Chapter 321: Peace No Longer Exists
"Shameless!" Yuan Yao spat from behind.
"You do have a point," Xu Huo said, stroking his chin. "I'm just a bit curious—since your goals are so noble, why didn't you come talk to me directly instead of sending someone to kill me... Ah, I get it. You're a bunch of stinking rats hiding in the gutter, using the banner of righteousness to cover up your greedy, self-serving faces."
Hou Song's face, already pale from blood loss, flushed red. "How could a selfish, shortsighted person like you ever understand our ideals? We want to quickly build a powerful player nation, to secure more chances of survival for Zone 014 in the game. Is that wrong?"
"So you're saying that because I underwent secondary evolution, I should sacrifice myself to pave the way for scum like you." Xu Huo's smile gradually faded. "If you're running a cult, just run a cult. No need to dress it up so grandly."
He glanced into the barrel. The bleeding from Hou Song's severed limbs had already stopped.
"Your recovery ability is impressive. Maybe I should hand you over to the Special Defense Department for research. Who knows, it might benefit all players in the future."
"Simiao Xiao'er."
Hearing his call, Simiao Xiao'er, who had been hiding, jumped out and walked over. "Brother Xu, don't worry. The First Research Institute used to specialize in this kind of thing. Hou Song... I'll personally hand the experimental sample over to Team Leader Wu. I guarantee no one will ever find him."
Hou Song stared at them in shock. "What are you trying to do? Dissect me?"
"Didn't you say it yourself? Contribute to Zone 014. If all players' recovery abilities improve because of you, your name will definitely be written in the book of merit. You'll become a hero for all humanity!" Simiao Xiao'er grabbed his hand and shook it vigorously. "Congratulations, congratulations!"
"Get lost!" Hou Song shook off his hand and shouted excitedly, "The Special Defense Department only serves the powerful and wealthy. Why should I be a stepping stone for those bloated fat cats?!"
Simiao Xiao'er slapped him across the face. "You were pretty damn enthusiastic when demanding others sacrifice themselves! Now that it's your turn, you won't do it?!"
"Kill him." Xu Huo handed him a dagger. "There's no reasoning with someone like this."
Simiao Xiao'er hesitated for a moment before taking it. "He's still Team Leader Liao's man..."
"No one will know." Xu Huo smiled faintly. "None of us were here tonight."
Simiao Xiao'er's expression wavered. Hou Song seized the opportunity. "Simiao Xiao'er, you can't kill me. I told Team Leader Liao before I came. You can't bear this responsibility!"
Simiao Xiao'er was clearly more shaken, but at that moment, a bullet flew from somewhere and pierced Hou Song's forehead. A few drops of blood splattered, and he fell back into the barrel with his eyes wide open.
"Who?!" Yan Jiayu and the others took cover while scanning their surroundings.
Xu Huo looked up at the building not far ahead. "I heard you were seriously injured. Didn't expect you to still come out."
"You were egging my man on to kill a fellow Vanguard Player. Even if I had to crawl, I'd have to get up." Nie Xuan came out in a wheelchair. He nodded to someone behind him, and that player quickly walked over, pulled out a normal-sized handbag, slipped it over Hou Song's head, and the corpse, along with the glue barrel, vanished from the spot.
Then he went to collect the other bodies in the factory.
"Leave the cleanup to my people." Nie Xuan tilted his chin at Xu Huo. "Find a place to talk?"
Xu Huo went along with it, telling Yan Jiayu and the others to head back first. On Nie Xuan's side, Simiao Xiao'er and the rest didn't follow either. The two went to a nearby riverside.
With no one around, Nie Xuan gazed at the lights on the opposite bank and spoke. "This time, only a third of the players from Ting City's Special Defense Department who entered the fog zone came back. The rest are missing."
"My condolences." Xu Huo hadn't gone searching everywhere back then; he only saved the people who appeared in the hospital. As for where the other players were, he had no idea.
"Since the game started, people die around you all the time. A friend you were sharing dirty jokes with yesterday might die silently today. How they died, where they died, where their bodies went—no one knows." Nie Xuan sighed. "Maybe tomorrow, it'll be you or me dying like that, silently."
Xu Huo turned his head to look at him. "Aren't you still alive?"
His gaze shifted to the other's foot. "You underwent secondary evolution, didn't you?"
From his conversation with the amusement park girl, Xu Huo had guessed that Nie Xuan must have been carrying a spatial attribute item or something similar to be rejected by the fog space. The moment they met, he noticed an energy fluctuation around Nie Xuan's right foot, with a density and intensity different from anything else in the space.
"A blessing in disguise." Nie Xuan rubbed his leg, not intending to elaborate. Then he added, "I've heard about what happened in Flower City from Simiao Xiao'er, but there's a lot he doesn't know. You were the one who called the Player Association to find the Special Defense Department, right?"
Xu Huo didn't respond. Nie Xuan didn't seem to want a definite answer either, speaking to himself. "Accelerating the player conversion process hasn't brought all good things. Ambitious schemers, fence-sitters, foreign forces, and homegrown cultists—all kinds of people dare to crawl out. In just two or three months, peace has ceased to exist."
With the rise of players, the state was bound to lose some control. This process would inevitably be accompanied by chaos—first within the country, then between nations. Everyone was busy stockpiling strength or licking their wounds, not yet ready to turn their attention to other countries. But that day would come eventually.
Xu Huo handed him a cigarette. This time, Nie Xuan took it. One standing, one sitting, they smoked facing the river.
"Maybe in the future, even leisurely moments like this won't exist anymore." Nie Xuan smiled.
"As long as you're alive, there's hope. No need to be so pessimistic. Haven't humans always survived calamities?" Xu Huo said casually. "If the day of world destruction really comes, the best way is to pack up and leave, preserve the spark. Maybe we can rebuild a civilization."
Nie Xuan turned to look at him. "You're really open-minded."
The cigarette tip flickered bright and dim, then flew into the river with a faint hiss.
Xu Huo turned in the darkness, his entire figure swallowed by the shadows, leaving only a faint silhouette. He raised his hand and tossed a metal lighter toward Nie Xuan.
"I'm planning to move across from the Special Defense Department."
Nie Xuan flicked the lighter. The flame illuminated his stern face, which no longer held the fighting spirit from the initial train but was instead replaced by deep thought.
"Fine." He said expressionlessly, then closed the lighter and put it in his pocket, turning the wheelchair into the darkness.
Xu Huo stood behind him. A patrol car passed by on the opposite bank, its lights shining on the river. The shimmering reflections bounced off him, outlining a bright edge.
"Hey, who's that over there?" A flashlight beam swept over.
Xu Huo waved at the opposite side before calmly walking away.
(Chapter End)