# Chapter 2662: Gao Family Genealogy
"Do you have a way to start a war of national annihilation?" Xiao Mei asked next.
Xu Huo gave her an incredulous look, and Xiao Mei quickly corrected herself, saying, "I'm just curious. Would someone really start a war between nations just to clear an instance?"
"That would kill so many people, and there's no guarantee of achieving the goal."
"Who knows." Xu Huo didn't continue this topic. He was about to head to the government office building again when the thin, small player he had let go earlier suddenly appeared and said to him, "Someone wants to see you."
Xu Huo nodded and was about to leave immediately, but Bei Bao stopped him. "Who are you going to see?"
"An acquaintance introduced by a friend," Xu Huo said. "You and Xiao Chun stay here. I'll definitely do what I promised."
Bei Bao tried to force herself to stay calm but couldn't hide her regret. In truth, she had regretted it back at the Wan family's place, because she had leaked a secret to an outsider. Although she thought it wasn't much of a secret, she never imagined someone could actually extract further clues from that information and trace them step by step. After arriving at the Wan family's, she understood that Xu Huo's presence was no less than a powerful time bomb, and the Wan family's fourth son might truly be the one who inherited the Peng surname.
How many people could one thread involve? She didn't understand the significance of the Gao surname inheritance, but when the people connected by that thread stood before her one by one, she realized that a single small oversight could send all these people to their graves!
Coming to find Lian Qingkong was even more so. She had previously tried to contact Lian Qingkong to do something for the Isle Country and improve the living conditions of the Gao surname descendants. She had even felt anger at Lian Qingkong's indifference, but now that she was actually here, she could barely sit still. Especially when she heard Xu Huo and Xiao Mei mention a war of national annihilation... that was a consequence she had never anticipated, and it was an outer zone player who proposed it...
Kidnapping hostages to threaten the government, starting wars between nations and outer zone players—these had already been put into practice. If national annihilation could achieve their goals, those outer zone players would definitely do it!
Watching the man walking away with his back to her, Bei Bao's entire body trembled. She couldn't help but grip her prop tightly, her breathing constricted as she involuntarily took a step forward...
"Snap!" A hand landed on her shoulder from behind. The Painting Woman's face extended from the side, staring at her without blinking.
Bei Bao twitched the corner of her mouth, wanting to say something, but Xiao Mei beside her said casually, "Put away your prop. Trying to assassinate a Super Evolver—you're still too green. Everyone knows where your eyes are looking. Not bothering with you is giving you a chance to live. Don't be ungrateful."
Xu Huo and the thin, small player had already left. Bei Bao's tense hands went limp, unsure whether she felt relief or regret.
Xiao Mei glanced at her, picked up her communicator, and was about to head out, but unexpectedly, the Painting Woman also blocked her.
"What are you doing? Do I need you to follow me to the bathroom?"
The Painting Woman raised the communicator. "He said don't leave."
"And if I want to leave?" Xiao Mei sneered.
The communicator remained raised in front of her, unmoving.
After a few seconds of confrontation, Xiao Mei still sat back down, propping her feet up on the coffee table, and snorted with a laugh, "I'll see how he clears this instance!"
Xu Huo followed the thin, small player to a residential area in the capital city. In a small courtyard, an elderly man in a wheelchair was waiting for him. He was excessively aged—his body looked fairly sturdy, but the skin on his face and the backs of his hands was so loose it was covered in wrinkles, the fragility of depleted life force almost impossible to conceal.
"Who asked you to come find the God of Darkness?" the old man gestured for him to sit.
This person might not necessarily be the one Gao Ming had mentioned, but Xu Huo still took out the cloth strip Gao Ming had written on.
The old man's hands trembled slightly as he took it and looked at it before smiling and saying, "Gao Ming, not so brilliant. His medical skills weren't good back then. I mocked him for it, and he actually remembered it for twenty years."
"Is he doing well?"
"Free enough," Xu Huo said. "He also has some companions."
The old man nodded, quite comforted, and said, "I didn't expect him to still remember me."
He didn't press for more details but sat quietly for a while, as if reminiscing. After a moment, he said to Xu Huo, "Thank you for bringing the news. If there's anything you need my help with, just say it."
"I want to clear the 'Illusory Spark' instance," Xu Huo said directly.
The old man smiled and shook his head. "I can't help you with that. I can't find the National Heirloom Treasure either."
Xu Huo also smiled, not changing his request, but instead asked a completely unrelated question. "Why do you call yourself the 'God of Darkness'?"
The old man laughed heartily. "When I was young, I rode the storm, feeling invincible. Now it's just something to joke about."
After laughing, his gaze shifted from the lush trees in the courtyard to Xu Huo's face. "Youth is wonderful. Only youth has infinite possibilities."
"A person's choices are the prerequisite for infinite possibilities," Xu Huo said. "It's not just about being young."
"You're right about that too." The old man nodded. "You're still young. You have many choices. Do you have any more questions? My time is running out."
"Does the Isle Country government have any special arrangements for the descendants of the two surnames?" Xu Huo asked.
"Special arrangements?" A muffled laugh came from the old man's chest. "How are they any different from other people in the Isle Country?"
Xu Huo nodded slightly. "I understand."
After a pause, he added, "When Gao Hui escaped back then, he should have taken a register of the descendants of the two surnames. Does the Isle Country government have any related clues?"
The old man was somewhat surprised, staring at him fixedly for two seconds before letting out a soft laugh.
This was, after all, very different from the rumored "National Heirloom Treasure." What Gao Hui took away could have been the nation's wealth, or some kind of token used to command hidden forces. But whether wealth or token, even if obtained, it couldn't truly turn the tide. And as for so-called hidden forces... with the Isle Country fighting until now, what truly reclusive great families could still exist? If they didn't show their strength to protect themselves, they would only be devoured.
The Isle Country was in chaos, people were scattered, many had died, and local governments couldn't even keep clear household registrations. Who would have thought that a few hundred-year-old surnames could still be passed down through generations and recorded in a register?
He wasn't testing him, so he was certain that this register was the so-called "National Heirloom Treasure."
After a long while, the old man placed an old, coverless book on the table. "This is all I can help you with. Take it and go."
Xu Huo took the book and walked out of the courtyard. He had originally guessed it might be recorded related clues, but when he opened it, the first words were "Chengfeng Gao Family Genealogy."
He suddenly turned back to look at the courtyard, but the old man had already left. Looking at the names recorded in this genealogy, it ended two hundred years ago—this was an incomplete Gao family genealogy.