Chapter 28 triggers a hidden plot.
Seeing that he was making another move, Pei Hening quickly snatched the glass bottle from his hand!
"Green, turn off the chainsaw and bring the rope. This guy will only behave if he's tied up."
Chu Xuange held the man firmly to the ground and calmly made arrangements.
Pei Hening turned off the chainsaw and handed the rope to Chu Xuange.
After he tied the man up securely, he ripped off his hood, and sure enough, it was—Butler Carter!
After Pei Hening saw Butler Carter, all the seemingly minor clues started to connect.
"Butler Carter, or Mr. Hobbs, what are you doing?"
Chu Xuange took the glass bottle from Pei Hening, opened the cap and a peculiar smell wafted out. He quickly put the cap back on: "Sepoflurane?"
Hobbs's expression twisted slightly: "How did you know my identity?"
Chu Xuange squatted down and looked at the chainsaw on the ground: "Is this the chainsaw that cut off Young Master's index finger? I thought you would seek revenge on the town mayor, but I didn't expect you to come after Young Master first."
Hobbes, his face contorted with madness, cried out, "They all deserve to die! What's wrong with me killing that little beast first?"
Pei Hening: "Yes, they all deserve to die, but you hate the wrong people. The person who killed your family was Andrei, not George."
He froze for a moment: "What?"
——
In March 1948, George arrived in the town of De Saint-Ma to serve as mayor.
Hobbes was invited to serve as a technical advisor to the recurve bow factory.
The product was manufactured, but the sales channels were not well managed. So they decided to launch a star-making plan—to create a champion in recurve bow competitions to boost recurve bow sales.
Hobbs and George both have sons, and both of them have signed their children up for competitions. In order for this star-making plan to go smoothly, George bought his son a championship.
The star-making project was a great success, and the town of De Saint-Marse became famous. The factory's output could not keep up with sales, so the factory was expanded.
Due to a shortage of manpower, George invited his twin brother Andrei to manage the finances and be in charge of factory security.
Seeing the factory making a fortune every day, Andrei had a wicked idea and secretly embezzled public funds.
After embezzling money multiple times, he worried that George would find out, so in order to cover the shortfall, he secretly hired workers illegally.
However, Hobbes still found out about this. Seeing that George and Andrei had a good relationship, he mistakenly thought that George was also involved in the illegal employment.
Hobbes secretly approached Winnie's family's newspaper, wanting to collaborate with them to expose the matter. The newspaper outwardly agreed, but secretly told Andrei about it.
Andrei, having gone this far, decided to seize the opportunity to eliminate the black laborers, Hobbes, and George—his biggest threats—and then take over George's wealth.
This leads to another secret: the young master is actually the child of Andrei and Mrs. George.
George and his wife had a so-so relationship. After Andrei took George's place, he used his wife's help to solidify his identity as 'George' and even made several news reports, which led to the evaluation of 'a withered tree coming back to life'.
After the star-making project, the young master's vanity soared, and he then signed up to participate in the recurve bow competition. However, he could never beat Hobbs, so he began to target him, verbally abusing him or even physically abusing him.
Hobbes noticed that his master was bullying young Hobbes and confronted George. George thought it was just children playing around and nothing serious, so the two parted on bad terms.
Hobbs moved his family of four to the outskirts of the factory, planning to leave the town of De Saint-Mar after the newspapers came to expose the factory's illegal employment practices.
On the day of the move, the young master left Hobbes in the servants' quarters and broke the bones in both of his fingers one by one.
They seized Hobbes' favorite recurve bow as a souvenir—the bow from that half-uncut photograph—which the young master later hung on the wall of his bedroom.
When the time agreed upon by Hobbes and the newspaper arrived, the reporter did not show up, so Hobbes released the undocumented worker.
Andrei and his thirteen henchmen surrounded them, set fire to the factory, and attempted to burn the black worker and Hobbes alive.
Andrei relayed the news of the factory fire to George, who rushed over but was beaten and left partially paralyzed.
Andrei took him back to the mayor's house, killed him in the basement, and announced to the public that 'Andrei' had died of illness at home, perfectly replacing George with the help of his wife.
When the young master learned of Hobbes's death, he felt guilty and afraid, believing that he was responsible for Hobbes's death, which is why there was that anxious photograph taken in early 1952.
Andrei had no talent for management. In order to maintain the factory's sales, he followed George's old path and ordered the young master to win the recurve bow competition every year.
Unfortunately, the young master lacks talent and has to bribe other contestants to cheat every time.
Under such high pressure, the young master learned to relieve stress by abusing the waiters in bars. In order to maintain the reputation of Mayor George, he would drag the people to work as illegal laborers in factories after each abuse.
What they didn't expect was that Hobbes survived the fire and sought revenge.
Hobbs has killed all thirteen henchmen, the young master, and even Mayor George and his wife.
——
Pei Hening looked at him, tilted her head and asked, "I'm more curious, what was your motive for killing Gardner?"
"Gardner was certainly impolite, but did it warrant killing him?"
Hobbes's cloudy eyes gleamed coldly as he sneered, "The illegal workers were brought in by the Gardner family."
Pei Hening truly hadn't expected this. She then asked, "Then what was your motive for killing us?"
Hobbs looked at them with disgust. "Aren't you Gardner's lackeys?"
[Congratulations to players Didi Didi and Princess Ningning for triggering the hidden storyline "Fire Factory"]
[Instance: Desamar Town transforms into a Fire Survivor]
[Rank: F upgraded to E]
[Instance Quest Change: Rescue the Factory Workers and Complete the Battle Royale (Limited Time: 1 Day)]
Pei Hening subconsciously looked at Chu Xuange, and seeing him nod, she calmed down.
The task seems to have become simpler, but is it really?
Pei Hening thought about the game's inherent nature and felt that it was trying to kill itself.
Chu Xuange stepped forward, picked up a towel, stuffed it into Hobbs' mouth, and then knocked him unconscious!
He picked the person up with one hand, walked to the bathroom door, threw him inside, and then closed the bathroom door.
After washing his hands, Chu Xuange walked to Pei Hening's side and said, "There are still twenty-four hours left, let's rest first."
"good."
After waking up, I still have to rescue the factory's illegal workers and complete the battle royale, so I definitely need a good rest.
Meanwhile, Gardner, who was hiding in the trash can, also heard the system notification.
His face looked extremely grim; the dungeon had been upgraded!
The battle royale has been brought forward!
He looked at his injuries and cursed under his breath, thinking, "When it rains, it pours!"
He had to go back to the mayor's house to get medicine to treat his wounds, so as not to hold him back during the battle royale!
He thought back to the excitement he felt on the day he triggered the dungeon and wanted to call himself an idiot!
Gardner climbed out of the trash can and hurried toward the mayor's house.
——
Six o'clock in the morning.
Kofi and Raman woke up with dark faces.
They went back to their room intending to piece together some clues, but unexpectedly, they immediately fell unconscious.
"Kofi, the dungeon has been upgraded!"