Chapter: 2634 National Heirloom Treasure
In the end, Gao Ming was saved by a player he met by chance during his escape. They were later sent back to the Isle Country, where they did hard labor near the border for a year before fleeing again due to another player war.
During this escape, he encountered an injured player who was a member of the current Isle Country government faction. After Gao Ming saved him, the man arranged for Gao Ming and his wife to be sent away from the border and into the Eternal Tower Country, telling him that the Isle Country would not be peaceful for many years to come and advising him not to return.
After that, Gao Ming continued to follow the situation in the Isle Country. Just the rumors of the reappearance of the national heirloom treasure had triggered at least a dozen large-scale player wars within the country. By the time they realized people were nearly wiped out, they had to redraw the national borders, at least leaving a place for ordinary people to reproduce.
"Later, I wandered around the Eternal Tower Country. Communication wasn't convenient, and the news I got came mostly from players seeking medical treatment," Gao Ming said. "The Isle Country is still looking for the previous Grand Archon, and the national heirloom treasure hasn't been recovered either."
"What exactly is the Isle Country's national heirloom treasure?" Xu Huo asked.
The game world wasn't like the era of cold weapons; relying solely on faith or bloodline couldn't stabilize power. For so many people to fight over the national heirloom treasure, at least some of them had to recognize its unique properties.
"I'm not sure about that," Gao Ming said. "I heard that members of the former Supreme Divine Tribunal had seen it, but when the previous Grand Archon left twenty years ago, he blew up the Tribunal, and those people disappeared along with it."
A national heirloom treasure couldn't just be any random item passed off as the real thing. There had to be a way to prevent the genuine treasure from being deliberately labeled as fake. So the new Grand Archon's side must have an authoritative person or authentication method.
As for the factions trying to seize the national heirloom treasure, they would likely go after the Tribunal members first. Twenty years later, any surviving Tribunal members were probably in the hands of various player factions.
Under normal circumstances, going to the Grand Archon for information would be the most convenient, since both sides had the same goal. But this instance had two factions, and the Isle Country had multiple forces. Showing up could lead to being misled or becoming a target for everyone.
District 039 had poor information flow, and the message collection terminals within the district didn't connect to each other. On top of that, the country internally censored and blocked information. A slightly better channel for information was the Under Dimension, where truth was uncertain but some clues could still be gleaned.
In fact, many people had already posted about this instance on the Under Dimension. The latest gathering post was from yesterday, with the poster trying to contact players from the attacking faction, but there were very few replies.
There was a post from the defending faction from five days ago that had some replies, but two days ago, a player claiming to have been to the meeting location replied with the last message, cursing the original poster and warning others not to fall for it, because the post was actually from the attacking faction, aiming to ambush defending faction players.
As for the attacking faction's clearance mission, some speculated it was to bring down the Isle Country government, since their ambush of defending faction players was clearly to prevent them from finding the national heirloom treasure and delivering it to the Grand Archon.
The waters had long been muddied.
"Are you going to the Isle Country for the instance?" Gao Ming asked. "That's quite far."
"But that's nothing for a player." He paused and added, "I wonder if the player who sent me to the Eternal Tower Country is still alive. He used to work in the government. If he's alive, he might be able to help you. I don't know his name, only his alias—'God of the Dark Night.'"
Gao Ming tore off a piece of his clothing and used plant sap to write five characters on it: "Gao Ming Not So Bright."
"This was a joke he made when I saved him back then. Even though his alias sounds like a joke too, let's just take it as real." He handed it to Xu Huo. "If your instance has to do with the government, I hope you can help him too."
"And if it's about overthrowing the government..." He smiled. "That depends on his luck."
Xu Huo took it. "I'll make good use of it."
Along the way, they had also collected quite a few mutant plants that Gao Ming couldn't normally gather. When it was time to part, Xu Huo gave him two instruments that weren't bound to any player. "Hopefully, you won't need them."
Gao Ming accepted them generously, slung his basket over his back, said "Good luck," and walked into the woods.
Once he was far away, Xu Huo glanced at the slowly moving characteristic tracking chain above, changed his appearance and outfit, then turned to the Painting Woman. "Let's go."
The Painting Woman was kneading "metal modeling clay." Hearing this, she looked up and sent the message she had prepared earlier: "I think that puppet looks a bit like the ones from the castle."
Xu Huo raised an eyebrow at this. "Puppets from the castle?"
The only place full of puppets that the Painting Woman had encountered was likely the territory of the Box Carrier. If the Box Carrier had appeared in District 039 and opened an instance, the district would have been in an uproar. Besides, he had carefully checked earlier and found no mark of the Box Carrier on the puppet... But now the Painting Woman said the puppet looked like one from the castle.
Was the Box Carrier in District 039, or had someone brought one of his puppets here?
Xu Huo had also seen the Box Carrier's puppets in other instances. While the Box Carrier didn't sell his puppets like the Paper Servant Master sold paper props, he did place them in various places for different reasons. Given his peculiar hobby of using humans as materials, District 039 might also have traces of him.
"That castle isn't fun. Did the puppet want to take you to that castle?" the Painting Woman asked again.
"Possibly," Xu Huo said. "You mentioned before that a player was bitten to death..."
The Painting Woman nodded, her fingers moving rapidly. "A lot of flesh was bitten off."
"It's fine. If we really run into them, we'll just wear thicker clothes." Xu Huo took out his prop clothing and mechanical suit, equipping her with them as well.
"Don't be scared," the Painting Woman comforted him. "If the puppet wants to bite you, I can let it bite my hand. It can't bite through."
Xu Huo couldn't help but laugh. "Thanks a lot."
The Painting Woman's eyes curved, and she waved her hand stylishly to say it was nothing.
Then, the two of them used a teleportation prop to go straight to the Isle Country's capital.
As a national capital, no sooner had Xu Huo and the Painting Woman stepped out of the space passage than they were sent flying several meters by a shockwave rushing toward them. Right behind the shockwave came a black shadow, streaking over their heads at incredible speed and colliding with a player coming from behind.
A new wave of shockwaves erupted. Xu Huo grabbed the Painting Woman and dropped down to the street below. Only then did they see that they were inside a massive blockade barrier, encircling a sports field. Players were scattered sparsely on the tall buildings around, watching. Judging by their positions, they were roughly divided into two factions, both spectating.