Chapter 320 News Summary
Seven o'clock in the morning, Seahorse City, Midnight Tavern.
Unlike the Coral City, the tavern branch in this city can indeed be described as "chaotic".
Su Xia sat in the corner of the first floor, holding a glass of cheap wine in her hand, her eyes slightly lowered, taking a sip from time to time.
The surroundings were messy and noisy, like a chaotic vegetable market.
Some people drank too much, their faces turned red, and they loudly boasted about their past deeds.
Some people were also talking in low voices, telling stories from all over the world.
"That masked weirdo is really terrible. If it were us, who would dare to confront the mechanical race openly?"
"Hehe, the purpose of life is to be free and unrestrained."
"You're wrong. People live for money. There's no point in being free and easy. You'll feel uncomfortable without money!"
“…”
Arguing, boasting, drinking, all kinds of sounds mixed together.
Just from the accents that Su Xia could distinguish, there were accents from the northeast and northwest of the continent, and there seemed to be a soft accent unique to the southern coastal areas.
There are ordinary people here, as well as killers from the Zero Point Tavern.
On the ground floor, you don’t need an ID card, as long as you are willing to drink, you can come. There are even many players here.
There was a small group of players in another corner not far from Su Xia, drinking and pointing at the NPCs around them.
One of the players looked around and asked the other players: "Who do you think is the strongest among these people?"
Another player said: "I heard that the people on the first floor of the tavern are not that powerful. The really powerful people are on the underground floor. They are all officially registered members of the tavern, and almost all of them are psychic creatures."
"I think the bartender just now was quite powerful, just like the sweeping monk in Shaolin Temple." A player pointed at the bartender behind the bar.
"No, do you see that person sitting in the corner?"
A sharp-eyed player pointed at Su Xia and said, "Those who sit in the corner and don't talk are usually experts."
Su Xia: “…”
He didn't expect that just sitting in the corner and not saying anything would attract attention.
He was too lazy to pay attention to these players. He continued to sip his wine, listening to the conversations of people around him and catching the information he needed from them.
Most people here come for the masked monster, and most of the topics discussed are related to the masked monster.
But the situation is too chaotic now, and many people are here to fish in troubled waters. Su Xia listened for a long time but didn't hear much useful information.
After a while, a cry of surprise suddenly came from the group of players.
"Fuck, did you see that person sitting in the corner? Why is there only '?' and no name at all!"
"Master, a real master!"
For a moment, many players looked at Su Xia with burning eyes, as if they were looking at some treasure.
High-level NPCs are something you can only encounter by chance.
Su Xia shook his head helplessly, sighed, finished the wine in the glass, stood up and left the place.
Players’ own game systems can read the data of characters or items in the game, which is very convenient for the players themselves.
But this function is quite annoying for the characters in the game.
Before, there were several high-level psychic creatures who, tired of fighting, left big cities and lived in seclusion in small towns just to seek peace and quiet. After all, the residents of the surrounding villages and towns could not see their true strength, so they could live with them as ordinary people.
But as soon as the players arrived, they began to look for tasks and special NPCs all over the world. They opened the system to search everywhere, and soon found those secluded high-level NPCs, which was very annoying.
In the past, if one’s identity was exposed, one would just move to another place and live in seclusion.
But now the whole world is full of players, even in the vast wilderness and turbulent sea.
Su Xia walked to the bar and gently put down the cup in her hand.
“Boom!”
The glass cup hits the wooden tabletop lightly, making a crisp sound.
The bartender smiled and asked, "What else would you like, sir?"
Su Xia said: "Buy some news."
"Is the guest a registered member of the pub?"
"no."
"If you are not a registered member, you need to pay three times the price to buy the news." The bartender smiled and said, "You are a very capable guest, why don't you register at the tavern?"
This bartender is also a psychic creature with keen perception. He has seen all kinds of people in the tavern over the years.
He could tell at a glance that Su Xia was a master, and could even smell a faint smell of blood around Su Xia, so he invited Su Xia to join the tavern.
Su Xia shook her head: "No need, triple is fine, I have money."
"Non-registered members cannot purchase core information." The bartender added, "Do you really not want to consider this? Registered members of the pub have absolute freedom."
"Oh? How free?"
"Guests can register now, buy the information they need, and then cancel their identities after buying it. There is no cost."
"hehe……"
This midnight bar has tried every possible means to attract high-quality members, even using the card application tricks of mobile companies.
Su Xia was originally invited by Yi Mo and did not go through these induced processes.
If the interior of the tavern was really as free as he advertised, the members of the North Wind Storytelling Society would not be under house arrest in the basement of the Coral City Tavern.
"What do you think, sir?" the bartender asked with a smile.
"I don't have the time for that." Su Xia refused again.
"Okay, what information do you need?" The bartender didn't mention the registration anymore. After all, three times the limit is a sure thing.
"It's about the masked man."
"All the news?"
"Yes, all of them."
"Guests need to prepare more money."
"It doesn't matter. I have money and I don't care."
“…”
The bartender immediately went to call someone to take over, and then made a gesture to Su Xia to invite him in.
"Please follow me, guest."
"good."
The two walked one after the other, leaving the noisy public area on the first floor of the bar and walked into a quiet corridor covered with crimson carpet.
Non-registered members are not eligible to go to the basement level.
If you need to purchase information, you will be led to a room on the side.
"Please come in, sir." The bartender opened a separate room for Su Xia.
The room is small, with only a dark black desk on which sits a display screen.
The bartender asked Su Xia to sit down, then took out his ID card and swiped it on the sensor next to the display screen. The display screen lit up instantly, and the pub information system interface for public display appeared.
“Ding Dong——”
With a slight sound, several simple modules popped up on the interface. The bartender clicked on the module named [Information Summary] and entered the sub-interface.
At the very top of this sub-interface, there is news related to [Masked Monster].
Perhaps there are too many people buying this information recently, so [Masked Monster Related] was pinned to the top and placed in the most conspicuous position.
In addition, you can also see words like [Related to Redemption Potion], [Related to Mercenary King], [Related to Coral City], etc., which seem to be available for purchase.
"There's a lot of information. You can't take it away, guests. You can only watch it here," said the bartender.
"Can't we take away ordinary information?" Su Xia asked.
“No, it can’t be replicated, but the guest can keep it in their mind.”
"good."
"Does the guest intend to watch it from the beginning?"
"Well, pull up the news of the earliest appearance of the masked man."
The earliest information was most likely produced by Dad’s team.
Su Xia originally sent some nanorobots to follow his father.
Logically speaking, even if the distance is very far, those nanorobots should send messages back to Su Xia every once in a while.
But Dad didn't know what method he used, perhaps he discovered and destroyed those nanorobots, resulting in Su Xia not receiving any news until now, and no one knew where they went.
"Guest, this is the earliest news." The bartender pulled out a file named 0001 for Su Xia. "At that time, when the bar members were performing a mission, they saw a figure wearing an iron mask flash by. This is his oral report."
There are no photos or videos in File No. 0001, only an oral document with a few hundred scattered words.
Su Xia took a quick look and found that it was pretty much what he thought, with no useful information.
The subsequent 0002-0007 files are all text-based eyewitness reports. Some of the content has already been circulated on the Internet, and someone mentioned it in the pub just now.
In these seven sightings, from the east to the west of the city, from inside the city to outside the city, the witnesses were all convinced that they saw the masked man .
Moreover, there was a note on the 0005 file that read "Authenticity in doubt".
Because the eyewitnesses at the time did not pass the polygraph test.
"We suspect that this guy deliberately said he had seen a masked man in order to attract attention," the bartender explained.
"Well, it's possible." Su Xia nodded.
According to what people on Earth say, the masked man is now a top star, and the attention of the entire continent is focused on this action at the Midnight Tavern.
As long as you can get a little connection with him, if you are lucky, you can earn enough money to last you a lifetime.
Therefore, some people take risks and risk their lives to get traffic.
Su Xia continued to flip through the pages, and in the eighth file, a video finally appeared.
This video was provided by a supermarket. The supermarket was robbed and a large amount of cash disappeared. After checking the surveillance footage, it was discovered that a man wearing a metal mask entered the supermarket in the middle of the night.
Below this video, there is also a note saying [Authenticity in doubt].
"This video is real." The bartender continued to explain, "But after analysis, the person in the video cannot be the masked man. Given his personality, it is impossible for him to sneak into a supermarket in the middle of the night and steal money."
"Yes……"
Su Xia was speechless. His good reputation was ruined by these imitators.
In the following files, the masked man not only stole money , but also bread, fruits, greenhouse vegetables and other food, and even stole chickens and dogs, and one of them even snatched a child on the street.
These cases and news almost gave Su Xia a heart attack.
If it was really done by one person, the image of the masked man would change from a dashing master who came and went without a trace to a street thug who was beaten by everyone.
Fortunately, most of the files come with the ending.
Many thieves have been caught and all have been proven not to be the masked man.
Copies of their confessions, corrections and other materials have been sent to the tavern, entered into the archives and are available for purchase and review.
The man who robbed the child was found two days later and was beaten to death in the street by angry mobs. His body was unrecognizable as a human.
"Has this information not been screened?" Su Xia asked.
"It is you who requested all the information, sir," the bartender replied respectfully.
"Okay, give me the filtered, useful information."
"Okay, wait a moment."
The bartender worked on the system and filtered out the slightly more important files.
Su Xia noticed that among the filtered files, there was a file with a "lock" symbol in front of it, and it seemed that it could not be opened.
He clicked several times, but was prompted with "Insufficient Permissions".
"Guest, this document requires registered members to view it." The bartender explained with a smile, "If you really want to see it, why don't you register first? It only takes a few minutes, it's very quick."
"Forget it, I'll look at something else."
Su Xia skipped that file and started looking at the rest of the information.
This time the information that appears is more useful.
First, the Mechanical Clan - the tavern got information that a Level 5 creature named "Todd" led the Mechanical Clan and had secretly arrived in Seahorse City, searching the entire city for traces of the masked man.
This Todd, like Mercer, is a subordinate that the Mechanical Clan's master trusts very much, and he himself is also extremely powerful.
There are more than ten documents about the Mechanical Clan, recording most of the details of their actions in Seahorse City.
"Do you have an undercover agent inside the Mechanical Clan?" Su Xia asked casually, "Can you get such a detailed route of action?"
"No need for an undercover agent." The bartender replied, "The Mechanic Clan has always been confident and will not take the initiative to hide their whereabouts. As long as you are willing to look for them, you will naturally find them."
"Doesn't it say 'arrival in secret'? How come it even clearly states the time of arrival?"
"It's like this..."
The bartender explained earnestly: "The secret arrival of the mechanical people probably means 'arriving in the dark', which means in the middle of the night."
“…”
The literal meaning can actually be understood in this way.
According to the information in the system, Todd has taken over the entire mechanical base in Seahorse City and, like Mercer, has become a behind-the-scenes boss.
The local mechanical city lord is not very powerful, he is just an ordinary level 4 creature, not well-known, not as famous as Yu Tuo of Coral City.
Su Xia continued to read and soon saw a familiar name - Wang Teng.
The tavern received information that Wang Teng, the mercenary king in the wilderness, has become a level 5 creature, but the information inside the tavern has not been updated yet and still shows level 4.8.
Since Wang Teng clamors to kill the masked monster every day and is also related to the masked monster, he has a high priority in the news.
This was followed by the pub's own information.
There are indeed two level five creatures from the northern branch who have arrived. One is called Hu Hanhai and the other is called Liu Jinjia. They are now resting on the basement floor of the tavern.
It's not that they are short of money, they just want fame.
"The tavern has a lot of staff, and with these two adults in charge, it must be safe." Su Xia said.
"You are joking, sir. The situation is unclear right now. We can't even say for sure whether the masked man is really in Kaiba City."
"Is there no suitable inference inside the tavern?" Su Xia asked again, "For example, who is the real identity of the masked man?"
"Yes, there are some suspects in the locked file. If you want to see it..."
"never mind."
Su Xia waved his hands. This guy was trying to trick him into registering again.
He continued to check down, browsing other news, and reading all the recent events in the city related to the masked man.
What puzzled him was that after reading it, he couldn't find any information related to his father's team, not even any suspected information.
The tavern and the mechanical tribe all suspect that someone is behind the trouble, but so far no details have been found to support this suspicion.
As expected of my dad...
