Chapter 2791: Truth and Lies
Noticing the subtle change in Gong Ying's expression, Xu Huo added, "But it's really of no use to me. You can trade something for it."
Gong Ying considered for a moment and asked, "What do you think would be a fair trade?"
"A good item," Xu Huo said. "Some life-saving items in the game are hard to come by. Helping you clear the instance should be worth such an item."
"Actually, I might not even be able to clear it..." Gong Ying muttered, but she didn't refuse. Instead, she took out a B-grade item. "This is all I have."
"Universal Charm?" Xu Huo read the item's name aloud. "Don't you think just taking this item out requires considerable courage?"
Gong Ying's eyes widened. "What do you mean! Do you know how important charm is? It's like beauty—a hard currency in the game. If you're good-looking and charming, people will speak to you in a much gentler tone and be more willing to give you a hand when there's something to gain..."
She paused there. "Maybe you've never experienced this kind of preferential treatment, but with this item, you'll definitely have a brand-new, unprecedented experience!"
Xu Huo accepted the item without comment and then asked, "Are you coming back tomorrow?"
"Of course I am. I can't stand to see a beauty in distress. I'll come again tomorrow to persuade her." Gong Ying waved her hand and left quite casually.
The next day, Xu Huo didn't report to Whale Garden early in the morning. After breakfast, he aimlessly wandered around the island. After finishing one island, he moved on to the next, showing no intention of returning to Whale Garden.
From the moment he set foot on the second island, the number of players tailing him increased. These people coordinated with each other, maintaining a distance of about five kilometers as they moved around him.
Their intentions were unclear, but since they didn't make a direct move, Xu Huo pretended not to notice. He bought an ice cream by the street and sat by the lake watching the zookeeper feed the birds.
Time quickly passed to noon. He hadn't moved from his spot for two hours, and the people tailing him hadn't moved either. Then, at exactly twelve o'clock, a powerful shockwave surged from somewhere on the island, indiscriminately striking the entire island. Xu Huo was on a neighboring island and naturally felt the impact. He turned to look at the source—it was roughly in the direction of Whale Garden. As soon as the incident occurred, half of his tailers immediately disappeared, while the remaining half tightened their encirclement.
Finally.
Xu Huo clapped his hands and stood up, vanishing from his spot the next second.
He returned to Whale Garden at top speed. From a distance, he saw the entire Whale Garden leveled to the ground. Ms. Ruo was confronting several players in midair, with layers of blockade barriers isolating a battlefield. The enforcement team members who arrived later were all stationed outside the barriers, calmly activating the Non-Game Area Simulator.
It was clear that both sides in the confrontation were very composed, neither paying any attention to the enforcement team's actions.
Xu Huo was also surrounded by several players who had chased after him. He glanced at them and made a shushing gesture before signaling them to move further away.
These players were clearly from the enforcement team. Xu Huo raised his hand, and "Time-Space Hand" formed a small-scale cutting field. He once again signaled the few to back off.
This time, they were a bit smarter and tactfully retreated, though they still trapped him with a blockade barrier.
Xu Huo didn't mind and focused on Ms. Ruo's side.
"If you want to live, come with us," said the masked white-haired old man confronting her.
But Ms. Ruo shook her head. "I once promised someone I would spend my retirement here. I'm sorry, but I cannot obey your orders. I understand you want revenge. You can kill me right now, just don't harm the innocent."
"Harm the innocent?" The red-haired female player behind him couldn't help but sneer coldly. "You dare say those words? Don't you remember how many people you killed in my hometown? You didn't even spare infants a few months old. How dare you say 'don't harm the innocent' here?!"
Ms. Ruo's expression turned sorrowful. "That wasn't my true intention. Even if I hadn't done it, someone else would have. I was forced into it... And I did my best to relocate people, even if it was only a small portion. Some really did survive."
"Lies!" the red-haired female player shouted. "You said the same thing to my senior brother, didn't you? He came to find you three months ago and has been missing ever since!"
Ms. Ruo's expression shifted slightly before she said, "I don't know who you're talking about. If you don't believe me, I can tell you about a place where many of the people I saved are living. In previous years, I didn't dare reveal it for fear of causing unnecessary trouble. But if you want to know now, I can tell you."
Though the red-haired female player was still filled with hatred, hesitation had crept into her tone. "Tell me. We can send people to verify immediately!"
However, the white-haired old man in front reached out to stop her. "Don't you understand yet? Whether it's you and me, or any other place she has ravaged, there is absolutely not a single survivor. She's only saying this to lure us into a trap she's set in advance. If even one word from her mouth were true, none of those who came before would have vanished without a trace."
The old man then turned his gaze back to Ms. Ruo. "If you truly want to atone as you claim, tell us where the people on this list have gone."
He tossed a folded piece of paper toward Ms. Ruo.
Ms. Ruo caught it and looked it over, then said with difficulty, "I don't know any of the people you mentioned."
The white-haired old man sighed and took out a square button box. "This is a single-use item that can kill a person regardless of A-grade item or instrument protection. You may have colluded with the 022 District Government, but they can't provide you with super-grade items for self-defense."
"These enforcement team members were arranged by you in advance, waiting for us to come. Unfortunately, dead people have no value."
With that, he pressed the button. In an instant, several visible spatial forces pierced through Ms. Ruo's body, suspending her in midair. At that same moment, Ms. Ruo suddenly looked toward the enforcement team players on the periphery.
But the pre-arranged Non-Game Area Simulator hadn't taken effect at all. Ms. Ruo had prepared, but the white-haired old man's side had prepared as well. Several protective barriers sprang up around the blockade barrier in succession. The enforcement team instantly lost over a dozen players, and those who arrived later were blasted out of the island by a pale white shockwave!
And this shockwave didn't end after one blast. It continued to spread outward at a frequency of once every two seconds, regardless of which direction the enforcement team players approached from, they were all knocked back by this shockwave.
Xu Huo was no exception, but he seized the gap in the item's activation. While no one was blocking him, he entered the Whale Garden area, which, as the center of the item's coverage, remained unaffected.