Chapter 41: Haowei Fresh Meat Supply Factory

While taking a taxi back to the city center, Xu Huo found himself stuck in a residential area.

The streets were crowded with people, and the sound of car horns blared incessantly, but the crowds surrounding the area were only growing. Many people pushing their way out from the front were vividly recounting something to others.

Opening the car window, he listened closely and faintly caught words like "corpse" and "dismembered."

"The world isn't a peaceful place these days," the driver sighed. "You think about it—people living their lives just fine, minding their own business, only to end up with their bodies torn apart."

"Did someone die in there?"

"You bet. Several families," the driver said. "In one night, five families—fourteen people—were killed silently. Adults and children were left with nothing but heads, limbs, and guts; everything else was gone!"

"What kind of perverted killer could do something so depraved? And the damn thing is, they did it all in one night, and no one around even noticed. God knows how they moved the bodies away..."

The driver continued talking, but Xu Huo was thinking about something else entirely.

Following the evolution of Evolvers and Players, game dungeons had begun projecting into the real world. Moreover, they were killing indiscriminately, which meant that from this moment on, ordinary people would face the same risks as Players.

"...I heard this isn't the only incident," the driver subconsciously lowered his voice. "There have been three or four cases just in the south of the city. Even the big shots from above have arrived. People are moving out of the residential compounds completely; it's like they've become ghost buildings."

Just now, Xu Huo had also seen familiar uniforms in the crowd—the same clothes worn by the Special Affairs personnel Nie Xuan had encountered outside the hotel.

"Driver, do you know which residential compounds they are?"

The driver rattled off several names in one breath, even mentioning the approximate times.

Xu Huo estimated the locations on the map; there was no specific location, and there was no pattern to the timing.

He took out his phone to browse local news and trending posts. Most of them were cursing the Evolvers, because the intervals and methods of the crimes had exceeded human limits, making it highly likely they were the work of Evolvers. Some were constantly questioning and attacking official personnel to vent their emotions.

There wasn't much useful information, so he logged into the forums.

As expected, the government was calling on Players to come to Ting City to resolve the incident, and some details of the cases had been released.

The victims were men, women, young, and old. Aside from their internal organs, most adults were left with only their limbs and heads, while children were left with only their feet; the rest of their bodies had completely vanished.

What made one's skin crawl was that they were all being thrown back in bags—returning to exactly where they had disappeared from.

The targets were not fixed to Players; there was no warning, no need for a ticket, the locations were random, and they were manifesting in different ways across the country. The authorities called this game mode a "Random Dungeon."

The government had already done its best to search for the dungeon trigger locations, but it had been in vain. That was why they were calling for Player action; in just these few short days, the number of missing persons had reached hundreds, and all disappearance sites had been investigated, yet they left no trace whatsoever.

Therefore, they could only place their hopes on the Players—hoping that if a Player accidentally entered a dungeon, they could bring the missing people back.

Closing his phone, Xu Huo shook his head. In this situation, not only would no Players dare to come, but even the local Players would be fleeing elsewhere.

"Young man, we're here." The taxi pulled to a stop.

Xu Huo paid and got out. Yu Qingqing's manager was already waiting at the entrance of the building. Seeing him, the manager hurried forward with a forced smile and said, "Brother Xu, you've arrived! Please, come upstairs."

Xu Huo followed him into the elevator and went down to the twenty-eighth floor.

The secretary politely escorted him to a meeting room. "President Zheng is currently in a meeting; it will be a while before it ends. Mr. Xu, please have some tea while you wait."

Xu Huo glanced at the manager, who was incessantly wiping cold sweat. "I'll only wait five minutes."

The secretary hurried out.

At that moment, in the adjacent room, the various "Presidents Zheng" of the entertainment company were observing Xu Huo through surveillance cameras, accompanied by Special Affairs personnel.

"Is it this person?" a young man with dyed red hair asked coldly.

"It's him!" President Zhu, whose neck was wrapped in gauze, immediately interjected. "He almost strangled me to death yesterday. He must be an Evolver, and he's definitely eaten people. Catch him, quickly!"

The red-haired man looked down at the files on the desk and frowned. "He's killed three people?"

"Yes, but it was later clarified that the three he killed were all Evolvers who had committed murder themselves," Zhao Biao, who had dealt with Xu Huo before, added hurriedly. "And the bodies were intact..."

"It's in the files, you don't need to tell me," the red-haired man interrupted without looking up. "Regardless of who he is, anyone disrupting social order must be arrested."

Having said that, he turned to the others behind him. "Be careful. This man is experienced, skilled at disguising himself, and possesses special items. When making the arrest, be prepared for him to take a hostage to escape."

"He's standing up!" the company's vice president, Little President Zheng, shouted.

"Move!"

Over a dozen Special Affairs personnel, armed with electric nets and tranquilizer guns specifically designed for Evolvers, swarmed into the meeting room. But the moment they pushed the door open, the lead officer vanished!

The accompanying team members were shocked. They immediately raised their guns to aim at the person standing on the other side of the table, but before the needles could be fired, he too vanished from his spot, as if erased from thin air, leaving only the clatter of the gun hitting the floor!

"What happened!"

"The person just suddenly disappeared!"

Although the Special Affairs personnel had undergone training and knew the uniqueness of Players, they had never heard of an ability that could make someone vanish upon mere contact!

How were they supposed to deal with this!

As the crowd retreated in shock and anger, they saw Xu Huo—who should have been caught red-handed—suddenly change expression and sprint toward the floor-to-ceiling glass window!

"Don't let him escape!" The red-haired man's shout was swallowed by the sound of shattering glass. Everyone saw Xu Huo jump out of the window, but not even a shadow could be seen chasing after him!

"He escaped?!" President Zhu knew they had failed the moment he entered. "What are you people doing? So many of you, with electric nets and tranquilizer guns, and you can't even catch one person!"

The red-haired man gave him a cold look and smashed the solid wood long table in half with a single punch.

Only after President Zhu shut his mouth did the red-haired man speak: "Search floor by floor. This is the twenty-eighth floor; he couldn't have jumped all the way to the ground. He must still be in the building."

*Clatter!*

*Thud!*

As soon as he finished speaking, the sound of a heavy object hitting the floor echoed in the meeting room. Two more Special Affairs personnel had vanished!

"This... how can this..." Big President Zheng retreated in horror. Before he could finish his sentence, he vanished right before their eyes!

"It's Xu Huo! It must be him! He's going to kill us all!" President Zhu ran toward the exit in a frenzy, only to follow in Big President Zheng's footsteps as he reached the door.

"This isn't Xu Huo's ability, it's a Random Dungeon!" The red-haired man's face turned pale with terror. He immediately roared, "Quick! Evacuate this building!"

The people in the meeting room scrambled to escape, but they vanished one after another. The Special Affairs personnel, the entertainment company staff, and the cooperating police officers—not a single one made it out of the twenty-eighth floor. The moment the red-haired man dialed the research institute, his phone also slipped to the floor.

(End of Chapter)