# Chapter 320: Not Killing You, But Saving You
Xu Huo's proposal was almost immediately agreed to by the bald man, who quickly said, "Absolutely no problem, I'll contact them right now!"
Xu Huo made a gesture of invitation, "Make it look convincing."
The bald man took out his phone, dialed a number, and when the other party answered, he immediately shouted angrily, "Hou Song, our losses this time are huge! You didn't tell us Xu Huo's group was this strong. Half of my men are dead. How are we going to settle this?"
On the other end of the line, Hou Song's voice was clear and audible, "If they were that easy to catch, I would have gone myself. Why would I waste money hiring you? You should have known the risks before going... Alright, is he dead or not?"
"Dead," the bald man said, his anger not yet subsided. "But the price we agreed on before needs to be renegotiated."
Hou Song was silent for a moment, "Bring the person here first. You know the place."
"You—" The bald man wanted to say more, but the other side had already hung up. He looked up at Xu Huo with his phone in hand, "I don't know if he believed it..."
Whether he believed it or not didn't matter. As long as someone took the bait, that was enough.
The group restarted the vehicles. Liu Jia took out an earpiece and put it on the bald man, "Now he can't hear what we're saying."
"Your trait is so amazing," Yuan Yao said. "Just one shout and people go blind."
Liu Jia smiled, "But the duration is too short. For experienced players, even temporarily blocking their senses makes it hard to succeed."
"That's still impressive enough," Shen Xin said. "Actually, in the game, how you use traits and items is sometimes more important than combat power. If you get some powerful items, you can kill people without making a sound."
As he said this, the people in the car couldn't help but look at Xu Huo in the front seat. If he hadn't taken out an entire car full of people with one move, they wouldn't have won so easily. That was the beauty of item usage.
"Speaking of which, do we still have to fight Hou Song's people?" Yuan Yao asked. "Since they're going to Ting City anyway, why not just leave it to the Special Defense Department?"
Sima Xiao'er didn't rush to take on the matter, but Xu Huo said, "If it were ordinary players, the Special Defense Department could handle it, but Hou Song is also part of the Special Defense Department. Going through the procedures would be troublesome, and getting results would be slow."
Hu Wenhu got excited upon hearing this, "Aren't we cooperating pretty well? With Brother Xu and Sister Jiayu here, dealing with a few players is a piece of cake!"
"Yeah, yeah!" The painting woman raised her phone.
"But the other side works for the Special Defense Department while secretly contacting other players. We have to worry about them being prepared," Zhou Ning said seriously. "Nowadays, player organizations are springing up like mushrooms after rain. We also need to be careful about someone playing the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind."
"Zhou Ning is right," Shen Xin said. "We're a bit short on manpower."
"Brother Xu and Sister Jiayu are worth four people combined," Yuan Yao said nonchalantly. "With them taking charge, there's definitely no problem!"
"Aren't you guys too confident?" Sima Xiao'er couldn't help but interject at this point. "What if Hou Song brings Vanguard Players?"
The car fell silent. Yan Jiayu looked at him and said, "You can bring people too, right? There's a bald guy here."
Everyone turned to look at the bald man, who instinctively leaned back and closed his eyes.
Night fell.
In a factory area on the west side of Ting City, Hou Song led three people toward the workshop the bald man had designated.
This area hadn't resumed operations yet, so there was hardly anyone around at night. Hou Song walked in and raised his voice, "We're here. Come out."
A few seconds later, a figure emerged from deep within the workshop. The person spoke, "Did you bring my money?"
Hou Song gestured to the person behind him, who opened the suitcase they were carrying, revealing gold bars inside.
"Leave the stuff there. The person is upstairs. Go get him yourselves," the figure said.
Hou Song paused for a moment, then turned and headed for the second floor. But just as he turned around, several dark shadows attacked from behind. He and his three companions drew their guns immediately, "I knew you were up to something. Trying to pull a double-cross?"
Several gunshots echoed through the workshop, but none hit anyone. When they looked back, the suitcase on the ground had also disappeared.
One person quickly went up to the second floor to check and came back saying, "No one up there!"
Just then, the sound of a car engine starting came from outside. Hou Song immediately chased out, only to see a vehicle speeding away, while their own car had all its tires slashed.
"Trying to run?" Hou Song coldly dialed a number, "Yes, they're about to leave the factory area now. They'll reach your position in about two minutes."
Then he reported the license plate number. The four of them were walking out when they suddenly heard someone behind them ask, "If I call your name, do you dare to answer?"
They instinctively turned around, and the next second, darkness covered their eyes. Hou Song reacted the fastest, pulling out a card that read "Do Not Disturb" and holding it high, "No Strangers Allowed!"
Yan Jiayu, who had already swung a club toward the back of his head, was sent flying by an invisible force. She landed and quickly retreated a few steps, then took the opportunity to knock aside a nearby player before grabbing the anesthesia net Zhou Ning threw at her and hurling it at Hou Song.
Hou Song heard the sound and dodged to one side in advance, but this precisely sent him to the position Xu Huo had predicted. Xu Huo kicked him in the chest, knocking him down, and then decisively cut off one of his feet.
"Ahhh!" Hou Song screamed in agony. When the grayness faded from his eyes and he saw that it was Xu Huo who had cut off his leg, his eyes filled with hatred. "I'm a Vanguard Player, Xu Huo! Killing me will get you into big trouble! The Special Defense Department knows I came here!"
"The Special Defense Department is too busy to save you right now," Xu Huo said, throwing him into a glue barrel. He then tossed the Silent Figure to the side before turning to deal with the other three.
Two of the three were Cannibal Players. Seeing Hou Song captured, they immediately split up and tried to escape.
One of them was intercepted by Shen Xin and forced back into the workshop, where he was immediately shot through the temple by a flying short arrow. The other two, seeing the situation was unfavorable, directly hid inside an instance.
"They run pretty fast." Xu Huo returned to the barrel and looked at the empty potion bottles inside. He said calmly, "Entering an instance is also a dead end for you."
Hou Song let out a hard snort, "What's death? I just pity you. Being used as a bargaining chip by the Special Defense Department and exploited by player organizations without even realizing it. Do you think my goal was to kill you? You're wrong. I was trying to save you!"
Xu Huo laughed at that, "Then tell me, how were you planning to save me?"
"In the current environment, whether you join the Special Defense Department or a player organization, you can't gain true freedom," Hou Song wiped the sweat off his face and spoke quickly. "Why can Outer Zone Players openly invade Zone 014? Why have so many countries around the world been suffering ever since that incident? The root cause is that we're not strong enough!"
"Isn't that normal?" Xu Huo countered. "After all, Zone 014 only became a game zone not long ago."
"Everyone knows the principle that the weak get beaten. That's why someone needs to make sacrifices at this time." Hou Song stared at him. "If you share the method of Secondary Evolution, you'll be a hero for all of humanity!"