Chapter 2670: Qi Congming
The young player led Xu Huo to an empty meeting room, took out a thick stack of notebooks and placed them on the table. "These are all of Mr. Lian's player insights, transcribed copies."
Xu Huo looked at the notebooks. Even though they were transcribed copies, they appeared to have been flipped through many times; the edges of the paper were quite worn.
"Thank you." He put the notebooks away.
The young player nodded. "We still have to handle Mr. Lian's funeral arrangements, so we can't entertain you properly. If you need any help in the Capital City, feel free to ask."
He paused for a moment, then added, "Originally, Mr. Lian planned to die in the sanatorium. It was your help that allowed him to have even a moment of peace. I'll remember this kindness."
He gave a slight bow to Xu Huo, then left the meeting room.
Xu Huo wasn't in a hurry to look at the notes. He called the Painting Woman and the other two and prepared to leave the Government Building.
Lian Qingkong's death had already been announced. The entire nation was in mourning. Households in the Capital City had begun to observe mourning spontaneously. When they walked out of the Government Building, many shops had already hung white flowers.
"I didn't expect that old man to be so well-loved," Xiao Mei remarked with emotion.
"After all, he's been deeply rooted in the Isle Country for twenty years," the Unlucky Guy also said. "He was planning for the country until the very last moment."
Next came the settlement of the Instance rewards.
The Unlucky Guy had previously said he didn't want the team reward, but since the poison on him hadn't been cured yet, he didn't dare just give up the team reward.
After Xu Huo gave him the antidote, he decisively gave up the team reward and left Zone 039.
As for Xiao Mei, Xu Huo had the Painting Woman bring the half-true, half-false roster to the Capital City. She had put in a lot of effort on the road, so she was entitled to a share of the team reward. He gave her two options: take two B-grade items, or exchange them for one A-grade Spatial Device.
Xiao Mei chose the latter. After confirming it was a defensive Spatial Device, she also gave up the team reward with satisfaction.
"I still have plenty of time. I'm going to hang around Zone 039 for a few days. If anything good comes up, think of me, okay?" she said with a grin.
Xu Huo looked at her. "I'd advise you to leave sooner rather than later. Have you forgotten that there are puppets in Zone 039 running around abducting players?"
Xiao Mei was a bit scared too, but quickly said, "I'll just stay in the Capital City. There are plenty of players here, so it should be fine."
Seeing this, Xu Huo didn't say anything more. Just as he parted ways with her, Fu Kuai appeared.
Fu Kuai was one of the players who had previously tried to team up with the defending faction. He had also appeared among the stranded players yesterday. Probably because his stranded time was relatively short, he hadn't been immediately teleported to a high-risk Instance.
His purpose in coming to Xu Huo was simple: he wanted to know how he had cleared the Instance.
"I contacted the defending faction players before, not to sabotage others' clearance, but simply out of curiosity about what the National Heirloom Treasure really was. Now that I finally know what it is, I've become curious about the clearance process." He looked at Xu Huo. "I really can't figure out how you discovered that the National Heirloom Treasure was actually a roster."
The three of them found a place to eat, and Xu Huo briefly explained his reasoning process. Fu Kuai listened with great admiration. "To be honest, if it were me, I definitely wouldn't have easily concluded that the National Heirloom Treasure was a roster. To be frank, a roster isn't really that useful."
Even if it fell into the hands of an Outer Zone player, how much time and effort would it take for them to kill people according to the roster? It would be easy to fail to threaten the local players and instead incur public wrath.
"That's why it's called an illusory flame. No one who gets the roster is home free," Xu Huo said calmly.
Fu Kuai nodded. "Looking at it this way, Lian Qingkong was the true wise man. If anyone had really relied on the so-called National Heirloom Treasure, the outcome would definitely have been bad."
"I have one more question," he paused. "Is the roster you got real?"
"Half true, half false." Even saying half true, half false was an exaggeration. In reality, only the small part Lian Qingkong had given him was the real genealogy. The rest were random things he had gathered to pad the numbers. But that didn't matter. As long as it was confirmed that the National Heirloom Treasure was the Gao family genealogy, and Lian Qingkong had achieved a certain goal through this genealogy, it was enough.
Fu Kuai was surprised by his boldness. "What if burning it still didn't allow you to clear the Instance?"
"Then I would have had to go look for it again." Xu Huo smiled faintly.
Fu Kuai opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, it turned into a single sentence, "I admire you!"
"Thank you for clearing that up for me." He stood up and took his leave very decisively.
After dealing with him, Xu Huo noticed the puppet that had appeared near him again. He found it troublesome. He had killed several puppets, but more kept coming, indicating that the removal item he had used before was useless. Originally, he could have solved this problem by simply leaving Zone 039, but now he had to go find Gao Ming. If those puppets really belonged to the Box Carrier, Gao Ming might very well be implicated.
The government had already set up a mourning hall. The funeral was being held in the main hall of the Government Building. Photos and projections of Lian Qingkong appeared on a small scale within the building, while the citizens came to the outside of the building to lay flowers.
"...The God of the Dark Night. Mr. Lian often used this as his alias twenty years ago. The country was in darkness, and Mr. Lian believed that only by everyone setting an example could the country be saved. Not just him, but everyone could become the God of the Dark Night..."
Listening to the eulogy, Xu Huo placed the memorial flowers on the ground, glanced at the ice coffin inside the building, then turned to the Painting Woman beside him and said, "Let's go."
He didn't go directly to find Gao Ming. Instead, he planned to leave the Capital City and find a place to deal with the puppet following him first. However, just as he left the city, he ran into a dispute.
Because of Lian Qingkong's funeral, the Capital City was under martial law. Outer Zone players were temporarily not allowed to enter. If these people were willing to wait, they could stay in the Location Items prepared by the Isle Country. If they didn't want to wait, they could leave on their own, but forcing their way in was definitely not allowed.
Of course, there would always be some who were in a hurry and didn't want to wait this short time, but given the disparity in numbers, most Outer Zone players would back down.
But this time, they encountered someone who was being unreasonable. The newcomer wasn't very strong. He started with loud threats, then pleaded bitterly, and finally said he had urgent information to tell the Isle Country government, information crucial to its safety.
How could the Enforcement Team players believe him? But that player absolutely refused to leave, and eventually just sat on the ground and shouted loudly.
The players sent by the Eternal Tower and the Moon Horn to pay their respects were also blocked outside the city. The two groups were watching the commotion, and the Isle Country players were also very annoyed. "If it weren't for the fact that you're covered in injuries, I'd have beaten you up by now. Get lost!"
That player was still lying on the ground yelling loudly when suddenly a shadow fell over his head. He tilted his head back and said in a harsh tone, "Move!"
"Qi Congming?" Xu Huo called out to him.