Chapter 952: News Travels
After the explosion came waves of wailing and screams. Before the cries for help could fully emerge, residents near the explosion's center poured out one after another, fleeing madly and blindly into the distance.
Only the players could remain slightly calmer. Whether it was the Enforcement Team or those blending in with ordinary people for leisure, they immediately separated from the crowd and leaped onto nearby buildings.
Shangguan Xi also came up, heading straight toward Xu Huo's direction. As they met face to face, he exclaimed in surprise, "That's way too big a move. A lot of people are going to die."
"It wasn't me," Xu Huo said in a deep voice. "Teacher Ai and that retired security guard ran off."
Shangguan Xi understood instantly. "I knew that old bastard wasn't a good thing. I put a tracker on him."
He said this while pulling out an item, but only had time to glance at the signal before it disappeared.
"Pretty fast runner. Only a general direction left."
Xu Huo had already seen it—Teacher Ai hadn't yet escaped the range of "Shared Location." He grabbed Shangguan Xi and threw out "Destination Arrival."
After two uses, they caught up to Teacher Ai, but players from W37 had also tracked to the vicinity. The Enforcement Team, already patrolling nearby, had followed Teacher Ai and the other man the moment they escaped, only delayed by their fast-moving items. Now, Teacher Ai and his companion were trapped by a wall twenty meters high. Enforcement Team players poured over it like dumplings into a pot, and with a toss of items, the two were bound hand and foot and thrown to the ground.
But just as the Enforcement Team moved to apprehend them, Teacher Ai and the other man suddenly vanished from the spot, as if they had slipped into the game to escape the district.
"Entering the game is a dead end. They can't have gone far. Search the area!" a player in a peaked cap shouted.
The Enforcement Team players scattered again, using items and instruments for a carpet search, not even sparing the sewers.
People on the streets were herded into buildings, and so were outside players. Anyone walking freely on the street was considered suspicious. Within five minutes of the operation, the Enforcement Team had caught three outside players.
Outer zone players who hadn't managed to escape using tickets were dragged away like dead dogs in nets. This served as a warning to others. The Enforcement Team players were almost all well-trained, skilled in using items and coordinating in teams—they were experienced.
They also used space-restriction items to partition and block off nearby streets. That meant "invisibility" and the like wouldn't work—any movement in the space would draw attention.
But this wasn't a problem for Xu Huo. "Gentleman's Poise" could send him a hundred meters into the air, high enough to evade most restriction items. He scanned the ground and quickly spotted Teacher Ai moving rapidly eastward.
Just as he was about to go after him, three players flashed into the air, surrounding him in a triangle.
"Friend, the Enforcement Team is handling business. Please stay put for a while," the peaked cap player said, pinpointing his location precisely.
Xu Huo slightly altered his voice. "I have business of my own. I won't interfere with the Enforcement Team. Please let me pass."
The other two players lacked the peaked cap player's patience. One reached out and pressed down from above, and Xu Huo was immediately forced toward the ground by a powerful pressure. Meanwhile, a female player turned into a shadow, circled behind him in an instant, and reached for his heart!
Xu Huo used "Controlled Weightlessness" and "Light Sandwich," stalling the female player before following the downward force to the ground. He used "Dead End" to block off nearby players closing in, then directly pierced the space barrier formed by the items, weaving quickly through the streets.
These space barriers didn't just affect outside players—they also restricted the Enforcement Team. So when the peaked cap trio gave chase, they were held back by their own people.
"Intercept along the route!" the peaked cap player ordered nearby Enforcement Team members, determined to stop Xu Huo.
But Xu Huo was wearing an invisibility cloak and moving fast, making it hard to track his position. And with the new interception task, the Enforcement Team began receiving frequent requests for reinforcements.
"These outside players are completely unruly!" the female player beside the peaked cap player fumed. "What good does stirring up trouble do them now!"
It did no good, but with Xu Huo leading the way, the players who were already unhappy about being forced to stay began stirring the pot. What did what happened in W37 have to do with them?
A black smoke suddenly surged from a street corner. The next second, people hiding inside scrambled out in panic. After a few players shot away, ordinary people who had inhaled the black smoke fell to their knees coughing blood. Within seconds, five were dead!
"Bastards!" The peaked cap player and his two companions gave chase. Now they had no time for Xu Huo, turning their spearhead toward the players who were killing indiscriminately!
The blockade zone the Enforcement Team had set up quickly collapsed. Enforcement Team players and outside zone players began a small-scale melee.
This was, after all, a base city. As the situation escalated, players from other areas soon came to support. A few were caught, but more outside zone players hid in the station. In the end, the Enforcement Team's hard work yielded little, and with the blockade broken, most who could run had already fled.
Xu Huo soon caught up with Teacher Ai. He and the retired security guard had slipped through an underground passage into a jewelry store's warehouse. The warehouse likely had an item placed on it, as the tracking signal disappeared near there.
He couldn't directly pass through the metal-structured warehouse. After shaking off two players in the jewelry store, he went straight to the warehouse door and knocked. "Teacher Ai, it's me."
"The Enforcement Team is everywhere outside. Don't rush to run," he continued before the other could respond. "I came to tell you that the epidemic that broke out in W06 will soon spread again in W37's base city."
The warehouse door suddenly swung open. Teacher Ai, standing with the help of an item, said in disbelief, "Absolutely impossible!"
Xu Huo glanced at the wary retired security guard. "Why impossible? I've already been to the quarantine zone. The same infected as the survivors from W18 have shown signs. If I understand correctly, the virus carried by those who've survived until now is already very mild. There shouldn't be any worsening of symptoms."
"The quarantine zone was sealed off half an hour ago."
Teacher Ai was silent for a few seconds, then a fierce anger erupted on his gaunt face. "Living samples! The living samples sent to W37 are the source of infection!"
"What samples?" the square-jawed man pressed urgently. "Weren't the original SE virus samples destroyed?"
(Chapter End)