# Chapter 2507: The Person Living Underground
Xu Huo glanced at this person. "Was the Mi family looking for you earlier?"
The buzz-cut man chuckled. "Saying it outright takes the fun out of it. I'll be going now."
Xu Huo didn't stop him. After the man left, he contacted Painting Woman and Bubble Bean separately.
Painting Woman hadn't replied yet, but Bubble Bean had some gains.
It turned out that when the Wan family incident occurred, there were actually several witnesses—players who happened to be nearby. Some were local zone players, others were outer zone players. Leaving aside the outer zone players, it was strange that the local zone players hadn't reacted at the time.
"I heard it's because the players who came weren't just the ones who entered the Wan family's residence," Bubble Bean said after taking a sip of water. "There were several players outside keeping watch, specifically to monitor those people. Whether they used props or some other instruments, those who discovered the Wan family incident lost consciousness at the time. By the time they came to, the Wan family had already been bloodwashed."
"Those people didn't even know how they were hit."
"The witnesses have already been taken away by the military. This incident has a relatively bad impact. I estimate it won't be long before it explodes on the Message Collection Terminal."
Bubble Bean let out a mocking laugh. "Once news of the Wan family being attacked spreads, public opinion will probably reverse immediately. That Valen guy showing up now will instantly become a world-class good person who gave up his future for old friendships."
The longer the delay, the more dangerous it was for the Wan family. Because no matter which side made the move, once the election results came out, they would basically be useless.
Just as Xu Huo was about to head to the Mi family, Painting Woman returned. She excitedly told Xu Huo that someone knew what happened to the Wan family.
He didn't expect her to come back with such gains. Xu Huo pressed for details.
Painting Woman's explanation was vague. The gist was that she found a player underground—someone who had been hiding beneath the Wan family's residence for who knows how long. They clashed immediately. Painting Woman didn't speak, and the frightened player assumed she was an assassin sent by the kidnappers. He went all out to fight her, seeking a quick death.
"Is he dead?" Xu Huo asked.
"No, I beat him up and tied him up," Painting Woman said matter-of-factly. "If I killed him, how could he talk?"
The three of them were about to meet this player when Bubble Bean asked the soul-searching question, "Why were you underground?"
Normal people wouldn't go into the sewers. Especially in districts like Area 001, the sewer construction was very meticulous—definitely not giving players any loopholes. Most sewers were impassable for people. Moreover, for convenience of maintenance, alarms were installed. Additionally, different pipes were independent of each other to prevent someone from getting caught all at once...
So, why was she underground?
"None of your damn business!" Painting Woman was annoyed by the question and glared at him fiercely.
Bubble Bean choked, then turned his head away. "Honestly, I really don't want to crawl through sewers."
Unexpectedly, Painting Woman led them to a small park far from the Wan family residence. From there, they crawled into a water inlet pipe.
The pipe on the park side was relatively large, but it was separate from the city's internal pipes. However, once they went deep underground, a gap appeared on the side of the pipe. It was clearly man-made—rough, but passable for a single person.
This pipe was very deep underground, running all the way from the park to beneath the Wan family residence. For some unknown reason, the closer they got to the Wan family's place, the wider the pipe became, and it was visibly more "luxurious." The mud and stone walls had patterns carved into them, and some places even had fresh flowers inserted. Of course, there were also withered flowers. Judging by the clay vases holding the flowers, this pipe had existed for quite some time, and the person who dug it had been living here for a while.
"Are they crazy?" Bubble Bean couldn't understand. What player would do something like this?
By the time they estimated they were near the Wan family's residence, the pipe had turned into a small room—one bedroom, one living room. Not only was there a bed and a refrigerator, but there was also a fake window.
Looking at the person passed out in the chair, Xu Huo and Bubble Bean had complicated expressions.
"So, wherever people live, there are loopholes to exploit," Bubble Bean said while injecting muscle relaxant into the bound person's hands and feet. "Look at this place. The Wan family above has been digging three feet into the ground, using all kinds of detection instruments and props. Who would have thought there was a rat living right under their feet?"
"Hey, wake up!"
After the injection, Bubble Bean patted the person's face.
This player had been beaten pretty badly by Painting Woman. Not only were there wounds all over his body, but his face was also swollen and bruised—his features were unrecognizable. When he opened his mouth, two front teeth were missing. He opened his eyes, saw Xu Huo and the others, immediately sobered up, struggled but couldn't move, then said, "If you've got the guts, kill me!"
Bubble Bean blocked Xu Huo and spoke first. "I have a question I can't hold back. Let me ask first."
Without waiting for a response, he immediately added, "With your sewer-digging skills, finding a job in another district wouldn't be hard. Why do you have to live underground?"
The bruised and swollen man stubbornly rolled his eyes upward. "None of your business!"
Bubble Bean laughed coldly. "Don't want to talk? How about some medicine? Strong truth serum—one shot, and I guarantee you'll remember memories from when you were breastfeeding..."
"Don't mess around! I'm allergic to truth serum. It could really kill me!" the bruised man shouted frantically.
Bubble Bean pressed him down. "Don't worry, mine has no side effects."
"Ask whatever you want! You didn't ask anything before giving me the shot! How do you know I wouldn't cooperate if you asked!" the bruised man demanded angrily. "Do I look like someone who keeps their mouth shut?!"
The three of them were momentarily speechless. But considering that Painting Woman had managed to get some information out of him, this person probably possessed two traits: not very smart and not very tough.
"Then answer the question first," Bubble Bean said.
"Stop messing around," Xu Huo interrupted, pushing Bubble Bean aside. He stood in front of the bruised man and asked, "What happened to the Wan family?"
The bruised man sized them up. "Who are you people? Why are you investigating the Wan family's whereabouts?"
"Am I asking you, or are you asking me?" Xu Huo conjured a dagger out of thin air, grabbed the man's wrist, and made a light cut. "How about a timed answer? If you can tell me what I want to know before your blood runs dry, I'll spare your life. What do you think?"
Seeing the blood flowing from his hand, the bruised man panicked and shouted, "I'll talk! I'll talk!"
"I installed a micro-monitor in the Wan family's residence. It happened to capture the scene of the Wan family being taken away! If you want to see it, go get it from over there—it's behind that stone that can interfere with instrument signals."
Bubble Bean rummaged around by the fake window, then pulled out a storage device. He inserted it into a specialized reader, and the contents were immediately projected into the air.
The first image they saw was a young girl in pajamas walking toward the camera.