The rope hauled Mr. Lin toward the ground. He struggled, kicking off his shoes, and fell straight down. But midair he adjusted his position, landing on his back, then several bursts of strong force blasted from his back and shot him back up into the sky!
Bang! A sniper bullet hit his shoulder from a distance. Mr. Lin swung in midair, and a leaf-shaped item appeared in his hand. He grabbed the item, and his body followed the leaf as it folded and drifted toward the ground.
There were still Special Defense Department personnel on the ground. Before he hit, a player sprang up and flew toward him at high speed!
The leaf item’s descent path was irregular, and the flying player’s trajectory kept changing too. Wherever the leaf went, the player followed. Mr. Lin had meant to shoot the player down, but his gun was pierced by a sniper’s bullet before he could lift it. Immediately afterward the flying player grabbed him, and the two of them accelerated toward the ground.
“Jelly bed!” A ten-meter-square bed appeared on the ground. The two plunged headfirst into the jelly, only a pair of feet remained outside.
The player who used the jelly bed pulled out his companion. Then another player threw a stone-disk-like item that flew directly beneath Mr. Lin’s feet. As it pressed against his soles it welded his feet to it, and another player stuck a thumb-sized metal device onto his leg. With a buzz, the main bones in Mr. Lin’s body were simultaneously shattered!
Only then did someone loop a rope to pull him out. Special Defense Department players kept a cautious distance of more than three meters from him. Several restraining clamps were fastened around his neck, hands and feet, but nobody held them; the other ends were simply thrown on the ground, only meant to limit his movement.
“I didn’t expect Special Defense Department people to be such cowards, they don’t even dare touch my stuff!” Mr. Lin taunted loudly.
Unfortunately, the Special Defense Department people were not moved by his provocation. Two players carried instruments over, switched on a detector and scanned him. After spotting several energy fluctuation readings, they nodded to the people nearby.
Mr. Lin was stunned by remote-controlled clamps.
He came to after only about ten minutes, but the location had changed to inside a car. This time not only were his hands and feet chained, his clothes had been stripped off, instrument leads were taped to the side of his head and chest, and there was a sharp, undeniable pain in his back.
A transparent glass partition sat in front of him. Someone sat behind the partition, but because of the device he couldn’t see the person’s face clearly.
“Phone, belt, buttons, cufflinks—these are all items. Quite wealthy.” Nie Xuan spoke from behind the partition. “I believe with your skills you wouldn’t be afraid to enter a dungeon, and you wouldn’t be short of two train tickets. You refused to leave when surrounded, so there must be a very important reason.”
Being stripped bare was one thing, but Mr. Lin felt something connected to the wound on his back.
“You tampered with my body?”
“A lethal micro capsule.” Nie Xuan said. “The trigger is linked to that line attached to your back. Whether you forcibly break free or escape into a dungeon, if the line is pulled, you’ll die of poisoning within three seconds.”
“I thought the Special Defense Department acted honorably. I didn’t expect you to stoop to such dirty tricks!” Mr. Lin snapped.
“Compared to you, that’s nothing. You drag so many ordinary people in—do you know how many have been swept up by the black rain so far?” Nie Xuan paused. “The capsule is just an insurance policy. I believe if you wanted to run, you could still successfully escape. You staying here wasting time with me… Do you currently possess the device that controls the black rain?”
The instrument readings changed. Nie Xuan’s expression shifted slightly, and after signaling his men to start the car he continued, “You didn’t carry the item on your person. Where did you place it?”
“Items usually can’t be used when separated from their holder. Even if handed off, the distance can’t be too great. Starting from the neighborhood where you’re hiding, you should be able to walk out of the black rain’s range in not too long.”
Mr. Lin laughed after hearing that. “If you can trace the black rain back to an item, you should also know it’s a high-grade item. The effective range of a high-grade item is beyond your imagination. Don’t talk about leaving this neighborhood— even if you drag me to the next province, you can’t stop the black rain!”
“I can kill you.” Nie Xuan of course understood that a high-grade item couldn’t be treated by normal logic.
“Do it then!” Mr. Lin laughed even louder. “If I die, someone will soon take over that item!”
Nie Xuan’s eyes darkened for a moment, but he quickly recomposed himself. He strode out of the car and told the players waiting outside, “Immediately sweep the area around the neighborhood with the instruments. Don’t leave an inch of soil unchecked!”
“Team leader Nie, can our instruments really detect a high-grade item?” a player asked.
“If a high-grade item contains most of the elements known in current items, the instrument can detect it. Also, anyone or any animal in the neighborhood that hasn’t escaped must not be allowed to go.” Nie Xuan said.
Frankly, the Special Defense Department’s detector was just an energy sensor, an advanced machine brought back from other game partitions. It reacts to energy emitted by items, showing up as fluctuations in detection values. It also senses some special metals and radioactive materials, so it cannot be guaranteed to work on every item, especially high-grade ones.
But right now there was no better option, because the other two searches had also failed.
“Team leader!” The secretary hurried over, looking displeased. “I just contacted Lichun. She’s unwilling to help.”
Nie Xuan frowned. “Contact Xu Huo. He should have a way.”
The call reached Xu Huo, but it wasn’t from the Special Defense Department. It came from a secret secure base.
“Mr. Xu,” an elderly voice came through the phone with force, “in a time of peril we hope you can lend us a hand.”
Xu Huo stood under an umbrella in the vast wasteland, eyes fixed straight ahead. His mood didn’t change despite the dozens of numbers jumping and rising in his line of sight. The Sound-Muffling Figurine rested in his pocket. He slung the umbrella over his shoulder and casually lit a cigarette with one hand.
He cupped the smoke to shield his mouth and nose and said, “Lichun can only do a little in this matter. Even if you register all the land under her name, it will be difficult to catch those players. But I do have some good news.”
“There’s a fairly large hollow at the foot of Wenshan to the southwest of the Special Defense Department headquarters. The Special Defense Department probably hasn’t stationed players there. I ran into twelve players there.”
“Maybe the black rain item is there. Even if it isn’t, this place should still be important.”
“I’ll send players over to pick you up.” the elder said. “Wenshan and the Special Defense Department headquarters will be transferred under Lichun’s name.”
Xu Huo didn’t say much and hung up. He exhaled the smoke and smiled, “What luck.”
