Chapter 2668: Successfully Clearing the Level
Lian Qingkong looked even older than just now, his whole body seeming to shrivel, each breath heavier than the last—but at this moment, no one dared look down on him.
"Who are you?!" Everyone naturally saw the stranger standing by the sickbed, as well as the young Player frozen two meters away.
"It’s you!" The stranded Players who cared desperately about the National Treasure recognized Xu Huo at a glance. Seeing he’d actually survived to reach Capital City and even found his way to Lian Qingkong, they immediately tried to kill him.
However, the instruments Xu Huo carried had already formed a continuous cover around the sickbed, and in the same motion locked down two Players who were attempting to use Space Bombs.
Without looking at the Defensive Barrier that was being attacked over and over, nor at the government Players who were anxious to the point of panic, Xu Huo pulled a syringe from his pocket, lifted Lian Qingkong’s arm, and injected him. "I prepared this early, just in case you couldn’t catch your breath."
Lian Qingkong gave a slight nod toward his colleagues being blocked outside, then asked Xu Huo, "Have you found the National Treasure?"
"If I couldn’t find it, I wouldn’t be back today." After finishing the shot, Xu Huo even thoughtfully pulled the covers up for him, then finally looked toward the group of stranded Players outside who were jumping in fury. "Now you can place your bets on whether what I’m holding is really the National Treasure or not."
"If it’s not, you’re free to walk."
"If it is, tough luck for you."
"Kill him! Kill him, now!" A Player’s eyes went bloodshot as he yelled, "I’ve already married and had kids in Yu Country, why should I be sent into high-risk instances for the sake of late-arriving Players? Ten years! Over a hundred missed instances! If this instance disappears, the only thing left for me is death!"
Xu Huo looked at him and gave a faint smile. Then, under everyone’s gaze, that Player rapidly aged, shriveling into a small, emaciated figure, his bones snapping until he died.
Under the horrified stares of the crowd, Xu Huo spoke again, "Risk your life in a high-risk instance to live a little longer, or die right now—think it through before you choose."
Inside and outside the sanatorium, there was dead silence.
"Wait, wait!" The few unlucky ones who’d been sent out by Xu Huo to look for clues rushed back in a panic. "Don’t rush to clear the instance, you haven’t given us the Antitoxin yet!"
"I brought you something useful too!" The unlucky guy hurriedly added, raising the notebook in his hand. "It’s a roster..."
Before he finished speaking, someone nearby tried to silence him. Xu Huo, however, used a Mental Portal first and pulled that person into the sanatorium; the Player who’d tried to make a move was strangled to death in an instant by a Materialized Item.
"We have one too!" Bald Head and the female Player scrambled to take out what they’d found.
Xu Huo shut down the outermost Defensive Barrier and brought the two of them inside. "Where is it?"
"In the luggage compartment..." Bald Head said nervously, "My personal panel is blocked, I can’t take it out either..."
Xu Huo shifted his gaze to the female Player. She took a box from her backpack and handed it to him. "It’s in here."
Xu Huo didn’t take it immediately, but asked, "Who gave you this box?"
The female Player’s expression changed slightly. "What do you mean who gave it to me, I picked it up myself..."
Before she could finish, she was frozen on the spot.
Bald Head turned pale with fright and hastily tried to prove his innocence, but with his personal panel locked, whatever he said didn’t matter much.
Taking the unlucky guy’s roster, Xu Huo said, "Don’t be in such a hurry to leave later."
The two nodded. They weren’t in a hurry; they were only afraid Xu Huo would be.
Xu Huo first handed the roster to Lian Qingkong.
Lian Qingkong picked it up and flipped through it, then traced the origins of that family before saying, "They really might be Gao descendants, specially compiling this roster—there may be Gao bloodlines in it."
"Looks like the National Treasure refers to the genealogy of the Gao and Peng descendants." Xu Huo said, "I wonder if the person who convinced Her to scheme against me is also one of those two families’ descendants."
He was referring to the female Player.
"After so many generations, everyone’s thoughts are different." Lian Qingkong didn’t care much. "Where’s the National Treasure you obtained?"
"Give it a second." Xu Huo checked the time. "It should be about now."
As his words fell, a flying vehicle landed outside the sanatorium. The Girl in the painting, Xiao Mei, and several government Players jumped down and strode boldly inside, followed by Dai He and others who hadn’t made it in the first wave.
The Girl in the painting walked up to Xu Huo in a few quick steps and took something from her backpack—a thick volume, the six characters "Chengfeng Gao Clan Tree" gleaming openly on the cover for all to see.
"The National Treasure is actually a genealogy?!"
Information about the National Treasure instance had long since been dug clean. Since it was a genealogy, people could more or less guess which family’s names were written on it.
A breeze from afar lifted a corner of the genealogy, the densely packed names on it sending imaginations running wild.
At this moment, many local Players finally realized the weight of the "National Treasure." It wasn’t a mere token, but a roster recording the Gao and Peng descendants. With this roster in hand, those Players among the two surnamed bloodlines who were hiding like ghosts would be exposed by Invisible Pursuit—using them, one could accomplish a lot of things!
The vision was beautiful, of course, but the Gao and Peng descendants had already made it clear before assisting Xu Huo: no one who obtained the genealogy would be able to threaten them!
Still, whether the genealogy fell into local Players’ hands or those of Outer Zone Players would make a difference. And now that the truth—that the "National Treasure" was the genealogy—had been made public, Xu Huo had also lost his status as a collaborator.
Ignoring the killing intent surging from all directions, Xu Huo handed the "complete" "Chengfeng Gao Clan Tree" to Lian Qingkong.
Lian Qingkong stroked the paper at the bottom of the genealogy and couldn’t help but smile as he asked, "If it were up to you, how would you handle this genealogy?"
Sitting down at the bedside, Xu Huo said casually, "It’s not much use. Better to burn it."
"Then burn it." Lian Qingkong looked at the Girl in the painting. "Lend me some fire."
The Girl in the painting pulled a lighter from her backpack. With a crisp "ding," the flame jumped from the lighter to the old book, instantly flaring into a large blaze—the "National Treasure" that had carried the Gao and Peng surnames and been fought over for nearly twenty years gradually turned to ash under the eyes of all the factions.
From this day on, no one would fight over the "National Treasure" anymore. The Gao and Peng descendants whose identities had been hidden as they worked for the government and joined Player Organizations would no longer need to fear having their lifelines pinched in someone’s grip. In the future, no one would be able to use the pretext of the "National Treasure" to stir up trouble, and no one would be forced to bear the shackles of "National Heritage."
At Lian Qingkong’s signal, the simulation instruments were shut down. The stranded Players whose eyes were bloodshot from being blocked by the local Players vanished one after another amid curses and shouted abuse, until only a handful remained. At the same time, Xu Huo received a game notification:
[Congratulations to all Players for clearing Rank-B instance "Illusory Spark," successfully locating the "National Treasure" and assisting the new Chief Governor in stabilizing Yu Country, resolving the irreconcilable conflict between the two surnamed descendants and the government, and bringing this instance to a perfect close. In addition to the team and personal rewards for this instance, each of you will also receive an extra Rank-B armed robot, one Special item, and one Characteristics upgrade opportunity.]