Chapter 2495: Trapped in Pharmaceutical City
The meeting place was set in a park, with a relatively open view and a decent flow of people. This was proposed by the cat owner, who claimed it was close to where he worked.
It was hard to say who had actually posted the cat-finding notices, and the cat's owner could of course be fake, but to find some leads, the group decided to attend the meeting.
The two members of the Wan Clan and the old lady stayed near the park, while Xu Huo and the other two entered the park. Bubble Bean had actually bought a cat and brought it along, half-hidden, making it impossible to tell if it was real or not.
After waiting under an apricot tree for a while, a middle-aged man hurried over. He first introduced himself, then asked to see the cat.
At Xu Huo's signal, Bubble Bean handed the cat over. The middle-aged man checked it and stood up in disappointment. "This isn't my cat."
"It's not?" Bubble Bean raised an eyebrow. "What a shame. Can't find the owner to exchange for money. Looks like I'll have to stew it for soup."
The middle-aged man's face changed, and he quickly said, "Since you don't like this cat anyway, why not sell it to me? I'll pay twice the market price."
Bubble Bean's expression hardened. "Why should I sell it to you?"
"My cat is lost and can't be found. This one looks similar. It would be some comfort to take it home," the middle-aged man said. "At least it's some solace. Please sell it to me. I'll give you three times the price!"
Three times the price was still far less than his reward, but Bubble Bean didn't press him further. Instead of giving the cat, he handed over a Cat Whisker Fruit. "Compared to the cat, you want this more, don't you!"
The middle-aged man looked confused. "Is this a bonus item?"
"I'm not even selling you the cat, so where would a bonus item come from?" Bubble Bean impatiently pushed him. "Do you want it or not? Someone asked me to deliver it! I've looked in several places and couldn't find anyone. Since the cat is yours, this thing is for you too!"
With that, he dropped the Cat Whisker Fruit and turned to leave.
The middle-aged man quickly called him back. "This isn't a good place to talk. Let's move somewhere else!"
They moved to a restaurant. The middle-aged man ordered food first, then said, "This restaurant has good privacy. Unless the guests request it, the waitstaff won't come up."
Once the dishes were on the table, the middle-aged man pinched the Cat Whisker Fruit and asked, "Are you sure this is the Cat Whisker Fruit someone asked you to deliver? I'm not being overly suspicious; I just want to confirm the person's identity. Was it a young man?"
"An old lady," Bubble Bean said while eating. "A reckless old lady."
The middle-aged man choked for a moment, examined the Cat Whisker Fruit carefully, hesitated, and then asked, "Did she say anything else? Like information on this Cat Whisker Fruit?"
"How would I know?" Bubble Bean said. "I think every fruit looks the same. Whether it's real or fake, you should be able to tell yourself."
That made sense, so the middle-aged man began to scrutinize the carvings on the fruit's pit. He seemed to struggle with it, occasionally urging Xu Huo and the others to eat, saying he needed some time. If the Cat Whisker Fruit was real, he would pay them a generous reward.
Throughout the process, Xu Huo remained silent. He casually drank water, watching the middle-aged man put on his act.
After about ten minutes, the man finally said seriously, "The information on this Cat Whisker Fruit is very important to me. Thank you for going out of your way to deliver it."
He opened his terminal. "I can pay you the reward now."
Why refuse? Bubble Bean accepted the payment on his terminal. For a task of delivering a Cat Whisker Fruit, it was indeed a generous reward, though not enough to be truly tempting.
"Alright, our business is done." After the meal, Xu Huo and the others stood up to leave. The middle-aged man didn't try to stop them and politely saw them off.
Afterward, he indeed walked in the opposite direction, and no one suddenly appeared to follow them.
"Could it be real?" Bubble Bean wondered.
"If it were real, he wouldn't have stared at that Cat Whisker Fruit for so long." Xu Huo had already asked the old lady which Cat Whisker Fruit was genuine. To ensure they could clear the instance, he didn't take the real one and left it with her. As for this fake one, they had originally intended to use it as bait.
Whether the person who came was the real recipient of the Cat Whisker Fruit or someone trying to stop them, their goal had been achieved. But the current situation was a bit different from what they had expected.
"Let's regroup with them first," Xu Huo said.
After meeting up with the long-haired player, he raised his doubts. "Could it be that they deliberately said the Cat Whisker Fruit was real to appease you?"
"Hard to say," Xu Huo replied. "The man didn't seem to genuinely recognize that kind of writing either."
"Could it be a ploy to lure out the old lady?" Bubble Bean suggested.
"Unlikely," the long-haired player said. "If they could find us in Wind Apricot City, they could probably do so in Pharmaceutical City. It's just that they might find it inconvenient to act here. As for tracking and surveillance, they could do it from beyond our perception range."
"So what now?" Bubble Bean sneered. "Did they specially invite us to dinner?"
"Did you notice anything off during the meal?" the long-haired player asked.
"Nothing wrong," Xu Huo said. The food didn't contain any suspicious substances, like poison or ultra-micro trackers.
The long-haired player felt uneasy and immediately said, "Let's find a place near the city hall to stay."
Running away was pointless, especially since the nearby stations were small. The people tracking them might resort to open conflict. It was better to stay in Pharmaceutical City, which wasn't under their control.
Additionally, the old lady's cat hadn't been found yet, and the Cat Whisker Fruit couldn't be handed over. They needed to figure out the next steps.
Just as they were heading toward the city hall, a street they passed suddenly erupted with a massive cloud of smoke. A thick mix of fragrance and medicinal smell hit them, instantly engulfing them like a blizzard before quickly dissipating.
"This area is dense with pharmaceutical factories. They often release such medicinal fog, but it doesn't affect the environment," the long-haired player explained.
Other people on the street were unfazed and went back to their business once the fog cleared.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Bubble Bean said instinctively. "Maybe we should find another place?"
Xu Huo glanced at the fog slowly rising into the sky and gradually dispersing. He realized that anywhere in this city would be the same—as long as they were still here.
"We can't leave," he said.
"What did you find?" Bubble Bean immediately tensed up.
Xu Huo didn't elaborate. He still chose to find a hotel near the city hall. As they went upstairs, they encountered a few Enforcement Team members searching for missing players. The officers glanced at them, assuming they were locals, and said nothing. Instead, they warned two other outer-zone players going up with them to be careful not to get scammed. Then they turned back to comfort a player searching for a friend, saying his friend might have gone somewhere else to have fun and to wait a bit longer.