CHAPTER 1570: CHAPTER 1570: LEADERSHIP RESHUFFLE

Subsequently, the Special Defense Department indeed did not send any more players to interfere with Xu Huo. He returned to his residence smoothly and met with the former representatives from the Special Defense Department two hours later.

Nie Xuan was brought in by other players while sitting in a wheelchair. A thick blanket covered his knees, and he appeared much thinner, with a poor spirit. A layer of stubble covered his chin, suggesting it hadn’t been groomed for two or three days.

The person who brought him left immediately after, while Father Xu and Ms. Yu took Tongtong for a walk outside. Li Chun stayed in Xu Huo’s room keeping an eye on Meng Cun. To prevent their conversation from being overheard, Xu Huo used a Silencing Prop.

"There’s no need to do that. Shangguan Jing suffered a setback here, losing about twenty Rank-B players, and has already been disciplined. To avoid provoking you, the new person in charge wouldn’t dare to make any moves against you," Nie Xuan said slowly, without a hint of weakness in his tone.

"I almost thought you were dead," Xu Huo glanced at his legs. "Seems like you’re recovering well."

Nie Xuan touched his own legs, "I was close to death. Several times, I felt like I couldn’t hold on, but thinking of the situation in the Special Defense Department, I had to stay alive."

The last time they met, Nie Xuan had an urgency to resolve everything, pressured by both death and responsibility, turning him somewhat extreme — like a knife eager for blood.

Now, he seemed to have reverted to the demeanor he had when they first met on the preliminary exam train.

"Congratulations," Xu Huo said.

Nie Xuan smiled and then returned to the main topic, "You actually didn’t need to come back for this mutant fungus infection incident. Three hours before contacting you, the government had already decided to secretly execute those infected, including some government officials or relatives of the high-ranking members. This decision was unanimously passed by the government leadership."

"The infectious capacity of the mutant fungus is not as strong as you think; it requires reaching a certain concentration to infect another person. After special disinfection procedures, even the isolation rooms of infected patients can fall below the infection concentration standard."

Xu Huo was aware of this before. To keep Lü Yin infected, the Special Defense Department had deliberately placed human tissues with mutant fungi attached to them in the ward and opened the cabinet several times.

"Have those who intentionally spread the mutant fungus been caught?" he asked.

"A few have been caught, but that can’t solve the root problem," Nie Xuan said. "But sometimes solving a problem doesn’t necessarily have to start with the problem itself. Our country was the first to experience the outbreak of the mutant fungus and has preserved a large amount of living mutant fungi, which have already been taken by players in batches to several other major countries. It was successfully released a few days ago, and news is expected in another day or two."

"By then, to avoid mutual destruction, someone will initiate the signing of a ceasefire agreement, and there will also be measures to restrict the country that first deployed the mutant fungi."

If nobody wants to see total destruction or engage in such meaningless mutual depletion, they will pull back.

"This can also be considered a solution," Xu Huo said. The reason he said it could be considered was that the infected individuals could only be abandoned.

"What a country can do is ultimately limited; it can’t guarantee every person’s survival or well-being," Nie Xuan said. "You are very clear about the situation in Zone 017, and now Zone 014 must start preparing for the integration of the zones and the game."

"As it should be," Xu Huo nodded, "Zone 014 is progressing rapidly."

Upon hearing this, Nie Xuan said meaningfully, "With our country’s population, are we short of talents? Why do you think Shangguan Jing’s operation targeting you was approved?"

"Has the military already trained Super Evolvers?" Xu Huo could only think of this answer.

Nie Xuan caressed the cartoon patterns on the blanket, "Of course, mental-directed Super Evolution is still rare, only one or two, and their progress is slow. But there are quite a few with physical Super Evolution. There are several Space-Directed Super Evolvers like myself; the only thing lacking is Time-Directed Super Evolvers. Currently, the military has invested a lot of money and effort in this area, and perhaps it won’t be long before they go from 0 to 1."

"Time-Directed Super Evolution, they’re on a different dimension from us."

In all his time in the game, Xu Huo had only encountered a Time-Directed Super Evolver once during the Guile Sound Knights’ assault on Zone 011. Although it wasn’t entirely without a countermeasure, the unknown implied danger.

"What did the military want you to discuss with me?" He returned to the topic of mutant fungi, "Providing some of the Antidote Fungus filaments is already the maximum help I can offer."

"Relationships between people are very subtle; there are no permanent bonds," Nie Xuan said. "When someone is sick and weak, helping him earns you gratitude, but when he becomes strong and far exceeds you, your existence becomes dispensable, and naturally, there wouldn’t be a strong friendship."

"No one willingly lives under someone else’s thumb, and a country would never willingly accept being restrained. As long as you haven’t joined the military or the Special Defense Department, this probing will never stop. Now you’re a testing stone for Rank-B players; in the future, you’ll be a testing stone for Super Evolvers."

"And it’s not just you; the domestic Player Organizations have all been affected to some extent."

"The state machine is ruthless."

He didn’t say it outright, but his meaning was clear. As the head of the Special Defense Department, he couldn’t directly tell Xu Huo to just leave, but as a friend, he had to fulfill the responsibility of a reminder.

"The state machine is ruthless..." Xu Huo repeated, then suddenly switched to another topic, "Quite a few high-ranking government officials have died recently, haven’t they?"

Nie Xuan’s expression remained unchanged as he continued to listen.

"The state machine may be ruthless, but it’s operated by people. Whether it’s the changes in the Special Defense Department or the shifts in strategies against Player Organizations you mentioned, all imply the attitude of the decision-makers. A person usually doesn’t have such drastically opposing transformations; the only possibility is that the person has changed."

"Has the military and Special Defense Department’s training of numerous players caused those second-line personnel who haven’t faced the pressures of the Super Props incident to become arrogant?"

"Or rather, is the era of players mastering power about to begin? These people are diligently seizing their last opportunity to consolidate their forces and pressure other Player Organizations to avoid being entirely voiceless once excluded from the power center."

"It might not just be that. Perhaps players have already entered the decision-making layers, which is why there is intentional or unintentional targeting of other players and Player Organizations."

"If individual selfishness affects the overall players’ survival environment, you know the consequences well. If players were to leave in large numbers, does the government have any way to remedy the situation now?"

After all, ordinary people become much less dependent on the country after becoming players, and it’s quite easy for players to leave Zone 014 as well.

Nie Xuan listened quietly, and after a moment, he said, "The reason a lesson is called a lesson is because it comes with pain. Only firsthand pain can leave a lasting memory; otherwise, no matter how much others advise or stop them, they’ll eventually fall into the pit one day."

"But since they’re our people, instead of letting others teach them, it’s better to do it ourselves."