Chapter 571: Xu Huo's Logic
Leaving the protective wall, Xu Huo stood atop a conspicuous high tower, took out the energy cannon Bai Kou had given him, inserted an energy chip, aimed at the high wall, and pulled the trigger!
"Boom!!!"
The protective wall collapsed once again, the vibrations spreading throughout the entire city, causing the Grand Archon, who had just fled to a safe location, along with some high-ranking residents who had blindly followed without understanding the situation, to tremble in fear once more. They dreaded a repeat of the pillar bridge collapse. Instead of heading to the top floor, they chose a government high-rise built on a rock layer. The helicopter's temperature hadn't even dropped yet when the wall exploded again!
Seeing the massive hole in the protective wall and the sections gradually collapsing on both sides, the Grand Archon, still bleeding from his head, furiously directed players to inspect the area around the wall.
"Kill anyone who threatens the peace of Clown City! These people have had it too good for too long—a bunch of ungrateful wolves that can't be tamed no matter how much meat you feed them!"
As the Grand Archon cursed, a child hiding in a corner used a toy telescope to look at the protective wall and exclaimed, "Water is spraying out from under the wall!"
The collapsed wall had broken through the ground, creating deep trenches both inside and outside the wall, similar to those in Sunset Clown City. However, as the wall stones tumbled down, water surged up from underground, and countless bodies were pushed to the surface by the water.
"So many corpses!" someone shouted.
But soon, people noticed something off about those "corpses"—some deflated upon contact, floating on the ground like seaweed.
Despite this, a few recognized some of the faces among the "corpses." They were the faces of warriors who had once left Clown City.
The Grand Archon even spotted Xin Lang among them.
"This is impossible!" he said, his face darkening. He grabbed a communicator and ordered the players and soldiers guarding the protective wall to destroy those fungal-made corpses, then smashed the communicator. "That bitch! I should have killed her long ago!"
"Grand Archon..." his secretary approached timidly, "It looks like someone on the opposite tower is waving at us..."
The Grand Archon turned and immediately recognized Xu Huo. "It's that outsider player!"
Xu Huo stood on the tower, making sure the people in the government building had seen him before leaping down. Landing steadily on the ground, he sprinted toward the building!
Fear flashed across the Grand Archon's face as he shouted, "Get to the station! I'm leaving Clown City!"
As the top authority in Clown City, he had special credentials that allowed him to leave via a non-player train.
But the others present did not. Realizing they were about to be abandoned, the wealthy and powerful high-ranking residents panicked and swarmed around him, demanding he take them along.
"Get the hell away from me!" The Grand Archon drew his gun to threaten the crowd and ordered the players and soldiers to clear a path.
This sparked public outrage. Several strong individuals lunged for the gun, and when a shot rang out and someone fell, chaos erupted.
The Grand Archon barely managed to escape the encirclement, but as he reached the top floor, all the helicopters on the helipad turned to dust, and the roof itself collapsed into the floor below!
By then, Xu Huo was standing on the edge of the wall. After using the Severance Gate to block the first wave of bullets, he put away the gate and activated "Mobile Metal" and "Absolute Safe Distance."
Several soldiers emptied their magazines, and the Grand Archon fired wildly as he retreated. But the man before him didn't even dodge. The bullets were intercepted by his props, and he didn't slow down for even half a second.
"You're an outsider player! Why are you meddling in Clown City's affairs? What did Xin Lang promise you?!" the Grand Archon screamed in desperation. "She's dead! I can give you anything you want! You players are all the same—you'd kill and burn for potions and White Notes anyway! What difference does it make whether you work for her or for me?"
"I admire Xin Lang," Xu Huo replied with an answer the other hadn't expected.
From an outsider's perspective, he deeply respected this woman. Her actions had transcended the vision of an ordinary person. Unburdened by her own hatred, she knew clearly what she needed to do, swiftly cutting through Clown City's sins and even laying the groundwork for its future.
Those in the know didn't need an explanation, but the ordinary people who had unknowingly benefited from the system would inevitably clash with those returning from the Cleanup Zone and those who had lost family and friends. One side would vent their anger, the other would protect their interests, potentially splitting Clown City apart.
Only by enduring the same pain and sharing a common enemy could the people of Clown City, after venting their fury, reunite.
This wasn't just about permanently cutting off the possibility of reviving the real-life games for those who hadn't suffered the infection's torment—it was about engraving that pain into Clown City's very bloodline.
If the entire populace paid such a heavy price, there would be no soil for people like the Grand Archon to thrive.
Moreover, Xin Lang understood that without enough players, Clown City would struggle to survive in the game. By giving up the King Fungus and the Nuwa Stone, she was gambling on Clown City's future. If it succeeded, Clown City would turn over a new leaf; if it failed, it would rot away.
Her choice of death also reflected her hatred and disappointment toward Clown City, so her plan ended there.
But unexpectedly, before the real chaos could begin, the massive nest dug by the fungi saved Clown City once.
Xu Huo had come to Clown City merely to take shelter, but the people and events he encountered gave him a sense of cyclical fate, as if he were caught in a massive torrent. When he felt powerless, he looked up and saw a path to survival, as though the world itself was self-reconciling.
Xin Lang was just an ordinary person, not even an Evolved Human, yet she spent twenty years turning Clown City's situation around. The underground fungi, originally Clown City's greatest threat—so much so that the ground had been sealed to contain it—ended up absorbing the impact of the high-level players' battle.
This was partly why he had rushed to Sunset Clown City.
The Grand Archon burst into laughter. "Well, I've seen it all now! A player trying to do good?"
"You pity these people? How are they any different from the other players you've killed in instances? Survival of the fittest—they were destined to be stepping stones!"
"Makes sense." Xu Huo looked at him without any other emotion. "So I'm killing you not for any other reason, but simply because you're weak, and I happen to find you annoying."
The Grand Archon's face twitched as he secretly ordered the players lurking nearby to attack.
"Truth Transcends All." Xu Huo activated his newly acquired Primary Trait, physically crashing through the several players blocking his path, grabbing the Grand Archon by the throat, and snapping it.
After discarding the body, he used "Forced Forgetting" and left the government building.
Back on the ground, he saw a fungal "corpse" drifting by. Casually picking a red rose, he placed it on its chest. He paused for a moment as he stood up, then watched it drift away before turning to face the bearded man who had appeared behind him out of thin air.
(End of Chapter)