Ch. 2799 Terms of the Deal

Originally, he thought he would have to wait a while, but to his surprise, “Book Worm” replied that very night and bluntly told him: “Information of this level can’t be bought with money.”

If it can’t be bought with money, that means he really knows.

“Name your terms.” Xu Huo replied.

The other side responded quickly: “Find a way to have AS-01CL ore added to the banned-for-sale list.”

“Do you have more detailed information?”

“This kind of ore is only sold at B11 Wormhole Point. Once you’re done, you’ll get the detailed addresses of three Hengxing Group secret laboratories.”

After reading this, Xu Huo frowned slightly. He sent another message, but the other side stopped replying, and the account soon disappeared into hiding. It made him wonder if he really had reached “Book Worm.”

But he could wait and see. After all, there was no urgent need to find the Stellar Medical Group’s secret laboratories—everything could wait until he reached Rank-A.

He still hadn’t come into contact with the true core of Dimensional Rift. Be it Hengxing Group, Doctor Zhang, Dr. Wu, or Book Worm, they were closest to the game’s core; compared to them, he was still not strong enough.

Unconsciously clenching his right hand, Xu Huo closed his personal panel and returned to his residence. He then used the Zone 022 Collection of Information Terminal to look up some information about AS-01CL ore. This ore was on Zone 022’s import list and was one of the materials for making certain device chips. It wasn’t irreplaceable, though—just cheaper than similar materials, so it was sold widely.

It wasn’t irreplaceable. If it was banned, the impact might hit B11 harder. Book Worm is at B11 Wormhole Point?

No, that couldn’t be confirmed either. Maybe it was just a means to an end; the real focus wasn’t on the direct impact of banning the ore.

Quite a few companies bought this ore. Xu Huo quickly got information on the companies it was supplied to.

It was a raw materials company in B11-009.

He noted down the company’s information for now and shifted his focus to the current instance.

Early the next morning, he took Bo Chunfeng’s aircraft to Snow Valley.

Snow Valley was a city covered in snow all year round. Bo Chunfeng had a fixed preaching spot here—he had just arrived recently. When he heard Xu Huo was coming to Snow Valley, he warmly invited him to listen to a sermon.

The preaching site was a small residence, probably provided for free by locals. More than ten people arrived one after another, each bringing their own water and food; it looked like the sermon would last a while.

What surprised Xu Huo a bit was that it wasn’t just Righteousness Teaching operating here. From a distance, he could see five or six people in different religious clothing recruiting believers on the street, with quite a few players following them to listen.

Bo Chunfeng was familiar with all these people, constantly greeting them. Some even joked that he should go listen to their sect’s ideology.

Bo Chunfeng simply nodded perfunctorily. When they got to the house, he formally introduced Xu Huo to the believers: “This is our new friend.”

Xu Huo nodded politely to everyone, then sat down to listen to the sermon.

Bo Chunfeng spoke all day. He had his own outline and detailed rules, each clearly listed. While preaching, he would fill in gaps and correct mistakes. Seeing the twenty-centimeter-thick handwritten book in his hand, Xu Huo believed he was truly devoted to his faith.

After the sermon, Xu Huo asked him for a recommendation letter stamped with the symbol of Righteousness Teaching. Its content was in the name of the religion, requesting a temporary visitor’s pass from the government.

That’s right, this was the souvenir Xu Huo needed from Snow Valley. Normally, you got it by attending sermons of any religion for a few days. Of course, most players didn’t have that patience, and the government didn’t accept just any recommendation letter—they’d assess whether the bearer was truly religious. There were other ways to get a letter, but the government part was hard to get through.

But Bo Chunfeng quietly told Xu Huo he had contacts in the government. With his letter, the government would give a higher-level visitor pass.

Xu Huo’s next stop was the science museum. It was said to contain samples of all the equipment developed since Zone 022 began, including, aside from everyday security and attack devices, ultra-large devices used across districts and wormhole points, with instructions for use.

This was extremely useful. The Game Government usually only sold such devices to District Governments, and their wear and tear was high—they were rarely used, so chances to see them were scarce, let alone operate them. It was hard to get this kind of knowledge elsewhere.

After getting his temporary visitor pass in Snow Valley and saying goodbye to Bo Chunfeng, Xu Huo went to the heart of Zone 022: Capital City.

He’d seen a giant teleportation device at Eye of Platinum, at Xin Rong’s house, but the cross-wormhole device on display at the science museum was on a whole other level. It looked more like an enormous arch-shaped building, stretching over ten thousand meters. The introduction said this was the latest transmit device model sold by the Game Government; once activated, an entire fleet could move through consecutively. Forget just players crossing districts—with this, you could even start a Wormhole Point war.

Such a device could be set to reach any district accessible by tickets. After purchase, the Game Government would also provide specific coordinates for some wormhole points and districts.

Unlike the long travel time of trains, this kind of super-large teleportation device could get you to other wormhole points almost instantly, with no buffer whatsoever.

“One minute you decide which district to attack, and the next minute you can launch a war,” a player observed after seeing it. “No wonder all those notorious fugitives roam everywhere. If the other districts found out where their home was, couldn’t they just wipe it out easily?”

“Good thing the game established the rules when it first started, or there’d be nothing left for these wormhole points and districts,” someone else added.

“It wasn’t out of kindness,” another person sneered, “it’s just that they can harvest at any time, so it doesn’t matter how many wormhole points or districts there are. And this is only a Rank-C Wormhole District. Think about those Rank-A Wormhole Points—the Outer Zone players probably use those as harvest fields.”

“Don’t be so pessimistic,” the first player said again, “there are players at Rank-A Wormhole Points too. Not all their players are geniuses. The world is balanced—mediocrities and fools still make up the majority. You can’t let the smart ones run everyone else off.”

Everyone found this both funny and sad, but mostly, they marveled at how massive the game system was.

After visiting the science museum and picking up his souvenirs, Xu Huo toured several more attractions, exchanging souvenirs and teaming up with other players along the way. After this hectic journey, he finally arrived at his last stop: Tusang Castle.

This was a complex of dozens of castles, and was also the headquarters of the tourism department of the District Government.