Chapter 2249: No Way Out
In fact, Xu Huo was not the first to obtain law enforcement authority through the city government. There was a string of photos that had turned gray on the internal network, but only his jurisdiction had expanded to eight districts, and he had also acquired the title of Joint Administrator.
Of course, this wasn't given for free. City government personnel sent him an email, demanding another armed robot in exchange, or else they would revoke his authority.
There truly was no such thing as a free lunch in this world. This was the first time Xu Huo had gone through an instance and ended up owing tens of millions. Without some financial backing, he really couldn't afford it.
After dismantling all the weapons from the armed robot, he handed the robot over to the city government through the Under Dimension.
"Want to chat?" A temporary law enforcement officer sent him a contact method.
Xu Huo contacted the other party through the communicator.
"Can you lend me a copy of that legal code of yours?" The person on the other end wasn't polite and made a request right away. "Just call me Old Cai."
"The legal code is no problem." Xu Huo said. "What method did you use to obtain this identity?"
"Two devices." Old Cai said with considerable pain. "Those two devices weren't cheap, but the city government only wanted devices, not items... You must have bled quite a bit too, right?"
"I've nearly emptied my savings." Xu Huo inquired about the situation in the city government.
"I happen to be just outside the barrier in the city center. I've sent recorders in to sneak footage more than once, but whether it's devices or items, they basically lose contact once they go in." Old Cai said. "I'm not sure what the situation is inside. The players who went in never came out again."
"I estimate that the player organization that originally established the city government is mostly dead by now. I heard a few are in Districts 33 and 34, but they're too far away to contact."
"That temporary law enforcement officer named Dingdong Liuxue is from District 32, right nearby. I asked her, but she didn't reveal much useful information."
"Have you entered the One-Third Game?" Xu Huo asked again.
"No." Old Cai paused before saying, "But I've already completed the number of people required by the clearance task, and I've confirmed that everyone I killed had committed a crime."
The conclusion was that he still hadn't cleared the instance.
"Originally, I didn't think this method would work, but now it seems there's no better idea. You've been at it for two days. Any progress on the task?"
"Not sure." Xu Huo said. "Some of the people I killed were confirmed wanted criminals, but the instance gave no prompts."
"Are you sure this method can clear the instance?" Old Cai asked after a moment of silence.
"Not sure. As you said, there's no better way." Xu Huo said. "Otherwise, I'd have to try the One-Third Game. What if my memory gets wiped when I come out? Wouldn't all the previous effort be wasted?"
"Makes sense." Old Cai paused again before asking about the method of triggering the game. "Is killing someone who isn't a wanted criminal really one of the ways to trigger the game?"
"You know about this too? We're quite far apart, you know."
"Isn't there another temporary law enforcement officer?" Old Cai said. "Lou Zigui isn't far from you. He can see your billboard. His unlocked area is relatively large, and quite a few players are cooperating with him. You can get some information from him."
Getting back to the point, "I can't be sure about the fourth triggering method, but you've killed so many people without clearing the instance. The instance doesn't acknowledge it, yet it hasn't triggered the game either... There are only two possibilities."
Either he hadn't killed a single wrong person, or killing the wrong person wasn't a triggering method.
But this presented a problem. If it was the former, why wouldn't the instance let him clear it? Wasn't that self-contradictory?
"Are you sure all the people you killed were wanted criminals?" Xu Huo asked.
Old Cai was silent for a second, then suddenly clicked his tongue. "You've really stumped me. I don't have a wanted list to refer to either."
"But we can look on the bright side. That is, I really didn't kill the wrong people, so I didn't trigger the game. The reason I can't clear it is because I haven't gone through an official wanted procedure with the city government."
"If that's the case, temporarily propping up the city government should be the correct clearance method."
"I hope your idea is right." Xu Huo said. "If you clear it first, please let me know. There will be a reward."
"Haha!" Old Cai laughed heartily. "Maybe you'll clear it first."
"I have a lot of people here, so I need to consider distribution issues." Xu Huo also laughed. After hanging up, he sent a copy of the security regulations over, then contacted Lou Zigui and "Dingdong Liuxue" respectively through the contact information he had provided.
Lou Zigui replied quickly. He was more concerned about the Water Cube.
Xu Huo also shared the rumors he had heard about the Water Cube with him in detail. After listening, the other party let out a long sigh. "Hard to guard against."
Lou Zigui had quite a few players banded together. Among them, there had been more than one instance of a completely unfamiliar person suddenly showing up, carrying pre-prepared records claiming to be former companions. Unfortunately, neither side remembered the other, and two or three of those who had entered the game came to Buliucheng without killing anyone, minimizing their range of activity as much as possible.
So Lou Zigui and his group had already verified several rules for triggering the game.
Beyond the four known rules, there were other triggering methods, but Lou Zigui and the others found it difficult to narrow it down further. If they narrowed it down any more, it would almost be equivalent to saying that anyone entering Buliucheng would eventually enter the One-Third Game—the rule-breakers would go in first, and the rule-abiders would go in later.
"Besides losing memories of the past and present, are there any other changes?" Xu Huo asked in detail.
"There were injured people, but whether injured or not, everyone who came out alive lost their memory. Only one person was strange. Most others who entered the game started by losing memories of the past. This person remembered the past but forgot the game content." Lou Zigui said. "I don't know if he won the game."
Win or lose, if you can't remember, it's all for nothing.
The more Xu Huo heard, the more ominous it felt. Even if the One-Third Game prevented opening the personal panel, a player's body could still serve as a vessel for recording information. The people Lou Zigui mentioned who had lost their memory were injured, but with ordinary wounds, not some specially meaningful marks.
If players could be injured, it meant they could move freely, even kill each other. Yet they left no marks, which was mostly impossible, and it was likely mandatory.
To achieve this level, Xu Huo couldn't imagine it without Curved Time.
An instance involving Time Power was definitely an ultra-high-difficulty instance. Midsummer Night Star River and Pumpkin City were environments deliberately created by Dr. Wu, not originally meant to trouble players. This instance...
"Mr. Xu, some of us have been stranded here for a long time. Exceeding the instance time limit without being able to leave the instance, we've also tried leaving Buliucheng, but none of it worked. We've exhausted every possible idea. I have a feeling that if this continues, everyone will eventually die in the One-Third Game." Lou Zigui said sincerely. "I can provide all the help I can. If you make any progress, I hope you can sell us the clues."
Happy Children's Day! O(∩_∩)O