The alien species with long gills rushed towards the direction of the Special Defense Department Headquarters, and the five players who were in Wen Mountain also withdrew from different areas. Special Defense Department players closely followed, not only for the aliens but also because of the planned bombing.
The estimate was thirty minutes, but due to the changing situation, the time had already exceeded that. The Special Defense Department had reissued the command, insisting on executing the bombing.
Xu Huo also received a call from Chief Wu. After asking about the current water quality report and learning that the composition of the black rain hadn’t changed much, he suddenly realized something else—the depression might be one of the sources of the black rain, but not necessarily the only one.
Assuming that the special properties of the prop allowed the depression to sustain such a large amount of rainfall, then the period when the depression was being purified should have caused the rain in the Jing City area to change in quality.
Why did the alien species carry the prop towards Jing City? After the players from Country Y failed their mission to guard the prop, why did they also retreat in the direction of Jing City?
Many thoughts surged forth at once but were dismissed in an extremely short time. Xu Huo dialed Nie Xuan’s number.
Nie Xuan was still interrogating that player, using various props and drugs that could affect the mind, but had not extracted much useful information. After all that effort, the conclusion was that the player was just a bait, but they couldn’t kill him either.
"Did you discover any useful clues?" Nie Xuan didn’t beat around the bush and went straight to the point.
"Do you know that the aliens from below the depression are heading towards the Special Defense Department?" Xu Huo said, "The alien species lack the ability to think; they only know to run in a straight line. You can see which direction they’re going on the surveillance, right?"
Nie Xuan turned his computer around, "The drones have already followed them. Although they haven’t entered headquarters territory, we have a clear direction."
"The aliens and the player guarding the depression must have had two tasks: to serve as bait and to transport the prop. If the player were discovered, the aliens would transfer the prop; if not, the player would likely be responsible for the transfer," Xu Huo quickly said, "I estimate that one of the operating conditions for this high-level prop is that it needs a large open-air water source."
Nie Xuan’s fingers moved swiftly on the computer, "So the places with open-air water sources along the aliens’ route of movement should be the lurking players’ second target. Just find the second contaminated water source along this line, and we can thwart their plans!"
"Not a contaminated water source, clean water sources can’t be ruled out either," Xu Huo said.
Nie Xuan paused, "You mean the real source of the black rain isn’t a ground water source?"
"I can’t be sure of that, but the proportions of the rainfall are not correct," Xu Huo, who had already brought the Girl in the Painting out with the Nüwa Stone and the prop, omitted the matter of the changing water quality in the depression and continued, "Bombing Wen Mountain now is meaningless. The aliens are more useful than those players. I’ve asked Li Chun to keep them behind."
"Stop bombing Wen Mountain?" As Nie Xuan spoke, he signaled to someone beside him, "Can the reservoir in Wen Mountain save those common people who have turned into aliens?"
"If the Special Defense Department can prevent the black rain from falling everywhere, it should be possible," Xu Huo laughed.
"Good!" Nie Xuan cleared away the gloom from before, "Wen Mountain is in your hands. We at the Special Defense Department won’t let you down either; we’ll definitely capture them ahead of time!"
Both parties were clever. Xu Huo didn’t explicitly mention the black rain prop, and Nie Xuan naturally didn’t ask him how he guessed the arrangement for the transfer of the ground prop.
Nie Xuan’s communication quickly reached headquarters and the safety zone, and the order to bomb Wen Mountain was retracted. Zeng Tai and others also received instructions to stop the pursuit of lurking players and return to defend headquarters.
The elite members of the Special Defense Department had the advantage in numbers. They had killed three of the opposition’s people, but they had also lost two of their own. The group was pursuing their advantage and seeking revenge for their comrades when they suddenly received this order, naturally leading to confusion. Zeng Tai immediately started arguing with Chief Wu, but before he said much, his phone was smashed.
"Headquarters has handed them over to Xu Huo," the tall and thin player said with a cold look towards the direction of the depression.
"Don’t talk nonsense, Jian Yuanjie!" Zeng Tai shouted displeased, "No matter how powerful Xu Huo is, he’s just one person. There are still five players running all over the place. Has he learned some cloning technique or what?"
"Didn’t you just say he killed one of the opposition without even lifting a finger?" the female player Zhu Yuchan pondered, "Maybe he has methods beyond our understanding."
"What rubbish method, I don’t believe he can kill five players alone!" Zeng Tai said indignantly, "No matter what you think, I’m going to find those bastards!"
Jian Yuanjie blocked him, "Follow the order!"
As their eyes met, Zeng Tai backed down, grudgingly letting it go, "I want to see how he deals with those people!"
The group was somewhat reluctant, but Wang Chaoqing was running at the forefront, very happy, "Why wouldn’t it be good to not have to risk life and limb? Crazy!"
Zeng Tai was looking for a way to vent his frustration, and in a few steps, he rushed over, grabbed his collar, and was about to throw a punch when suddenly, a dark shadow flew quickly over their heads. Zhu Yuchan shone her light to follow it, only to discover it was a person wrapped in white strips!
"That’s the lurking player!" she changed her expression.
"How can you recognize them when they are wrapped up so tightly?" Zeng Tai was surprised.
"Are you blind? Didn’t you see his shoes?" Wang Chaoqing slapped away his hand.
Zeng Tai really hadn’t seen clearly, but several other players confirmed it, and belatedly realizing the person was flying upside down back towards the direction of the depression, the group understood and stopped their meaningless venting, quickly heading to headquarters to intercept the aliens.
At the depression, the Girl in the Painting dragged the two unconscious players over using the paper Xu Huo had prepared, took out the "World in the Painting" to put the people inside, and then she went up to Wen Mountain to place the Nüwa Stone and the King Fungus into the water reservoir.
"Why plant it here, where there’s no mud? Nothing will grow," the Girl in the Painting said idly as she chatted, her neck adorned with the Bright Gentleman’s medal gifted by Yan Jiayu.
"It can survive even without mud," Xu Huo carried the kite string wrapped around the outside of the box and sat at the entrance to the water reservoir, flipping a cube back and forth in his hands.
He had tried using the prop to destroy it, and to put it in a box or a shelter, but the thing was truly indestructible. The "Life Core" had no effect on it either. If it were put inside a prop, that prop could no longer be placed in the prop column.
The Girl in the Painting saw Xu Huo wasn’t paying attention to her and sneakily crawled into the "World in the Painting." Soon thereafter, the two oil-painted faces crammed together in the painting began to move. Less than thirty seconds later, she crawled out again, dejectedly sitting to one side and pretending she hadn’t done anything.
Xu Huo turned and looked at her.
"It wasn’t on purpose," the Girl in the Painting said guiltily, "I hadn’t even spoken to him when he suddenly vomited blood and died."