Chapter 701: New District and Game Integration
(To be revised later) Duke Tal also boarded that steamship. Xu Huo was not surprised that he didn't survive. He said to Mr. Dong, "Call the Duchess back. I'll visit her in a couple of days."
His baron title had been processed so quickly, no doubt thanks to the Duchess's efforts behind the scenes.
Mr. Dong acknowledged this and also mentioned that several nobles had invited him for outings or banquets. However, this time it wasn't because of the Butterfly Madame, but because of his status.
The Black Epaulets had investigated Xu Huo after the steamship incident. Since he didn't die on the ship, he must have entered an instance later. The Duchess's maiden family could marry into the Duke's clan because they had produced several capable players at home—even though the weapons and equipment in District 011 were now very advanced, a player with decent potential, even if not at a high energy level, was still worth a noble's effort to recruit.
Moreover, judging from the internal conflict on the steamship, there were factional struggles among the nobles. The Black Epaulets' rise to power was actually the result of these struggles. At this point, the role of players became crucial.
"Has Bai Kou been back?" Xu Huo asked again.
"No." Mr. Dong's expression and tone remained unchanged.
What Mr. Dong mentioned were all matters that the master of Rose Castle had to deal with. Xu Huo went to the study and found that the formal invitations were far more numerous than Mr. Dong had said, including one from Ran Ying.
To survive in District 011, he had to keep silent about what happened on the steamship.
Xu Huo didn't have strong feelings about Ran Ying bringing him onto the ship. She was a capable woman, but they simply had different views.
He set her invitation aside and asked Mr. Dong to brew a pot of tea. Only after the man left did he call out the Painting Woman.
The Painting Woman had been holding it in for a long time. She couldn't wait to transform into human form and dash outside. Xu Huo stopped her and told her to change into an inconspicuous appearance.
"You can live here, but you must follow the rules we agreed upon."
The Painting Woman nodded and typed on her phone, "I promise not to casually turn into other people's forms, to behave myself and not run around, and not to kill people everywhere."
Her words were blunt to the point of being startling, but Xu Huo nodded in satisfaction. "Go find Mr. Dong. Ask him to prepare a room for you. Tell him if you need anything."
After a pause, he added, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do. The clothes and accessories in District 011 are quite beautiful. Go pick some out yourself."
The Painting Woman, experienced in this, sidled up to him. "Let's go together."
"Not this time. I have money now." Xu Huo said generously, "Buy whatever you like."
The Painting Woman beamed and ran out. A moment later, Mr. Dong came in and said he would arrange for two servants to accompany the Painting Woman. "We also need to get her an identity certificate."
That wasn't difficult. Xu Huo left all the things the Painting Woman needed, like a communicator, for Mr. Dong to prepare. The Painting Woman also got a new name: Xu Chun.
After settling matters with the Painting Woman, Xu Huo continued to look at the messages on his communicator.
Some were from the game base, including task notifications from Shi Youzhi.
Xu Huo was now a contract staff member of the base. While he enjoyed certain game policy benefits, he also had to fulfill obligations. However, the Orbital Supply Department didn't have strict requirements in this regard. Players who needed to do instances could go do instances and report back when finished. If they happened to complete a task, there were corresponding rewards.
Therefore, task notifications had a two-day validity period. Beyond that, players wouldn't be assigned to tasks. He had already missed two tasks.
This wasn't important. Xu Huo hadn't joined the game base to gain Gray Player status to escape instances in the first place. What he valued were the game base's benefits. Good props weren't something you could buy just with money. Whether it was the auction venues in the game districts or the game base itself, there were certain restrictions on players purchasing props. It wasn't a monopoly on high-level props just because you had money. Moreover, some high-level props couldn't be bought with money; they could only be traded for other items.
The final rating for the "Shared Eyes" instance was A. This time, he didn't get a new trait. Among the props he obtained, the most eye-catching was a C-grade prop called "Regulated Weightlessness." Its effect was somewhat similar to "Floating Balloon," allowing people or objects to become weightless and float. However, its range was wider than "Floating Balloon," affecting people and objects within a five-meter radius of the prop holder, with a time limit of ten seconds.
Although both were C-grade props, "Regulated Weightlessness" was clearly much more useful.
But he already had several B-grade props, so C-grade props weren't that impressive anymore.
What he currently lacked were props suitable for combat. The Crimson Sword was handy to use, but its weakness was too easily spotted and guarded against.
Besides combat props, evolution agents were also something he urgently needed. Compared to other players of the same level, his 30% evolution rate was on the low side.
Putting down the items on the desk, Xu Huo got up and went to the study on the third floor.
Using the "key" to open the "lock," he entered the partitioned space of the castle. He then picked up V. Van Shaw's photo album again and flipped to the page where the stone was placed.
This irregular black stone had a color that looked more like metal. He had searched for relevant information online before, but there was no matching ore of the same type. So he didn't know what it was used for and had simply left it there.
However, after the "Nuwa Stone" incident in Clown City, he had a new definition for this ore.
A stone that V. Van Shaw had specifically collected was certainly not a simple ore. With the Nuwa Stone as a precedent, this could also be a special ore that could affect biological traits.
Wearing the Nuwa Stone allowed the King Fungus in his body to continuously multiply, achieving a permanent detoxification effect. He wondered what this stone's function was.
Of course, Xu Huo didn't expect it to have the same effect as the Nuwa Stone. But ore was definitely a very important resource in the game. Advanced energy weapons, and even high-level props, might use ore as raw material.
However, V. Van Shaw had always been an enemy of the game government. The things he left behind should be crucial.
He took out the diamond key, rubbed the numbers on the bottom: E27-001-01. This was a fairly large address, corresponding to Area 01 of Sub-district 001 under the E27 wormhole point. A game district would be divided into smaller areas, but relative to a specific location, the range was still very large.
The address was very vague, but the diamond key looked specially made. He wondered if it would be easy to find.
Xu Huo took out the news about Van Shaw's arson in District 001 from the photo album and left the partitioned space.
*
The Painting Woman ran upstairs, holding the communicator Mr. Dong had temporarily given her. She pointed at several sets of matching outfits displayed in the holographic projection, indicating she wanted them all.
Xu Huo was truly generous this time. He simply nodded for her to buy them.
The Painting Woman cheered silently, her fingers quickly swiping, and then showed off some jewelry and shoes she had seen.
Xu Huo checked the prices and nodded again.
Under his subtle influence, the Painting Woman had also learned to be frugal. She stopped picking when it was about enough and instead opened the food channel, selecting quite a few dishes in one go.