Chapter 2742: Good People Everywhere

Xu Huo’s side hasn’t finished sending the log yet, when suddenly there’s a flicker of micro-light in the grass waterfall below Fairy Stone. Several players, some close, some far, immediately use various means to compete for that glowing object. A player closer in distance blocks other players’ props to seize the item, but just as he climbs up from the cliff, a force grabs his foot, pulling him uncontrollably towards the ground. Before he could steady himself, the item in his hand disappeared into thin air, only to reappear in the hands of another player hundreds of meters away.

The player who took the item quickly tried to leave, but the Teleportation Prop failed. Just as he was about to run, he collapsed straight on the ground, and naturally, the item he collected was taken by someone else.

However, the player who killed him didn’t escape either. As soon as he made his move, several people surrounded him.

The surrounded player tried not to drag in locals of the zone, but after several failed attempts at escape, he was forced to throw the item away.

From afar, it could be seen that it was a glowing mineral. Two groups of players rushed over, and under the influence of prop effects, the mineral leaned towards one group.

"Haha! It’s mine!" laughed the player at the front as he was about to grab the mineral. Unexpectedly, a hand stretched out beside him; a black glove flashed before his eyes, effortlessly gripping the mineral. He followed the arm upwards to see that the person who took the item had no intention of leaving.

At such a close distance, no one would easily give up, but in an instant, the players, along with a dozen more not far away, stopped abruptly—because suddenly, space was filled with space cutting lines. Though not densely arranged, moving swiftly within them was impossible. The quick-reacting players immediately took out their Interference Devices, but the devices broke one after another upon being picked up, and the approaching space cutting lines increased in number.

Everyone was stuck in place, unable to move.

"It’s just a token souvenir, not worth risking lives over," said the player nearest to Xu Huo, "Moreover, killing in Zone 022 will mark you as a potential criminal, and local enforcement players will be irritatingly vigilant over you."

Xu Huo smiled slightly, taking out his route map. After placing the mineral on it, a small mineral icon appeared beside the location, and the game notified him that the check-in was successful.

"Didn’t expect to meet a kind-hearted person right off the bat, who would willingly give the stone to me." He pulled out a micro-terminal, switched to flight mode, then turned around to stand beside the player, "Come, let’s take a photo."

"You’ve gone a bit too far with this face-saving blow..." the man was about to say, but felt the secant line pressing against his neck and immediately changed his words, "Being magnanimous would never hurt you, you’re unfamiliar with the place; it’s fate meeting someone, we should look out for each other!"

After taking the photo, Xu Huo called to those farther away, "Come join in, everyone smile."

Most people refused to cooperate with somber faces, though a few complied with forced smiles.

Xu Huo didn’t mind their attitudes. After checking the results, he nodded with satisfaction and closed the space lock of the "Hand of Space-Time."

The nearby players cautiously dispersed.

"That really worked." Levi exclaimed.

Zhou Juanjuan looked complex, while Zhan Erliu maintained his usual expression but his eyes were full of cautiousness and scrutiny. His mission was complete; others’ were not.

Xu Huo glanced at the mineral in his hand, "Does a randomly generated token have special guidance? Is this truly a token?"

"What do you mean?" Zhou Juanjuan asked, "Didn’t you just verify it? The first checkpoint was successfully checked-in."

Xu Huo shook his head slightly, "The token I understand should be an item that has always existed in this place. A bottle of perfume or a wood carving, the item may just be ordinary one moment, and the next it might turn into a token, not suddenly popping up as if deliberately placed there."

This statement made the three of them silent for a moment. Levi nonchalantly said, "You make a good point, but it could be that local players specially find tokens to bait players from the Outer Zone into mutual slaughter. Isn’t that what makes reality shows interesting? Besides, this sub-zone doesn’t care about Outer Zone players without identity registration. As long as they don’t harm people from Zone 022, it’s basically overlooked. Breaking something and compensating is all it takes to avoid being wanted."

Xu Huo held the mineral and took a group photo with them, then uploaded the photo to his travel log with the title "There are good people all over the world."

"Won’t you anger everyone by doing that?" Zhou Juanjuan asked, "Although most people are normal enough not to risk murder over such trivial jokes, some people’s minds might be unstable. Especially with a large population base, those who aren’t normal seem to be more."

"It’s normal to encounter all kinds of people while traveling," Xu Huo said lightly, "You haven’t found souvenirs yet, keep exploring nearby."

Zhou Juanjuan and the other two hadn’t found anything that could be recognized by the map, so they had to continue staying.

Xu Huo, like a genuine tourist, ate local delicacies based on the travel guide, played unique local activities, received a specimen leaf, and had several young men and women request a group photo with him—mainly locals running small businesses.

"Though the gentleman’s appearance is ordinary, the way you spend money is especially charming," said a young woman with an infectious smile on her face, "We small business owners love customers like you, makes the trade joyful for both sides."

Xu Huo casually pulled a flower from his backpack and gave it to her.

"Thank you," she replied, giving him a small dessert in return.

As he went back and forth, he was quite delighted while Levi gradually grew impatient. This was basically like searching for a needle in a haystack; no one knew which things were useful, were they supposed to try picking everything up?

From their observations, not all tokens appeared as suddenly and noticeably as Xu Huo’s mineral. Some players departed abruptly, the reason isn’t hard to guess.

Objects deemed by the route map as "souvenirs to check-in" had no distinct features or hints—it was purely down to luck.

Levi bought a bottle of water, and as he unscrewed the cap, he paused, then placed the cap on the route map, and a small icon appeared beside the location.

"Check-in successful?" He appeared more shocked than Zhou Juanjuan and the other two, "A bottle cap? This is way too perfunctory!"

"Not entirely," Zhou Juanjuan said, "You didn’t read the guide carefully. Items obtained earlier on the route may be linked to those acquired later. Not every location lacks hints. Some guides mention that the route map may direct players to acquire certain objects from specific people, akin to NPCs in games."