Ch. 2802 Upcoming Major Events

The doubts were appearing in various ways on the Collection of Information Terminal, but the District Government did not respond, only dealing with some of the more vehement comments.

Of course, many believed that there was no need to question the District Government’s capabilities over this matter. After all, it involved players from the Outer Zone, and conflicts with locals could hardly be avoided when passing by to do instances. What’s more, Xu Huo was photographed with the Law Enforcement Team, which could be interpreted as them having just cooperated. If he were the target of their assault, why would they be taking pictures with him?

Thus, the topic shifted to what exactly was the situation at that time, and many debated extensively, eventually deciding to ask the Law Enforcement Team.

However, some calm individuals pointed out Xu Huo’s “record”; his log showed numerous photos with players from both Zone 022 and the Outer Zone. Could it be that these strangers suddenly felt the goodness and beauty to politely take photos with Xu Huo?

But neither the District Government nor Xu Huo got involved, and the disputes on the Collection of Information Terminal led nowhere. Afterwards, the District Government announced the schedule for this year’s Zone establishment celebrations in advance, making it clear they intended to host them grandly, causing everyone to become busy and the number of people concerned about Xu Huo to naturally decrease.

The District Government handled matters quite swiftly. They didn’t fully meet Xu Huo’s conditions, only offering three Rank A Props and three Class A Instruments. Honestly, the compensation was quite generous, especially since one of the three Rank A Props was a field prop, capable of forcibly restricting players’ activity range. Unless the holder retrieves the prop or is killed, regular players find it nearly impossible to break out.

The District Government came with sincerity, and the diplomat responsible for negotiations warmly and thoughtfully invited him to attend the celebrations, even suggesting he could have a look at the real Teleportation Device at the Wormhole Points—the one at the Science Museum is only a semi-finished product, unable to operate fully according to the manual.

Xu Huo then proposed two additional conditions. First, he wanted to know the business channels between Zone 022 and Stellar Medical; they didn’t need to disclose transaction details, just the address of the company they’re interfacing with. He also promised to keep it a secret. Secondly, he wanted to understand the materials related to “Book Worm’s” box. Since someone in Zone 022 was doing business with him, there must be a certain level of trust, and Zone 022 surely investigated him thoroughly.

Faced with these two issues, the diplomat feigned difficulty, reported to his superior, and then agreed, only asserting it must pass through layers of review, and things wouldn’t be accomplished immediately, hence asking Xu Huo to wait a bit.

It sounded like empty talk, yet Xu Huo agreed anyway. Since he had gotten the props and instruments in hand, he also wanted to know what Zone 022 was up to.

After staying at the Eternal Star Hotel for two days, Zhou Juanjuan and Zhan Erliu came to find him one by one. They were also in the final stages of passing through, though not as easily as Xu Huo, overall it was going smoothly. They didn’t need to go to the tourism department to get stamps; the souvenir coincided with the upcoming celebration, so they had to wait two more days.

“Free lodging is fantastic!” Levi leaned against the comfortable and spacious sofa in the suite, “When doing instances, I usually stay at Eternal Star but only dare to spend on the cheapest rooms. Never imagined staying in a suite costing tens of thousands per night.”

Zhan Erliu felt a bit embarrassed, and sat down at a distance.

“I’ve never encountered a District Government that’s so easy-going,” Zhou Juanjuan looked at Xu Huo, “They don’t have ulterior motives, do they?”

Xu Huo nodded, “The exact intentions are still uncertain, but I can leave anytime, having passed through.”

“Better safe than sorry,” Zhou Juanjuan said: “The District’s means against players are unpredictable, the fear is carrousel warfare.”

They might not be opponents in one-on-one, but considering the resources a District possesses: props, instruments, and various high-destructive weapons taking turns bombing, even the strongest player wouldn’t be able to withstand forever.

Xu Huo knew his limits.

Not long after they arrived, Chai Sheng and Lei Xiaohe also reached out. Chai Sheng was all right, while Lei Xiaohe gathered a large group, hoping to get stamps from different government units through him. Different travel routes might require different government stamps, but Lei Xiaohe didn’t care much about all that, he gathered them and then came to Xu Huo.

“How much are you charging?” Xu Huo straightforwardly asked.

“Five White Notes per stamp,” Lei Xiaohe chuckled, “This is the lowest price. You wouldn’t believe how difficult it is to get stamps from some local governments. The people managing the stamps might go on business trips to the Outer Zone for several months, without caring about the players needing clearance. I’m kind-hearted, just charging a little to help them think of solutions.”

“That’s fine, then think of your own solutions.” Xu Huo said as he was about to disconnect the contact.

“Don’t!” Lei Xiaohe hastily called out: “Brother Xu, I’m counting on you! I don’t plan to keep all the money, what if everyone just takes half? Anyway, the District Government respects you so much, they surely won’t reject such a small request.”

Xu Huo sneered and cut off the call.

In the next second, Lei Xiaohe called again, waited a long time without anyone answering, and then switched to sending messages, reducing the cut from twenty-five thousand to fifteen thousand, and then to eight thousand, both lamenting and pleading. He seemed eager to earn that money.

In the game world, getting a District Government’s stamp is quite easy—as long as the government agrees, it only takes a few minutes.

However, this is different from negotiating terms with Xu Huo; the District Government’s unwillingness to irritate him is due to multiple factors, so concessions were made, unlike giving clearance stamps for passing instances. Here, they might start laying out terms in Zone 022 when he opens his mouth.

He refused to answer Lei Xiaohe’s calls, but soon a government employee reached out, saying that someone claiming to act on Xu Huo’s behalf had gone to the government building, asking for stamps on a stack of travel itineraries.

The employee specially emphasized the word “stack.”

“Don’t know them.” Xu Huo replied with only three words.

Unexpectedly, Lei Xiaohe dared to come to Eternal Star Hotel to find him, and even insisted on a meeting, claiming he had important matters to discuss and was confident Xu Huo would be interested.

“This kid’s pestering you, huh? Want me to help drive him away?” Levi offered proactively.

Xu Huo declined and let the service staff lead the person up.

Lei Xiaohe entered, full of smiles, as if the earlier “double refuse” never happened, and with a keen sense immediately got to the point, saying that the reason he was willing to act as a middleman was primarily to gather information.

“At least three players from different places with no intersection mentioned that Zone 022 might experience a major event soon.” Lei Xiaohe lowered his voice mysteriously, “And it’s a significant event concerning the whole District!”

“What major event?” Zhan Erliu pursued with a question.