Chapter 254: The Final Negotiation
In a temporary command room located somewhere in the city, Minister Fan slammed a file onto the desk, fuming, "Look at the mess he's caused! When the Special Defense Department was first established, the analysis team focused heavily on this player. He should have been a key surveillance target!"
"You were the ones pushing that recruitment strategy, leaving him alone. Now he's brought the trouble right back home!"
"No matter how capable an ordinary person is, their range of destruction is controllable. But players are different. Once a player goes berserk, far more people suffer!"
"In a single night, he's turned everything upside down. What does he want? What the hell is he trying to do!"
Team Leader Wu pressed his swollen cheek, saying, "Based on Xu Huo's behavior so far, he's shown a willingness to get close to us. This time, there's a reason for it..."
"I don't think there's a reason," interrupted Team Leader Song, who sat above him. "I've also reviewed this player's file. Someone this mentally unstable is bound to cause trouble sooner or later. In my opinion, whether it's capture or elimination, the Special Defense Department has plenty of excellent players. We don't need a lunatic to save face."
"Capture? Elimination?" A woman with a pleasant face across the table turned her tablet toward him. "Do you think he accidentally exposed his voice in that video? Look at the comments online. The netizens have already made up their minds about this."
Just then, the secretary connected the online content to the big screen. After only a few pages, the expressions of everyone in the meeting room turned subtle.
"'Flame of Justice'? 'Evolver Hero'? 'True Vanguard Player'?" Team Leader Song slammed the table, his face dark. "He's committing a crime, and yet it's being hailed as a righteous act!"
"In the eyes of ordinary people, Xu Huo's actions are heroic," the woman said slowly. "Treating evolvers like animals, abusing and raising them—that's what sparked public outrage. Don't forget, the country is currently calling on young adults to undergo evolver testing. The Yang family has a special status. Now that the incident has come to light through them, everyone will be thinking the same thing."
"After becoming an evolvers, they'll be controlled by some power-hungry officials, treated worse than pigs and dogs."
"Jiang Qiao," Minister Fan warned.
Jiang Qiao brushed her long curly hair hanging over her chest and smiled. "That's the truth. If you don't believe me, you can check the internet yourselves."
"But this isn't the most serious part." She scanned the people around the conference table. "Some people are swallowing their anger for now, but sooner or later, they'll let it out."
The room fell silent. At any time, conflicts of interest are irreconcilable. As the number of players grew, and as long as the threat of force remained effective against them, the country's structures had already begun to adjust.
And the day these players grew strong enough to want to make their own rules, the country would have to make concessions.
Of course, to guard against possible scenarios, the country had also transferred a large number of military personnel to balance things out, but that still couldn't keep up with the growth of evolvers based on the national population.
"We should limit the number of evolvers," Team Leader Song said.
"That's the least wise approach," Team Leader Wu immediately countered. "The biggest reason for increasing the number of players is to counter players from other zones. Without a sufficient core force, everything else is just talk. Besides, the number of evolvers isn't something we can control. According to the registration reports from the past month, even if we don't increase the number of evolvers, they'll keep growing. Like the earliest evolvers, they're all natural evolutions."
"That's exactly why we should do everything we can to gather the more capable players. It's not just to maintain order, but also to ensure our country can weather the storms ahead."
"So what do we do about this Xu Huo?" Team Leader Song looked at Minister Fan. "Are we just going to let it slide?"
By now, Minister Fan had lost his initial anger. Xu Huo's location had long been locked down. Seven snipers were positioned around the hotel, waiting for his order.
Team Leader Wu watched him nervously. "Shouldn't we report this? Based on Xu Huo's performance in Hai City, his mere existence holds strategic significance in player warfare."
Minister Fan thought for a moment before saying, "Send two people for a final negotiation. If he wants to use his player status to run amok, then there's nothing more to discuss."
"I'll go too," Jiang Qiao said. "I'm very interested in this person."
Minister Fan gave his tacit approval. As Jiang Qiao and Team Leader Wu were leaving, Team Leader Song offered a helpful reminder: "He must know he's surrounded. Don't let yourselves be taken hostage."
With that, he left. Team Leader Wu stood there, glaring, covering his face and hissing in pain.
"Look at you, all worked up. Want to take some medicine before you go?" Jiang Qiao found him amusing.
"I don't have time for medicine." Team Leader Wu grabbed his briefcase and quickened his pace. "I need to get over there and find out what's going on."
Jiang Qiao kept up with him. "In your opinion, what kind of person is Xu Huo?"
"He's fairly reasonable. To be honest, what he did this time wasn't wrong. Some people don't even deserve to be called human," Team Leader Wu said after a moment's thought.
But when they arrived at the hotel and Xu Huo opened the door, his first words made Team Leader Wu's face swell even more. He said, "I'm already a D-rank player."
Some members of the Special Defense Department had already been to D-rank instances. D-rank instances were non-enclosed instances. As long as you had a ticket, you could go in and not come out. Xu Huo's words were telling them that all the external defenses were useless. He could enter the game anytime he wanted to escape.
Team Leader Wu's toothache got worse. He had come in with a belly full of anger, but seeing Xu Huo's expressionless face, he suddenly realized that his aura had changed.
Shrinking his neck, he walked silently to the sofa and sat down.
Xu Huo, dressed in a vest and shorts, poured two glasses of water for them, then sat down across from them, holding a bottle of liquor.
"Your reputation online is very good. Many people are calling you a hero," Jiang Qiao said, sizing up the man across from her, choosing a gentle opening.
"Is that so?" Xu Huo said indifferently. "Just a small favor. Consider it a contribution to the country."
Jiang Qiao smiled. "You were waiting for us, weren't you? Today, we're here on behalf of the Special Defense Department to have a chat. Mr. Xu, where would you like to start?"
"The Seventeenth Hospital," Xu Huo said, looking up at Team Leader Wu. "I mentioned this to you before. You should have looked into the records by now."
"A hospital can't just disappear overnight. I want to know what happened before and after my admission for treatment twenty years ago."
Team Leader Wu had indeed brought the files this time. "But the information I could find isn't much more than what you have."
He placed two sealed confidential files on the table. "Twenty years ago, the surveillance system wasn't widespread, and the Seventeenth Hospital was in a very remote location. After the hospital disappeared, all the internal surveillance materials vanished along with it. So the only evidence currently available is this report on equipment malfunction."