Chapter 2617: Don't Ask for Trouble
Old Mr. Xi unilaterally won that argument. When he heard that Cong Shi was willing to polish his props for free, he didn't refuse. Instead, he discussed the crafting direction of the props with him. They hadn't yet come up with a suitable plan based on the properties of the Subclass Stone, so Xu Huo didn't participate in this discussion.
After nightfall, the hoods that randomly appeared in various parts of the city became fewer. Whether it was due to significant progress by the local government or not, the manor area remained quite peaceful.
But the good times didn't last long. Following the Night Tour Instance, a new B-level Instance also erupted in the Ten Thousand Plant Garden. The plants that existed in the bizarre catalog became truly terrifying entities. It was said that even with the protection of players, six research teams that entered the Ten Thousand Plant Garden for collection were completely wiped out. Fortunately, the Instance was limited to the Ten Thousand Plant Garden and did not create a forbidden zone.
Although the entire Ten Thousand Plant Garden was vast, as long as it didn't spread to human-inhabited cities, sealing it off wasn't a big deal.
However, the next morning, the sky over Xia City was filled with finger-sized green bubbles. They looked like seeds of some mutated plant, extremely light, drifting far with the wind, and carrying a certain toxicity.
A protective barrier had already been set up outside the manor, but many green bubbles still clung to it, densely packed like insects. Some of them actually contained eggs, which hatched into mutated species within an hour or two. They moved quickly and reproduced rapidly. The green belts without protection were devoured, leaves and all, in no time.
This wasn't the most troublesome part. These were just minor annoyances that robots could handle with a bit more effort. But sometimes, these green bubbles brought special mutated species. They took root as soon as they landed and grew very fast. Within just a few hours, "eyeball fruits" and "human-head gourds" had appeared in many places in the city. Some buildings and roads collapsed or were damaged due to their growth, making it look like viruses and bacteria were spreading continuously throughout the city.
This mutated plant disaster covered three cities, including Xia City. The local government had conducted early detection and distributed protective masks. Visible mutated plants were not a major concern, but the more terrifying ones were the tiny, hard-to-detect fungal spores. If inhaled, they could parasitize internal organs, making treatment relatively troublesome.
"It never rains but it pours," Jing Shi said with worry. "I wonder how many people will die this time."
"The Ten Thousand Plant Garden has become an Instance site. The District Government might consider destroying the Instance site," Xu Huo said. After all, the Instance site could no longer be entered freely for sample collection. Its existence now posed a greater threat than benefit.
The District Government reacted quickly. Half a day after the incident, they sprayed chemicals from high altitudes, not only killing a large number of mutated plant seeds that had entered the city but also wiping out the easily spread mutated plants in the Ten Thousand Plant Garden.
The city was shrouded in a hazy mist, which, combined with the floating hoods and the untreated mutated plants, made it look like a scene not of this world.
City residents tried to stay indoors as much as possible. Supplies of vegetables, fruits, and meat were provided by neighboring cities. Robots delivered them on time every day, along with official progress reports, mainly explaining the Instance situation and repeatedly reminding residents of precautions for home life.
Defense hoods had already been distributed throughout the city. Due to the Instance restrictions, the local government was prepared for long-term isolation.
Teacher Jing Shi and the others remained relatively calm, but some of Cong Shi's apprentices couldn't hold their patience. They lived in Zone 001 and were promising members of their families. If they could never leave this city because of the Night Tour Instance, wouldn't their futures be ruined?
In the past two days, they had been contacting their families to come pick them up, but no one agreed. It wasn't that they didn't care about their children, but they couldn't bear the consequences of the Instance expanding. Moreover, whether it was the government or player organizations, they would definitely hold people accountable afterward. Taking the children back now would be sending them to their deaths.
However, not everyone understood this. As time passed, these people became more restless. A few even stopped attending classes, constantly scrolling through the Message Collection Terminal for news and applying to the local government for permission to leave the city.
After less than five days, one young man, who looked barely twenty, overturned the meal delivered by a robot and decisively dismantled the robot's energy source. He shouted for some living people to come to the manor, saying he didn't want to deal with cold, lifeless machines anymore.
This was clearly asking for trouble. Jing Shi had to come out to calm things down, but the young people quickly made other demands. They wanted to go out and play, asking Jing Shi to arrange for players to protect them.
Jing Shi had only hired a few players. Some of the players who had come to help earlier were purely her fans. Later, when the situation became critical, some left Zone 001, and others went to assist in rescue operations. None of them had returned. The manor was short-staffed, so naturally, she couldn't send anyone to accompany them, especially since they weren't allowed to go out anyway.
These young people in their twenties were very dissatisfied. They had lost their previous politeness and began looking for entertainment around the manor. The recreation room could no longer contain them. They used their portable devices to play games where they shot robots in the head, or they reprogrammed the robots' commands for pranks. Old Mr. Xi, who had drunk tea with added ingredients, was so furious that he ran out of the workshop to curse at them.
Xu Huo was in the study reading some materials Jing Shi had collected. They had been talking, but when he heard the alarm downstairs, Jing Shi had to go down to check. Just after she left, two young men sneaked into the study. They didn't notice Xu Huo standing behind the bookshelf and headed straight for the desk. They pulled out the manuscript of the new book Jing Shi was writing, scrambled the order, and casually stuffed it into other books before placing them back on the shelf.
After putting away five or six books, one of them finally spotted Xu Huo. Startled, he immediately went on the offensive. "Are you hiding here to steal something?"
Xu Huo closed his book and put it back on the shelf. "Take out the manuscript and put it back the way it was."
He looked at the two of them and said with a smile, "I'm not a player from Zone 001. I can take you to any district, and then you'll realize that being trapped in this manor now is like living like immortals."
His smile didn't convey any reassurance. The coldness in his eyes made the two of them shiver involuntarily. They looked at each other, and after a moment, they reluctantly took out the manuscript and rearranged it properly.
Before they left, Xu Huo added, "Don't ask for trouble. If you're really that bored, go tidy up the garden in the back. Those mutated plants haven't been cleaned up yet."
The two obediently left. About ten minutes later, a group of young people appeared in the garden with tools.