Chapter 976: A Chance to Live
"The few high-level players close to Mayor Gao should know the inside story, and perhaps some senior government officials are also aware." Xu Huo looked at Gao Xiaoyan. "Those in the know are definitely a minority. Most of the Enforcement Team players, the people working for the Government Hall, and their family members are likely completely in the dark."
"External factors might still be worth fighting for, but what if something goes wrong inside W37 Base City itself?"
"No matter how justified your reasons are, there will always be people who can't bring themselves to sacrifice others against their conscience."
"Spinning such a big lie is meant to keep the survivors from hating W37. You should have considered the players who risk their lives for W37, right? Before doing this, did you hand out a survey to test their bottom line?"
Gao Xiaoyan's face darkened. "Not everyone can see things from a global perspective... What are you trying to say?"
"Looks like you actually did do a survey." Xu Huo smiled. "After our first call, I removed the space prop blocking the Bird Tower. Don't you find that strange?"
A flicker of surprise passed through Gao Xiaoyan's eyes, and she immediately realized: "You let people into the Bird Tower!"
"This half-hour wasn't wasted waiting." Xu Huo said. "In the two minutes you isolated everyone else, someone might have already passed the message to other players. What Luo Changren and I said can't become fact, but the fact is, you delayed time and blocked others' ears and eyes while knowing the antidote was effective."
"You're bluffing me?" Gao Xiaoyan was half-convinced, half-doubtful.
"You can try." Xu Huo raised an eyebrow. "The choice is back in your hands. Doesn't that feel great?"
"You don't need to mock me," Gao Xiaoyan said with anger. "Why are you doing this? To save people who have nothing to do with you? You might only come to W37 once in your life. Do you want others to praise you as a good person?"
"That's not necessary." Xu Huo shook his head. "Like you said, I just happen to have the choice. Whether I do it or not depends on my mood. I don't necessarily need a reason."
If he had spoken righteously from a "justice" standpoint, Gao Xiaoyan might have found a loophole. But Xu Huo made it clear he didn't want to have a deep conversation with her, directly using her own words to shut her up.
The government had the choice, so they could decide to sacrifice the base city residents without asking their consent.
Similarly, Xu Huo had the antidote, so he had the choice to decide whether to save people without asking the Government Hall's consent.
The longer the stalemate dragged on, the more disadvantageous it was for Gao Xiaoyan. After hesitating for a moment, she said, "I agree to save people. Give me the antidote."
"I don't trust you. You use the password, and I'll release the antidote." Xu Huo was very direct.
Having made her decision, Gao Xiaoyan decisively put away her prop. She first looked around the first floor, then looked up toward the upper floors. "The password panel is on the top floor."
Xu Huo looked at Luo Changren, and only after he nodded did he agree to go upstairs.
"Brother Xu, have you two reached an agreement?" Shangguan Xi asked. "Should we go up too?"
"No need." Xu Huo gestured for him to come closer, used a silencing prop, and gave him a few instructions.
"No problem!" Shangguan Xi agreed readily.
Gao Xiaoyan's gaze lingered on them before she said, "First, remove the traps inside Ren Man's spiritual world. Also, Lou Jia has to come up with me."
"Those two things can be swapped in order," Xu Huo said. "First, open the Bird Tower. Lou Jia can come along. With an A-level player nearby, I won't be able to leave anytime soon."
Gao Xiaoyan still hesitated, but at that moment, Ren Man took the initiative to say, "Sister Xiaoyan, let's save people first. I'll guard the mayor here."
At his gaze, Gao Xiaoyan immediately turned her head away. She lowered her eyes to look at Gao Zhen, who was lying peacefully nearby. "The mayor is in your hands."
Xu Huo brought Luo Changren, and she brought Lou Jia. The four of them went upstairs together.
Gao Xiaoyan suspected he might be up to something, so Xu Huo didn't let Zhao Jie go, having them meet on the second floor.
When the two sides faced each other, Lou Jia immediately had murderous intent, while Zhao Jie seemed to have anticipated the situation and was completely unfazed. He looked angrily at Gao Xiaoyan, a communicator in his hand.
"It's too late to silence him. Let's go up." Xu Huo interrupted them, then said to Zhao Jie, "But you still have a chance to make peace."
Gao Xiaoyan didn't say much, just gave him a cold look.
The four went up to the top floor. Gao Xiaoyan pressed different spots on the bronze ring, and three relatively outdated password panels popped out. On the vertical blocks were password keys combining numbers and text. She entered different passwords on each in sequence. After that, the password panels retracted, and the metal floor in the center of the floor retracted toward the edges, forming a circular opening that grew from small to large from top to bottom.
Then, the curved metal decorations beneath each floor slab pushed inward toward the center, extended upward and downward, and connected layer by layer to form a complete cylinder. After the cylinder was formed, there were still sounds of metal parts moving and assembling inside the cylinder's core, but they couldn't be seen from the outside.
When the sounds completely stopped, two rows of card slots popped out from the metal cylinder in the center of the top floor.
In front of the three of them, Xu Huo took out the blue potion. But just as he was about to place it, the potion involuntarily slipped from his hand. Gao Xiaoyan and Luo Changren, standing nearby, instinctively reached out to catch it, but the potion flew automatically into Lou Jia's hand.
"Lou Jia!" Gao Xiaoyan turned around in anger.
"Miss Gao, this is the mayor's final plan for the base city." Lou Jia held the potion, his expression calm to the point of coldness. "You know the situation at the Government Hall very well. Soon, there won't be enough food and daily necessities for the entire city. Once supplies run short, riots are inevitable. Any disturbance will weaken the base city's cohesion. Do you want everything the mayor has painstakingly built to be ruined by a moment of soft-heartedness?"
"I'll handle Zhao Jie. Anything detrimental to the base city is just a rumor. No one will believe or pursue it afterward."
Gao Xiaoyan certainly didn't want the plan to fail at the last moment, but she had to consider Zhao Jie and the Enforcement Team players. Killing Zhao Jie was easy, but once that started, the consequences would only be more severe—a single spark can start a prairie fire. This would become another time bomb buried in W37!
"I have a question." Xu Huo spoke up at this moment. "Zhao Jie accidentally learned the truth, so you want to kill him. He might have passed the information to his friends, so you want to kill them too. The ordinary residents of the base city have become a burden, so you want to kill half of them. If the base city's resources become even scarcer in the future, will you continue to maintain balance by constantly reducing the population?"
"This is the only way for now." Lou Jia was unmoved. "We'll deal with the future when it comes."
"People are stronger than you think." Xu Huo said. "You think they can't survive if you drive them out of W37, but in reality, ordinary people have survived to this day in those abandoned base cities taken over by xenomorphs. You're clearing out the population to fight for a chance to live. Why not give them a chance to fight too?"
(This chapter ends)