Chapter 905: Lies Sound Better Than Truth
"Since you're going to take me along anyway, you might as well give it a try. You won't lose anything." Teacher Ai maintained the same attitude.
Shangguan Xi looked at Xu Huo, seeking his opinion with his eyes.
Xu Huo's purpose in finding a guide was exactly this, so of course he wouldn't object. Apart from Teacher Ai, there didn't seem to be a better choice in the base city.
"Where do we get the energy?" he asked.
"First get the city floor plan, and I'll tell you where the energy is." Teacher Ai said.
Xu Huo took out the floor plan he had photographed from the library from his luggage compartment and enlarged it with his communicator.
"Behind the Third Energy Factory, there's a miscellaneous storage warehouse." Teacher Ai said. "The backup energy is hidden underground. Two meters to the right of the third floor tile counting from the entrance, there's a hidden password lock. Open the floorboard and you'll see it. The password is 33927."
"There are also backup communication tools inside."
"I'll go." Shangguan Xi said. "Brother Xu, you stay here and watch them, don't let them run away."
The Third Energy Factory wasn't far from their location, so going there and back wouldn't take much time.
Xu Huo nodded. "Be careful."
Moving alone was much more convenient. Shangguan Xi didn't plan to crawl back through the pipes either. After feeling around on the protective wall for a while, he pried open a steel plate, put on a color-changing prop suit, and slid down along the wall.
"He's not very sharp." After a while, Teacher Ai spoke up. "Letting him go alone will only bring more players here."
"It doesn't matter." Xu Huo looked towards the city. "Anyone who comes will either be a companion or cannon fodder."
Teacher Ai, as if not catching the implication in his words, said again, "Wouldn't it be better to go alone? You can still find companions when you get to the W19 base. It saves you the trouble of the transitional journey and doesn't delay clearing the instance. Maybe by now, someone else has already beaten you to the mission target."
Xu Huo didn't reveal his stance, instead saying, "Isn't that why I have you? Taking a shortcut will let us catch up."
"How do you know what I'm saying is true?" Teacher Ai pressed.
"You're a smart person, you should be able to figure it out." Xu Huo withdrew his gaze. "Instead of testing my limits, why not comfort the kid? His faith has completely collapsed."
The listless teenager squatting nearby immediately stiffened his neck.
Teacher Ai's attitude towards the teenager was very cold. "I live to leave. The people here have nothing to do with me."
"Teacher..." The teenager looked at him with red-rimmed eyes.
Teacher Ai didn't avoid his gaze. Xu Huo, who had been watching for a while, let out a laugh. "Why bother? Since we've agreed on terms, I'm not going to turn around and kill everyone in the base city."
"It's not for them." Teacher Ai calmly defended himself. "Every infected person will die eventually. Sooner or later makes no difference. Rather than suffering, it's better to die early."
"Living always holds a bit of hope." Xu Huo said. "Maybe a treatment potion will appear in the near future."
Teacher Ai didn't speak this time. He lowered his eyelids and looked at the patches on the back of his hand.
Facing an ordinary disabled person, it was understandable for players to let their guard down. After all, even if an ordinary person knew the content of the instance, they couldn't change anything. Therefore, it was possible that Teacher Ai knew the way to clear this instance was to transport the humans who had developed antibodies to other base cities. A normal person should be filled with hope.
His gaze didn't linger on him for too long. Xu Huo turned back to look at the city and saw Shangguan Xi waving at him from a great distance.
Coming back with him were two people, one of whom was Ding Wei.
Xu Huo took out the promised fifteen jin of guide fee and handed it to the teenager. "Since Teacher Ai is coming with me, he won't need these things anymore. Take them back."
"I don't want them." The teenager said angrily.
But Teacher Ai turned his head and said sharply, "What use is pride when you're about to starve to death? Take the food and get lost!"
The teenager, however, didn't understand his good intentions and retorted, "Didn't you say a person must have pride at all times? A person without pride isn't a person!"
"Without pride, you're not a person. Do you think dead people are still people?" Teacher Ai mocked.
In terms of reasoning, the teenager was certainly no match for him, but he still held his breath and refused to take the things, saying, "I'll find food myself!"
"There are seeds inside." Xu Huo said at this point. "I see that the survivors in the city aren't greatly affected by the plague. Since they can reproduce, they can survive. You can't be lucky enough to find food every time. Without enough food, how many more years can the people here last?"
"As long as one of you becomes a player, everyone's situation can improve."
The teenager's back stopped. He gritted his teeth and turned to glare at Xu Huo.
Xu Huo just smiled. "If the hope isn't in you, it's in those children."
The teenager quickly glanced at Teacher Ai. After receiving no response, he dejectedly picked up the bag on the ground, slung it over his back, and stepped onto the ladder. As he left, he asked Xu Huo, "I know you're a good person. I saw you secretly giving candy to the children. Will you really take Teacher Ai to the W37 base?"
Xu Huo looked at him silently.
The teenager took a deep breath. "I understand. One day, I will leave W18 too!"
With that, he didn't look up again and quickly disappeared into the passage.
"Lies sound better than truth." Teacher Ai raised his head slightly, as if talking to himself, or as if speaking to Xu Huo.
It was obvious that these contaminated people didn't qualify to be players, and neither would their descendants.
Xu Huo didn't see it that way.
When Shangguan Xi climbed onto the protective wall, the two players who had followed him also appeared one after another. Ding Wei stood below the wall, using a large writing board instead of speaking: "I saw you still had some energy you hadn't taken away, so I helped bring it over."
Shangguan Xi's gaze turned cold. "I was just about to say there was quite a bit of energy, and my luggage compartment couldn't hold it all. I didn't expect someone to take advantage!"
"Is one luggage compartment of energy enough?"
He asked Teacher Ai again.
"Whether it's enough depends on how smooth the road is." Teacher Ai said vaguely.
"We're all trying to clear the instance, don't be so stingy. Live experimental samples can't be put into the luggage compartment, so you definitely need to team up. Instead of finding someone on the spot, why not travel with someone you have a bit of history with, like me? At least I won't easily switch sides." Ding Wei's reasoning was quite solid.
"Won't easily switch sides?" Shangguan Xi, who had been pushed out as a shield, was so angry his eyebrows were about to stand up. Before he could badmouth Xu Huo, the words on the board below changed to: "My loyalty to my teammates is directly proportional to their appearance."
"She's calling me ugly!" Shangguan Xi was furious. "I'm going to kill her right now!"
"Can't you see she's trying to provoke you?" Xu Huo interrupted him. "If she kills you, my only option left is cooperation."