Chapter 1066: Cherish Life, Speak Less
"It seems the xenomorphs will be making a comeback soon," Chi Minghong said, looking up at the bar. "Can this item hold up?"
Xu Huo didn't speculate. If the bar could hold up, that would be fine, but what he was more worried about now was whether there were other dangers in the instance.
Although it was a B-rank high-risk instance, teleporting into a high-risk instance doesn't depend on the player's level. The game's purpose is to punish players who don't follow the rules, so this instance should be targeting C-rank and below players. Most players at this level don't have very good items, and under normal circumstances, players should ensure a steady supply of tickets to skip instances. Unless it's an extreme situation, or the player's own strength isn't solid enough, lacking both items and ability, facing a xenomorph swarm head-on would definitely be very difficult. Therefore, it's also reasonable that the difficulty of this instance lies in the xenomorphs.
However, the mortality rate in high-risk instances is definitely higher than in ordinary instances. Each ordinary instance kills at least half the people. Facing the current situation, players like Xu Huo or Chi Minghong could actually use clever methods to avoid the xenomorph swarm. Escaping wouldn't be difficult. This way, the mortality rate isn't that high, after all, flying xenomorphs are still a minority.
Considering both situations, Xu Huo was more inclined to believe that there was something more dangerous than the xenomorphs in this instance.
He looked at the continuous black rain outside, then turned back to Chi Minghong and said, "I'm planning to leave."
Chi Minghong's leg was injured, and she didn't have enough levitation items. After thinking for a moment, she said, "I'm afraid I can't leave. Staying here is at least temporarily safe."
Xu Huo nodded, then said to Uncle Guan and the others, "I'm going to open the door."
"Mr. Xu, won't you stay with us?" Zhou Yuanzhu quickly said. "There's safety in numbers. Isn't it more dangerous outside?"
Xu Huo could understand their feelings and didn't say much. He only said, "It's better to leave as soon as possible."
But as he turned around, he paused and added, "I can take two more people with me. Who among you wants to leave?"
He was asking the people from District 002. "World Within the Painting" could accommodate two people, at least ensuring they would survive for thirty days. As long as he was safe, taking them out wouldn't be a problem. However, he didn't know if entering a container item had any other effects besides death, so he didn't ask Chi Minghong. A cautious player wouldn't voluntarily enter another person's container item.
Leave? Outside was all xenomorphs. Just mentioning those two words made their legs weak, let alone volunteering. So, looking around, not only did no one step forward, but they also pulled the children in the crowd back a little.
"I..." the girl Chi Minghong had saved said softly, "I want to go out."
Not only did she volunteer, but she also urged Chi Minghong, "Sister, let's go with him. He's so strong! He saved us all in one go just now!"
Chi Minghong looked at Xu Huo, and Xu Huo said, "You'll have to enter a container item."
Unless it was someone they absolutely trusted, who would dare entrust their life?
Chi Minghong smiled. "Then I'd better stay. What if you die? Wouldn't I be trapped alive in the item? You'd better take another child."
Xu Huo gave her a deep look. Instead of waiting for someone to volunteer, he directly pointed to one of the two children he had saved earlier.
That child had been tempted but was hesitant because of the people around him. Seeing Xu Huo looking at him, he immediately ran out. When he saw the painting frame, he actively reached out and touched it, then disappeared from everyone's sight. A moment later, a cartoon face appeared on the painting.
The girl found it amazing. She walked over and said, "Uncle, make sure to let us out later. I'm so hungry, I want to eat."
After putting the two children in, Xu Huo, with the help of Ruan Qiyan and Zhou Yuanzhu, opened the door again. Wearing the invisibility cloak, he fought his way to the shelter, pushed aside some of the xenomorph corpses piled outside, then collected 101 and took the two children into the air.
Carrying them on his back, he covered them with an item that concealed their aura. Using his evolution power, he moved two hundred meters at a time, gradually moving away from the woods.
Watching him go further away, someone couldn't help but say, "Staying in the painting isn't really unsafe, is it..."
The others didn't say anything, because Xu Huo had already walked out of their sight. Whether he escaped or was struck down by xenomorphs, they wouldn't be able to know.
"Gentleman's Poise" could move up and down but not left or right. So, every time Xu Huo moved, there was a brief moment of falling, which he compensated for with the strings. Fortunately, the two children weren't very heavy.
After he brought the people out of the woods and looked back, the adjusted xenomorph swarm began to surge into the woods again. Some of the frenzied (kuangbao) xenomorphs even killed their own companions as they advanced, extremely ferocious.
"Can they still get out?" the boy behind him suddenly asked.
"Depends on luck," Xu Huo said. He knew this was a smart child. Having been in the shelter for so long, he hadn't untied the cloth wrapped around himself, and he had been holding the baby all along. That's why he could take them away so quickly when the item was retrieved.
"What was your name before?"
"Tan Qi," the boy answered his question and then asked, "Are you taking me to use me for experiments too?"
Xu Huo chuckled. "What's there to experiment on you for? Didn't Dr. Zhang tell you when he left that none of you children in this batch have graduated?"
"He's not a teacher," Tan Qi said softly. "If you want to know, I can tell you what I know."
"You didn't tell the lab people everything?" Xu Huo didn't show any interest.
"They're all stupid, easy to fool," Tan Qi said. "But you're different. I don't think I can fool you."
"Since you know you can't fool me, don't lie," Xu Huo said. "You need to fix that habit."
Tan Qi kept a straight face and didn't argue. Instead, he asked, "Have you graduated?"
Xu Huo stopped. "Speak less. Cherish life."
Tan Qi wisely shut his mouth.
Soon, they had left the range of the xenomorph swarm. The area outside the woods was relatively open and elevated, ending at a rift valley. The drop down the rift was about three hundred meters. Looking out, apart from a few scattered low hills, the entire area was dry, cracked earth. Not only were there no signs of plants or animals, but the temperature was also higher than the plain woods across the valley, so much so that standing at the edge, one could feel the oppressive heat.
Xu Huo gave Tan Qi a bottle of water, then entered this cracked earth zone.
Under the high temperature, the entire land in view looked as if it had been baked. The cracked earth was like dense spots, and the ground down to about one or two meters deep was dry and scorched black.
Xu Huo raised his hand: The black rain here was a bit denser than in the woods.
(Chapter End)