Chapter 2672: Heart Surgery
The players from Eternal Tower and Moon Horn countries were angry but dared not speak out. Their purpose was only to test Ji Qingcheng, not to actually die here. Moreover, the one who had acted was not from Isle Country. If they were killed by an outer zone player, their deaths would be meaningless.
The group dropped harsh words and left the mourning hall swallowing their anger.
Afterward, Ji Qingcheng and Xu Huo went to the meeting room. With the former's authorization, the investigation materials regarding the puppet activities that Isle Country had looked into were also sent over.
The existence of combat puppets was no small matter. There had been multiple incidents of players being captured witnessed by others, some of whom were players of relatively important status. This had gradually drawn the attention of various national governments, and some had followed up with investigations. However, the final results were not good. No one knew who was truly controlling the puppets.
Nevertheless, the puppets had been around for quite some time, and there had never been a situation where they suddenly disappeared for days or weeks on end. Therefore, local zone players suspected they were outer zone players stranded in Zone 039. But while these puppets were easy to destroy, tracking them was very difficult, so nothing truly valuable had been found so far.
As for Isle Country, tracing back the earliest appearance of puppets in the country placed it at half a year ago.
"In other words, half a year ago, an outer zone player who likes using combat puppets suddenly became stranded in this partition and then started killing indiscriminately?" Xu Huo said.
Ji Qingcheng nodded. "Not only that. The ultimate goal of combat puppets raiding players should be human skin. Later, whenever combat puppets were destroyed by Isle Country players, any residual human skin that could be retrieved was identified, through appraisal, as belonging to local people."
Up to now, Isle Country had dealt with eight combat puppets. Without knowing the puppets' strength, they had lost some personnel.
Furthermore, combat puppets were not only active in the capital city. It was difficult to investigate the situation in other cities of Isle Country. After all, the players were not strong enough. Even if they were kidnapped and taken by combat puppets, there was no way to know.
Isle Country's government had discussed this matter with the other two countries. Originally, they wanted to form an elite team specifically for tracking and investigation. However, the other two countries disagreed, likely having other plans.
"Raiding players, skinning them, and then wrapping the skin around puppets—this behavior pattern is more like that of cannibal players. Usually, only cannibal players would go to such great lengths over this."
Otherwise, combat puppets wouldn't need to disguise themselves as human forms. This was more like a form of entertainment.
"Perhaps the other party's goal is simply to make puppets," Xu Huo said. "If it were cannibalism, there would be no need to go through all this trouble."
Combat puppets had a pattern of behavior. They would relay and track their chosen targets. Although it was unclear what the selection criteria were, he had been targeted at first sight. The defensive prop suit had a certain shielding function. Ordinary props and instruments would find it difficult to immediately determine a player's physical condition. Therefore, the most likely method of identification was based on the props, instruments, and evolutionary powers the player used.
The props and instruments Xu Huo had used at the time were not particularly special. The most obvious difference from the others present was his use of spiritual power. Secondary evolution was very likely the determining condition for combat puppets to select targets.
Of course, among the Isle Country players confirmed to have been taken by combat puppets, there were no particularly special secondary evolution traits.
But those who could be truly confirmed were, after all, in the minority. Whether other players had gone missing behind the scenes was unknown to anyone.
Xu Huo's current investigation was only to confirm whether the combat puppets were related to Yan Jiayu's disappearance.
To be honest, given the strength of combat puppets, it should be impossible for them to capture Yan Jiayu alive. But the problem was that these puppets might have been made by the Box Carrier. Now that he knew one of the conditions for becoming a Super Player was to possess a Super Instance, if the instance in the forest was the Box Carrier's Super Instance, then finding Yan Jiayu would be extremely difficult.
He had searched for traces of the Box Carrier in two places: Under Dimension and the Bounty Platform. In Under Dimension, a player said they had encountered the Box Carrier by chance ten days ago. It seemed he was fighting a group of local government players. The fight was quite fierce. Some players doing instances locally were forced to withdraw. As for where he went afterward, no one knew for now.
Xu Huo carefully reviewed all recent information related to the Box Carrier. The traces of a Super Player were not so easy to find. Compared to other Super Players, the Box Carrier was relatively active, so some information could be found. But no one mentioned his instance.
A Super Player's instance, like the player themselves, was a rather mysterious existence. Although some rumors circulated, basically, anyone who entered the instance never returned. What the situation inside the instance was like was unclear.
Xu Huo also held an instance. If the holder still retained their player identity, the game's requirement for the number of times an instance must be opened was very low. This was likely even more true for Super Instances. Although it was said that partitions with a Super Instance stationed would not have random instances appear, Super Instances did not necessarily have to be opened.
In the previous instance, the Super Instance had only allowed so many people to enter because there was no holder. Yet even with so many people entering, the areas explored were very few. If the primeval forest there really was the Box Carrier's instance, even if he was far from Zone 039, the instance venue would still have an extremely powerful restrictive ability. There was no need to actually open the instance.
Easy to enter, hard to leave...
Xu Huo pondered for a moment and then began searching the Bounty Platform for teleportation instruments that could cross space.
Large-scale instruments were out of the question. He could only hope to buy them at a high price. If he could buy a teleportation instrument that could cross wormhole points, that would be best. Because he didn't know the situation inside that instance. If it was a multi-space nesting, whether from the inside or the outside, a single attempt might not be enough to truly open a passage.
Of course, a teleportation instrument that could cross wormhole points, even a disposable one, might not be available even with money.
He didn't place all his hopes on this. Instead, he contacted Platinum Eye and Zone 014, asking them to help check the Box Carrier's recent situation, especially regarding his instance.
Actually, the best way was to find someone to help. Unfortunately, although he knew a few Super Players, contacting them was not easy, and he didn't have that much face to ask them to move. The only one with whom he had a slightly closer relationship, the Magician, had gone completely silent after saying he would send him a new magic puppet. Now, no one knew what he was doing.
He couldn't rely on luck. So, while waiting for news from various parties, Xu Huo found a way to go see Gao Ming and asked him to examine his body.
Gao Ming already knew about Lian Qingkong's death and his identity. He didn't say much and still received him warmly. However, after examining his body, he gave a not-so-good result.
"I can't deconstruct the space cube inside your body or that thread-like space power, especially the latter. With my current ability, I dare not touch it easily," he said. "But I have a suggestion."
"The space cube is not deeply connected to the heart. If part of the heart is cut off, relying on the powerful regenerative ability of a player's body, it might be possible to succeed. Although it won't be enough to completely remove the space cube, at least it will stop it from eroding your heart any further."