Chapter 91: To Walk at the Forefront of the Times
Sharp screams echoed through the empty streets. Wu Qiuyi and the other two stood on guard, and within less than ten seconds, a white figure shot out from an intersection, moving so fast it nearly left an afterimage. Though slender and light, it stopped steadily beside the toy that had made the noise, swiping its claws to slice the toy into several pieces, its nails even leaving marks on the ground!
This was the first time Wu Qiuyi had seen a Xenomorph up close. A strange expression crossed her face, a mix of sorrow and anger. "The ones who eat people are also human."
"Shh." Lin Pei pressed her shoulder, signaling her to be quiet.
The Xenomorph hadn't noticed anyone nearby. As it circled in place, it bumped into a few players, and screams erupted one after another. It clawed around in a frenzy, venting by eating and spitting for a while, then suddenly leaped onto the roof and ran back the way it came.
"Go!" Lin Pei and Wu Qiuyi jumped out of the window one after another, climbed onto the roof, and chased after it.
The two leaped across rooftops, tracking the Xenomorph in the direction Ke Liang had pointed.
Surprisingly, though the Xenomorph had no eyes, it rarely hit obstacles while moving through the streets. Normally, sounds above 60 decibels would attract their attention, and their hearing was weakened, but this Xenomorph paused briefly every so often, tilting its head as if listening to something.
"What is it listening to?" After a few times, Wu Qiuyi stopped worrying about being discovered and instead became curious about its behavior.
Lin Pei didn't understand either, but soon they found the Xenomorph's lair—a church. They watched it slip into an empty seat beneath a statue of a deity inside. Risking a closer look, they discovered a passage underneath, with round holes on the metal walls, just like Xu Huo had described.
After measuring the dimensions, the two retreated from the church and searched the nearby area for possible safety puzzles before heading to the next zone.
By the time the bus returned to town the next morning, the three were exhausted but visibly more relaxed.
"Good news—there aren't as many Xenomorphs in town as we thought," Lin Pei said. "We tested so many spots yesterday and only found two, and we've already covered two-thirds of the town."
This news lifted everyone's spirits on the bus. Xu Huo said, "I'll go look for safety puzzles near Master Nisai's residence later."
"I'll go too," Gu Yu added.
"Then the three of us will cover the remaining areas," Wu Qiuyi said.
"Can you handle it?" Shen Yi asked. "Maybe we should switch today."
"We rested well last night, so it's fine," Wu Qiuyi replied. "The three of us work well together and know the town well. No need to complicate things."
"You could go find puzzles with Xu Huo and Gu Yu."
"If you all leave, what about us?" Wang Chaoqing quickly interjected. "The bus isn't exactly safe either. At least one or two people should stay."
Shen Xin shot him a contemptuous look and said to Shen Yi, "Brother, let's stay on the bus. No point in them holding us back."
No one objected, but then someone's stomach growled.
Everyone turned. Gu Yu looked a bit embarrassed. "What's so strange about being hungry? If you ate grass every day like me, you'd probably be worse off."
Xu Huo crushed the remaining lollipop and opened it, letting everyone take a small piece.
Having gone nearly two days without food, Xu Huo was also starving. He drank two bottles of water along with the candy.
"When I get back this time, I'm never dieting again," Gu Yu said, her face pale as she clutched her water bottle. "When I get out, I'm eating fried chicken and drinking cola."
"Now that you're a player, do you still need to work?" Shen Xin looked at her oddly. "Shouldn't our first priority be figuring out how to survive in the game?"
"Why wouldn't a player need to work?" Gu Yu pouted. "Look at how little we have. Who'd be willing to trade that for money? But people need money to live, and with money, you can buy items."
"Who would sell items?" Shen Yi chuckled. "Usually, it's trades. Selling would be too foolish."
"As long as the price is right, you can buy anything," Gu Yu said with experience.
The other broke players on the bus fell silent. Shen Xin said sourly, "Must be nice to have money."
"You bet," Gu Yu said, flipping her hair. "With money, you can even hire someone to take you through instances."
Lin Pei was surprised. "Aren't the strong players all under government control now?"
"That's just paying the government to negotiate," Gu Yu said. "The government needs a lot of money to study players and the game, and they want to learn more about instances. If your offer is reasonable, they can handle the ticket issue themselves."
Xu Huo looked up at this. "Are there many tickets from the same station?"
"As far as I know, it's rare for players from the same place to meet in instances," Lin Pei said.
"Hard in the same city or province, sure, but nationwide, finding one or two tickets from the same station isn't impossible," Gu Yu said. "None of you are from Jing City, right? What I'm saying isn't new there. Some wealthy groups have even started hiring players to explore instances for them. They call it future prospects—walking at the forefront of the times."
The others were stunned. They never imagined that while they were still hiding their identities and struggling for a single ticket, some people had already begun organized instance exploration.
In Xu Huo's view, this was actually reasonable.
Evolvers had only emerged in the last month or so, but sharp official agencies and well-connected power players had likely started investigating immediately. The game world held great exploration value—not to mention other things, just the physical enhancement of evolvers was enough to draw people in droves. For thousands of years, humans had evolved, but never truly surpassed the concept of "ordinary." The emergence of evolvers must have driven those with capital and power wild.
Though Gu Yu acknowledged monetary transactions, she scoffed at the idea of becoming a hired player. "Those people don't realize that every time a player enters an instance, they're risking their lives. Only low-level players would fall for the conditions they offer. Once players level up, who calls the shots is anyone's guess."
"That's true." Lin Pei suddenly smiled. "The world belongs to the strong, and the future strong will definitely be players."
Gu Yu nodded deeply. "So now those big groups act all high and mighty. Later, they'll be begging players."
This thought balanced everyone's feelings, but Xu Huo didn't agree. As long as evolvers relied on Evolution Agents, whether they'd be controlled in the future was uncertain, let alone reversing roles.
Still, some deep-rooted things were bound to change.
"What's your evolution rate?" Gu Yu suddenly asked.