Chapter 3155: Declaration of an Ordinary Citizen
Perhaps the players from District 009 were truly useless, as the investigation into Jiang Jiang's identity yielded little of value, especially the final section detailing her pursuit, which was written very vaguely.
If a player directly used a ticket to leave the district, there would indeed be little to record. But Jiang Jiang had fled multiple times and reappeared just as often, persisting in District 009 for a long time before finally leaving. Such a lengthy process, yet the archival records glossed over it with a single stroke.
"Come here." Xu Huo gestured for Mr. Mo to approach.
"Were there any players involved in capturing her?" he asked.
Mr. Mo instinctively wanted to speak but instinctively covered his mouth. He looked at Xu Huo, using his eyes to ask if he could open his mouth.
Xu Huo gave him a half-smile. "You're adapting quite well. Who can say your management manual isn't effective?"
Mr. Mo wiped the sweat from his forehead, unsure whether to answer or not. He could only force a smile, trying to appear sincere. He was a politician, a compromise between several factions. He had little ability to protect himself, relying entirely on knowing when to yield and reading the room. Since he couldn't gauge Xu Huo's temper, he dared not speak any flattering words carelessly.
"Speak." Xu Huo closed the projection screen, stretched his arms, and leaned back on the sofa.
"There are two people." Mr. Mo didn't hesitate at all, since neither of them was an A-rank player. He pointed them out. "You two, come here quickly."
A man and a woman stepped out from the crowd. Their gazes toward him were cold, but they dared not show any displeasure to Xu Huo, standing there with their heads bowed.
Xu Huo used a silencing item and began questioning them about the process of pursuing Jiang Jiang.
The two answered in meticulous detail, even voluntarily adding specifics—such as the layout of the house where Jiang Jiang had hidden, her clothing and condition at the time, and the situation of those who had been following and protecting her. Many players still admired her. Even after the district's political winds had shifted, they continued to support her. Aside from those who personally stepped up to protect her, others secretly provided safe shelters, money, and items. The player organizations at the time had also encountered considerable resistance.
After hearing everything, Xu Huo compared it with the archival data and roughly identified three locations, planning to check them out after dawn.
As for the rest... he kept an eye on the current situation in the Capital Mansion. Some sharp players had already begun eliminating their rivals, though it remained to be seen who would ultimately prevail.
Of course, the turmoil in the Capital Mansion wasn't limited to just this city. Players from other parts of the district, or those who hadn't yet returned, were entering the Capital Mansion via return tickets, all coming for power and profit. With more people, conflicts naturally erupted frequently. But after Xu Huo came out and killed a few players who didn't know their place, things began to take a bizarre turn.
Fighting still happened, but they would pre-arrange venues, supplement with multiple silencing items, and ensure they didn't make too much noise, lest they die inexplicably.
To an outsider, this scene—like a silent film—looked truly strange. Especially since people kept dying, lives being silently reaped. Under such pressure, despair and fear were spreading rapidly.
If not for the sheer number of players, the Capital Mansion would have long descended into chaos. Even ordinary people could see that it was their own players killing each other. And since everyone currently living in the Capital Mansion had a stake in the outcome, if the players they supported lost, they too would die...
Yet even under these circumstances, they still couldn't speak, couldn't open their mouths, and had to be careful not to make any sound at all. This almost completely cut off their outlets for venting. Some even started crowdfunding on the message collection terminal, hoping to hire players from other districts to resolve the root of all this conflict.
Naturally, no one paid attention to their voices. The ordinary people of this district dared not speak openly, while the out-of-district players or local players who dared to speak only wanted to watch the show, casually adding, "This was originally a rule your District 009 came up with. Other cities ban people from walking the streets after dark. The Capital Mansion only started at midnight—you got off easy!"
The people of the Capital Mansion were both furious and bewildered. The management regulations were set by the district government. It wasn't that they had forbidden people from other places to go out at night. Besides, those people were only banned from going out at night, not from speaking!
"I hope this becomes a permanent law in the Capital Mansion," someone replied on the message collection terminal. Soon, this comment was pinned to the top of the trending list.
Under the crushing pressure and fear, the people of the Capital Mansion completely broke down. Many launched frenzied insults on the message collection terminal—cursing the powerless ordinary people in the district, cursing the district government for being useless, cursing the local players for being cowards who let out-of-district players run rampant. Some even threatened that even if they died, they would drag others down with them.
"I have several players in my family. If I'm going to die, I'll make sure they kill a hundred or a thousand times more people to be buried with me!"
Such words would naturally be met with scorn and ignored. But aside from those directly involved, most people watched from a distance, waiting for things to play out.
"You people, who came up with that 'no going out after dark' rule to flaunt your privilege using your rear ends—did you ever think the boomerang would hit you one day?"
Those who had suffered under these absurd regulations couldn't resist kicking others while they were down. Cursing a couple of times on the message collection terminal was the least they could do.
"The Capital Mansion is sealed off now. Don't send them any supplies," a player suggested. "Those Capital Mansion people don't treat ordinary people as human, and they don't treat us low-level players as human either. Best if this time they get slaughtered good and proper. And those 'privileged ones'—may they all die!"
The revelry on the message collection terminal was twisted. It was hard to imagine that when a district government fell, the first reaction of the district's people was schadenfreude. Though they worried the district would suffer a heavy blow, though they feared their future situation would worsen, for those who had already eaten their flesh and drunk their blood, they wanted them dead even more!
"What ordinary people can do is very limited. In the past, we would scoff at or even resent advertisements about rare animal protection and environmental conservation. Some would say, 'What can I do even if I know?' or 'Before this ad, I didn't even know such a thing existed in the world.'"
"But I want to say—awareness is meaning."
"In the past, they didn't know. Now they do. In the past, they could show off. But now, they must face judgment from everyone—whether through looks, public opinion, or concrete actions. Those things they once took pride in can now only be pointed at by a thousand fingers, forced to hide like rats in the gutter, afraid to show themselves in the light of day!"
"What an ordinary person can do is little. But we have thousands, millions, billions of people. We have eyes, we have words, we have hands and feet. We can accuse, we can refuse, we can resist. Our thoughts are endless, our courage passes from generation to generation!"