Chapter 2317: Chapter 2317: When You Have Enough Lice, You Stop Feeling Itch

As Players grew stronger, it was only natural that their social status and voice kept rising. Before, the government could still use existing hot weapons to deal with some Low-Level Players, but once Players advanced to Rank-C, those outdated weapons could be blocked with ordinary Props. The government 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 Department and the military were far from enough, so Player Organizations and some Player groups gained bargaining chips. In some small cities that the Special Defense Department couldn’t properly cover, it was extremely 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 businessmen, and the price of hiring Players as bodyguards went up again and again—this was inevitable. Back when Players had just appeared, some of society’s original elite classes were already being targeted. Although the government side managed to stabilize the situation, there were still some utterly lawless Players, so hiring Players as bodyguards became the first choice.

Not only private employment; sometimes the Special Defense Department would also hire Player Organizations as external support. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Where there’s a market, the words of Players naturally carry weight.

Asking for some benefits was still considered normal. There were also quite a few tragedies caused by Players manipulating others, and after such incidents, the Special Defense Department had to show up to clean up the mess. 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 Department 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 extreme situations that couldn’t be handled, but a frank and aboveboard compromise.

Especially for some 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 government’s instruments developed further, this situation would reverse again.

In short, in the larger picture, both sides had somewhat reined themselves in.

"A lot of people are looking for me to hang out." The Girl in the painting walked over with the Communicator and projected the messages 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 Department, from Player Organizations, and from some top tycoons. Most of them wanted to win her over. After all, the Special Defense Department had assigned Ting City to her; that was already a signal. No Player in the country had ever been given an entire city.

The messages on Xu Huo’s side were even more numerous. 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 someone 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 come 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 messages.

It was Wang Chaoqing, who was already working at the Special Defense Department as a "Network Supervisor." He seemed to know very well what was going on on Zong Lanzhi’s side and had told him several times that Zong Lanzhi wasn’t a good person. According to the Special Defense Department’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 game world, for someone to be officially labeled as missing by the Special Defense Department, they must have shown some common signs before their disappearance.

Xu Huo sent a message 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 came in. "Brother Xu, it’s me, hahaha, I brought hotpot! I can’t get into your place!"

Xu Huo contacted the security at the gate, and by the time 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 complimenting 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 became 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 become a Player, he’d been very flustered. But somewhat surprisingly, after he became a Level D Player, he rarely contacted him through the game 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 me. I can handle any situation with ease!"

"Instances, you know, it’s all the same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 Department for help. We’re good friends; the Special Defense Department is more than willing to give me some 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 members of the Sunflower Squad. Hu Wenhao was dead and naturally didn’t need mentioning. Shen Xin and Liu Jia were both in the Special Defense Department, 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 some instance.

Xu Huo hadn’t received any more messages 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 meant 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 meal did Yuan Yao get to the main point. He had come specifically to tell Xu Huo that a random instance had recently appeared near Ting City, and someone 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 time right now. If you want to go, I’ll ask the Special Defense Department to find a few people to go with you."

Yuan Yao hurriedly said that was no problem, and then he mentioned that someone had been investigating the Antidote Fungal Liquid all this time. It wasn’t just him; Shen Xin and the others had all been targeted to some extent. "Someone’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 came back, and there would probably be plenty of people coming to him afterward.