had tight security and a considerable number of high-level players lingering long-term. The other was the Tian Clan's birthplace, their ancestral home, where family members would return on fixed dates.
Recently, many Tian Clan members were required to cooperate with investigations and couldn't easily leave Station City. However, these were only the ones handling the family's business on the surface. The true decision-makers hadn't shown themselves. According to information obtained through special channels, the Tian Clan's main members had all returned to their ancestral home one after another, whether to deal with this investigation incident or for some collective activity.
No more information could be gathered, so Xu Huo made a special trip.
Since so many Tian Clan members were gathered, there would certainly be A-class players protecting them, and among them, there would be no shortage of well-equipped individuals with rich combat experience.
Therefore, Xu Huo made another trip to the neighboring city and blew up one of the Tian Clan's secret laboratories. After the explosion, he left immediately. Then he found the Tian Clan's cemetery in their hometown and sent all their ancestors to heaven. After that, he went to the Tian Clan's old mansion.
The destruction of the laboratory and the ancestral graves diverted some of the high-level players, but not many. The Tian Clan members weren't stupid—they would certainly guard against someone trying to wipe them all out at once. So the Tian Clan's old mansion immediately closed its doors. To avoid any accidents, several core members quickly fled to other places through teleportation portals.
Xu Huo waited outside the Tian Clan's old mansion. He also had a list. Besides those involved in the destruction of Fairy Tale City, there were also those who specialized in handling matters for the family that couldn't be brought to the table. These people weren't the true decision-makers of the family, only their arms and legs. The decision-makers could run fast, but they couldn't all escape.
Of course, multiple layers of defensive barriers were set up outside the Tian Clan mansion, making it impossible to observe the situation inside from outside. But that didn't matter—Xu Huo had plenty of time.
In fact, the Tian Clan members had returned to their hometown this time for a birthday banquet. An important elder of the Tian Clan was celebrating a birthday, which was why everyone had gathered. Unexpectedly, just after dinner, while everyone was sitting together chatting, first the laboratory was blown up, then the ancestral graves were destroyed. The Tian Clan was both furious and shocked. They increased security at the old mansion while sending people to investigate.
The investigation yielded little result. All electronic eyes had been destroyed, leaving no records. The losses were certain, but what infuriated the Tian Clan even more was that the cemetery had also been bombed—ordinary people wouldn't do something so morally bankrupt. Blowing up someone else's ancestral graves, besides angering people, what else could it accomplish?
So while the Tian Clan was furious, they also found it unbelievable. They felt that the attacker must have run out of options and resorted to bombing the cemetery.
Despite being under tight protection, the Tian Clan members remained uneasy that night. It hadn't been long since the last time multiple Tian Clan locations were attacked, and now that player had returned. It seemed he was determined to fight them to the end. You couldn't guard against a thief every day, so the Tian Clan immediately contacted the District Government, using interest exchanges to demand that the District Government find the player targeting them.
Unfortunately, the District Government's attitude wasn't favorable. In their eyes, the Tian Clan's attacks were minor disturbances. Moreover, they hadn't even held the Tian Clan accountable for the losses caused by their troublemaking, so why would they help the Tian Clan settle matters? Even offering money didn't work.
The District Government's dismissiveness infuriated the Tian Clan, but they were helpless. They couldn't stay in one place forever, and once they scattered, who knew who would be attacked next?
"Is this person really that hard to find?" the Tian Clan members were baffled. Anyone entering Zone 008 would leave traces. For example, when Xu Huo attacked Kex Biology earlier, even though he later used items to conceal his identity, it wasn't difficult to trace his activity trajectory in Zone 008 through teleportation channels and recorders. That was why the Tian Clan had placed bounties in other zones, hoping to prevent this person from causing them trouble again.
So far, quite a few B-class Mental Evolvers had died on the trains. Although some of them were only "suspected" Mental Evolver B-class players, they never expected that the real culprit had slipped through the cracks, leading to their current predicament.
"The local government is willing to help, but they only want to help find the person, not arrange manpower."
This wasn't good news for the Tian Clan. Their attacker was a B-class Mental Evolver. No matter how many high-level players the Tian Clan had, they couldn't all be guarded against, especially considering whether the opponent might possess Super Items.
After a sleepless night, the Tian Clan decided to take the initiative. They arranged for three groups to leave the old mansion, each including people who had worked at Kex Biology or on that ship.
Since the opponent was seeking revenge, they would actively show their targets.
Xu Huo didn't follow them. Although these people were also on his list, they weren't worth the trouble of a special trip. The Tian Clan could place bounties, and so could he. He revealed the information about one group to a player who had a grudge against the Tian Clan, then posted bounties for the other few people at a price of twenty million White Notes, providing their routes and the Tian Clan's main arrangements. He honestly informed them that the Tian Clan was conducting a secret operation. Whoever killed the people in the team would get an additional five million per head, and they could take whatever the Tian Clan was transporting. The bounty poster guaranteed not to leak the information to anyone else.
After arranging this, he posted two more bounties at a price of fifty million White Notes each, targeting two important figures of the Tian Clan. (End of Chapter)