Chapter 2512: The Truth
On the Mi Family’s side, Bubble Bean had come out as well. When Xu Huo and the others went into the Mi Family earlier, the Mi Family urgently called in a few Players to guard around the courtyard, but this kind of defense was really too flimsy; even forcing their way in would have been easy. Still, remembering Xu Huo’s request, he waited until there was a commotion at the Wan Family before sneaking in after the Mi Family people were lured out.
He saw Mi Fei very easily; the young man was locked in a room, looking dispirited.
After a brief standoff, Bubble Bean stated his purpose, had Old Lady Gui testify, and showed him the footage of Wan Dong being kidnapped, then started persuading him to tell what he knew.
Mi Fei’s expression was pained, but he clutched the alarm device and refused to talk. Bubble Bean probed him with a few more questions, but didn’t get the answers he wanted.
By this time, some people from the Mi Family had already returned, and Bubble Bean had no choice but to leave. Following Xu Huo’s instructions, he left Old Lady Gui behind.
Perhaps because of the ruckus at the Wan Family, the Mi Family people noticed him but didn’t give chase. Bubble Bean was heading out of town to rendezvous with Xu Huo, so he ran along with the crowd in the street, and before long ran into the Girl in the painting.
The two of them ran toward the agreed meeting point at Cat Whisker Fruit Tree Mountain. When they arrived and didn’t see anyone else, they stopped and found a place to hide. Only then did Bubble Bean feel something was off: the Mi Family’s people had been lured out, yet they showed no concern for what was happening at the Wan Family. He had already seen from outside that everyone who came out was chasing Xu Huo and the others, as if they didn’t know anything had happened to the Wan Family...
"Could this be a trap?" He frowned and turned to ask the Girl in the painting, "What else did he tell you? His main target shouldn’t be Mi Fei or the Mi Family, right!"
At first he’d thought this extortion stunt was to pry information out of Mi Fei, or else to use the opportunity to grab two Mi Family members and force a confession. It wasn’t hard to predict that the Mi Family wouldn’t show their faces to Players from the Outer Zone. Considering Xu Huo’s abilities, catching Mi Family people or Players was about the same. Just from the fact that Mi Fei was under house arrest at home, you could tell he couldn’t possibly know much more of the inside story; it would be better to grab one of the Mi Family’s Players.
But there had been such a big commotion over at the Wan Family that he was no longer sure. Weren’t they doing all this to quietly find out where the Wan Family were being held? Once things blew up, there was no guarantee the Wan Family wouldn’t be transferred or killed.
"Hey!" he called to the Girl in the painting, who was ignoring him.
The Girl in the painting didn’t even want to spare him a glance, sitting on a tree branch playing a game, acting like she hadn’t heard him.
Bubble Bean took a deep breath and held back his temper.
At the same time, Xu Huo and the others, who had already escaped the small town, were finally blocked by the Players chasing them.
However, the ones blocking them weren’t from the Mi Family.
They had passed by a mountain near Cat Fruit Town, already some distance away. Without something big happening, it’d be hard for both sides to share intel. Just when they thought they had shaken off the Mi Family, more than a dozen Players from the Military District appeared and effortlessly surrounded them.
The sealing barrier flickered with a faint light. Buzz Cut’s face darkened as he growled at Xu Huo, "Your people went too far and drew the Military District in. How the hell are we supposed to get out now!"
Xu Huo ignored him. His gaze fell on the people from the Military District, and he already had his answer.
These people were obviously lying in ambush here in advance. It had been less than two minutes since the explosion at the Wan Family; the fact that the Military District hadn’t been called back meant that they had arrived outside the town before the explosion. As for how they could predict their position so precisely, there was no explanation except that they had joined hands with the Mi Family.
In other words, when the Mi Family was being extorted, they decisively chose to notify the Military District. That was why the Mi Family agreed to everything—they knew they couldn’t get the goods out anyway and wanted to test how much Xu Huo and the others actually knew.
At this point, the Mi Family didn’t even need to show up in person. The answer was right in front of them: the Mi Family, the Military District, and the Law Enforcement Team all knew the inside story of the Wan Family’s kidnapping. They were guarding this place to control the flow of information. If they wanted a complete information blackout, they could have restricted communications and restricted Outer Zone Players from entering or leaving. The fact they didn’t do that meant they wanted the news to leak out.
The news could get out, but the truth couldn’t.
Seeing the situation going bad, Player One and Player Three wanted Buzz Cut to take out the Props and instruments they had just gotten and use them. Unfortunately, the Military District had already started calibrating the non-game field simulation instrument. Once that thing was turned on, Props would be rendered useless, and with the instrument interfering on top of that, they’d be reduced to hand-to-hand combat with these people.
"You folks take your time!" Player One was the first to bolt.
"You’ve screwed me over this time!" Buzz Cut ground his teeth and cut off the game channel. Now they were just ordinary people with slightly better stamina—how were they supposed to escape a encirclement by Players from the Military District?
As they spoke, the Military District Players had already moved in. These men, trained in special combat, worked together seamlessly; their offense and defense interwove into a tight net. Whether it was Buzz Cut and Player Three, or Xu Huo, they were all forced back step by step.
They were deliberately trying to separate the three of them. At this point, any so-called cooperation could be thrown out the window; finding a chance to escape was all that mattered!
Buzz Cut and Player Three tried to edge toward the instrument, but not only did the Military District Players cut them off in advance, they even sent more people their way.
With no other choice, Buzz Cut could only throw out the fake storage device. "What you want is right here!"
Unfortunately, the people from the Military District didn’t even glance over, letting the storage device fall to the ground.
Their Players were like machines. They were just executing orders and had no interaction with them. Xu Huo fought them while observing their condition, and finally locked onto a Player standing by the instrument.
"The Military District was involved in the Wan Family kidnapping," he said. "I guessed right, didn’t I?"
The Player’s expression didn’t change. His eyes were icy as he watched everyone inside the sealing circle.
Seeing this, Xu Huo went on, "The Wan Family has been operating in Cat Fruit Town for over a hundred years. At the start of Evolution, they protected the town. Later they adopted orphans and helped the neighbors. Even now, with District 001 developing fairly well, they still do good within their power."
"People like that are practically spiritual symbols."
"Yet you framed your political enemies and staged a massacre. I wonder, if the Wan Family knew the truth, would they hate you? Hate District 001? They dedicated their entire lives, only to end up as insignificant pieces to be sacrificed."
*
Once they pinned him down, the anesthetic needle was jabbed into his body.
His body suddenly went weak. Bi Qinglian was bruised and swollen but still conscious; he looked at the passageway ahead and closed his eyes helplessly.
Once they had him, the Military District Players quickly searched the cave once over. Finding nothing else, they dragged him out and said to their companions outside, "Check this underground passage."
A few more Players jumped down, released instruments, then followed along behind, carefully inspecting every corner of the passage.
By this time, the Girl in the painting had already squeezed through the small hole they had opened in the middle of the passage into Cat Fruit Town’s underground pipeline, then followed the pipes back up to the surface, moving against the flow of people toward the Mi Family.