Chapter 2942: Human Lives and the Big Picture
This time, Xu Huo did not give chase, and that figure did not leave either.
Seeing that he had been staring at one spot, the female player followed his gaze and asked, "Did you see something?"
"A figure. Didn't you see it?" Xu Huo said, at such a close distance.
The female player looked carefully and confirmed there was nothing resembling a "person," then said, "Want to go over and take a look?"
Xu Huo gestured for her to stay, then walked over himself.
That figure seemed to be waiting for him. As he moved forward, it also moved forward. The two walked one after another for a while, but suddenly Xu Huo felt that this figure was especially familiar.
A few seconds later, the figure in his field of vision was no longer a blurry shadow but became clearer and more human-like. It stopped under a wisteria tree, then turned around to look at him.
Xu Huo's brow twitched violently, because he saw himself—more accurately, a younger version of himself!
Was this his hallucination, or the youth personality?
The younger version of him smiled slightly, raised a hand to point to the left, as if wanting him to go over and take a look.
Xu Huo had a vague guess in his heart. He walked over slowly, and after passing another tree almost completely covered by wisteria, the teenage personality appeared in his sight.
He continued forward, and sure enough, soon after, he saw the childhood personality.
The childhood personality was more active than the other two. It waved at him, then trotted ahead.
Xu Huo followed it, gradually approaching a forest area that had almost become an ocean of wisteria. The childhood personality running ahead suddenly stopped, then stepped aside.
Beneath the purple-pink flower waterfall hanging from the gnarled old tree ahead, Xu Huo saw another version of himself sleeping at the base of the tree, his body almost completely covered by purple vines, with only his face still exposed.
*
The underground meeting room in Jing City had fallen into a long silence.
Unlike before, this time everyone in the room was staring intently at the same screen. On the screen, a large number of players and robots had surged into Hehai City, rapidly chopping down the wildly growing purple vines.
Two hours had passed since Xu Huo lost contact after entering Hehai City. In the past, they might have been able to wait patiently, but at this critical juncture, they could not afford to wait. So many people had gone in without a single word. If Xu Huo was truly trapped in a random instance, they could not bear that loss.
Since the instance was related to the hypnotic purple vines, they would cut down all these mutated plants. They didn't know the specifics of the instance, but at least they could do something within their power!
"Two more first-level combat zones have appeared." The old man in the head seat spoke in a heavy tone.
"The player squads have already gone over." An elder from the military district said, "This time, Team Leader Ming is leading the team."
In just two hours, the outer zone players, who had only just quieted down, were surging back because of Xu Huo's disappearance.
Most of the players who had learned their lesson earlier had been killed. Those who later emerged from some closed instances or had just arrived in X Country as advanced players lacked this crisis awareness, so new conflicts quickly arose again. And Xu Huo's failure to appear in time made some suspicions and doubts even more entrenched. Some even began to question the authenticity of the previously recorded videos, suspecting that X Country was using this method to scare off foreign enemies.
"A top-tier player has a profound impact on a district," the old man in the head seat ordered. "Send the Totem Squad to Hehai City with enough equipment. They must find a way to enter that random instance. At all costs, find Xu Huo and bring him out!"
"Yes!" A military district member personally left the meeting room to make arrangements.
Within a few minutes, two ten-person squads wearing special metal defense suits entered Hehai City. The gloves of the two teams bore Taotie and Qilin patterns respectively. As soon as they entered the city, they headed straight for the place where Xu Huo had disappeared.
At this moment, the entire city had been covered by purple vines. Controlled bombing and cutting seemed unable to keep up with the growth rate of the wisteria. Thus, the vast city was completely submerged by purple-pink pollen, turning into an ocean.
Apart from the nation, civilian player organizations were also searching for Xu Huo.
At first, they were asking for his help, since he had already resolved some urgent crises. If he was willing to help, the losses in some cities would be greatly reduced. But since news spread that Xu Huo had entered Hehai City, he had not appeared again.
Clearly, five more first-level combat zones had emerged in the past two hours, yet he did not appear like a hero. This inevitably led people to speculate whether something had happened to him.
Those with a bit of logic thought he might have been unlucky enough to be trapped in a random instance, since new instances could spawn at any time. Those who couldn't grasp any real information were not stingy with the worst conclusions about his life or death.
"Does a savior really exist in this world?"
A post on the Vanguard Forum was pushed to the top of the trending list. Not only on the forum, but it was also simultaneously reposted to other online platforms.
The core meaning of the post was to question whether Xu Huo was really that strong—was he a hidden weapon of the nation, or just a smokescreen pushed out?
"When you have time to care about the hero's identity, why not go out and kill a couple of rampaging outer zone players!"
"I didn't see you when the enemies were being repelled, but now you're out here farting. What, trying to show off your bad breath?"
"No matter what Cool Guy is, the fact that he saved so many people is true. The city I was in was previously held hostage by cannibal players, and many people died. After Cool Guy declared war on the outer zone players, those guys slunk away on their own, not daring to negotiate with the Special Defense Department. For that alone, I'll support Cool Guy for life. Even if he wants to sleep with me, I won't turn from fan to hater!"
"Upstairs, don't bring hate to Cool Guy. Don't pay attention to those keyboard warriors. I'm more concerned about whether Cool Guy is in trouble."
"A friend of mine saw with his own eyes that Cool Guy entered Hehai City. You should know the situation in Hehai City. He must have gone to save people. Since almost the entire city's population was trapped in the instance, I admire him for daring to take the risk to save people!"
"Why did he go to save people? Based on the value he has shown, let alone a medium-sized city, even half the country's population combined can't compare to him. Why would he put himself in danger for some ordinary people? Don't attack me for saying this, but choosing to go to the Hehai City instance at this time instead of staying in X Country is disregarding the big picture!"
Human lives and the big picture—this seemed to have become something everyone could measure.
Those who believed Xu Huo should not have let the entire X Country fall into danger because of Hehai City blamed him, because they were outside. They might be safe now, but no one could say what would happen in the next second.
Those who believed that human lives had no hierarchy, that no matter who Xu Huo chose to save, it was acceptable and he should not be bound by public opinion, supported him, because their loved ones were inside. Not in the Hehai City instance, but they could be in other instances.
Thank you to the comment section friends for celebrating Xu Huo's birthday. The fan art and fan fiction are all excellent! b(￣▽￣)d There's another update a bit later; everyone can read it tomorrow.