Chapter 2506: I'll Point You in the Right Direction
Although the difficulty was great, someone suggested to the town's merchants that they put out a bounty or a mission, letting players from other zones take over and help them find the Wan family members.
However, the townspeople, under these circumstances, didn't trust outsiders at all. No one agreed, and they even called in the Enforcement Team to drive them away.
That was only natural—why would they trust strangers over their own people? Who knew what those outsiders might do just to clear the instance?
After listening to a bunch of meaningless speculation and boasting for a while, a player finally mentioned that when the massacre happened at the Wan residence, he seemed to have seen someone escaping from the house.
As for why he said "seemed," it was because, although the distance wasn't far, the shadow was very strange. It didn't look like a real person—more like a human-shaped silhouette that flew out from the Wan residence and vanished within two or three meters.
Even the experienced player had never encountered such a situation. Later, when he recalled it, he couldn't help but think he might have been seeing things, since he couldn't even determine at the time whether it was a real person.
"That's not necessarily true," another player said. "It could have been a prop affecting your vision. Did you get a clear look at what that person looked like?"
"I already said, it was just a silhouette," the first player replied. "If I weren't an atheist, I'd really think I'd seen a ghost!"
People came and went from the snack shop. Xu Huo sat for a while longer before following a player out the door.
That player headed straight out of town, acting like any ordinary player—walking, stopping, and occasionally paying attention to the nearby gossip.
Xu Huo followed at a moderate distance, making no effort to hide his presence. In fact, when the player happened to glance back, Xu Huo even waved at him.
The young man with the buzz cut immediately changed expression. Without a word, he headed toward a crowded area. Although the shops were still doing business and receiving out-of-town visitors, the town was only so big—there weren't many places for him to hide.
But no matter whether he hid in a store or tried to cling to a vehicle, within three seconds, Xu Huo would inevitably appear in his field of vision.
After five or six such attempts, the man finally realized he truly couldn't shake him off. At this point, leaving town was clearly not a good option. The buzz-cut man found a beverage shop and sat down to wait for him.
Xu Huo naturally sat down across from him and called the waiter to order two sweet drinks. "Have something sweet. It'll cool your temper."
"What exactly do you want?" the buzz-cut man gritted his teeth and lowered his voice. "We're both clearance players. What's the point of making things difficult for me?"
"The player who escaped from the Wan residence was you," Xu Huo said directly. "I want to know what happened at the Wan house at that time."
The buzz-cut man warily looked around. Even after using a prop, he still felt unsafe, covering his mouth and nose with his hand. "How did you know?"
"Does knowing that affect your willingness to tell the truth?" Xu Huo countered.
The buzz-cut man choked for a moment. "Since you want to know, be straightforward."
Xu Huo was very straightforward. "Five seconds ago, I was just taking a random guess."
The buzz-cut man stared at him with hostile eyes. "Do you think I'm stupid?"
Xu Huo took a sip of his tea. It was a bit too sweet. He set the cup down and said, "Either sit here drinking a beverage and tell me, or get locked up by the military or the Enforcement Team and talk then. Your choice."
Without clearing the instance, he couldn't use Space Teleportation Items. If he started a fight in town, the Enforcement Team and the military would swarm in like flies.
"A mutual destruction scenario—you wouldn't escape either," the buzz-cut man threatened.
"Try me." Xu Huo made a "go ahead" gesture.
The buzz-cut man gritted his teeth and was silent for a long while before finally deflating. "Fine, you win!"
"Ask whatever you want. But I'll say this upfront—I didn't see much. If you want to know who kidnapped the Wan family or where they were taken, don't bother asking!"
"Just tell me everything you saw, down to the smallest detail." Xu Huo placed a C-grade device on the table. "This is your payment."
The buzz-cut man was somewhat surprised. He quickly took the device. "If you'd done this from the start, we wouldn't have had to waste all that breath. You need to develop the good habit of being polite before using force."
Xu Huo looked at him coldly, clearly not interested in continuing that line of conversation.
The buzz-cut man didn't mind and began recounting his experience.
In short, he had gone to the Wan residence to "stock up."
His professional habits made him instinctively pay attention to the "wealthy families" in every instance venue. The previous few families he'd visited had yielded nothing. Since the Wan family was recently holding a wedding celebration, gifts were piled up in every room. He had just gone to try his luck.
Using his trait to evade the players' notice, he slipped into the Wan residence. After opening just a few boxes, he heard someone scream outside, followed by sounds of fighting. When he looked out, he found the Wan residence had been sealed off with props, and nearly thirty people had suddenly appeared inside.
He couldn't tell which of these people were Wan family members and which were kidnappers, but his reconnaissance prop told him that most of the newcomers were people he couldn't take on. He had only come to "take" a few things, but he'd stumbled into a murder scene. Unable to get out, he decided to find a place to hide.
But the fight ended too quickly—within three minutes, everything went silent. Then some of the players began searching the entire Wan estate.
The Wan residence wasn't that big. Where could he hide?
The buzz-cut man had no choice but to risk running out. As for the shadow the player in the snack shop mentioned, it was indeed him. If not for his peculiar trait, he wouldn't have escaped.
Although no one pursued him afterward, he didn't dare leave the town casually. He could only linger nearby, gathering information, waiting for things to settle down—whether the Wan family members died or the kidnappers were caught, only then would the sword hanging over his head truly disappear.
"Are the Wan family members still alive?" Xu Huo asked, wanting to hear his judgment after listening to his account.
"They should still be alive," the buzz-cut man said. "At the time, I felt a player heading toward where I was hiding. Just as I stepped out of the sealing barrier, I heard a woman's scream. That scream drew the player away. But the other party probably didn't notice me, or they would have chased me out."
Feeling that what he'd said might not be worth the device Xu Huo had given him, he added, "The Wan family's people were of mixed skill levels, but the newcomers were probably all A-class players. The strange thing was, aside from the two women's screams at the beginning and the end, there wasn't a sound from anyone else in the Wan family. With all that commotion from the fight, even the Wan family's children made no noise."
"In that kind of situation, I doubt anyone would have been considerate enough to worry about whether a baby might be woken up by the noise."
"But if they used multiple layers of sealing barriers, that scenario is possible."
"Also, I think instead of casting a wide net out there, you'd be better off looking into the big families in Mao Guo Town. The Wan family isn't the only one keeping players. In those three minutes when the incident happened, wasn't there a single person who noticed?"
"For the sake of the device, I'll point you in the right direction—the Mi family."