Chapter 2738: The Box Carrier's Joke
The rest of his words were swallowed back under Xu Huo's cold stare.
"I heard you've been making quite a few friends lately," he paused, then said.
Dr. Deng never hid anything from Mr. Dong, after all, Mr. Dong knew District 011 better than he did, so Mr. Dong would record all of Dr. Deng's social interactions here and hand them over to Xu Huo.
"You've become famous, so I have even more friends now," Dr. Deng said. "Don't worry, I'm still pretty good at reading people."
Xu Huo looked at him skeptically.
Dr. Deng said with a grin, "Most of the time, being underestimated isn't necessarily a bad thing."
"As long as you know what you're doing," Xu Huo nodded. "If you run into any trouble, just run fast on your own."
Although Huahan had suppressed the Vilna Family, that didn't mean these people would keep their heads down forever.
Herta's assets belonging to him was one thing, but he hadn't chosen to cooperate closely with District 01, which meant no one else would bet on him.
He was away from District 011 for long periods, leaving those who stayed at Rose Castle as targets for others.
Dr. Deng acknowledged this and instead comforted him, "A stable district has its advantages. Under normal circumstances, no one wants to break that stability. Smart people just want to live comfortably and enjoy their days."
Two days later, news about the Box Carrier from District 039 updated. After killing a batch of players who had come sniffing around the instance's scent, the Box Carrier finally left District 039, and the instance entrance disappeared along with him.
However, one thing couldn't be confirmed: the rumor about the Instance Authorization. After all, the Circus City instance had never been opened. Whether the Box Carrier really couldn't control the instance, and whether the authorization was truly lost, remained unclear.
Xu Huo also contacted Yan Jiayu, but she had no leads on Da Mao, and the Painting Woman was also completely missing.
Suspecting that she might have left Circus City and gone to the Platinum Eye, he also asked Bai Kou to keep an eye out.
During this time, he injected the P6S potion found at the Fish Feast, raising his evolution rate to 80%.
This injection of the evolution agent went down more smoothly than before. With the upper limit of his body raised, the constraints on his physical abilities, mental power, and temporal-spatial evolution all loosened somewhat. This loosening wasn't simply an expansion of range, but rather a greater ease in using evolutionary power. Normally, as distance increased, both mental power and spatial power couldn't achieve the same absolute control and fine precision as at close range. Now, however, the weakening effect caused by distance was greatly reduced, as if he could truly grasp space thousands of meters away, with a delicate, skin-deep sensation.
As the evolution rate increased, ordinary players would see their evolution rate rise much more slowly after taking evolution agents, and the digestion of the agent wouldn't be as good as before. The Perfect Potion's 10% increase each time was too large a gap. To avoid attracting attention, Xu Huo wore clothing that could conceal his physical state even inside the castle.
His return to District 011 had already lasted long enough. Xu Huo couldn't just wait here forever for news of the Painting Woman. In a couple of days, he would have to head to the next instance. While preparing his things, he sorted out the items stolen by the "Invisible Hand" prop.
Items stolen by the stealing prop could only be used after the original owner died or abandoned them. The level of the stolen prop was also not fixed each time, completely random. So he only cleaned them out every once in a while. If they were usable, he used them; if not, he threw them into a corner to gather dust. However, when he cleaned out the props today, he suddenly felt that the Instance Authorization sealed within the prop was different.
Old Mr. Xi's fake Instance Authorization originally had no content written on it. To avoid being quickly discovered, he had added a transparent Blockade Barrier on the outside. The item was originally in the Painting Woman's backpack and was stolen by the "Invisible Hand" in Circus City—these details, from the perspective of the home field, were described as the prop automatically activating once.
This wasn't strange. After all, the items stolen by the stealing prop were random, and the stealing time was also random.
But at this very moment, he felt that this sealed Instance Authorization had changed.
Entering the closed space of Rose Castle, he removed the outer layer of the barrier and slowly unrolled the scroll. Where it should have been blank, the words "Joyful Circus City" were clearly written—this was a genuine Instance Authorization!
In an instant, he understood the key point. This authorization must have been obtained by the Painting Woman before he left Circus City, and only then was it stolen by the "Invisible Hand"...
At this moment, countless thoughts flashed through Xu Huo's mind, but they quickly subsided. He first checked the authorization for any tracking devices. Finding nothing suspicious, he quickly stored the authorization in his Luggage Compartment and then went directly to find Huahan Werner.
Without wasting words, he asked if there were any instruments or props that could directly track an item across wormhole points.
"Tracking an item, unless the item itself carries a positioning device," Huahan said, his expression turning serious. He paused and asked, "Did you take something from the Box Carrier? A puppet?"
"The Instance Authorization," Xu Huo said.
Huahan raised an eyebrow first, then burst into laughter. "You actually took the Box Carrier's Instance Authorization! This is the funniest joke I've heard in the last ten years! The authorization for a Super Instance, stolen by a B-rank player. If I were him, I'd be too embarrassed to come looking!"
Strictly speaking, Xu Huo hadn't stolen it; he had just picked the fruit.
Huahan was genuinely amused. He laughed for a good while before saying, "The Instance Authorization is different from ordinary items. It's a whole that cannot be broken, so implanting a tracking device is impossible. However, tracking from other props and instruments can't be ruled out."
"Store it in your Luggage Compartment and don't take it out again."
"I opened it inside Rose Castle," Xu Huo said, which was the real reason he had come to find him. If tracking really existed, the Box Carrier might arrive in District 011 at any time.
"You're worried about causing me trouble," Huahan waved his hand slightly. "The Box Carrier isn't as strong as you think. Even if he knows the Instance Authorization is in District 011, he won't dare act recklessly. Without the Super Instance, it's like losing one hand. He's been targeted recently anyway; he won't let anyone know the authorization is in District 011."
"I do know some of the places he frequents. I can ask someone to cause him some trouble."
"Go into the instance area. When the day comes to kill the Box Carrier, take the authorization out again."
His expression was serious, without any worry about possibly being troubled by a Super Player. His eyes, calm as an ancient well, fell on the young man before him, and he added, "Don't be afraid."
Xu Huo's expression relaxed considerably. "I probably won't be back for a short time."
Huahan nodded. Raising his hand, an oval-shaped crystal appeared in his palm. "This is a special prop I obtained when I was young. It guarantees you'll stay alive for three minutes."
Xu Huo reached out and took it, then heard him say, "But it can only be used once. I hope you won't need it."