Chapter 1362: Chapter 1363: Targeted Trap

“Nonsense!” The female player burst out after listening, but she didn’t say more because there was no point in arguing about it.

First, they couldn’t confront each other; not to mention Dr. Duor wasn’t present, even if he were, would the Ya Clan people believe what he said?

Secondly, even if the Ya Clan people believed it and the matter was indeed a misunderstanding, so what? There were old grudges, and those who died today would not come back to life. There was no room for reconciliation between the two sides.

They have nothing left to discuss, but Xu Huo does.

He used the “Goalkeeper” defensive barrier to guard against Number 3’s little tricks and then turned to ask the female player and others, “You all know that Dr. Duor has a duplicate, right?”

“Who are you?”

Whether from the Dongfeng Laboratory or the Ya Clan people, everyone harbored hostility towards this suddenly appearing Xu Huo, let alone him wanting to get involved actively.

“Just a plain old Passerby A, I’m simply here to clear the level; you can ignore me.” Xu Huo glanced back and forth between the laboratory people and the Ya Clan people, speaking amiably.

Although he said that, no one felt they could just ignore him, especially on the side of the Ya Clan people. Number 3 had already sent out a signal, but the companions meant to retreat had not come in yet—it’s unlikely they all encountered accidents, the only possibility is that they were stopped.

Xu Huo may not be alone.

“Are all the people from Dongfeng Laboratory here?” Xu Huo asked again.

The female player and her companions didn’t know what he meant, but they quickly saw him take out a painting and scrutinize the slowly writhing face in the picture. After a moment, everyone’s expressions changed dramatically: “You…!”

“It’s still a living painting right now, but that might not be the case in a while.” Xu Huo put the painting away, observing everyone’s expressions, “Are all the people from the Dongfeng Laboratory here?”

The female player glanced fearfully at Number 3 in the distance, “The main members of the laboratory are all here. The one behind me is the professor and head of the laboratory, also a scholar dedicated to genetic disease research.”

Judging by everyone’s expressions, she wasn’t lying. Xu Huo nodded, not surprised; the economic level of the Twin Cities wasn’t likely to attract better talents. Precisely because there were just a few people, those who came to receive live experiment data earlier seemed so convincing—if there were more people in the laboratory, they might not gain people’s trust, whereas, with fewer people, they could easily become the backbone of the lab and simply operate. Even if they did use the warehouse to store live experiment data, the people in the lab might not know.

True or false, it could be explained either way, but at this point, no one could be certain.

However, there’s a key point: whether Dr. Duor is really conducting live human experiments with the Ya Clan people, as they said, to select more suitable genes for evolution.

Interestingly, Dr. Duor himself never came to the Secondary City; instead, all his duplicates did. The duplicates, as individuals, have slight memory differences. Since humans can be created, forging memories shouldn’t be difficult. Even if all Dr. Duor’s memories only contained treatments for genetic diseases, it doesn’t mean they aren’t related to live human experiments; memories can be distorted and altered and might spill out upon triggering a switch—and the matter of Dr. Duor’s duplicates is precisely a hallmark of live human experiments.

Living clones are right in front; Dr. Duor could send so many duplicates to die, doesn’t that indicate a problem?

In other words, whether it’s the Twin Cities or the Ya Clan people, even if they sat down calmly for negotiations, due to these ambiguous evidence pieces, both parties would never be satisfied with the outcome.

After a brief pause, Xu Huo took out the “World in the Painting” again, showing Dr. Duor’s face to Number 3.

“I’ve already met a few Dr. Duors on the way,” he said, “all of them denying participation in live human experiments.”

“Whether or not you’re a Ya Clan person, Dr. Duor’s own words may not be credible, but you also need to consider practicality.”

“The Twin Cities are so impoverished, I don’t believe they have any groundbreaking advancements in evolution. If they did, it wouldn’t be sent to the Twin Cities. I believe there are plenty of other people in Zone 023 interested, so much that Dr. Duor wouldn’t have been hindered from reaching the Secondary City for so long.”

“Don’t hurry to interrupt me,” he said directly as he saw the other party ready to speak, “Listen to everything I have to say; after all, your companions can’t get in for now, why not hear an outsider’s perspective.”

Number 3’s face was covered by a mask, making it impossible to see his expression, but his silence was indicative of his stance.

“First, as I just said, the Twin Cities don’t have the conditions for live human experiments. Even if they did, since the information has leaked, the other cities in Zone 023 should be more interested than you are and not ignoring the matter. However, it seems that apart from you and out-of-zone players, no fourth party is involved.”

“Second, if the Capital City and Dr. Duor only intended to deliver a set of experimental data and one live human, there wouldn’t be a need to pay such a high price; having Dr. Duor himself come to the Secondary City fits the current context more, since the genetic disease is only spread between these two cities.”

“Third, the instance of escorting Dr. Duor to the Secondary City is named ‘New Hope.’ To my understanding, the naming of instances typically carries a certain emotional palette. Since it is named ‘New Hope,’ personally, I believe rescuing people in both cities is more fitting than having new results from live human experiments.”

In fact, the names of instances not only possess black and white contrasts, but sometimes they also offer hints. From the instances Xu Huo has participated in, they generally lean toward the positive, similar to the conclusion drawn on the initial assessment train: this game is not entirely a dark game—at least on the surface, it appears so, hence its exterior leans towards righteousness and kindness, just like receiving the Medal of the Radiant Gentleman after ruining the Skinning Artisan’s instance.

Therefore, “New Hope” is unlikely referring to live human experiments; besides, utilizing Ya Clan genes to enhance Zone 023’s evolution isn’t truly a new hope. After all, the Ya Clan people have short lifespans and their evolution isn’t strong either.

Overall, the people of Zone 023 are in a state of just having enough to eat and are wary of outsiders coveting their family’s few resources. Excluding the New District Government, practically everything born here is insignificant; thus, this “hope” naturally wouldn’t rise to the level of the entire game.

However, he didn’t say these words aloud.

Number 3 quickly asked, “Are you suggesting that this instance is a trap targeting the Ya Clan?”