As Players grew stronger, it was only natural that their social status and voice kept rising. Before, the governnt could still use existing hot weapons to deal with so Low-Level Players, but once Players advanced to Rank-C, those outdated weapons could be blocked with ordinary Props. The governnt couldn’t just start a war in the city over minor frictions, so they still had to rely on internal Players and Player Organizations.
The Players in the Special Defense Departnt and the military were far from enough, so Player Organizations and so Player groups gained bargaining chips. In so small cities that the Special Defense Departnt couldn’t properly cover, it was extrely rare to be able to hire a few Players who could actually solve problems. Add to that the private needs of certain dignitaries and rich businessn, and the price of hiring Players as bodyguards went up again and again—this was inevitable. Back when Players had just appeared, so of society’s original elite classes were already being targeted. Although the governnt side managed to stabilize the situation, there were still so utterly lawless Players, so hiring Players as bodyguards beca the first choice.
Not only private employnt; sotis the Special Defense Departnt would also hire Player Organizations as external support.
Where there’s a market, the words of Players naturally carry weight.
Asking for so benefits was still considered normal. There were also quite a few tragedies caused by Players manipulating others, and after such incidents, the Special Defense Departnt had to show up to clean up the ss. If the culprit was caught, it was still negotiable; if not, everything was just empty talk, and these events usually involved Player groups, making it hard for the Special Defense Departnt to enforce a tough stance.
So it was already an open secret that the law was making concessions to Players.
This wasn’t helplessness in the face of extre situations that couldn’t be handled, but a frank and aboveboard compromise.
Especially for so official institutions dominated by ordinary people, they couldn’t even straighten their backs in front of Players.
This wasn’t a good sign, but it wasn’t entirely bad either. Evolution and culture advancing side by side were bound to be tangled and turbulent. There was no perfectly proper solution; the only option was to find a balance point that everyone could more or less accept.
Once the governnt’s instrunts developed further, this situation would reverse again.
In short, in the larger picture, both sides had sowhat reined themselves in.
"A lot of people are looking for to hang out." The Girl in the painting walked over with the Communicator and projected the ssages she’d received for Xu Huo to see.
Besides invitations from acquaintances like Yuan Yao and Zhou Ning, there were also ones from the Special Defense Departnt, from Player Organizations, and from so top tycoons. Most of them wanted to win her over. After all, the Special Defense Departnt had assigned Ting City to her; that was already a signal. No Player in the country had ever been given an entire city.
The ssages on Xu Huo’s side were even more nurous. After filtering them with the intelligent system, he replied to the important ones first.
Most were from friends and relatives; he just needed to inform them that he had returned to Zone 014, and the rest, the unimportant ones, could be ignored.
The one that piqued his interest a little was a Super Evolver club founded by soone called Zong Lanzhi.
He had an impression of this person. Zong Lanzhi had been part of the Evolver team that appeared after the last Chaotic Space incident. The man had repeatedly invited him to co to his guesthouse, saying there were like-minded companions.
Xu Huo didn’t even have to investigate his background; an unexpected person had already snuck him several ssages.
It was Wang Chaoqing, who was already working at the Special Defense Departnt as a "Network Supervisor." He seed to know very well what was going on on Zong Lanzhi’s side and had told him several tis that Zong Lanzhi wasn’t a good person. According to the Special Defense Departnt’s data, quite a few so‑called Super Evolvers had joined that club—of course, whether they were truly Super Evolvers was still uncertain—but many of those who went there had inexplicably disappeared.
In the ga world, for soone to be officially labeled as missing by the Special Defense Departnt, they must have shown so common signs before their disappearance.
Xu Huo sent a ssage to Chief Wu, asking him to look into Zong Lanzhi’s situation, and then put the matter aside.
He had just shut down his computer when Yuan Yao’s call ca in. "Brother Xu, it’s , hahaha, I brought hotpot! I can’t get into your place!"
Xu Huo contacted the security at the gate, and by the ti he put down the Communicator, Yuan Yao was already pressing the Doorbell.
The Girl in the painting went to open the door and first took the hotpot ingredients from his hands, giving him a complinting smile.
"You’re still as straightforward as ever, Younger Sister Li Chun!" Yuan Yao was delighted, and when he saw Xu Huo, the smile on his face beca even brighter. "We haven’t seen each other in ages, have we? You advanced to Rank-B so fast, worthy of being Brother Xu of mine!"
He looked in pretty good spirits. Xu Huo went over to help prepare the hotpot and asked as he worked, "You’ve been doing okay lately?"
Back when Yuan Yao had just beco a Player, he’d been very flustered. But sowhat surprisingly, after he beca a Level D Player, he rarely contacted him through the ga platform for help.
"I’ve grown a lot too." Yuan Yao patted his chest. "Now I’m calm even if Mount Tai collapses in front of . I can handle any situation with ease!"
"Instances, you know, it’s all the sa套路. If it doesn’t work out, I buy a walkthrough. If I can’t buy a walkthrough, I go to the Special Defense Departnt for help. We’re good friends; the Special Defense Departnt is more than willing to give so face."
As he spoke, he winked at Xu Huo. "And that’s all thanks to you, my good brother!"
"I’m not an ambitious guy anyway. Once things are about right, I’ll apply to pause my Player status and spend my days living a quiet life in Ting City."
The aroma of the hotpot quickly spread. The three of them clinked their glasses, took a sip of the chilled drink, and then dug in heartily.
While eating, Yuan Yao took the initiative to talk about their friends’ current situations. He had checked in on all the mbers of the Sunflower Squad. Hu Wenhao was dead and naturally didn’t need ntioning. Shen Xin and Liu Jia were both in the Special Defense Departnt, relatively stable, and had companions when entering instances.
Zhou Ning’s situation was a bit worse. She was used to working alone and had suffered a big loss in a previous instance, almost getting disfigured, and it still hadn’t been cured.
Yan Jiayu had vanished without a trace, probably delayed in so instance.
Xu Huo hadn’t received any more ssages from Yan Jiayu either. He asked about the approximate timing and learned that Yan Jiayu’s last contact with Yuan Yao had been earlier than with him—which ant that after reaching out to him, Yan Jiayu had completely gone off the grid.
"Younger Sister Jia Yu is the luckiest of all of us, she’ll definitely be fine." Yuan Yao was more at ease than anyone. "She’s playful; maybe she’ll just pop up again in a couple of days."
Only after the al did Yuan Yao get to the main point. He had co specifically to tell Xu Huo that a random instance had recently appeared near Ting City, and soone had picked up Advanced Items in it for free—whenever a new instance was born, entirely new Props often appeared as well, and the first ones to enter always got the best deal.
"Want to go try your luck?"
Seeing the way his eyes were shining, Xu Huo said, "I don’t have ti right now. If you want to go, I’ll ask the Special Defense Departnt to find a few people to go with you."
Yuan Yao hurriedly said that was no problem, and then he ntioned that soone had been investigating the Antidote Fungal Liquid all this ti. It wasn’t just him; Shen Xin and the others had all been targeted to so extent. "Soone’s been eyeing it constantly. You still need to be careful."
"If you have too many lice, you stop feeling itchy." Xu Huo took a sip of alcohol. He’d exposed his Temporal Evolution power when he ca back, and there would probably be plenty of people coming to him afterward.
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