Chapter 1075: Someone Is Here
A group of xenomorphs was charging toward their position, roughly thirty or so in number upon a quick count.
However, even the ordinary people behind weren't too tense, because compared to the mutant animals they had encountered before, this group looked a bit less intelligent—though their sizes varied greatly, this herd of mutant beasts resembled fighting hens, necks stretched long, feathers fluffed up, pecking forward with their heads as they ran.
"Long neck feathers, downy body feathers, sharp beaks—looks a bit like ostriches," Chi Minghong said, drawing his sword. "I'll handle them."
"Wait," Xu Huo said. "They run pretty fast. We can use them for transport."
Zhou Yuanzhu, who had been holding back her frustration, immediately stepped forward. "There's a leader! Perfect!"
As she spoke, she moved a hundred meters away in an instant, then made two consecutive jumps. She had changed into a set of armored protective suit and directly mounted the back of the leading mutant beast. As it turned its head to peck at her, she tossed a small ball into its mouth. The ball automatically expanded inside the bird's beak, and two ropes shot out from either side. Zhou Yuanzhu grabbed them with both hands, pulled them around the beast's head, and yanked backward.
The mutant bird dug its claws into the ground for an emergency brake, then tilted its tail forward in an attempt to throw Zhou Yuanzhu off, but it failed. Two thin iron chains shot out from her shoes, piercing through the bird's wings on both sides, dragging it along as she flipped over!
Zhou Yuanzhu performed a midair roll and landed steadily on the ground, while the leading bird beast lay upside down with its feet in the air.
Soon, the other bird beasts came to help. Several intercepted Zhou Yuanzhu, while others pecked at the iron chains. With one bite, they could actually spark the chains.
"Pretty tough!" Zhou Yuanzhu fitted each of them with a muzzle, securely locking their beaks before kicking them away one by one.
This group of bird beasts wasn't as cooperative as the xenomorph packs they had encountered before. After being beaten, each one busied itself with removing the things from their mouths, ignoring the others, writhing and struggling on the ground in disarray.
Then, an unexpected scene unfolded. A large number of bird beasts following behind either lay on their backs like the leader or rolled around like the others with muzzles, lifting their claws to paw at nonexistent things on their faces.
"I'm almost moved to tears," Chi Minghong said, pretending to wipe his eyes. "I never thought I'd encounter such adorable mutant beasts in a high-risk instance."
The others shared the same sentiment, as if what stood before them weren't man-eating monsters but a group of trainable puppies.
Zhou Yuanzhu quickly brought back the leading bird beast. The muzzled creature kept turning its head to peck at her as it walked, but it got whipped every time. The other bird beasts followed behind, mimicking the leader's movements.
"Can we really ride these?" the others expressed doubt.
Xu Huo was quite interested. He picked out a white-necked one. This bird beast didn't try to shake him off but still pecked at him.
However, Xu Huo didn't retaliate. Instead, when it opened its mouth, he tossed an apple inside.
"Crunch!" The white-necked one bit down and crushed the apple. Fresh, sweet fruit juice splattered out, attracting the attention of several nearby bird beasts, all turning their heads.
The white-necked one tilted its head back, swallowed the apple with a "gulp," then pretended nothing had happened and pecked at Xu Huo half-heartedly.
Probably because of their generally low intelligence, this blatant "bribe" didn't cause much of a stir.
Ordinary people couldn't withstand a bird beast's bite, so aside from the leader, the other muzzled ones were given to the Zone 002 people. Two people per beast, while the remaining four sat behind several players.
The journey became much easier after that. Zhou Yuanzhu led the way, with rows of bird beasts following behind. They moved quickly, and the riders bore little burden.
Traveling was now more relaxed. They encountered two small groups of xenomorphs along the way, dealt with them effortlessly, and even let the bird beasts have a full meal.
Soon, dawn broke. They seemed to have reached the edge of the arid zone. Green grass appeared in the distance, and they also found footprints from Excavator 114 nearby.
"Strange, why didn't 114 come back?" Ruan Qiyan checked the area. "The machinery shouldn't have malfunctioned."
"Either it ran into xenomorphs or other players," Xu Huo said calmly. "Maybe this wilderness survival will end soon."
Uncle Guan and the others exchanged glances, becoming more alert.
After another hour of travel, they discovered tire tracks at the edge of a small marshland. They hadn't been completely buried yet, so they couldn't have been there long.
"Does this mean people still live in this high-risk instance?" Zhou Yuanzhu asked.
"High-risk instances have almost no original inhabitants left. It's probably players who randomly entered normally," Uncle Guan said with experience. "Think about it—what kind of people could survive in this environment?"
Just the hunger alone would be insurmountable.
"114 didn't come back, so it might have been taken by other players," Ruan Qiyan said. "Someone can't be too far away. Let's go after them."
To the others, risking it all for a single robot seemed unnecessary, but considering 114 was worth thirty million, Uncle Guan still asked for Xu Huo's opinion.
Xu Huo said, "Let's go a bit further and see."
Uncle Guan gave him a slightly puzzled look, then glanced again at the tire tracks on the ground before agreeing to his proposal.
They continued forward and soon found more tire tracks, but this time there were two sets.
Uncle Guan's expression changed instantly. "Such large vehicles can't fit in the luggage compartment. Even if assembled, they'd need energy, and ordinary energy players can't carry that much... Could there really be original inhabitants here?"
"It's hard to say if they're original inhabitants," Xu Huo said, crouching down to examine the tracks closely. "But at least it shows one thing: even if there are original inhabitants here, their technology level isn't very high."
Previously, Bai Kou had lent him an energy cannon that used a new type of energy stone, which could be carried in the luggage compartment. If this place had that level of energy stone resources, they wouldn't have failed to build aircraft. In such a harsh environment, flying would certainly be safer than traveling on the ground.
If not original inhabitants, then the most likely scenario was that external players had found a remnant city and gotten the vehicles from there.
"Regardless, it's good news," Chi Minghong said. "At least there's a place to rest. You don't actually plan to ride mutant beasts for half a month, do you?"
Even if the people could endure, the mutant beasts wouldn't stay obedient for long. They had already dealt with two foolish birds that snapped out of it along the way.
"If we run into a few players, that's fine. But if it's original inhabitants, we'll reconsider," Ruan Qiyan said.
The group reached a consensus and officially began tracking the tire marks.
(Chapter End)