Chapter 456: Exceptional Intelligence
“That’s impossible,” Xu Huo said with disbelief. “If the Game Government couldn’t even manage that, how could they have tracked him down so many times?”
“Through the game’s management of incoming and outgoing players and non-players, they can expand the scope of their search,” Dr. Deng explained. “Have you ever been to a game district with highly advanced technology? In those places, AI technology is very mature, capable of analyzing existing data to deduce where Professor Wu has fled.”
“And with all that, they still don’t know whether Professor Wu is male or female?” Xu Huo raised an eyebrow.
“Technological progress benefits more than just the Game Government.” Dr. Deng hesitated for a moment before adding, “He might be from an A-Class Wormhole Point. Also, what I said earlier about the S-grade Evolution Potion being monopolized was a lie.”
Xu Huo nodded. If the Game Government had mastered the S-grade potion, there would be no need to continue hunting Professor Wu. That was merely an excuse to placate Miao Yu and the others.
Of course, Dr. Deng’s words might not be entirely accurate either. Information asymmetry exists everywhere. Besides, he was just a pharmacology doctor, not an insider within the Game Government. Even if he could get some inside information, it wouldn’t be the most core details.
“Did you used to work for Stellar Corporation?” Xu Huo recalled Master Nise’s deceased son and daughter-in-law.
Dr. Deng didn’t hide this. “I’ve worked for different branches of the corporation in various game districts. The pay and benefits at Stellar Corporation were quite good, and my player status was one of the internal perks.”
“And now you’ve left?”
The cigarette in Dr. Deng’s hand was already half-burned. He took another deep drag. “I was fired. The reason given was that I made no contributions.”
He let out a bitter laugh. “That’s not surprising. How hard is it to take even a small step forward while standing on the shoulders of giants? It’s not rare for a person to go their whole life without producing any results. But Stellar Corporation doesn’t keep idle people like that.”
Xu Huo tapped his cigarette, making no comment, then asked, “You must have heard of the Temporary Pass.”
Dr. Deng looked at him in surprise. “Where did you hear about the Temporary Pass?”
“From an instance boss,” Xu Huo said. “I heard it by chance. A Temporary Pass can replace a ticket, right?”
“Yes.” Dr. Deng gave a very detailed description. “A Temporary Pass is equivalent to a universal ticket. Within the validity period issued by the Game Government, any player can board a train with it and search for stations on their own. The pass will teleport you to the nearest convenient station. There’s no limit on usage, and unlike tickets, it doesn’t have rough grade divisions. You can ride any train.”
When he had an E-grade ticket, there were very few people on the train, and players were usually teleported directly to instance venues. After becoming a D-grade player, things changed slightly. Players heading in the same direction but to different stations or instances might appear, and sometimes players of different grades would meet, but the difference wasn’t significant.
As long as you had a ticket, high-level players could board trains meant for lower-level passengers, and vice versa. Moreover, as a player’s level increased, it became easier to encounter grade differences on the same train.
“However, Temporary Passes are usually only given to Game Government staff and players who have made outstanding contributions to the game. Getting one through other channels is extremely difficult.” Dr. Deng recalled, “I remember last year, I saw a Temporary Pass auctioned off for a hundred million White Notes at a virtual auction.”
“Exclusive to high-level players.” Xu Huo didn’t show much reaction, as if he were just asking casually. Then he asked a few more questions about Professor Wu.
Dr. Deng was forthcoming, though there was no shortage of exaggeration in his words—he personally held Professor Wu in high esteem. Based on his description, Professor Wu was likely one of the top experts in the entire game’s pharmacology research and development field.
“Professor Wu must be a genius obsessed with potion development. It’s a shame the Game Government won’t give him a peaceful environment. It’s really tough on him—a man who belongs in a lab, forced to flee for his life everywhere…”
Xu Huo listened to Dr. Deng’s lament without comment. The impression he had of Professor Wu was not that of a rigid figure solely focused on potion research, oblivious to the outside world. He was a very clever person, capable of playing cat and mouse with the Game Government for so many years—that alone showed exceptional intelligence.
Moreover, the fact that he managed to escape every time was somewhat unbelievable even to Xu Huo. The Game Government’s technological civilization must far exceed his imagination, yet finding one person was this difficult. Especially since this person was moving between different game districts—tickets, passes, and such left traces. Perhaps there were other channels, but after so many failures, they should have at least analyzed Professor Wu’s behavioral patterns. Not being able to catch him was simply baffling.
He glanced at Dr. Deng, and his thoughts took another turn. Was Professor Wu really acting alone?
“You’ve been outside for a long time,” Miao Yu said as she walked out. “The rain hasn’t stopped yet. Why not come inside and keep watch?”
“You haven’t slept yet.” Xu Huo patted his pants, stood up, and headed inside, pulling Dr. Deng along with him.
“It’s really cold,” Dr. Deng said, rubbing his hands.
Miao Yu’s gaze lingered on the two of them for a few seconds before she said to Dr. Deng, “I brought cooking utensils. I can boil some water.”
Dr. Deng thanked her, borrowed her things, asked Xu Huo for water, boiled some to drink, and used the lukewarm water to wash his feet.
Xu Huo noticed that his hands and feet were red, as if from the cold, and there were many scars on his feet from healed frostbite.
“I used to live in a very cold place and got sick, so now I’m especially sensitive to the cold,” Dr. Deng explained with a smile. “A rinse with hot water helps.”
Over by the fire, Chu Yuan had already opened his eyes. He had been about to ask for a cup of water and had even taken out his cup, but then Dr. Deng turned around and washed his feet. Chu Yuan rolled his eyes and said, “The good die young, but the wicked live forever. A little cold won’t kill you.”
The others said nothing. When dawn came and the rain stopped, Xu Huo went outside and found several large puddles nearby.
Miao Yu walked behind him, carefully observing the surroundings. “No footprints. If Qiu Xiangdong is still alive, he must have left. Same for Tong Jian.”
Xu Huo nodded.
Those two had left just as the heavy rain started yesterday and hadn’t appeared since. It was possible they were using items to hide their tracks, but he thought it most likely that they had gone underwater to search for the potion during the rain.
“This is a really deep hole,” Chu Yuan said, leaning on a wooden stick as he stood in front of a fissure.
Dr. Deng stepped forward to examine it and said, “This should be the reason for the skull in the sky on rainy days. Look how long this trench is—it curves at the turn ahead, matching the contour of a skull’s lower jaw. Air currents rise from here.”
The crack was deep, its entrance already overgrown with flowers, grass, and vines, making it impossible to see what lay below.
“When did this skull-shaped crack form?” Xu Huo glanced at it. “We haven’t heard any strange sounds since we came onto the island.”
(End of Chapter)