Chapter 906: Your Sincerity and My Sincerity
Shangguan Xi's hair stood on end before he even finished listening, but Xu Huo quickly added, "Or rather, she plans to join forces with you to get rid of me, since the energy source is in both of your hands."
It seemed that being doubted by Xu Huo was more acceptable to Shangguan Xi than cooperating with that woman. He darkened his face and said, "I know most players are forced into situations, and sometimes I don't act like a decent person myself, but most of the time I consider myself a good man. I look down on people who play dirty tricks behind the scenes, and I will never cooperate with someone like that."
"Is your energy supply sufficient?" Ding Wei continued asking from below. "The underground warehouse has already been emptied."
"How much energy was in that warehouse?" Xu Huo asked Teacher Ai.
"Enough to fill three luggage compartments with room to spare." Teacher Ai glanced at the sky. "It's almost dawn. There are also mutants active during the day. You'd better decide quickly."
Xu Huo asked Shangguan Xi for a communicator.
"Are you really going to cooperate with them?" Shangguan Xi's surprise carried a hint of confusion.
Xu Huo tossed a communicator down and began the conversation with his first sentence: "Since we're going to cooperate, you need to show sincerity. Hand over the energy first. That goes for the other one over there too."
The player who had been keeping his distance from Ding Wei finally moved a little closer and spoke into the communicator, "Friend, that's a bit much, isn't it? If I give you the energy, I'll have nothing left."
Ding Wei held the same attitude, though her voice was charming and didn't make the refusal sound harsh. "Mr. Xu, you have to leave me with something to stand on. Both sides holding their own chips is the foundation of cooperation. Otherwise, I'm afraid I might be abandoned by my partner at any moment."
Unfortunately, Xu Huo wasn't buying it. "W18 definitely has more than just this one warehouse. We can either fight it out first, or wait until more players arrive."
This restriction applied to both sides. Ding Wei and the other player didn't want to delay, and Xu Huo didn't seem inclined to waste time either.
"Mr. Xu, this isn't good for either of us. Why don't you reconsider—"
Before Ding Wei could finish, Xu Huo was already standing in front of her, answering face to face, "No need. We can proceed to the next step right now."
The moment she saw him, Ding Wei instinctively retreated, leaping several times to land on a building top fifty meters away. But as soon as her feet touched down, in the blink of an eye, Xu Huo, who had been far below the protective wall, was in front of her again. This time, there were three meters between them.
Ding Wei didn't retreat again, nor did she attack, because Xu Huo, who held the initiative, hadn't made a move. The smile faded from her face as she made a slight concession. "Mr. Xu, I can give you the energy, but what about your sincerity?"
"A guide plus an off-road vehicle. Isn't that sincerity enough?" Xu Huo raised an eyebrow, then added after a pause, "If you have a space item, you could go directly to the W19 base."
Ding Wei's expression darkened, but she quickly put on a smile again. "Mr. Xu is so powerful, can't you make an exception for a weak woman?"
"Fine." Xu Huo was very straightforward. "If you feel unsafe handing over all the energy, then I'll take half, and you two split the other half. How about that?"
This time, Ding Wei's smile completely vanished, and a flicker of hesitation crossed her face. Xu Huo noticed it and added, "If you don't want to cooperate, that's fine too. Just stop following me."
Ding Wei looked at him with suspicion.
"You can think it over some more." Xu Huo returned to the wall. Instead of using "Gentleman's Poise," he grabbed the strings and slowly climbed up.
After he was back on the wall, Ding Wei and the male player began discussing.
"They must know each other," Shangguan Xi said. "Lucky them, falling into the same place."
Xu Huo glanced at him without speaking and handed one of the communicators he had obtained to Teacher Ai as well. The communicators here had a certain technological feel, but due to limited materials, they were quite large, looking more like semi-transparent tablets with handles on all four corners, capable of supporting simple holographic projections.
After pulling up the map, he asked Teacher Ai to mark it.
Teacher Ai circled a spot. "The desert wind is strong at night, and animals usually come out to forage during the day. It hasn't gotten hot yet, so this is prime time for mutants to appear. But there aren't many large mutants in the desert; most have evolved toward poisonous traits."
The distance was just over two thousand meters.
"I'll take people over first," Xu Huo said to Shangguan Xi. "I'll notify you once I find the vehicle."
Shangguan Xi nodded and pulled out two energy blocks. "Do you want to take all of them, or just try a couple first?"
Xu Huo took the two blocks from him without saying much and left with Teacher Ai.
For two thousand meters, using "Destination Arrival" a few times was enough. When they reached the spot Teacher Ai had indicated, all they could see was still a vast expanse of yellow sand. The wind was stronger here, making it nearly impossible to keep their eyes open without a protective shield.
Xu Huo looked at Teacher Ai, who felt around and tapped his right calf. A metal pillar rose first from a low sand dune about ten meters away, followed by several more identical pillars surrounding it. These formed a steep slope with the central pillar, and the sand flowing down the slope was channeled into a deep box-like trench circling the sides, gradually clearing the center.
This was likely a facility designed to prevent burial by sandstorms. However, because it had been buried for so long, the vehicle was still half-covered when it emerged, but the exposed part already revealed its shape.
The all-black metal body had a solid texture. The vehicle was about five meters wide and ten meters long, looking from a distance like a beetle crouching on the ground. The front windshield was relatively large, while the windows on the sides and rear were small and narrow, though there were more of them, and the outside was fitted with welded metal bars.
The interior was spacious, but a full metal partition separated the front and rear seats, leaving only two half-palm-wide viewing strips in the middle. Additionally, the ten-meter-long vehicle was divided into three sections, with the front connected to the rear two sections by quick-release joints.
"In desperate situations, you have to abandon your teammates." Teacher Ai stroked the rough tires. "I've ridden in this kind of vehicle countless times, but I've never returned to base intact."
"Maybe today will be different." Xu Huo gestured for him to open the door.
Teacher Ai pulled out the password screen from the driver's seat, entered the numbers, then turned back and said, "Please help me up."
"Do it yourself." Xu Huo used "Regulated Weightlessness" to make him float.
Once Teacher Ai was floating, he grabbed the door himself and climbed into the seat. The driver's position had no foot controls; all instruments had to be operated by hand. He skillfully activated the main switch, gripped the two handles in front, and pressed his thumbs, causing a control panel to pop out in front of the handles. There were no clear labels, only simple symbols representing different commands.
(Chapter End)