CHAPTER 1572: CHAPTER 1572: HAPPY COOPERATION

Nie Xuan remained silent, and after a moment supported himself with one hand on the coffee table in front of him, his expression somewhat strained. He looked up at the person opposite him, who remained motionless, and finally relaxed his fingers, slowly sitting upright.

Xu Huo hadn’t said anything yet when the Girl in the painting quickly swiped her fingers across the phone screen, pulling up an audio file she had saved in advance and asked Nie Xuan, "What are you doing? Want to fight?"

Nie Xuan smiled at her, "Don’t worry, I don’t necessarily win."

"Of course you won’t win!" the Girl in the painting said with a straight face, "I can take you down twenty times over all by myself!"

Nie Xuan didn’t argue with someone who has mental issues and turned his attention to Xu Huo again, "I agree to your request."

As he spoke, he put away the certificates on the table and brought out a new set, but among these certificates, there was no mention of the secret laboratory where the Super Evolver resided.

Xu Huo looked at him with a half-smile, "It seems some people’s lives don’t matter, the Super Evolver is more important."

"For the sake of Zone 014, some sacrifices are necessary. I believe they will understand," Nie Xuan said lightly, just as they sacrifice others.

This time, Xu Huo carefully looked at the locations written on the certificate, "This time it’s genuine, right?"

Nie Xuan sat back in his wheelchair, re-covered himself with the blanket, "I can drink a Truth Serum to prove my innocence."

"That’s unnecessary, I think the potion might not work on you," Xu Huo said, "Let’s hope we can have a pleasant cooperation this time."

Nie Xuan swiftly stamped several certificates and directly handed them to the Girl in the painting.

With formalities settled, he pressed a call button to have someone pick him up.

After a pause, he continued, "What do you think Zone 014 will become in the future?"

"As long as it’s not like Zone 017, there’s still hope," Xu Huo said.

Nie Xuan smiled ambiguously, "When I guessed the identity of the Girl in the painting, I knew without you, Zone 014 would not have reached today’s situation so quickly."

"Sometimes hardship isn’t necessarily a bad thing, a peaceful transition causes some people to only see the present plot of land without realizing Zone 014’s position in the game."

"If your hardship involves sacrificing the innocent, then it’s unnecessary," Xu Huo differed in opinion, "After all, before becoming Players, you and I were ordinary people."

People are the foundation of all civilization; Country X’s concessions and sacrifices during the Super Props incident were also to protect more people. The future is unpredictable, and the chain reactions from a butterfly flapping its wings are uncertain. Country, Players, ordinary people, everyone is on the same boat braving the waves, so there’s no reason to drill holes in the ship to handle some pests.

The person picking up Nie Xuan knocked at the door, and the Girl in the painting went to open it.

"Let’s have a pleasant collaboration." Nie Xuan nodded to Xu Huo, ending the discussion.

"Are they bad people? Should we kill them?" the Girl in the painting asked Xu Huo after closing the door.

Xu Huo chuckled, "Didn’t they just gift you a few houses? Turning your back so quickly?"

The Girl in the painting lowered her head a bit in embarrassment, then leaned close to Xu Huo, whispering, "I noticed you dislike them. I can help you kill them all."

Xu Huo handed her some candies, "Get some rest, things will get busy soon."

Unconcerned by his lack of response, the Girl in the painting took the candies to share, her friendship with Tongtong growing rapidly. Naturally, she would keep one-third of the good stuff for him.

After Nie Xuan left, Jiang Qiao arrived with people and materials.

"These are the records of places you mentioned earlier, suitable for fungus growth."

"Since we don’t know your specific criteria, we’ve screened all potential locations."

"Let’s start from the zones."

Xu Huo nodded, reviewing the zones of abnormal fungus evolution according to Jiang Qiao’s arrangement.

These zones account for a small proportion of all the zones visited by Players in Zone 014, more often in certain special environments within a zone where one or more types of fungus grow rapidly, but far from reaching the scale of the Underground Fungus Cavern of Clown City.

Most places didn’t meet Xu Huo’s expectations; only a few looked promising, with large-scale growth and diverse species, mainly due to the diversity.

If a place only massively grows one type of fungus, it instead indicates other fungi cannot survive there.

After selecting five locations, Xu Huo handed Jiang Qiao five recently extracted mycelium strands soaked in nutrient solution.

"Cultivate the mycelium in these places. If they split into one or two new ones, consider it a success. If the mycelium dies, handle it yourselves."

Jiang Qiao carefully collected the nutrient solution, "I thank you on behalf of all the infected and apologize on behalf of the Special Defense Department for this time."

Xu Huo nodded casually without taking it to heart, and instead asked, "How’s Lü Yin doing?"

Jiang Qiao paused, watching him with a complicated look, "After disconnecting from the infection source, she’s recovering well. Director Lü will return to Jing City soon."

"That’s good."

Xu Huo indicated the Girl in the painting to see the guests off.

Jiang Qiao wanted to say something, but the approaching Girl in the painting waved a fist at her fiercely behind Xu Huo’s back.

Swallowing her words, Jiang Qiao carried over the aluminum box next to her, "It’s a small gift from the Special Defense Department; please accept it."

"Nothing special, just some health potions and game appliances, not included in the rewards."

After Special Defense Department people left, the Girl in the painting was uninterested in the potions but was delighted with the game console, hugging it excitedly as she headed to the TV.

After a while, Father Xu and others returned, asking Xu Huo to pick up Elder Xu.

Elder Xu’s condition improved after taking the potion Xu Huo brought back from the game, and the Special Defense Department sent him potions regularly. However, Elder Xu couldn’t use them all and mailed some to his old friends.

But some elderly were indeed too old, and the potion couldn’t do much, coupled with the rapid change in Zone 014’s environment, two of them couldn’t hold on and passed away.

Elder Xu felt if he didn’t hurry to see friends, he might not have the chance, so he drove himself to visit them.

The Family of Xu strongly opposed this initially, but Elder Xu held a light view on life and death, being confined in the residential community was making him suffer. Somehow, he persuaded the Special Defense Department and really left the safe community, having been away for a while. The last contact mentioned he was with friends in the mountains to experience nature intimately.

"What intimate contact with nature, better to plant a few trees at home..." Normally quiet Father Xu was still displeased, "What if you encounter a random instance and Player killers on the road? Times aren’t like before."

"The Special Defense Department’s random instance guides are quite accurate, and with order returning, avoiding them should be doable," Xu Huo said, "Grandpa is older now, no one will bother him."

"Why do old people even fuss, geez..." Father Xu wanted to continue, but Ms. Yu pulled him aside, "Say less, isn’t Dad just fine? And Professor Tang isn’t always asking people to care for our Dad?"

Xu Huo didn’t say much more, taking the Vehicle Key Card and heading out.

Unexpectedly, sending Elder Xu back were Gu Yu and Huang Junjie.

Both were acquaintances Xu Huo made in the instance; Gu Yu founded a small association, while Huang Junjie joined the First Player Association.