Chapter 2643: Three Directions
"Snatched it from a local zone player," He Liang said. "There's a clue to the national heirloom treasure inside."
This statement stunned everyone present. Wu Zishuang quickly asked, "A clue to the national heirloom treasure? Have you checked it?"
"If I could open this box, would I still be waiting until now?" He Liang touched a button at the bottom of the box, and a projected multi-factor authentication keyboard appeared in midair. "Unfortunately, I killed the guy too fast. I need that player's biometric authentication."
"I've tried some methods too, but this box is an encrypted model released only in the last couple of years. The material is special, and there's a custom chip inside. Once the box is damaged, the chip triggers a self-destruct program."
"The problem is, I don't know what medium the clue is stored on. If it's directly in the chip, then opening the box would ruin everything, wouldn't it?"
"Biometric authentication," Xiao Mei said. "You really cleaned up the body too thoroughly."
"See if you guys can open it." He Liang pushed the box forward.
The group huddled together and discussed for a while, but ultimately couldn't make a decision. The box looked fairly large, but no one was sure what was actually inside. If it turned out to be something very important, destroying it would mean no hope of clearing the instance.
"Isn't there anyone else who can open this box?" Fei Jingyi asked. "There must be someone who can take over."
He Liang shrugged. He had acted too quickly and hadn't had time to interrogate the player, and there were no other clues in the luggage compartment.
"Let's put the box aside for now." Fei Jingyi looked at Fu Kuai and Xu Huo. "Do you two have any other clues?"
"I've discovered that there seems to be another force interfering with the instance in this district," Xu Huo spoke first. "I encountered them twice while investigating the national heirloom treasure. Same attire both times, habitually covering their faces. The temperature here in Isle Country is high, and many players forgo their protective shields after entering, but they always maintain a masked state using props."
"As for me, I was investigating a clue related to a certain tribunal member, but the other side killed the person I was looking for first."
"If they were also looking for the national heirloom treasure, they shouldn't have killed him directly."
"Those are probably stranded players," He Liang said. "Maybe someone was tailing you and intercepted the kill first to cut off the trail."
Xu Huo looked slightly surprised. "Have stranded players already formed player organizations?"
He Liang paused. That was a direction he hadn't considered. It's actually very difficult for unfamiliar players to band together. Not to mention religious beliefs, bloodline cultures, and such—even different instances can create divisions among them. There might be many stranded players, but with different people and different instances, who would submit to whom?
"Or maybe they're not stranded players," Xiao Mei said. "Could be other player factions in this district who don't want us to bring the national heirloom treasure to Lian Qingkong."
"Stranded players aren't a local force. How could they quickly grasp the movements of newcomers? People like us who just arrived are all busy looking for clues. Who has time to go around assassinating others? The attacking faction certainly doesn't have that many hands. And wouldn't it be faster to just go after you directly? Why take a roundabout way to kill someone else?"
"So it's probably a local force afraid of offending players from other districts."
"Do you think those people are an organization?" Wu Zishuang looked at Xu Huo. "How did you determine that?"
"They all wore badges of the same material," Xu Huo said. "But I didn't get a clear look at the pattern."
"Could it be that the national heirloom treasure is in their hands?" He Liang speculated. "So they want to stop ticket players from finding them?"
"The person is already dead." Xu Huo implied that lead was now a dead end.
"The people you mentioned might not be related to the instance," Fu Kuai spoke up at this point. "Recently, in District 039, all three countries have experienced incidents of players being abducted. The Eternal Tower country has had a bigger uproar over it; their execution squad has been investigating."
"Abducting local zone players? Or do they not spare players from other districts either?" Xiao Mei immediately turned serious.
"As long as they're players," Fu Kuai said. "On my way to Isle Country, I rescued a severely injured player. That's where I got this information. Information circulates slowly in District 039, but the high-level officials of the three countries have been in communication, and it has drawn the attention of all three governments."
"Unbelievable. The instances are hard enough as it is, and now there are people taking cheap shots." Xiao Mei asked Xu Huo, "Any other distinguishing features? Next time you run into them, run faster."
Xu Huo turned to look at Painting Woman. She understood and pulled out paper and pen to sketch a very abstract portrait.
"Could you be any more abstract?" Xiao Mei rolled her eyes.
Painting Woman thought for a moment and added some textual annotations to the portrait, such as the color of the mask, the material of the clothes, the style of the shoes, and the fact that they didn't speak.
The group watched her write slowly and methodically. After a while, He Liang said, "Are they mute, or are you mute too?"
Painting Woman pulled out her communicator. "How did you know?"
He Liang choked. "Then write faster!"
Painting Woman focused her notes on their clothing and appearance. Xu Huo supplemented with approximate heights, since the combat puppets seemed to be mass-produced, with little variation within the same batch.
Everyone passed the notes around and silently memorized the characteristics.
"I didn't find any useful clues," Fu Kuai said, "but I can offer a suggestion."
"Let's go find Lian Qingkong and have him help us clear the instance."
That was an ideal plan, but why weren't players adopting it, instead taking such roundabout and risky approaches to find companions?
Because they didn't trust the Isle Country government.
The Isle Country government might not believe them either, and surely someone had already tried this approach—probably even people from the attacking faction. This could lead to two outcomes. On the positive side, the Isle Country government might be willing to lend a hand and point them in a direction. On the negative side, the Isle Country government might not care about the consequences and deal with them on the spot.
The longer the time dragged on, the less patience the Isle Country government had with instance players, especially since it was hard to distinguish between factions.
"Getting kicked out is already them being polite," Xiao Mei said. "If it were me, and people kept coming to me year-round asking questions about instances, I wouldn't even want to see them."
"Besides, this is the Isle Country government—the headquarters of the current Grand Archon. Who knows what's in there? What if you go in and can't come out?"
"I've observed several players who entered the Isle Country government. They all went in and came out smoothly. The Isle Country government didn't make things difficult for them."
Fu Kuai glanced at Fei Jingyi. "Besides, didn't you say Lian Qingkong is a person with great charisma? If there weren't something special about him, how could he make people follow him so devotedly?"
Alright, now there were three paths laid out before them.
First, continue tracking Wu Zishuang's lead, because the assassins might have taken the real national heirloom treasure while waiting at their leisure.
Second, delve deeper into the token Xiao Mei mentioned. It was brought by the previous Grand Archon to the Supreme God's Tribunal. It might be some kind of keepsake, or it could be the national heirloom treasure itself.
Third, seek help from the Isle Country government.
"We should open my box first," He Liang said, raising his voice slightly.