Chapter 3094: Xu Huo Is Very Happy
Xu Huo nodded and added, "If you want to avenge your friends, there are many ways. Why go through all the trouble of coming to Challenge Island?"
Alton Corporation was right there in plain sight.
Bai Po, however, showed a hint of dejection. "I'm not strong enough. This is the only way."
In this era of transparent information, it was already difficult for him to investigate the true identities of Alton's top executives. The people they pushed to the forefront were all insignificant figures, some even virtual humans. Even if he found an opportunity to kill a few of them, what difference would it make? It wouldn't even scratch Alton Corporation. At least destroying Challenge Island could cut off a major source of Alton's income in the short term and disgust those onlookers. If it could also make Alton offend some big shots, even better.
"After all, to some big shots, even a glance is an offense, let alone failing to get things done."
Xu Huo's expression remained unchanged, neither believing nor disbelieving. He simply said, "See you at the Spire."
Bai Po nodded and left first.
After the man had gone, Xu Huo moved to another spot and stopped, not in a hurry to accumulate points.
Ding Xiang and her companion, as well as Bai Po—both sides had spoken with a mix of truth and lies. The "truth" they half-concealed and half-revealed was actually meant to cover up their real goals. However, one thing was certain: they all wanted the data stored in Challenge Island's terminal.
Although an A-class wormhole point was wealthy and had plenty of hyperdimensional instruments to spare, there was no need to use them on an entertainment program. Besides, programs like Challenge Island weren't particularly novel; they weren't even fresh in other wormhole points, let alone an A-class one. So the player battles, cross-region points, and who lived or died were all just incidental. The truly important things were hidden beneath the surface.
Dr. Wu's Perfect Potion and Primordial Stone were no longer the main event. So what could be the highlight of Challenge Island?
The surviving players? The people selected to sign contracts? Or the tasks these survivors were about to undertake?
Or perhaps this was just the beginning, and the real core wasn't on the island at all?
As his thoughts churned, Xu Huo caught sight of a player treating her own injuries out of the corner of his eye. She was unwinding the cloth wrapped around her arm beneath her protective suit. Beneath the cloth, the original human skin was no longer visible, replaced by hard scales resembling fish scales. These scales secreted some kind of sticky fluid, leaving a wet, messy patch that looked somewhat disgusting.
That player also noticed his gaze and shot him a warning look before quickly re-wrapping her arm and wound.
Xu Huo looked away.
Only two types of people were sent to the island: healthy players who were wanted or drowning in debt with no way out, and degenerated players who were gambling on a final chance at lifelong benefits.
Under normal circumstances, healthy players would be more valuable than degenerated ones. But healthy players forced onto the island were nothing special to Zone 025—they could even be considered consumables. So the focus should be on the degenerated players.
The value of degenerated players was likely as experimental subjects.
Given the current state of the game world, degeneration in players was basically irreversible. There was no way to return to normal, and even super players were no exception. The only thing that could be done was to use potions to slow down the degeneration and alleviate the pain.
Throughout history, drugs had been developed through human experimentation. The drugs provided to degenerated players must have been tested on degenerated individuals. The same drug could produce different effects on different individuals. Why did these differences occur? Those different individuals were well worth studying.
Degeneration manifested in many ways, with varying speeds and forms. But generally speaking, under the same harsh, high-pressure environment, those who degenerated more slowly and with milder symptoms were definitely more suitable research subjects. The speed of evolution potion absorption and effectiveness, as well as individual genetic mutations after evolution, were all uncontrollable variables. To trace the root cause, a large number of experimental subjects were needed. Those already retired in Zone 025 could be candidates, as could players from other zones who came to Zone 025 to retire.
Perhaps this was what Challenge Island truly wanted to screen for. After all, after several rounds of combat, the physical condition upon landing on the island was different from the physical condition upon entering the Spire. Those who were too weak or died halfway lacked sufficient value. Under the same circumstances, the better someone was at fighting, the greater the strain on their body. Throughout their entire player career, they maintained the same style, which to some extent was also a sign of slower degeneration.
If the ultimate goal of the Challenge Island project was this, it meant Zone 025 had already received good feedback, otherwise it wouldn't have continued for so many years. The data of so many players was first collected in the Central City's terminal, and it was even possible to determine, based on the final whereabouts of the players, whether the person who "hired" that player had made progress in proving the experimental subject's value, thereby finding more suitable subjects. Falling into anyone's hands would be a huge fortune.
Degenerated players might not live that long, but prolonging this process could create even greater value. Moreover, wouldn't the people in non-ticket zones also degenerate?
If they couldn't develop a Perfect Potion, could they develop a potion to halt degeneration?
Slowing it down was just slowing it down; it didn't mean living longer.
For an A-class wormhole point, the potion itself was millions of times more important than the value it brought.
Thinking of this, Xu Huo couldn't help but laugh, just like the day he bought Dr. Zhang's information from the Bookworm.
So-called mystery, concealment, and elusive strength were nothing more than attempts to hide one's own shortcomings.
The stronger a person was, the smaller their weakness—but it could also be more obvious.
Xu Huo didn't know what Dr. Zhang was looking for, but he or those children must possess something he lacked.
And Dr. Wu possessed something the Game Government didn't have.
The Game Government was searching everywhere for Dr. Wu, but they didn't dare to openly put a bounty on him. They even wanted him alive.
A grain of sand compared to a mountain—for a moment, it seemed like the strong and weak had swapped places, the attacker and defender had reversed!
"Hahaha!" Xu Huo couldn't control himself and burst into loud laughter. Because the moment he thought about what Dr. Wu was going to do, he could imagine how terrified and sleepless the A-class wormhole points and those in the non-ticket zones who had also deduced this must be.
He had had the same thought when he came into contact with time power, but it was just a thought. Dr. Wu, however, was already putting it into action.
"What are you laughing at?" That female player hadn't left, and there were a few other players hiding nearby. When they saw him suddenly burst out laughing, their expressions turned ugly. Someone couldn't help but ask.
Xu Huo's laughter stopped, and his smile slowly faded. "None of your business."
As long as it had nothing to do with them.
Immediately, two players quietly slipped away.
Xu Huo turned his gaze to a cannibal player and said flatly, "You can stay."