# Chapter 553: Underground World
Xin Hui instinctively stepped back two paces, her hands also moving behind her back, but before she could take out an item, Xu Huo's strings wrapped around her neck.
He crossed two fingers and pulled back, binding her without suffocating her, while Xu Huo warned, "Better not make a move, or your hands will be useless."
Xin Hui indeed didn't move. Her head was pulled slightly back by the strings, but her hands remained behind her back.
"What do you mean by this?" she demanded. "Trying to kill me for my loot?"
Xu Huo pulled out a chair and sat down, then said, "I've helped you before. Not thanking me is one thing, but leading me to my death is another. That doesn't make sense."
Xin Hui was silent for two seconds before saying, "I don't know what you're talking about. We're strangers who met by chance. Why would I want to harm you?"
"The first time, you led me and Zhuo Wangsun through the fog forest in circles, probably to shake us off. Showing up just now was also likely because you didn't want us wandering around here anymore." Xu Huo looked at her. "But when I suggested destroying the nest, you changed your mind."
Xin Hui remained silent.
Xu Huo continued, "You're not what you claim to be—just a non-player from Clown City. Coming in here has nothing to do with clearing the instance either. You have some understanding of this fungal nest, know the entrances and exits, and when you first shook me and Zhuo Wangsun off, you came straight here."
"Based on our distance, you shouldn't have known someone entered the underground nest, let alone determined our location. There's no one else nearby, so your understanding of this place can't be limited to just knowing the entrances and exits. At the very least, you have extensive knowledge of fungi."
"Also, the fungal-formed corpses that the four of us—me, Zhuo Wangsun, and the others—discovered are probably either irrelevant information or already public knowledge. You weren't worried we'd spread it around."
"In fact, with just a few people's strength, it's impossible to destroy such a large underground nest. When I suggested burning the mycelium, you were clearly furious and even intended to kill for it..."
Xu Huo paused, then asked, "What secret does this underground nest hold?"
Xin Hui's face was covered, making it impossible to read her expression, but as Xu Huo spoke, her chest heaved and her breathing grew rapid.
After a moment, she said, "Fine, you're right about everything. I'm no match for you. What do you want?"
"I'm not a player from Clown City. The internal conflicts of Clown City have nothing to do with me," Xu Huo said. "But I'm very interested in this fungal nest."
Xin Hui didn't respond to his words but brought up another matter instead. "Earlier, I heard Zhuo Wangsun say you rescued two children."
Xu Huo nodded. "After clearing the instance, I'll find a way to send them into Clown City. They should just be poisoned, not xenomorphized."
Xin Hui let out a cold laugh. "Even if you send them into Clown City, they'll only die. They've already been parasitized by fungi. Clown City will never allow them to appear alive in the city."
"That's not a big problem," Xu Huo said. "If the fungal infection were severe enough to be uncontrollable, the Clown City government wouldn't allow the fungal nest to exist. There's no need for these half-truths. Clown City sealing off the Cleanup Zone must have another reason."
"You're very clever," Xin Hui said coldly. "But you're not from Clown City. What does it matter if you know or not?"
"Satisfying my curiosity." Xu Huo smiled slightly. "When a secret is laid out before you, it's hard for normal people to control their curiosity. Satisfy my curiosity, and I'll let you go. Or you refuse to say anything, and I'll kill you, then find a way to destroy this underground nest. Two options. Think about it."
Xin Hui was speechless. "When Zhuo Wangsun said you agreed to save those two children, I thought you were a good person. But you're just like the other players—cruel, cold-blooded, and dismissive of human life!"
Xu Huo raised his chin. "Speak."
Xin Hui ground her teeth audibly. After struggling for a moment, her shoulders slumped. "It's a long story."
"Then take your time," Xu Huo said. "We have plenty of time."
Xin Hui faced him directly. After two seconds, she finally spoke. "This Cleanup Zone is actually just a game venue."
Xu Huo raised an eyebrow. "Continue."
"Twenty years ago, the Clown City government planned to turn the fungal nest into an adventure tourism project. But when they developed deep underground, they discovered that the fungal mutation had far exceeded the government's imagination. Many fungi were highly infectious. Once infected, it was like a chronic illness—you would slowly die in agony."
"The engineering team and supervisors who participated in this project were all infected. After being sent to the hospital for treatment, they subsequently infected three more hospitals. Before the infection could spread on a large scale, the government sealed off the hospitals for cleanup and relocated all the infected people to the same city for centralized treatment."
"But the treatment was ineffective. Even some medical staff became infected one after another. In the end, the government had no choice but to seal off the entire city."
"That was when xenomorphs appeared in the sealed zone. The government's upper echelon believed the infected had xenomorphized, so they launched a full-scale investigation. Everyone involved in approving the project was detained. Later, the news somehow couldn't be suppressed anymore. The entire city erupted in massive protests. Some radicals stormed the prisons and the upper city, kidnapping everyone connected to the project—along with their families—and throwing them all into the sealed zone."
Xin Hui's voice grew low. "During the chaos, Clown City experienced a regime change. Some people with ulterior motives secretly opened the sealed zone, releasing the xenomorphs and infected people, contaminating at least a third of the city."
"The new regime turned the tide but also abandoned that third of the territory, trapping the remaining people inside to fend for themselves. But there was no food or water there. To fight for resources, these infected people began banding together and slaughtering each other. That was when someone secretly filmed the war scenes and broadcast them on public channels, attracting the attention of other game districts."
"Couldn't make it in tourism, so they switched to making videos?" Xu Huo said.
"If only that were true." Xin Hui said with sarcasm. "There weren't many people in the sealed zone. They barely lasted half a year before most were dead. But the Clown City higher-ups had tasted the sweetness. They simply turned the sealed zone into a game area and organized people to go in for cleanup."
"But there were hardly any infected people left in the Cleanup Zone. Using holographic glasses to create a two-sided battle line wasn't exciting enough, so they started buying xenomorphs from other game districts and releasing them into the sealed zone!"
"The people they sent in were mostly from the lower classes—weak in ability, poor in equipment. When they encountered xenomorphs, they could only be slaughtered. Even those who entered the Cleanup Zone without being infected ended up being eaten by xenomorphs..."
At this point, Xin Hui's teeth were nearly ground to dust. "Xenomorphs hunting and eating living humans—that's the most popular show in this game!"
(Chapter End)