Chapter 1331: New Hope
Mr. Chi maintained his usual demeanor. "I'm not saying this to gain your sympathy for Zone 023, but to explain for this child. Although he is young, he is not someone who cannot distinguish right from wrong, nor has he grown into a child with a twisted worldview because of Zone 023's special environment."
"I can see that," Xu Huo said. Compared to others, the players of Zone 023 seemed a bit more "upright."
"I apologize to you on his behalf," Mr. Chi added. "Thank you for going easy on them."
They also understood that if Xu Huo and the other two hadn't held back, Xiao Lai and his companions would have been dead long ago.
Mr. Chi was a man of his word. After learning they were heading to Twin Cities, he arranged for the masked man to guide them.
"Twin Cities consists of two cities. The closer one is the Primary City, and the farther one is the Secondary City. If you're going to the Primary City, you can set out tomorrow morning and arrive by evening. There's no better resting place nearby, so you can stay here for the night."
"The temperature from here to the Primary City of Twin Cities is very high, even at night. Staying in a high-temperature environment for a long time will drain your stamina quickly."
Looking out from this small town, there really was no better place to stop. Seeing Qiu Ming and Cao Qinglin interested, Xu Huo agreed to stay for one night.
The ground was too hot, so all these people could only squeeze into caves or tunnels. Players generally weren't too particular in the game; laying out a sleeping bag in the tunnel was enough.
There were only three children here, but the remaining dozen or so evolved humans were different from the players. They seemed to be chronically ill, coughing and wheezing for long periods at night, some even paralyzed and unable to breathe. Mr. Chi and the others were already used to it. Whenever someone had an episode, they would help administer medicine. There wasn't much conversation during this time; it was very calm.
The three children, however, had no problems. The two younger ones were even sharing candy.
Early the next morning, Cao Qinglin had already gathered information from the people here. The adults were basically all victims of evolution. The older ones had died off over the past twenty-plus years. Those who were relatively younger survived but with severe aftereffects—this was Xiao Lai's parents' generation. The children born later, who hadn't been directly injected with evolved blood, were unaffected, at least appearing completely normal for now.
"That's good news," Qiu Ming said. "Children are the hope, after all."
Although they deeply sympathized with Zone 023's plight, all they could do was leave behind some supplies. There wasn't much else they could help with.
Before dawn, the three of them set off under the guidance of the masked man and the female player, Jian Yue.
The masked man was named Jian Li, and he and Jian Yue were cousins. Neither of them was very talkative. Qiu Ming and Cao Qinglin tried to strike up conversations multiple times along the way but failed.
They had originally wanted to ask about news from Twin Cities, but these two didn't engage and simply led the way in silence.
As Mr. Chi had said, after passing the small town, the entire area was indeed a high-temperature zone. They didn't encounter any xenomorphs, but Zone 023's own environment was more dangerous. Who would have thought that under such high heat, poisonous insects and snakes could still be active—these venomous creatures had already adapted to the current high temperatures.
To avoid being bitten, they had to continuously use defense items along the way. The weather was too hot for anyone to wear protective suits.
Cao Qinglin suffered the most. Her injuries hadn't healed, and residual poison remained in her system. Around noon, when the temperature was at its peak, she started vomiting, even throwing up the water she drank.
Jian Yue fed her some special juice and had everyone stop to rest.
"High temperatures can trigger a chain reaction in the body. With injuries this severe, you'd better find a way to cool her down," Jian Li said.
"Are both Twin Cities within the high-temperature zone?" Xu Huo wiped the sweat from his face. After receiving an affirmative answer, he glanced at Cao Qinglin. "Feeling any better?"
"That water was quite useful, better than medicine," Cao Qinglin forced a smile, then added, "The game really isn't kind to me. I'm almost half-dead before even entering an instance."
"Don't worry too much. Once you enter Twin Cities, there are specialized cooling devices for sale," Jian Yue said, wringing out her soaked clothes. "They're very convenient, specially prepared for players from outer zones."
"You can't enter Twin Cities?" Catching the implication in her words, Qiu Ming asked casually.
"We can enter, but we can't take anything out," Jian Li said. "All the devices sold in the safe zones come with tracking locators. Buying them is useless."
So they had no choice but to endure the high-temperature zone.
"This..." Qiu Ming was momentarily speechless, then could only say, "The district government really keeps a tight leash on you."
Another stretch of silence followed. They waited quietly until Cao Qinglin had recovered somewhat before resuming their journey.
They had been delayed on the road, arriving at Twin Cities Point A a bit later than expected. Turning around a mountain bend, they could see a sizable defensive wall stretching between two peaks. The Jian siblings stopped here, their task complete.
"The safe zone doesn't prohibit players from entering or leaving, but they usually don't open the main gate. You can enter on your own. Also, once you reach the forested area, mutated animals become active. Be careful."
With a brief farewell, the two turned back.
Watching their retreating figures, Qiu Ming couldn't help but say, "These people are really strange."
"People are different from one another. Nothing strange about it," Cao Qinglin reminded him to catch up with Xu Huo ahead.
The mountain forests were overgrown with many mutated plants. Under the sunlight, large patches of vegetation were a dark, oily green, giving off a rich, unpleasant plant odor at a glance.
The three put on their protective suits and hurried toward the safe zone gate. Just as they stepped into the woods outside the gate, a flock of small birds and beasts was startled into flight, gathering into a dark, oppressive mass. After circling once, they dove straight at them.
The three spread their defensive barriers without slowing down, merely veering slightly to the side to avoid the center of the bird swarm and pass through.
A little resistance was nothing, but no sooner had the flock passed from view than several large mutated animals appeared. These xenomorphs, with heads like crocodiles and bodies like rhinoceroses, were pure white, with reflective scales scattered across their skin. The light spots they cast in the sunlight were actually quite dazzling.
"Moo..." The few xenomorphs let out a simple, bovine-like call and charged at them with ferocity, though they weren't fast. They could easily be bypassed without any need for direct confrontation. However, the xenomorphs following behind were a bit numerous.
"Let's just go straight in," Xu Huo said, and in one step, he landed on the safe zone's defensive wall.
The high platform on the defensive wall was equipped with various weapons and instruments, but they didn't react to the players. There were no players on duty nearby either. After a brief pause, he leaped down from the high wall and landed inside Twin Cities.
[Player Passerby A has entered Twin Cities Point A. Default participation in C-rank Instance "New Hope."]