Chapter 3088: Confession
"It's you again." This time, when he saw Xu Huo, he no longer had the smugness of their previous encounters. Grinding his teeth, he said, "You're like a persistent ghost!"
"I have something I'd like to ask you." Xu Huo smiled at him. "Are you coming over, or should I come to you?"
The man sneered and, without another word, turned and ran. But even with enough instruments at his disposal, the city was only so big. He also had to be careful to avoid other players. After circling around twice, he would inevitably run into Xu Huo again. There was simply no way to shake him off.
Every time he thought he had lost him, the other party would unexpectedly appear in some corner of his field of vision... The seventh time he saw Xu Huo's smiling face, the man finally couldn't take it anymore. He stopped inside a building. "What the hell do you want?"
"I heard that Dr. Wu left a Perfect Potion on the island," Xu Huo said.
After hearing this, the man was first incredulous, then had a sudden realization, and finally spoke with a sneer, "So you came to the island specifically for the Perfect Potion."
"How ridiculous. There are actually players who would go through all this trouble to come to the island for a Perfect Potion."
Xu Huo gave a faint smile. "Since I'm already here, it's no trouble to look around. Maybe I'll get lucky."
"The Perfect Potion has already been taken." The man wore a malicious grin. "Since you know about the Perfect Potion on the island, you should also know how much effort the District Government put in. If they hadn't found anything, why would they give up the island?"
Xu Huo let out a soft sigh. "Then why don't you tell me what you've seen and heard?"
He traced a line in the air with his finger, simulating the trajectory of a streak of light. "You're from this district. You can gather information before and after the fact. Since you haven't found anything either, why not tell me about it? Two heads are better than one. Maybe we can come up with something."
The man was genuinely startled this time. He tested the waters cautiously, "What do you mean?"
"I saw a meteor streak across the sky in the Wasteland Zone," Xu Huo said. "Of course, I could have been mistaken. It might not have been a real meteor."
Only then did the man confirm that Xu Huo had also seen that red streak of light. But so what if he had? It was just a streak of light with no beginning or end.
"If that's what you're after, I advise you not to waste your time. Better to save up your points and get off the island," he said. "Whether you'll even make it out alive is a question. Don't get your hopes up."
"Instead of advising me, you should advise yourself." Xu Huo took a step forward. "Will the District Government players come to the island to rescue people?"
The man caught the threatening tone but wasn't particularly angry. "If I could find it, why wouldn't I look for it myself?"
Xu Huo stared at him without saying anything more, but the smile gradually faded from his face, signaling that his patience was wearing thin.
Seeing the killing intent in his eyes, the man was silent for a moment before saying, "This isn't the place to talk. Follow me."
The two moved to a more spacious building. Once inside, the man used an instrument to seal off the floor while maintaining a safe distance. As a white barrier appeared, a triangular prompt icon materialized on it: "Workspace Formed."
Seeing that Xu Huo's expression remained unchanged, the man spoke up, "Looks like you've guessed my identity."
"It was so obvious, it would be hard not to," Xu Huo said.
The man, however, gave a strange smile. "There really are supply points in the Wasteland Zone. You were just unlucky and didn't find them."
"Let's get to the point," Xu Huo said. "The direction of that red streak of light was toward the Central District. Why did they build a city like this in the center? From my perspective, it was completely unnecessary."
"Because the initial plan here wasn't for an entertainment venue. Is it strange to build buildings?" the man said.
Xu Huo paused, then understood. "A tourist attraction?"
The man laughed. "You're quick on the uptake."
"Why did they change their minds later?" Xu Huo pressed.
"That, I wouldn't know," the man shrugged. "My mission on the island is to kill some players and make the show more interesting. Why would the company's upper management explain their affairs to us lowly employees?"
"You must have picked up some clues," Xu Huo said. "I imagine the Alden Corporation also searched the island when they took it over. Wasn't there any place that warranted a focused investigation?"
The man's eyes flickered. "I don't know what you're referring to. The center of the island has been built into a city now. You can see the city's layout for yourself. Even if there were traces before, once the ground was leveled, what could possibly remain?"
"Rumor has it that besides the Perfect Potion, there's also a Primordial Stone on the island," Xu Huo said. "If the District Government didn't get their hands on a Primordial Stone, it's most likely in the island's center. Didn't the company check?"
"Impossible," the man blurted out. "If it were here, the District Government would have sliced the island into pieces to get it. There's no way they'd leave it for the company."
"Not on the island, then could it be in the sea?" Xu Huo asked. "After all, aside from the island, there's only the sea here."
"Absolutely impossible." The man was adamant. "Don't even mention the seafloor. Even the sea beasts that live nearby have been checked. Primordial Stones, Perfect Potions—it's mostly just rumors. Otherwise, why would the District Government have come up empty-handed!"
"It seems you know quite a bit."
"I heard it from the company's technicians," the man continued. "The company bid for this island hoping to get lucky. Unfortunately, even the people they hired were useless. They still found nothing. To search for the items, they drilled twenty passages straight down to the seabed near the original meteor crater. Still, they came up with nothing."
"Where were these passages drilled?" Xu Huo asked.
The man opened his personal terminal and pulled up a city map with his own markings. "The places circled in red are where the passages are."
Besides the red circles, Xu Huo saw other areas marked with different colors. "What are these?"
"Company supply points and mining shafts..." As he said this, the man suddenly snapped back to reality, staring at Xu Huo in shock. "You... you did something!"
How could he have casually blurted all this out under normal circumstances!
Xu Huo's gaze was gentle, and his voice was calm, soothing the man's emotions. "These places you mentioned—have you investigated them?"
The man involuntarily nodded, then caught himself. But when he met Xu Huo's eyes, his will to resist was weakening. For some unknown reason, he felt a strong urge to spill everything he knew, regardless of whether the person before him was trustworthy.
"Those mining shafts and seabed passages weren't backfilled. If you have a work pass, you can open the entrance's Blockade Barrier. I went down a few times during my shift breaks... I wasn't the only one. Many colleagues would sneak in to find some ore to sell. The company turns a blind eye to it."
"There are three incapacitated people in my family. My salary and benefits alone aren't enough to keep them in the sanatorium long-term, so I need extra income. Most of the good ore on the island has already been mined out, but over time, new special ores do form. Occasionally, one or two of higher value appear. I once found two very small Subclass Stones in Mining Shaft No. 3."