Xu Huo was affected by mental interference when he stepped through the arch, but he was familiar with the process and adapted without difficulty. The woman who had come in with him, however, was already standing in front of him, hand raised and ready to slap him.
When their eyes met, the woman hurriedly pulled her hand back and stammered in panic, “I... I wasn’t trying to hurt you...”
“Have some water first.” Xu Huo gave her a small bottle of water.
She took it with longing and care, poured a capful to drink, then screwed the cap back on. “Come with me.”
The “Arch” was indeed a location item, but it wasn’t as powerful as the painter Jiangjiang’s Octagonal Gallery. The illusion wasn’t hard to break. Once it was dispelled, the inside turned out to be a small place modeled after a service area, with a little shop, a restaurant, and a restroom.
The woman led Xu Huo into the restroom.
A young man who looked under twenty lay on the floor, barely breathing. A boy of twelve or thirteen was looking after him, while two slightly younger girls sat nearby. When they saw someone come in, all three instinctively used their bodies to shield the young man on the ground.
“My younger brother was poisoned... Could you save him?” the woman rasped. “We didn’t mean to block the way. When we ran away from Base 17, we ran into players. My brother was injured, and after we finally escaped here, he got bitten too... The herbs we brought couldn’t cure the poison... He was afraid something might happen to us, so he set a trap...”
“Where are you headed?” Xu Huo crouched down to examine the young man’s injuries. His right arm and left leg were both broken, and even if they were set, he wouldn’t be able to use them for a while. The poison was actually the least of his problems. “How long have you been here?”
Base 17 and Base 18 weren’t far apart.
“We’re going to Base 37. The broadcast said they’d take in infected people.” The boy worked up the courage to look Xu Huo in the eye. “Uncle said we’ll have a good life once we get there!”
Under the tense, fearful gazes of the group, Xu Huo gave the young man some antidote. “It’s not a particularly potent poison. He’s injured and a little dehydrated, so he looks worse than he is. He’ll wake up in a while.”
“Thank you... Thank you...” A few tears slipped from the woman’s dry eyes.
Xu Huo wasn’t planning to leave just yet, so he said to the woman, “There’s a kitchen next door. See if there are any cooking utensils and make something to eat.”
He took some rice and vegetables. “Do you recognize this food? Add water and boil it. Once it’s soft, you can eat it.”
The woman obediently left. Xu Huo checked the time, then, five minutes later, said to the person on the ground, “You’re in a state where you can talk now.”
Only then did the person lying on the ground slowly open his eyes.
The children crowded around him, excited but holding themselves back. The young player sat up and looked at Xu Huo. “I don’t have many items left. If you want it, I can give you this door.”
“There’s no rush.” Xu Huo said, “I heard you’re going to W37 Base. I’m headed there too, as it happens. But I don’t know much about this station, so I’d like to hear what you know.”
The young man wanted to travel with him to W37 Base, so he answered all his questions.
The first thing Xu Huo wanted to know was how the remaining base cities were connected.
The dungeon task was to deliver a living specimen to W37 Base City. According to the map data, W37 was indeed closer to W19 than W11 was, but the two routes were vastly different in complexity. In Xu Huo’s view, going straight to W11 made more sense. Besides, the background information said that W11 had discovered human Mutants carrying antibodies. Such a good opportunity shouldn’t be handed over to W37. This wasn’t just a matter of how difficult it would be to transport the specimen; it also involved the exchange of resources between base cities.
Yet the party commissioning the clear-the-dungeon task was W11, which seemed a little odd.
The young man had only just become a D-level player and had never personally visited different base cities. Everything he knew came from information broadcast earlier or material traded on the bounty platform.
It was common for base cities to fight, but they never completely cut off contact. A typical scenario was for two base cities to announce they were breaking off relations one day, then announce they were restoring them the next evening. It all depended on whether either side had resources the other wanted.
Some of a base city’s resources came from players, and the player population was constantly changing. This kind of public about-face happened every few days.
Almost as common were broadcasts about players “switching sides.” They called it “switching sides” rather than “betrayal” mainly because it was so common for players to leave one base city for another. They might even bring a group of “friends” along with them. But it went both ways: base cities poached one another’s people, so there was no point making it sound too harsh.
“The broadcasts once reported a trade gone wrong. Base 25 and Base 29 were trading a batch of resources, but Base 29 didn’t know that a player who used to belong to Base 25 had moved to another base city. When they ran into him, they handed over the resources on the spot. By the time Base 25’s actual recipient arrived, the trade was already over.”
The young man continued, “That’s why trades now require separately unlocked password wristbands.”
Players switching between base cities in a circular pattern was absurd, but at W37 Base Station, it was nothing unusual. Some base cities even used sex as a bribe to recruit players. It wasn’t uncommon for matchmaking events to turn into beauty pageants where the players chose their partners.
The relationships between the base cities, and the cities themselves, could all be summed up in one phrase: shameless to the core.
At least, that was the general impression Xu Huo got from listening to the young man.
But listening was all he did.
“Didn’t they say no base was willing to take in infected residents?” Xu Huo asked.
“W37 Base City is different.” The young man’s eyes lit up. “I met a player from Base 37 in a dungeon. He said they’d been taking in infected people all along. Communications between the cities are unreliable, so everyone else didn’t know.”
“Wouldn’t the disease spread?” Xu Huo added.
“As long as you take proper precautions, there won’t be a problem!” he immediately replied. “The reason it affected so many cities before was that people had no experience dealing with it. And not everyone who gets infected dies. My older sister and several of my nephews are still alive. Apart from the spots, they’re perfectly healthy!”
“I’ve been in close contact with them too, and I’m fine!”
“Don’t get so worked up.” Xu Huo said, “You’re just one case, and you’re a player. You’re not the same as an ordinary person, so you can’t prove anything.”
The other man’s eyes darkened. He stopped trying to explain and simply said, “I’m telling the truth.”
Xu Huo believed him. In fact, according to the records in the Library, players had also been infected when the epidemic first broke out, but their infection rate was far lower than that of ordinary people. Players also had an advantage: they could buy special potions, giving them a way to save themselves even if they were infected.
That raised another question naturally: Had no players brought potions or vaccines back from other Game Partitions?