Xin Hui instinctively stepped back two paces, also hiding her hands behind her back. But before she could pull out an item, Xu Huo's piano wire looped around her neck.

He crossed two fingers and pulled back, binding her without cutting off her breath, while warning, "Better not make a move, or your hands will be ruined."

Xin Hui indeed didn't move. Her head was slightly tilted back by the wire's pull, but her hands remained behind her.

"What's the meaning of this?" she demanded. "Trying to kill me for my loot?"

Xu Huo pulled out a chair and sat down. "I did help you out before. Not even a thank you, and instead you lead me to my death—that doesn't quite sit right."

Xin Hui was silent for two seconds before saying, "I don't know what you're talking about. We met by chance—why would I want to harm you?"

"The first time, you led me and Zhuo Wangsun through the foggy forest in circles, probably to shake us off. Showing up again just now was also because you didn't want us wandering around here anymore." Xu Huo looked at her. "But you changed your mind when I suggested destroying the nest."

Xin Hui said nothing.

Xu Huo continued, "You're not really a player from Clown City like you claim. Coming in here probably has nothing to do with clearing the game either. You know this fungal nest well enough to know its entrances and exits. The first time you ditched me and Zhuo Wangsun, you came straight here."

"Given our distance, there's no way you should've known someone had entered the underground nest, let alone pinpointed our location. There's no one else around here either, so your understanding of this place goes far beyond just knowing the entrances and exits. At the very least, you're well-versed in fungal knowledge."

"Also, the fungal corpse that me, Zhuo Wangsun, and our two companions discovered—it's either irrelevant info or something already made public long ago. You weren't worried we'd spread it."

"Truth is, a few people can't possibly destroy such a massive underground nest with their strength alone. When I suggested burning the mycelium, you were visibly furious, even ready to kill for it…"

Xu Huo paused, then asked, "What secret does this underground nest hold?"

Xin Hui's face was hidden, making her expression impossible to read, but as Xu Huo spoke, her chest heaved and her breathing grew rapid.

After a moment, she finally said, "Fine, let's say everything you said is right. I'm no match for you. What do you want?"

"I'm not a Clown City player. The internal conflicts of Clown City have nothing to do with me," Xu Huo said. "But I'm very interested in this fungal nest."

Xin Hui didn't address his words. Instead, she brought up something else. "Earlier, I heard Zhuo Wangsun mention that you rescued two children."

Xu Huo nodded. "After I clear the game, I'll find a way to get them into Clown City. They should just be poisoned, not Mutant-transformed."

Xin Hui let out a cold laugh. "Even if you get them into Clown City, they'll only end up dead. They've already been parasitized by fungi. Clown City will never allow them to appear alive within the city."

"That's not a big problem," Xu Huo said. "If the fungal infection were severe enough to be uncontrollable, the Clown City government wouldn't let the fungal nest exist. There's no need for those half-truths. Clown City sealing off the cleanup area must have another reason."

"You're quite sharp," Xin Hui said coldly. "You're not from Clown City. What does it matter if you know or not?"

"Curiosity," Xu Huo said with a slight smile. "When a secret is right in front of you, it's hard for any normal person to resist. You satisfy my curiosity, and I let you go. Or you refuse to talk, and I kill you, then find a way to tear down this underground nest. Two options—think it over."

Xin Hui was choked with anger. "When Zhuo Wangsun said you'd agreed to save those two children, I actually thought you were a good person. I never expected you to be just like the other players—cruel, cold-blooded, and dismissive of human life!"

Xu Huo raised his chin. "Speak."

Xin Hui gritted her teeth so hard they creaked. After struggling for a moment, her shoulders slumped. "It's a long story."

"Then take your time," Xu Huo said. "We have plenty of it."

Xin Hui faced him directly. Two seconds later, she finally spoke. "This cleanup area—it's actually just a game arena."

Xu Huo raised an eyebrow. "Go on."

"As early as twenty years ago, the Clown City government planned to turn the fungal nest into an adventure tourism project. But when they excavated deep underground, they discovered that the fungal mutation had already far exceeded what the government had imagined. Many fungi were highly infectious. Once infected, it was like a chronic illness—you'd slowly die in agony."

"All the engineering teams and supervisors involved in the project were infected. They were sent to hospitals for treatment, but then they infected three hospitals in succession. Before the outbreak could spread on a large scale, the government sealed off the hospitals for cleanup, relocating all infected people to the same city for centralized treatment."

"But the treatment had no effect. Even some medical staff became infected. In the end, the government had no choice but to seal off the city."

"That was when Mutants appeared in the sealed zone. The higher-ups believed the infected had undergone Mutant transformation, so they pursued full accountability. Everyone involved in approving the project was detained. Later, the news somehow couldn't be hidden anymore, and a city-wide protest erupted. Some radicals stormed the prisons and the upper echelons of the city, kidnapping everyone related to the project and their families, then throwing them all into the sealed zone."

Xin Hui's voice dropped low. "During the chaos, Clown City underwent a regime change. Some people with ulterior motives secretly opened the sealed zone, releasing the Mutants and the infected, contaminating at least a third of the city."

"The new regime pulled things back from the brink. At the same time, they abandoned that third of the land, trapping the remaining people inside to fend for themselves. But there was no food or water there. To fight for resources, these infected people began banding together and slaughtering each other. That was when someone secretly filmed the battles and broadcast them on the public channel, catching the attention of other Game Partitions." 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"Couldn't make a living in tourism, so they switched to making videos?" Xu Huo remarked.

"If only that were the case." Xin Hui said with sarcasm. "How many people were in the sealed zone? They barely lasted half a year before most died off. But the higher-ups in Clown City had gotten a taste of it, so they simply turned the sealed zone into a game area, organizing people to come in for cleanup."

"Unfortunately, there weren't many infected left in the cleanup area. Just using holographic glasses to start a two-sided battle wasn't exciting enough. So they went ahead and bought Mutants from other Game Partitions and released them into the sealed zone!"

"The people they sent in were mostly from the lower class—weak abilities, poor equipment. They'd be massacred the moment they encountered a Mutant. Even those who weren't infected when entering the cleanup area mostly ended up eaten by Mutants…"

At this point, Xin Hui's teeth were practically grinding. "Mutants hunting and devouring live humans—that's the most popular show in this game!"