Chapter 2655: A Few Questions
Xu Huo brought Bei Bao back to the border town. By now, the night was deep. The fans who had gathered around the castle had mostly dispersed, leaving only street cleaners active on the roads. He found a hotel and checked in.
"I thought you were going to storm the Wan family directly," Bei Bao said, looking toward the castle. "Their opponent, Minister Wang, is dead. Right now, they're probably busy with social calls and won't have time to sleep."
"Why did the Wan family change their surname to Wang?" All the restaurants in the small town were already closed, so Xu Huo took out some dry rations he had brought and ate them with hot water to stave off hunger.
"The Wang family has a lot of influence," Bei Bao said. "Several members of that family hold official positions. Minister Wang had the highest rank, but he looked down on the Wan family. The Wans wanted to latch onto them but failed. It's hard to say what will happen now. With one Minister Wang dead, another Minister Wang will surely take his place."
She stared at the brightly lit area, her voice suddenly dropping very low. "I don't understand what the point of all this is..."
"You mean, why do the Gao and Peng families choose to pass down their legacy in this way?" Xu Huo voiced her confusion.
"Exactly." Bei Bao turned back, leaning her body sideways against the single sofa, a smile on her face. "You're an outsider, and you're very clever. Just from listening to my story, you guessed that the boss was a descendant of Peng Guan. I've known him for years and never figured it out."
"Perhaps it started out of selfishness on the part of the rulers, but it probably gradually evolved into a form of solidarity," Xu Huo said. "There must have been quite a few players among the descendants of the Gao and Peng families. By supporting each other, everyone could live better."
"Just like now. There must be descendants of both families within the government of the Moonhorn Duchy. They support the Wan family, and the Wan family supports them."
"When they inherited the surnames, they must have had other tasks, right?" Bei Bao asked. "According to your reasoning, the descendants of the Gao and Peng families have money, power, and strength. Why didn't Lian Qingkong pay any attention to me?"
"Gao Hui couldn't command the descendants of the two families, and Lian Qingkong might not be able to either," Xu Huo said flatly. "Everyone has their own life to live."
Bei Bao laughed at that, finding it absurd. "My birth parents, my adoptive parents—they spent almost their entire lives running around for this surname. What 'their own lives'? Were they just guarding a useless secret?"
"Do you want to return to the Isle Country?" Xu Huo looked up at her.
Bei Bao calmed her emotions before speaking. "I just want to know what the meaning of this whole thing is."
Among the descendants of the two families, there must have been many capable people. But there must have been even more who died namelessly in the flames of war or silently passed down the surname without recognition. For ordinary people, just surviving in a chaotic world was a luxury, let alone the fact that inheriting this secret changed the course of many lives.
If the surname inheritance ultimately yielded no results for most people, then centuries of sacrifice would have completely lost their meaning.
"People have different aspirations. No one is stopping you from returning to the Isle Country," Xu Huo said.
Bei Bao took a deep breath, pulled a blanket from her luggage compartment, and covered her face with it, unilaterally ending the conversation.
Xu Huo unceremoniously took the bed and caught a few hours of sleep.
The next morning after breakfast, he took Bei Bao and headed toward the castle.
The two of them passed through the area where the defensive barrier had been without any hindrance, walking straight into the estate outside the castle. The time they spent walking was also meant to give the players in the security booth time to report their arrival.
Soon, several players appeared around them. At the same time, a middle-aged woman dressed like a housekeeper hurried out to ask about their intentions.
"I've come to visit Mr. Wan Ping," Xu Huo said.
The housekeeper forced a smile. "Minister Wang passed away. The master went to help with the funeral arrangements. It might be a while..."
Xu Huo glanced at his watch. "Give him half an hour. That should be enough."
With that, he entered the main hall of the castle. Ignoring the Wan family members and their guests who were already there, he found a seat for himself. "I'll wait here."
He might be able to ignore the other players present, but Bei Bao couldn't. Besides, many members of the Wan family knew her because of Wan Yao, whether or not they knew her true identity was another matter.
She looked at Wan Ping's eldest son, Wan Chuan. "Mr. Wan, please go and fetch the old master. This gentleman absolutely must see him today."
The uninvited guests were displeasing, but the gap in strength made the Wan family hold their tongues. Wan Chuan arranged for the guests to be sent away, then said he would immediately contact his father again. He also offered tea and refreshments, trying to strike up a conversation with Xu Huo to find out the purpose of his visit.
"Can you answer my questions on behalf of the descendants of the Gao family?" Xu Huo asked him.
Wan Chuan paused for a moment, then smiled bitterly. "People have come to us about this before. It's all a misunderstanding. We have nothing to do with the Gao family. My father's background and origins are perfectly clear. He is a native of the Moonhorn Duchy... We have documents to prove it."
He said this and sent someone to fetch the documents. As Xu Huo began to flip through them, Wan Chuan probed further. "Sir, you must be here for the instance clearance. Unfortunately, our Wan family can't help with that. But we wouldn't want you to have made a wasted trip. If you're interested, we do have a collection of items..."
"Snap." Xu Huo gently closed the folder, cutting him off. "Fifteen minutes left."
Wan Chuan's expression changed slightly. He apologized and left the main hall.
The rest of the Wan family members had already cleared out completely while seeing off the guests. The vast castle suddenly seemed to be left with only the staff.
Another ten minutes passed, during which no Wan family members reappeared.
Even Bei Bao found it suspicious. "Did the whole Wan family run away?"
"Run where?" Xu Huo said with a light laugh. "If I get stuck in this instance, I'll have plenty of time to deal with them."
But Bei Bao's guess was correct—the Wan family had indeed fled. It was understandable, but within the time limit, Wan Ping would definitely return.
Sure enough, with only three minutes left on the countdown, Wan Ping appeared. His aircraft landed directly in the estate. The head of the Wan family, who had inherited the Gao surname, rushed into the main hall in a fluster, wiping his sweat and apologizing to Xu Huo, saying that due to the funeral, he simply couldn't get away and was late, hoping he wouldn't take offense.
Xu Huo watched his performance calmly, then got straight to the point. "I'm only here to ask a few questions. Did Gao Hui come to you back then with the national heirloom treasure? What happened to the national heirloom treasure? And how did Gao Hui die?"
There was no trace of resistance on Wan Ping's face. He cooperatively recounted the events.
Gao Hui had come to the Moonhorn Duchy and sought out many people. But when he came to the Wan family, he didn't produce any national heirloom treasure. Instead, he wanted to use items and the players around him to exchange for the Wan family's financial support. Despite the Wan family repeatedly stating that they were not descendants of the Gao family, Gao Hui refused to believe it. After several rounds of negotiations, he actually tried to kill the Wan family members.