Chapter 2501: Returning to Wind Apricot City
Because the equipment in the herb field was repaired in time, the fire didn't manage to spread continuously. A large number of aircraft followed closely behind and quickly brought the blaze under control. Although some medicinal herbs were lost, it wasn't enough to cause serious damage.
The Enforcement Team members chased Xu Huo all the way to the edge of the woods beside the herb field. After he arrogantly tossed out a provocative remark and left, the Enforcement Team could only watch helplessly as he escaped.
An Enforcement Team member picked up a "lost" item Xu Huo had left behind nearby and gritted his teeth, saying, "These bastards are tired of living! They dare to openly provoke the Enforcement Team!"
The squad leader came over, took the item, and after a brief look, said, "Send it back for inspection. Check if there are any biological traces left behind and compare them in the database. They killed my brother—we have to drag them out!"
One member accepted the order and left, but at that moment, another hesitated and said, "Captain, among those people, the one whose trait can stop space—he should be a high-level player raised by the Bu Clan. Their family has considerable influence, and some of them hold official positions in the District Government..."
"So what?" The squad leader turned around. His already unfriendly features became even more ferocious due to the killing intent. He said, "They killed my brother. I don't care who they are! So what if they're District Government officials? Even if they were the Grand Archon, I'd stake my life to drag them down!"
"Zone 001 is a player's world. They're players, and so are we!"
Hearing the captain's words, the remaining members no longer hesitated. Their expressions hardened. Two of them split off to negotiate with the herb field management, while the rest scattered to gather evidence and traces.
The herb field, usually rarely visited, became bustling with activity before the herb-picking season even began.
On the other side, Xu Huo, who had left the herb field, successfully regrouped with Bubble Bean, Wen Xin, and the others.
"Next, the Enforcement Team will probably deploy a large number of personnel to investigate the burning of the herb field," Xu Huo said. "Local zone players should be the main focus of the investigation, but we might also end up taking the blame for others. For safety's sake, you'd better leave here first."
"They'll still have to figure out how to identify us and argue with the local player factions. They won't have the energy to deal with us for a while." Wen Xin said indifferently, "It's fine to watch the excitement for a bit before leaving."
Xu Huo respected their thoughts, but he still needed to clear the instance, so he had to go back to Wind Apricot City to find the cat that Old Lady Gui had mentioned.
Wen Xin was determined to stir up trouble, so they parted ways there.
Xu Huo and the other three headed back.
Bubble Bean was worried that those politicians were still keeping an eye on Wind Apricot City. Having just shaken off their pursuers, going back together would be too conspicuous and easily get them targeted again.
"How about I go scout ahead first?"
Xu Huo glanced at him. "Going alone? Aren't you afraid of getting caught?"
"Underestimating me, are you?" Bubble Bean said. "Even if I can't win, can't I still run?"
"Do you know how you got caught in Medicine City?" Xu Huo asked instead.
Bubble Bean had actually thought it over many times. In the end, the only uncertain factor was the overly frequent medicinal mist in Medicine City. The strange thing was that not only was he the only one among the group who got caught, but even the other players coming and going had no issues.
"That meal we ate," Xu Huo said. "The food should have been spiked. I checked the spray schedule of the medicinal incense lamp—it was very irregular. There was no fixed number of times per day, but every three to five days, there would be half a day or a full day when the spraying was particularly frequent. The disappearance of players in Medicine City might be related to this."
After all, Bubble Bean had been sleeping like a log at the time, and with an extra injection of the agent, he probably wouldn't have felt a thing even if someone had gutted him.
"Really sneaky. I thought Medicine City was under another faction's influence, but it turns out they're all in cahoots." Bubble Bean said. "The person looking for the cat was fake, which means the cat-finding notice was used as bait. Was the cat caught, or did it run away in advance?"
"Hopefully it ran away in advance," Xu Huo said. "Otherwise, this trip is going to be troublesome."
Old Lady Gui's two clear targets had already disappeared. The cat could be considered the third target, but her ultimate goal was to send out the information she had. According to the long-haired player, politicians were involved in this matter. Regardless of the specific scale of the incident, it definitely had to happen before the Council election. If the third target was gone, they would have to trace the clues upward along this line.
For them to sift through the politicians' stances and levels of knowledge would be like looking for a needle in a haystack, so the ideal situation was to find the cat.
Earlier in Medicine City, he had deliberately used military equipment to confuse the other side. Regardless of whether they believed his identity, they would have to worry about the possibility of military involvement in the investigation and would act more cautiously.
Of course, being more cautious didn't mean they would keep their tails between their legs. It was more likely that they would tighten control within their own sphere of influence. So for this trip back, they needed to put on a better disguise.
Uncertain whether they still had any undetected trackers on them, Xu Huo and the other two disguised themselves as Enforcement Team members they had seen earlier at the herb field. They also purchased a fake investigation certificate from the Message Collection Terminal and brought the old lady into Wind Apricot City under the guise of accompanying a witness.
They only slightly concealed their equipment. Since Enforcement Team members weren't strictly restricted by region, they didn't need to report to the local government upon entering. Even if they had to report, it would only be necessary when they needed local personnel to cooperate. So they entered the city without any obstacles.
However, they couldn't avoid being watched.
"Who are they?" Bubble Bean lowered his voice.
"Don't mind them. We need to hurry." Xu Huo took an automatic aircraft within the city and headed directly to the place the old lady had mentioned—the former workplace of the hotel manager.
They obviously couldn't go straight to the hotel. When they reached a nearby street, they got off. While using the disguised information of the gambling players to conduct some tracking investigation related to the burning of the herb field, they also screened the surrounding area.
With Xu Huo's spiritual power, except for some specially reinforced places, everything else was as transparent to him as glass. A carpet search could be carried out quickly.
Unfortunately, they searched all around the hotel but couldn't find the cat the old lady had described.
The old lady's disappointment was visible, but she couldn't think of any other way and could only remain silent.
"We've been searching all morning. Let's find a place to rest for a while." Xu Huo chose a tea house with poor business.
"Could it be dead already?" Bubble Bean speculated. Honestly, if a cat's owner's identity had been exposed, it would be hard for the cat to survive, wouldn't it? Killing it off would be an easy thing to do. If the other side knew enough about the relevant personnel's information, they would definitely know about the cat's special nature.
Xu Huo didn't say much. After sitting for a while, he called them to leave, then repeated the process of gathering information around the hotel. This time, however, he was more thorough and selected a few key locations.