Chapter 95: A Small Exchange (1/2)
Translator: Strivon
As Luo Nan walked out of the elevator, he raised his arm to look at his wristband. The friend he had just added did not respond yet, but this was very normal. He was not counting on this little bit of a psychological hint to force the rather scheming Liu Tao into complete submission.
The human body's various neurons and neurotransmitters were encoded and encrypted by carriers of the material plane. In the case of Jack, it was absolutely impossible for a glance of eye contact to see through all of his thoughts and even all influences on emotions. Besides, Luo Nan did not even have his most capable Wraith Sign by his side.
However, it was not very difficult to see through a target's approximate emotional trend. Especially when the target harbored quite a malicious intent.
Luo Nan had not paid particular attention to Liu Tao at the beginning. He could only blame Liu Tao's own lack of confidence for the series of actions that gave off a transparently awkward vibe. Most particularly was when the elevator door closed the first time, Liu Tao appeared to have had a load off his mind... He certainly would not know that Luo Nan did not need to use his eyes to observe him at all.
What followed just required a simple bit of logic.
Luo Nan thought back to the moments after the conflict with Huang Bingzhen. Liu Tao had perfectly avoided being seen, then he showed himself to Huang Bingzhen afterwards. Most likely, Liu Tao had discovered Luo Nan and had hidden to the side to spy on them. Whether it was to help Huang Bingzhen vent some anger or for some other objective, Liu Tao had undoubtedly acted with ill intent.
So logically and naturally, Luo Nan gave Liu Tao a bit of a psychological hint. Under the overwhelming dominance of the mental plane, the aftermath caused by this ‘little bit’ of a psychological hint would be determined by Liu Tao himself.
Luo Nan went against the flow of people to enter the reception hall. He found Mo Qiu with great precision among the dazzling silhouettes of people and virtual figures.
Just as he said, Mo Qiu was waiting in front of the guide stand of the reception hall. However, something was outside of Luo Nan's expectations, this ‘third brother’ was actually by himself. There was no one next to him. There was not even a trace of his target of the meetup, Tian Si.
Luo Nan squeezed out from the crowd and spoke out in greeting, "Third Brother, where's Mo Peng and the others?"
Mo Qiu did not answer directly and just adopted a calm expression. "Nanster, you're here. Let's keep on waiting. Mo Rui, Mo Han will be here in a bit..."
This time, Luo Nan was not in the mood to go beating around the bush with him. He asked directly, "Did something happen with Mo Peng and the others? Did someone get offended and a fight happened?"
As soon as these brief words were uttered, Luo Nan was able to see shock in Mo Qiu's expression. Luo Nan confirmed that he had hit the bull's eye.
Mo Qiu first reaction was. "Mo Peng got in contact with you?"
Luo Nan spread his hands. "I was just guessing!"
Right now, Luo Nan's mature behavior made Mo Qiu more or less overlook Luo Nan's age. He also forgot to maintain the calm and comforting demeanor of an elder brother he had constantly tried to portray and unconsciously sighed.
Actually, Mo Qiu felt quite wronged; he really did not know too much about the situation. Mo Qiu and Tian Si were loitering around Area C and chatting when the situation occurred. They were already a bit too late by the time news had gotten over.
"It seemed like Mo Cheng's battle team was provoked when they were practicing their skills. The two sides faced off in virtual reality but things became serious. Both sides had people get kicked offline due to the excessive BMing. Otherwise, it would have turned into a real fist fight..."
This was nothing really. In competitive games, BMing and challenging were part of the game. In circumstances of high immersion, when someone was unable to hold back their anger, virtual duels would become real PKs. This was a very common occurrence in a community full of young and vigorous people.
Generally speaking, a large amusement center like Frost River Reality would always have the appropriate control measures in order to prevent the situation from worsening.
However, today was just a bad day. By the time Mo Qiu got wind of the news and made his way over, people who were not even part of the battle team and did not really do anything to instigate things, like Mo Tao, Mo Peng, and even Tian Qi were all drawn in. Things really did turn into a big brawl.
The situation suddenly went out of control. The public order monitoring system captured the scene and automatically reported it to the police. This was now something that could not be suppressed by Frost River Reality no matter how much they wished to. The sentinel bots arrived at the scene and pointed their riot guns, knocking out the group of youngsters, putting them on the ground instantly. They were lifted into police cars in just a few minutes. These police cars were parked outside right now.
Even the police were shocked. Did young people really make such a big scene..?
Huang Bingzhen's face flashed in Luo Nan's mind. Then came Liu Tao's face. He felt this was a case of leveraging power, an easy way to pluck oneself out from a situation. This seemed to be something that Liu Tao would do.
Of course, this was only speculation.
Mo Qiu's train of thought ran a bit further. He noticed that the people who provoked them looked like thugs. He was afraid that a society gang had gotten involved. His first priority was to gather up a few of his companions within the amusement center and ensure their safety.
In any case. This night was bound to be quite a terrible night.
At this time, Mo Rui, Mo Han, and Chen Xiaolin came over in a haste. The three of them had been playing the game, The Uncanny Valley, and were not part of the majority of the group. They were able to avoid the conflict.
On the other hand, Chen Xiaolan, who was one to play with the boys, had participated in the brawl. Thus, she was also taken aboard a police car. Mo Qiu got quite the headache when he saw Chen Xiaolin come closer; he did not know how to explain the situation to her and comfort her.
Things were bad either way. In the end, Mo Qiu was forced to explain the situation to the girls. But the reactions of these girls more or less exceeded his expectations.
Mo Rui was relatively quiet and that was okay, but Mo Han instantly jumped. "It has to be that Huang Bingzhen! That bastard is a good for nothing no matter how you look at him! He had people get revenge for him!"
She had first thought of that trash in an instant. It seemed that Mo Han's mental scar of Huang Bingzhen's hug was very large.
Chen Xiaolin's expression grew even calmer. She did not grow distressed when she heard that her sister had been detained and instead asked, "Have they determined which party is responsible?"
"All they know is that the other guys started provoking them." Mo Qiu felt helpless when he spoke these words.
"Which police department are they going to be taken to?"
"This... I'll ask."
Right now, Tian Si was looking over matters on the police side of things. After Mo Qiu called to get information, he discovered very awkwardly that his current way of handling things had been crushed by Chen Xiaolin who was only a sixteen, seventeen year old girl.
Awkwardness was just awkwardness; it did not prevent Mo Qiu from obtaining the definite information. "It's the Fudong Department Branch. It's being handled nearby."
Chen Xiaolin nodded and turned to face Luo Nan. "Leister's dad works for the city department. He's quite familiar with the people in charge."
Oh right, Leister was making his way over here in a hurry.
Luo Nan did not say a word. He just raised his hand towards Chen Xiaolin, indicating to her that too many people worrying about the same thing was bad. These sort of things should be communicated to people who were more familiar with police matters.
However, Luo Nan's was shaking his head in his mind as well when he saw Chen Xiaolin's calm expression when she mentioned Xue Lei. He did not believe that this exchange would be able to save any part of their relationship.
Chen Xiaolin did not refuse. She walked to the side to talk with Xue Lei.
Luo Nan sighed again. Huang Bingzhen's face flashed in his mind once again. Would that rude fellow really be satisfied with this superficial revenge?