# Chapter 614: You Are Free
Nie Xuan conveyed the Special Defense Department's intentions, roughly meaning that although the current situation wasn't great, it wasn't unsolvable either. Headquarters had already grasped the movements of several small groups of cannibal players, and if they were used as typical targets to strike, it would serve as a direct warning to the players with ulterior motives currently gathered in Jing City.
Xu Huo didn't need to do anything, not even act as bait. The Special Defense Department had ways to lure the cannibal players away; he just needed to not show his face.
"When did the Special Defense Department become so easy to talk to?" Xu Huo laughed. "Headquarters doesn't just have Team Leader Song, does it?"
Nie Xuan was replaying videos related to the Hai City incident. He said, "I went to that hotel that was burned down in Water City and brought back some useful things. Minister Fan really wants to invite Li Chun to work for the Special Defense Department, just doesn't know if she'd be willing."
"You should contact her directly." Xu Huo glanced at the Painting Woman sprawled on the sofa playing games.
"She won't answer the phone." Nie Xuan naturally knew what she was doing, but he intuitively felt that asking the Painting Woman about this would yield no results.
"She's been following you since she appeared in Ting City. She should listen to you. Why don't you persuade her? I see her monthly expenses aren't small. The Special Defense Department opening a back door for her wouldn't be a problem."
Xu Huo left the room and went to the adjacent lounge. "Save the jokes. If the Special Defense Department has the capability, go convince her directly."
The Painting Woman wasn't his prop, nor did she belong to him. He couldn't completely interfere with her actions.
When they first came out of the Skinner Instance, the Painting Woman was still somewhat naive about the world. Now she'd learned to be clever—she even knew to buy cheats when playing games.
A conscious super prop wouldn't be as harmless as it appeared on the surface. She stayed in Zone 014, stayed by his side, simply because she wanted to.
Xu Huo could neither restrain her nor command her.
"So sure?" Nie Xuan paused the video on his computer at the moment the Painting Woman was "killed" by a masked player. "Speaking of which, I searched the national portrait database and found no information about Li Chun's past at all. She's like someone who appeared out of thin air."
Xu Huo's eyes darkened slightly, but his tone remained casual. "Maybe she came from some small place."
"Let's pretend that's the case." Nie Xuan chuckled. "But without complete identity documentation, she'll definitely attract attention during personal information encryption review."
"Didn't you find out her identity yourself? Handle it as you see fit." Xu Huo paused, then added, "I have no intention of interfering with the Special Defense Department's operations. I agree to what you said."
"Alright then, I'll reply to the Minister like that." Nie Xuan seemed equally uninterested in this conversation that served little practical purpose, and he warned with meaningful undertones, "Xu Huo, be careful."
Xu Huo returned the favor. "If you have time, you might keep an eye on Dai Wenqian's movements."
He hung up after speaking, holding his phone as the screen light faded.
This call from Nie Xuan had two meanings.
First, the Special Defense Department already knew that Li Chun was the "Painting Woman" from the Hai City incident. They believed she was a player holding a super prop and intended to recruit her.
Second, Nie Xuan himself was suspicious of the Painting Woman's identity.
Xu Huo hadn't done much to cover up the Painting Woman's identity before. He'd only instructed her before entering the instance to hang herself on the wall for at least four consecutive days each month, which she had completed well.
Two months ago, he thought the Painting Woman wouldn't stay in Zone 014 for long, so he hadn't made other arrangements.
It wasn't surprising that Nie Xuan discovered what she did at the hotel. It was only a matter of time. That way, the Special Defense Department would help clean up after the cannibal player who escaped.
But Nie Xuan was too sharp. He still suspected the Painting Woman's identity.
This suspicion ran much deeper. Whether he suspected the Painting Woman wasn't a Zone 014 player, or suspected that she wasn't the one who obtained the super prop, there was a possibility of exposing the super prop's true owner. He was probably already studying the Hai City incident materials at this moment.
But suspicion was just suspicion. The one who actually manipulated the paper was the Painting Woman, and she was a living person. Since they had initially determined that the super prop was related to paper, this would be difficult to overturn easily, especially since there was no second phenomenon that matched the super prop at the time.
"Creak!" The door pushed open from outside. The Painting Woman stuck her head in and asked hesitantly, "Are you busy?"
Xu Huo casually slipped his phone into his pocket. "Something?"
The Painting Woman shuffled in awkwardly and used her phone to speak for herself. "Can I go work?"
Before Xu Huo could respond, she quickly added, "I know everyone needs to work. Work earns money. I want to earn my own money."
Xu Huo looked at her steadily for two seconds. "You are free."
The Painting Woman was stunned, seemingly not quite understanding his meaning.
Xu Huo just smiled. "I'm not your master, and you have no master. You don't need anyone's permission to do anything."
His attitude could be described as genial, kinder than ever before. The Painting Woman was somewhat delighted. "I can really do whatever I want? Even kill people I hate?"
Xu Huo reached out and patted her head. "First look at the criminal law. Just don't do the things listed there."
The Painting Woman said she would definitely look at it, but within just a few seconds of following Xu Huo out of the room, she had a question. "It says here you can't deprive others of life, but I've already done that. Do I have to go to jail?"
"I don't want to go to jail! Can I get the person who wrote this to change it?"
Zheng Liang, standing nearby, couldn't help but laugh when he heard her words. "This is criminal law. How can it be changed?"
"But a lot of people are depriving others of life right now, and they haven't gone to jail, have they?"
Zheng Liang scratched his head. "These are special circumstances. There hasn't been time. Later, those people who kill randomly will definitely be put in jail."
The Painting Woman lowered her head, swiped her fingers across the screen a few times, then unhappily said to Xu Huo, "So many things I can't do. This really can't be changed?"
"The law definitely can't be changed." Brother Liang also said, "But as long as you don't get caught, it's basically fine."
"Don't teach Li Chun bad things." Gu Yu still thought the Painting Woman's mind wasn't quite sharp.
"I think it's fine," Wen Xuelin retorted. "It's so chaotic now. What if she encounters danger? What if someone tricks Li Chun?"
The Painting Woman slowly furrowed her brow, thought for a moment, then said, "If the person who wrote this dies, then I don't have to follow it, right?"
Before anyone could respond, she continued, "Then I'll go kill him."
All the players present stopped what they were doing and looked at the Painting Woman, who clearly didn't think she'd said anything terrifying: To kill the person who made the law just so she wouldn't have to follow it? Had this logic taken several detours? What exactly would cause someone to elevate a simple cognitive issue to such an unreasonable "solve it at the root"?