Chapter 799: Foreseeing Death
(To be revised later) Little Pink Hat wore an expression of "I knew it." "Dirty adults."
"A small favor—help me pull someone into your instance," Xu Huo said. "Zone 009 allows random instances. Just bring them in; I don't need you to do anything else."
Little Pink Hat swung her feet. "Is it a really strong player? A really strong player might tear down the instance and kill the instance holder."
"She probably isn't that strong," Xu Huo said. "Besides, once someone follows her in, even if she could, she wouldn't dare."
"Maybe she's still holding a Gray Player identity."
Little Pink Hat wagged her finger. "This isn't the price of a lollipop anymore."
"Swap the other dress for a C-grade item, and I'll also get you a full set of twelve limited-edition lollipops, letting you try a new candy every month. How about that?" Xu Huo laid out his offer.
"Deal!" Little Pink Hat slapped his arm, grinning. "A lot of players have come to Zone 009, so there must be some rich adults."
With that settled, Xu Huo put away the Awakened Puppet, stopped the car, and opened the door to look ahead.
There was a traffic jam up front again.
Chi Nan walked up behind him. "Looks like there's a toll checkpoint ahead. With the current situation, the major player organizations outside the Capital Safe Zone have set up checkpoints to collect fees. You have to pay a head tax five or six times along the way. That's why I said Zone 009 is doomed."
This wasn't hard to understand. Player organizations weren't formed for the benefit of the entire nation. The more player organizations there were, the better the living environment for players, while ordinary people would gradually get worse, eventually leading to two extremes.
Zone 009 was already showing signs of this.
"Whether ordinary people can live well depends entirely on the conscience of the player organizations." Old Zhou seemed quite moved, looking at the people ahead who were either complaining or cursing. "I wonder what Zone 009 will eventually become."
"What do you think, brother?" Chi Nan asked Xu Huo.
Xu Huo glanced at her. "You probably drew bad luck when you went out yesterday."
"Adding flowers to brocade is harmless, but a boat in a desperate crossing is a lifeline, no matter how small."
"Have you considered that this bad luck might strike you halfway, since you're following me and refusing to leave?"
The last sentence was a clear warning. Chi Nan's expression shifted, and she said, "Sorry to bother you," before retreating back into the car.
The line started moving again. Xu Huo paid a checkpoint fee of six thousand before finally entering the Capital Safe Zone.
The outer perimeter of the Capital Safe Zone was lined with steel platforms, on which were placed temporal-spatial item suppression devices imported from other zones. Though not as advanced as those in Zone 011, they were still imposing enough just sitting there.
Xu Huo quietly tested his "Compressed Air" and found it was clearly being interfered with inside the safe zone.
The safe zone was overcrowded. Near the edges, people had set up tents on the spot, but as the number of tents grew, patrolling players would drive them away, ensuring they stayed in the outer city.
However, many residents were relatively optimistic about the situation, believing that the outer-zone players would leave eventually, that Zone 009 players would regain control, and that they could return to their hometowns.
The one-month time limit was a fortunate rule for ordinary people.
Hotels and inns in the city were all full. Even resting in a car required paying a hefty parking fee.
Xu Huo abandoned his car and headed toward the exhibition hall.
Wearing his Invisibility Cloak, he entered the office building across from the exhibition hall's building. Order within the capital was less disrupted, and there were still office workers putting in overtime, occasionally sighing, "Even if the world ends tomorrow, corporate slaves still have to work."
Apart from them, there were also a few players disguised as ordinary people, likewise monitoring the exhibition hall.
Xu Huo waited by the stairwell until afternoon, when Jiang Jiang's car appeared in front of the building.
As soon as she appeared, the players inside the building began talking, exchanging information to confirm there were no suspicious individuals nearby.
But when Jiang Jiang got out of the car, she turned and looked back toward the building across the street.
"What is she looking at?" one player asked.
"Maybe she's checking if there are bodyguards over here," another player said. "She's not a player, so how could she possibly find us? Should we say hello?"
"We're only responsible for perimeter security. You don't know how high the mortality rate is among the players around her. Don't ask for trouble, or we'll mess up."
With those few words, the monitoring players fell silent again.
Xu Huo went downstairs, put away his items in a busy restroom, walked straight out of the building, and entered the exhibition hall disguised as a visitor.
*
There weren't many people in the exhibition hall. At this time, few had the leisure to look at paintings, so most of those present were players. Jiang Jiang herself was surrounded by as many as ten people.
"Miss Jiang Jiang, your paintings are absolutely wonderful! Although I'm not a player, I can still feel the inclusiveness and peace in your art." A potbellied middle-aged man held her hand and refused to let go. "Those who say your work lacks depth are the ones without depth. Your paintings are full of compassion—you're practically a living goddess!"
Even the nearby players couldn't stand hearing this. Someone stepped forward to signal him to let go.
The middle-aged man reluctantly released her hand and pulled over a young man beside him. "This is my son. He just became a player and is your fan. Later, you must sign his painting!"
The young man looked at Jiang Jiang with slight excitement. Jiang Jiang smiled faintly, nodded, said "Excuse me," and went to talk to others.
The ignored middle-aged man's expression soured, but he quickly adjusted. He put his arm around his son's shoulders and walked aside. "Later, we'll buy four or five of her paintings. For the sake of the sale, she'll definitely talk to you a bit more."
As he spoke, his son was bumped into by someone. The middle-aged man snapped irritably, "There's plenty of room here—are you blind?"
Unfortunately, the other person ignored him. Though the somewhat older woman was dressed well, her mental state was poor. She ignored the crowd and walked straight toward Jiang Jiang.
Players had already noticed her unusual behavior, and two came over to block her. The woman didn't force her way through but instead said tearfully, "My son is dead. Before he died, he was by your side..."
Jiang Jiang stepped forward, her face sorrowful. "If there's anything I can help with, please don't hesitate to ask."
"I just want to ask you—why did you kill him?!" The woman's eyes were bloodshot. "He loved your paintings, admired you, liked you, willingly risked his life to protect you—why did you kill him?!"
"Your son was killed by other players. How can you blame Jiang Jiang?" a player scolded her.
"She's the one who killed him!" The woman dumped the photos from the file folder in her arms. "These are all her paintings! Every person in them is a player who was by her side, and every single one died horribly!"
The photos scattered on the ground were exactly those from Jiang Jiang's studio, with the edges revealing part of the studio's layout. Apart from the corpses with their faces unseen, the other faces had all appeared on fan-built memorial websites.
The woman held up two photos—one was a photographed painting, the other a crime scene photo. She screamed hoarsely, "The upload time of this photo was before my son died! You knew he would die before he even did!"