Chapter 809: Ill Intentions
"Help... save me..." someone cried out to them. Those who could see them were buried relatively shallowly. Yan Jiayu would pull some out first, while telling others to wait.
"Miss, please save me..." a middle-aged man lay on the ground wailing, "My feet can't move... Other people's lives are lives, and mine is a life too. How can you prioritize like this..."
Yan Jiayu went over to take a look. "Uncle, your shoe is just stuck. If you try a little harder, you can crawl out on your own."
"I can't... my leg is injured and I can't move..." the middle-aged man roared with full vigor.
As he made a fuss, some of the lightly injured people who had been rescued nearby came over to tell Yan Jiayu to go help others, saying they would handle this person.
"Maybe his leg really is injured." Yan Jiayu yanked the middle-aged man out with one hand. Perhaps her movements weren't gentle enough, causing his calf to be scraped by the rebar as he came out, leaving a long bloody gash.
The middle-aged man screamed in pain. Yan Jiayu held him upright, patted his shoulder, and said, "Bleeding but not crying, keep it up!"
The middle-aged man's expression twisted, as if he wanted to say something more, but the next second she poked his neck and he passed out.
She clapped her hands and walked away briskly. The others quieted down upon seeing this. Those who had been shouting earlier for them to send the injured to the hospital first now fell silent.
Half of the collapsed building was still propped up by a prop. The two didn't waste time and tried to rescue as many people as they could. However, some were pinned in bad positions, and without medical personnel on site, they didn't move them.
But after the rescue players from District 009 arrived, the injured were quickly evacuated.
The nearby fighting hadn't stopped yet, but the player organization members consciously diverted the battlefield away, preventing the building from being hit a second time, so the rescue went relatively smoothly.
Of course, there were also players with ulterior motives drawing closer, but not in large numbers, and the rescue players could handle them.
But the good times didn't last long. A piercing alarm sounded, and the rescue players quickly retreated: "The top is about to collapse! Get out!"
Xu Huo and Yan Jiayu each carried two people out of the ruins. Just as they took cover on the nearby street, the building that had been held up by the prop collapsed, crashing down onto the previous rubble.
A gray haze of dust spread over them. Yan Jiayu let out a long sigh and quietly chanted something toward the ruins.
Xu Huo calmly watched the figures running through the dust—men and women, old and young, players and ordinary people alike, all as tiny as ants.
"What's the point of saving them?" a District 009 player not far away murmured. "Even if you pull them out, you might only let them live a little longer. What's the difference between dying under the rubble and dying on the way to the hospital?"
"There's a huge difference." Yan Jiayu turned back to that person and said, "In the game, whether you're a player or an ordinary person, life is hard. But if you just give up, it'll definitely be harder later. Everyone wants things to get better. You can't just smash the pot and call it even, right?"
"Besides, if you save ten people, maybe only one survives in the end. But at least that one lived."
"Maybe that survivor will become a very powerful player in the future?"
Her face was dirty, but her eyes were full of hope. "Plant the cause, reap the effect. If you sow good seeds, you'll definitely grow good fruit!"
"Don't give up on yourself, brother!"
That player had just started to feel a bit of warm chicken soup when he choked on it. "...I'm not giving up on myself..."
But Yan Jiayu shook her head. "You're even ready to give up on what's happening right in front of you. Isn't that giving up on yourself?"
The people nearby who heard this had complicated expressions, but they no longer seemed as sorrowful as before.
After finishing her reasoning, Yan Jiayu turned back, stared at the chaotic street for a moment, and then said, "I wonder if we'll get dinner tonight..."
"Probably not long before the player organization wraps things up," Xu Huo said. "Cleaning up the battlefield isn't our job. We can make it in time for dinner."
Then the two went back to help the rescue players for a while. When the sounds of fighting subsided a bit, and player organization members came out to check for any leftover loot, it was no longer appropriate for Xu Huo and Yan Jiayu, as players, to stay.
They withdrew early from the player organization's blockade circle.
To thank them for their help, a rescue player gave them a business card and directed them to a nearby hotel that could provide accommodation.
After washing up, the two ordered food and ate while watching the news.
The situation in District 009 was still deteriorating. Small-scale conflicts erupted almost every hour within the Capital Safe Zone, and several small safe zones in the outer areas had completely fallen, with death tolls that were shocking.
"I hope District 014 never has something like this happen," Yan Jiayu muttered to herself. "It'd be best to get a few large-scale defense props..."
Night soon fell. Xu Huo slept for a while before getting up to go to the exhibition hall to check on the awakened puppet. On his way back, he stopped by the government building that had collapsed during the day.
Everything inside the building had been moved out, leaving no props behind. He tried using the identifier and only got the result that there were corpses in the rubble—the players had dug out the players who died inside, leaving the ordinary office workers buried below.
He wasn't surprised.
He stood in front of the building for a while before leaving. Even while wearing the invisibility prop suit, he still received a few glances on the road, but that was all.
He returned to the hotel safely. But before dawn, many players gathered outside the hotel and outside their room.
Yan Jiayu immediately snapped awake. "They're here for us."
The two exchanged a glance, both knowing it wouldn't be good news. District 009 definitely wasn't coming to thank them for yesterday's rescue. It could only be because of that player suspected to be a member of the Holy Sword Society.
"Knock, knock, knock!" Someone knocked on the door. "I'm a representative from the Capital Safe Zone. Can I have a word with the two of you?"
"Come in," Xu Huo said loudly.
A slightly chubby middle-aged man walked in, his face full of kindness. "My surname is He, given name Hui. You can call me whatever you like. I'm here today on behalf of the Capital Safe Zone. First, I'd like to thank you both for lending a helping hand."
The three sat down. Xu Huo said, "It was just a small effort. No need to be so formal."
He Hui chuckled. "It's only right, only right. To express our gratitude, we've also prepared a small gift, which is on its way."
Xu Huo thanked him, then fell silent, staring at the other man. Yan Jiayu didn't speak either, and the three sat in awkward stillness.
After a moment, He Hui spoke first. "This is a bit hard to bring up, but I have something I'd like to verify with you two. Let me say upfront—your goodwill toward District 009 is beyond doubt. However, our losses yesterday were truly severe, and we didn't get the expected results. After much thought, the only way was to try to reconstruct the details as much as possible. That's why I'm being so presumptuous as to ask you both."
(End of Chapter)