Free Web NovelChapter 2421: Chapter 2421: All Wormhole Point Bounty
The two days when the Girl in the painting took Xiao Yuan and Tan Qi out to play, Xu Huo basically stayed in the hotel. Aside from collecting information related to the instance, he mainly used the rest of the time to rest—of course, every now and then he still had to deal with people openly and covertly watching him.
Ever since he turned down Mrs. Bai—he didn’t know if that bouquet of flowers had done the trick—the number of people tailing him shot up sharply on the very first night he checked into the hotel. Most of them were brimming with killing intent; if he hadn’t stayed in his room the whole time without going out, he’d probably have had to face assassination attempts coming from every direction.
Only a few actually entered the hotel, and even wandered outside his room; there were even people who pretended to be regular guests and knocked on his door in a perfectly aboveboard manner.
Apart from the Municipal Government, there were definitely other forces who had stationed people here because they were watching Bai Kou or Mrs. Bai. These people kept a considerable distance, mainly to observe his movements; when they occasionally closed in it was only to probe, with no real intention of making a move.
Xin Rong found out what was happening in the middle of the night. He borrowed a few Rank-A Players from his family, specifically arranged for them to move into Eternal Star Hotel for protection, and also filed a report with the Law Enforcement Team, asking the Municipal Government side to pay special attention so that no one would act like a cornered dog jumping over a wall.
Ignoring these people, the past two days went by very quietly.
He had thought this quiet would last until he headed to the next instance; unexpectedly, on the third night, a full-platform message suddenly popped up on his personal panel:
[Bounty! Super Player "Gourmet" has invaded a No Ticket Zone, causing massive casualties and property damage. After a public vote by the Game Government, he has been designated as an S-rank wanted criminal. A full Wormhole Points bounty is now issued on him!]
[Bounty! Super Player "Gourmet" has invaded a No Ticket Zone, causing massive casualties and property damage. After a public vote by the Game Government, he has been designated as an S-rank wanted criminal. A full Wormhole Points bounty is now issued on him!]
[Bounty! Super Player "Gourmet" has invaded a No Ticket Zone, causing massive casualties and property damage. After a public vote by the Game Government, he has been designated as an S-rank wanted criminal. A full Wormhole Points bounty is now issued on him!]
Below the bounty notice was a lifelike holographic projection: a familiar middle-aged man with a familiar lecherous expression, who didn’t look like a Super Player at all. But this man was undeniably the Shi Shuai Xu Huo had just seen at the Fish Banquet, and who had now become the S-rank wanted criminal "Gourmet."
Even though this was a public bounty aimed at the entire game platform, and even a full-server announcement—something even the slaughter-happy Suitcase Man had never enjoyed—the person being wanted still gave off an extremely unserious vibe. Simply put, it was hard to imagine such a person being officially put on a public bounty by the game; his projection felt more suited to a warning board in some neighborhood community.
Only players who severely violated instance rules, sabotaged an instance, or caused massive casualties in a given district for no reason were likely to become wanted criminals. The status of a wanted criminal was usually designated by the game, but the scope of publication varied according to the wanted level. For example, some low-level wanted criminals wouldn’t even make it into game news whether they were wanted or captured; they wouldn’t even appear in district news, and belonged to the completely obscure sort—their names might only be found at the District Government or at the district’s Game Government Base.
Those a bit more notorious might make it into Wormhole Points game news—one or several at a time. You’d often see notifications about some wanted criminal being captured, or reoffending and having their bounty increased.
But these were all regional; switch to another Wormhole Point and there was basically no news. Even someone as famous as the Suitcase Man, although also an S-rank wanted criminal, had not reached the level of being publicly wanted across all Wormhole Points.
Of course, no matter where you killed a wanted criminal, the game would settle the rewards, but if you went from a Level-E Wormhole Point to a Rank-C Wormhole Point, perhaps no one would even know this person had been a notorious wanted criminal. ƒrēewebnovel.com
Gourmet was different. Now that he had been put on a bounty list facing the entire game, whether they knew him or not, everyone was now aware of this figure. Whether it was powerful players or District Governments, they might all be interested in claiming his bounty—especially in districts that had entered the game early, where both players and technological strength were up to par. In such places, hiding one’s identity would require extra caution.
"Impressive," Xu Huo praised from the bottom of his heart, then opened Beneath the Dimension.
Clearly, this bounty had set all the players boiling.
Related posts were quickly pushed to the top, including but not limited to: digs into Gourmet’s identity, speculation over which district the No Ticket Zone belonged to, what exactly the Game Government had lost, and whether Gourmet had taken something from that No Ticket Zone...
"Never heard of this Super Player before. Anyone know him? If you do, help me fist-bump this big shot. He’s a badass—actually broke into a No Ticket Zone and pulled a big job. I respect him!" freewēbnoveℓ.com
"They hid the No Ticket Zone that tightly and he still found it—Gourmet is awesome!"
"I’ve never heard the name Gourmet, but I’ve seen the guy on the bounty—he’s a perv, always hitting on young girls, telling everyone he’s a Super Player. Didn’t expect him to actually be one!"
"Upstairs, you’re so wrong!"
"Every Super Player I’ve seen—never mind missing arms or legs—their aura is on a level normal people can’t match. This guy definitely isn’t Gourmet’s real face. What kind of Super Player looks this low-rent?"
"Don’t judge by appearances. Since when can’t someone with an ordinary face be a Super Player?"
"Which district is Gourmet from? After causing such a big mess, will his district face retaliation from the Game Government?"
"They’d have to actually be capable of retaliating first. You think he’d still be waiting around in the district?"
"People in his district are pretty innocent, though."
"For all we know, the district Gourmet’s from might already be an Advanced Wormhole Site. If they start fighting, it’s just dogs biting dogs!"
...
A lot of people came out to comment, but overall the mood was very upbeat. The vast majority of players were delighted to see the Game Government suffer a loss, and even hoped Gourmet would keep up the good work, visit a few more No Ticket Zones, and win some face for them players.
"Am I the only one who noticed the bounty list? The Game Government really bled for this one—they’re using Super Props to bounty a Super Player!"
The bounty’s payoffs were listed on the back of the notice; flip it over and you’d see them. First on the list was a combat-type Super Prop, followed by things like a slowing degeneration potion developed by Hengxing Group, Super Instruments, Super Robots, and so on. But none of these were the main event. After this dizzying series of goodies came a Citizen ID card.
A Citizen ID for a Rank-A Wormhole Point.
Players actually weren’t that concerned about the bounty’s reward list. Super Props, Super Instruments—those were just for looking at. Forget ordinary people, even Super Players weren’t necessarily capable of landing a single decisive blow; talking about trading a kill for the bounty was pure fantasy. But when it came to the Rank-A Wormhole Point citizenship, there were still people who wanted to know more.
