Chapter 2797: "Bookworm"
The two chatted as they walked, and Bu Chunfeng knew the plants in the forest like the back of his hand. For every flower that Xu Huo showed interest in, he could name its classification, what original plant it had evolved from, and what new traits it had gained after evolution... During this time, he also mentioned that he himself had several gardens, all gifts from believers, which he used to grow flowers and medicinal herbs. After selling them, the proceeds went toward church expenses or sometimes helped believers in need.
Although neither fully agreed with the other's philosophy, they maintained mutual respect, so the conversation was quite congenial. By dinner time, Bu Chunfeng had naturally joined the two families' group.
He was lenient with the children but strict with the adults. During the meal, if he felt the adults were teaching incorrectly, he would point it out directly.
The parents of both families were a bit embarrassed but felt his points were reasonable, so they had to go along.
As the saying goes, the reason he didn't get beaten was thanks to Zone 022 being relatively developed, with surveillance monitors everywhere.
After dinner, everyone decided to stay here for the night. They were still on the outskirts of the forest park, so staying nearby allowed them to take evening strolls, though deeper areas were off-limits.
The two families and Bu Chunfeng turned in early, while Xu Huo took advantage of the night to venture deeper into the forest. The forest at night was vastly different from daytime, especially with the abundance of glowing plants. It felt like a fairy tale wonderland, breathtakingly beautiful.
"Thump!" A little monkey hurled a fruit at him. Xu Huo sidestepped, and the fruit missed him. He looked down, bent over to pick it up, and threw it back at the tree branch.
"Smack!" The little monkey landed on its back, legs flailing, then screeched a string of curses before scurrying deeper into the forest.
Xu Huo snapped a photo of its bright red monkey butt and uploaded it to his travel log.
Of course, his travel log was no longer ignored like before. Ever since he posted the group photo with Ms. Ruo and the others, the number of comments had skyrocketed.
Ms. Ruo and the Enforcement Team players didn't look too good, and they appeared in the group photo in a surrounding formation. Anyone with half a brain could guess the circumstances under which it was taken, which led some locals to question Zone 022's government capabilities.
Being suppressed by an outer-zone player was bad enough, but letting him take such a humiliating photo? And what was the district government doing? Why hadn't they caught him and sentenced him according to the law yet?
Voices like these were not insignificant, given that Xu Huo was an outer-zone player. Only a small minority held an optimistic view—they admired strength. After all, the authorities hadn't reported any major casualties; it was just a photo, nothing serious. And being able to escape unscathed from an Enforcement Team siege showed Xu Huo's formidable abilities. Such a player was someone others envied and aspired to be.
Outer-zone clearance players generally loved to stir the pot, first mocking Zone 022's players for being useless, then openly inviting Xu Huo to join some operation to cause trouble for Zone 022, while many more wanted to cooperate with him to clear instances.
There wasn't much important information—just a lot of hot air.
As soon as the monkey butt photo was posted, followers immediately started analyzing and replying. Based on the objects and lighting in the photo, they speculated on Xu Huo's location, and some even threatened to make him wait.
Xu Huo casually browsed for a while, then left the forest park and headed to the biotech company Chai Sheng had mentioned.
Involving biological research and potion production, the company was located in a very remote area, on the edge of a small town. In fact, the town had been built solely because of the company, with a few daily-use shops and entertainment venues, and it wasn't very large.
Companies like this had high security levels. Xu Huo observed from outside for a while, then approached an employee leaving work. From him, he obtained a list of personnel with higher internal authority. Based on that list, he visited them one by one that night. Some people always believed their lives were worth more than anything else, so it didn't take much effort to get some internal documents.
Xu Huo wasn't interested in what the company was researching. He wanted to know who the trading partner was that supplied the intelligent xenomorphs.
Unexpectedly, the trading partner wasn't a company or major power, but a simple codename: "Bookworm." There wasn't even a transport route.
However, this codename was quite famous. A quick search on the Under Dimension brought up a lot of information.
In short, this person operated similarly to the Eerie Sound Knights, making a living by looting in the game. But he was a lone wolf, with legends of his trades spread across many places—large instruments, rare experimental subjects, intelligent xenomorphs, and even Game Government research materials.
His crowning achievement was the Game Government internal personnel data leak five years ago.
Although the Game Government was controlled by some major powers, those exposed to the public were never the true core members. The face of the Star Group chairman might be printed all over the White Notes, but no one knew his real appearance, where he lived, or whether he was still alive. There were many like him in the game, especially those involved in the game's operational secrets. Even if they were selected from different zones, they would eventually disappear into some A-level wormhole point, never to be heard from again, their whereabouts unknown.
It was difficult to investigate the disappearance pattern of a single person in the game, but when there were many, clever people would inevitably pick up clues. So these identity details were top secret. The comings and goings of these people actually contained traces of certain ticketless A-level wormhole points.
Outsiders, or even most people within the Game Government—including those working for it—could hardly grasp the real information about these individuals. But "Bookworm" managed to obtain a list. He publicly auctioned it on the Under Dimension. Who bought the list in the end was unknown, but afterward, "Bookworm's" wanted status was upgraded.
Although it didn't reach a full game-wide manhunt, his Under Dimension account was restricted, and he was banned from over a dozen A-level wormhole points. In other words, other wanted criminals might sneak into zones, and the zone government might not bother, but the moment this person appeared, he would immediately become a target. The zone government would spare no expense to kill or drive him away.
From various signs, "Bookworm" seemed to have a unique talent for information and data, otherwise he wouldn't have made A-level wormhole points so fearful. After all, the consequences of information leaks often far outweighed high-level players running amok somewhere.
This person hadn't caused much trouble in recent years, but he was still doing business with Zone 022, clearly living quite comfortably.
Xu Huo found his alt account and sent him a message. What he was looking for wasn't the intelligent xenomorph breeding base, but the location of the Stellar Pharmaceuticals Group's laboratory.
The core of Stellar Pharmaceuticals Group was certainly in a ticketless zone, but secret laboratories should be scattered everywhere. Whether hidden in high-level zones or high-risk instance sites, these secret labs were actually channels connecting to the game's core location.