Chapter 2331: Gaze
Afterward, Xu Huo elaborated slightly on what he had seen in the ruins, omitting the part about "stone statues in the spatial gaps" and a few discoveries from the latter half, while basically telling the military everything else.
The situation inside the ruins was already clear: without super devices or items like the Water Cube Barrier for protection, survival inside was impossible.
Moreover, entering and exiting posed a major problem. When the folded space was stable, almost no one could walk out of it. Instead, only when new spaces were born or spaces collided with each other could unstable passages connecting to the outside be formed. And even these passages were not safe, requiring protection as well.
Xu Huo was lucky to have been squeezed out by the space.
Shangguan Jing knew he was holding back, but knowing the situation inside the folded space was already a significant step forward. After recording the information, she stood up and took her leave.
Jiang Qiao followed her out, leaving only Nie Xuan behind.
"Having spent so much time inside, did you gain anything else?" Nie Xuan asked. "I was hoping you could take down this instance."
"You overestimate me," Xu Huo said with a smile. "This instance won't be low-level. Instead of an Instance Authorization, I suspect it will give birth to its own holder. I just don't know if it will eventually move up from underwater."
Nie Xuan had seen the Water Cube Barrier and knew that Xu Huo relied on it to move through the ruins. Even some districts that had entered the game long before 014 District might not be able to produce such high-level items and devices to force their way in.
"It seems we'll have to put this on hold for now," he said with some regret.
"This is still a relatively good outcome," Xu Huo replied. "It saves us some effort."
Nie Xuan didn't comment, instead asking when he would return.
"I'll leave soon," Xu Huo said. He had only come to join in the fun, and the gains were decent. Since Nie Xuan had no way to solve the Water Cube issue, there was no need for him to linger.
"Alright, once I finish my current work, if you haven't left, we'll meet up again," Nie Xuan said before opening the door and leaving.
Xu Huo pulled the towel off his shoulder, took out a Space Teleportation Item, and returned directly to Ting City.
"You're back so soon!" The Painting Woman stood up from the sofa when she saw him and leaned in to sniff him. "You smell really fishy. Did you eat fish?"
"I took a bath in the lake," Xu Huo said. "What, do you want to eat fish?"
The Painting Woman nodded and picked up her phone to order some takeout.
"I don't need any. I just ate," Xu Huo said before heading to the bathroom.
Hot water poured from the showerhead. He stood under the stream, recalling what he had glimpsed when the spatial force had pushed him out, and couldn't help frowning.
He had come out from the burial cluster area. The narrow passage created by the folded space impact happened to pass through there. Because of the spatial obstruction, he hadn't sensed any danger before entering—but in that fleeting moment of passing through, he had indeed felt someone watching him.
Unfortunately, it had been too fast. He hadn't even had the strength to trace the source of that gaze. It didn't seem like a large animal... Could the instance boss have already been born?
However, the burial cluster area was so abnormal that its danger far exceeded other parts of the ruins. It was better for everyone not to explore it further.
"Knock, knock!" The door was tapped twice, and the next second, the Painting Woman poked her head in, smiling. "A friend is here."
Xu Huo turned to look at her. "Close the door."
The Painting Woman pouted and pulled her head back, but stubbornly stuck her communicator inside, playing a voice message: "It's not like I haven't seen it before!"
Her response was a heavy slam of the door.
A few minutes later, Xu Huo changed into clean clothes and went out.
The visitors were Zhou Ning and Liu Jia.
Liu Jia now worked for the Special Defense Department. Her brows were firm, carrying a certain heroic spirit. When she saw him, she immediately stood up to greet him. "Brother Xu."
"Xu Huo." Zhou Ning had originally made many friends, but as they gradually died in the game, she now almost always acted alone.
"How did you two end up coming together?" Xu Huo poured them water.
"We just happened to run into each other," Zhou Ning said, wearing a mask on her face. "I heard you were back, so I made a special trip to come see you."
Liu Jia also nodded. "I haven't thanked you yet for the items and potions you gave us before. They were a huge help."
Xu Huo said those were small matters, but the two still reciprocated by giving him some special items and rare potions.
Xu Huo accepted them, then instead asked about someone else.
"Professor Han should still be alive, right?"
Liu Jia paused, very surprised that he would suddenly mention Professor Han. "I previously suspected that Professor Han had become a secret experimental subject of the Special Defense Department. Although I never gave up looking for him, all I got were vague messages. In the end, I couldn't be sure whether he was alive or dead."
"I think someone who recently appeared in the military looks a bit like him." Xu Huo handed her a photo of Team Leader Ming. "Professor Han's name is Han Ming, right?"
Liu Jia nodded. After studying the photo for a moment, she said, "I really can't recognize him just from the photo. The eyes don't match. Professor Han was a very good person. Team Leader Ming... I've heard of him too. Others say he's a schemer who stops at nothing."
"People change; there's nothing strange about it," Zhou Ning added from the side. "You've never given up looking for him. With your teacher-student bond, if you go to him, he can't very well deny his own identity."
Hearing this, Liu Jia instead hesitated. Under their gazes, she gave a bitter smile. "It's been so long since we entered the game. I'm not as naive as I was at the beginning, needing to chase every answer. If Professor Han doesn't want me to know his identity, prying further would be tactless."
"It's not that serious," Zhou Ning said, patting her shoulder. "I envy you instead, having someone to care about."
Liu Jia took her hand. "We're all part of the Sunflower Squad. I care about you too."
Among the group of people they had known since the game began, Zhou Ning had experienced the most upheavals.
She couldn't help touching her face, forcing a faint smile, and said nothing more.
"You two came at just the right time," Xu Huo said then. "I'm going to stay in 014 District for a few days. If you're free, you can stay for a few days too. I brought back a time item that might help assist with a secondary evolution."
This news lifted their spirits a bit. Liu Jia was immediately distracted, asking what kind of time item it was.
The "Time Tower" was a bit large and inconvenient to take out within the city, so Xu Huo arranged to go somewhere else the next day.
The two stayed overnight. They ate a late-night snack with the Painting Woman and then went upstairs to play around.
Xu Huo, however, stayed awake all night, sitting downstairs until dawn.