Chapter 2316: The Big Picture
Xu Huo and the Painting Woman went to the house arranged for them by the Special Defense Department. It was a special residential area carved out in the city center, with only one house left standing. The surrounding area was covered in vegetation and landscape, blocking the view both inside and out, and the grounds were quite large.
When the Special Defense Department had made the arrangements earlier, Xu Huo didn't have high requirements for accommodation, but because of the Painting Woman's presence, he preferred a place with fewer people.
However, considering the impact on Ting City's layout, the Special Defense Department had specially cleared out a villa complex for them to live in and arranged for dedicated personnel to guard the entrance and exit.
The house came with the latest terminal sent by the Special Defense Department. Xu Huo checked it, plugged in an encryptor purchased from another district, and logged onto the network.
First, he checked the Pioneer Player Forum to learn about the recent situation in Zone 014.
With the increase in advanced players and their understanding of the game, countries were now preparing to deal with fully integrating into the game—normally, this wouldn't happen so quickly, but since Zone 014 was developing well, they had to consider the possibility of this day arriving early.
Additionally, due to the deepening of evolution, anomalies were appearing all over the world, such as suddenly changing mineral veins, newly discovered elemental resources, not to mention various mutated plants and animals—after players were brought under control, incidents of mutated animals and plants attacking humans occurred frequently. Because of this, many densely populated areas had preemptively removed suspicious plants.
Of course, for the same reason, players from other zones were also trickling in. After all, as veterans in the game, it was easy for them to snatch some resources in a new district.
For example, in this recent attack, some player organizations had already provided first-hand information on the Pioneer Player Forum, speculating that the Special Defense Department might have been tricked by a feint, with several out-of-zone players vanishing without a trace, leaving only a few injured to draw fire.
The Special Defense Department hadn't responded much yet, only saying they had captured two alive.
A handful of players couldn't possibly control a district, so their ultimate goal was likely some newly emerged special resources. As for where the destination was, Zone 014 was too large, and it was up to each country to investigate on their own.
This was the overall situation. Abroad, there were more small-scale outbreaks of war, especially in small countries where rare resources had emerged, which had become battlefields for the major powers.
Due to the imminent game integration, this resource war hadn't yet spread to the entire world.
Domestically, things were much more stable. Thanks to the stability of the government side, conflicts between official and unofficial player organizations were easing. Mainly, there were still many tasks that needed people to complete, such as the emergence of random instance entrances, sudden mutations of certain places or things, and the need to consider whether these locations would become fixed instances in the future, so some emergency measures had to be taken.
Another noteworthy point was that unofficial player organizations and player groups were getting along better than before. When something came up, they could discuss and cooperate without needing the Special Defense Department to mediate, as if they had set aside past grievances to move forward together.
A scattered group of sand is hard to consolidate, so some well-known members of player organizations became the lubricant. These people had considerable prestige and could temporarily maintain peaceful relations among player organizations.
Xu Huo didn't expect that he had also played a significant role in this. Someone had given him the code name "X," portraying him as a spiritual leader among unofficial players. During the previous Super Evolver incident, his selfless help to the Special Defense Department and player organizations had earned him a great deal of goodwill. It was probably the first time since evolution that people had encountered someone so "selfless," and for a time, many looked up to him as a role model, which actually reduced hostility.
Ignoring the voices on the forum calling for him to come out and establish an organization to oversee player groups, Xu Huo also paid attention to the recent changes in the Special Defense Department.
Now, players had various ways to obtain information, so news within the Special Defense Department couldn't be kept secret for long, and leaks always got out.
The hottest topic recently was that the Special Defense Department had acquired a significant number of advanced instruments, making a leap in instrument research and usage. Not only safe zones, but also some important military defense areas were now equipped with large-scale instruments that could both attack and defend, no longer as reliant on items and players as before.
Next was the new legislation. The rise of players would inevitably bring about reforms within the government. With the strength of players, it was easy to push ordinary people out, so it was necessary to clearly define roles within the organization. Both sides needed a form of restraint.
The legislation wasn't complete yet, but some proposals had already been leaked. For example, certain institutions would have requirements for the ratio of ordinary people to players in positions, players' family members would not be allowed to work in government institutions, any measures taken by permanent staff against players would require approval and permission from a special court three times or more, and players would be restricted from using force or other means to coerce or induce ordinary staff within government institutions, otherwise, they would face strict penalties...
These were the rumors that had leaked out. Regarding these regulations, the government side probably wanted to gauge the attitude of player organizations.
Then there was a piece of gossip about internal competition within the Special Defense Department.
It was about Nie Xuan and "The Everywhere Xiao Ming."
As an elite of the Special Defense Department, Nie Xuan had strong appeal, and internal players mostly respected him. However, Nie Xuan's style of conduct was somewhat problematic. It wasn't that he lacked a spirit of cooperation, but when faced with special circumstances, he would only stick to his own opinions. For instance, in the previous handling of some player organizations and the recent change in top government leadership, his tendency to act on impulse was already astonishing, let alone his ability to follow through on his words.
Being too capable was probably a problem, so the Special Defense Department couldn't have only one voice.
"The Everywhere Xiao Ming" was the person pushed forward by the military.
Xu Huo looked into the several incidents that this "Team Leader Ming" had handled since his appearance. It was clear that compared to Nie Xuan, this was a "more rational" person.
When dealing with matters, this person would anticipate sacrifices. In other words, he only went for the optimal plan and never provided a safety net, somewhat resembling Nie Xuan's style during the time he thought he was going to die.
The difference was that Nie Xuan was driven by desperation, while this person's choices were based on data and rational calculation.
In the past, players in the Special Defense Department often sacrificed themselves to protect ordinary citizens. Team Leader Ming, on the other hand, was more concerned with player safety, so he quickly gained support from some people. Coupled with Nie Xuan's intention to keep a low profile after the last high-level change incident, the two seemed to be on par with each other.
However, Nie Xuan was a Spatial Evolver, while Team Leader Ming was famous for his intelligence and rarely showed his strength, but he was at least a B-level player, a talent specifically cultivated by the military.
Apart from these, there was also the rapid expansion of players' social status.