Chapter 736: Infectious Disease History Museum
Xie Ling and Xu Ruosi both glanced at Xu Huo without making it obvious. For different reasons, they were more or less concerned about his choices. The timing of that group's arrival was too coincidental to not raise suspicion.
As for Xiao Ling, she claimed to have met Yu Guangnan on the train—not that Xiao Ling fully trusted his character just because she had saved him twice. These days, bonds forged in hardship weren't worth much.
Take Xie Ling, for example. Xu Huo had saved her before, but that didn't guarantee he wouldn't turn on her later. Would she become his loyal companion just because he rescued her?
No one in the game was that naive.
Xiao Ling wasn't as tough as she had been when facing Liu Chengyi and the others. She was clearly hesitating, and the ambush earlier had served as a warning to her as well.
"I overheard some news just now," Yu Guangnan spoke up. "That's probably why those people chased me here."
"What news?" Xiao Ling asked first.
"I heard them say they were looking for an unclaimed high-level item in the instance." Yu Guangnan explained before anyone else could question him. "I thought it was strange too. When an instance first spawns, there might be unclaimed items, but usually no one can know about an item's existence in advance. If they knew about an unclaimed item and didn't take it, wouldn't that be insane? There's no way news like that would spread."
"But from the way they talked, they seemed very certain."
"Could they have detected it with a special item?" Xu Ruosi suggested. "I know some items can search for nearby items."
"But items like that usually have limitations," Xie Ling added. "Low-level items can be searched for, but high-level ones might not be. How did they know for sure there was a high-level item? And if they knew in advance, why wouldn't they just take it instead of discussing it?"
The ball was back in Yu Guangnan's court. He quickly said, "I'm absolutely not lying. You can use a lie detector on me."
Xu Huo could observe his heartbeat and breathing. When he spoke, there were no significant emotional fluctuations, so he probably wasn't lying. But Xie Ling and the others' doubts were reasonable. An item that couldn't be taken… He immediately thought of the Wax Museum.
The entire Wax Museum might be an item itself. However, when he left in the morning, he had tried touching various parts of the Wax Museum without triggering any game notification. Either the item was particularly special, or the real item was hidden elsewhere. Either way, there was an item there.
Was that group here for it?
A high-level item was certainly worth fighting over, but he was more suspicious that news of the Perfect Potion had spread too far.
Even Dr. Deng, holed up in District 011, had channels to know that Dr. Wu had appeared in District 009. Who knew how many hands that information had passed through?
"Setting aside whether it's true or not," he said, "the item is secondary. We need to find a way to clear the instance first."
"Exactly. If we can't get out, nothing else matters." Xu Ruosi nodded.
The group exchanged glances. Their alliance was temporarily preserved.
It wasn't dawn yet, but Xu Huo planned to head to the next venue directly.
"Do we have to rush?" Xiao Ling studied him. "We haven't rested for two nights."
"Rest near the venue," Xu Huo said. "We might not be able to complete six progress points in seven days. If we can learn about the dangers inside the venue in advance, it'll benefit everyone."
To avoid unnecessary trouble, they went straight through the main street, found a good observation spot, and stopped to rest.
The central area of the Museum City had the most venues, and their layout was complex. The venues at the four ends of the cross were mostly divided left and right, regular and square. But the ones in the middle were different—besides having irregular shapes that intersected, there were also differences in elevation, with some above ground and some below.
For example, the Corpse Hotel was in the upper half of the central high-rise, while the Styx Ferry had only its entrance on the ground, with the actual venue underground. According to the venue distribution on the tour map, the Styx Ferry venue was long and winding, arranged beneath the entire central venue.
"Adult Psychotherapy Room, the Attic Next Door, Infectious Disease History Museum, Terrifying Scream, Depreciated Puppet…" Xie Ling read the names on the map. "Which one should we go to first?"
"The Infectious Disease History Museum and the Adult Psychotherapy Room at the front." From Xu Huo's position, he could see the outer windows of these two venues across the street. The windows revealed parts of the rooms, which looked relatively normal.
Xiao Ling had a different opinion. "These small venues have almost no connection to the instance's background. It's better to go to the large venues first."
Xu Ruosi and the other two thought she had a point. Nearly two days out of seven had passed. Betting on venues with higher potential was better.
The idea was good, but Xu Huo wasn't going to change his decision.
"It should be safer after dawn. We can split up," he suggested. "Searching all those venues would be fast, but large venues might not hit the mark. While other players are worn out from last night, we should quickly scout the various venues."
"More players might arrive by noon."
"Then wouldn't our cooperation be meaningless?" Yu Guangnan said. "Being alone makes us easy targets."
"Just don't stray too far," Xu Huo said calmly. "Within a hundred meters, if you hear trouble and can't get there in time to help, then the opponent is someone who's just delivering their head."
"Besides, cooperation doesn't mean we have to be tied together. Using manpower to buy time and reduce risk is the goal."
"I'll do it your way." Xiao Ling immediately agreed. "I'll go to the Styx Ferry below."
She would move with Yu Guangnan.
"Then we'll go to the Attic?" Xu Ruosi asked for Xie Ling's opinion.
Xie Ling had already bandaged her leg. She could move for now. She looked at Xu Huo. "You're going alone?"
"The History Museum and the Treatment Room are small. One person is enough," Xu Huo said.
After settling the plan, they found places to rest and close their eyes.
Xu Huo sat by the window with his eyes shut. As dawn approached, he noticed someone walking out of the Adult Psychotherapy Room. The person looked around first, then quickly used an item to disappear from the street.
He frowned slightly, glanced at it, and continued resting. When the light outside grew brighter, he crossed the street and headed straight for the Infectious Disease History Museum.
It was an ordinary venue, about a hundred square meters. The walls were covered with photos related to the theme—infected patients, treatment scenes, group photos of patients and medical staff… These photos were black and white, old and exuding a sense of despair.
Next to the photos were dates. Though it was called a history museum, the time span wasn't long. Based on the shooting dates, these epidemics had occurred over a decade.
In that decade, even though the medical staff wore protective suits and masks, it was clear that batches had been replaced over and over. Xu Huo took down one of the group photos of medical staff and saw several rows of names on the back.