Chapter 1332: Spring Bamboo Laboratory
[Background: Twin Cities, once a famous tourist destination in Zone 023 that was devastated by a large-scale evolution event, became desolate cities for a long time after being attacked by mutants and mutated flora and fauna. It wasn't until ten years ago that the District Government decided to rebuild these two cities and relocate a large population there.]
[However, after the city's reconstruction, the residents inexplicably contracted a contagious disease. This disease causes skin mutations, degenerative traits, and weakness in patients, ultimately shortening their lifespans. Due to a lack of effective prevention and treatment measures, these two cities have had no normal contact with other safe zones to this day.]
[Yet half a month ago, two-thirds of the first batch of clinical trial subjects at Point A's Spring Bamboo Laboratory were cured of the disease. The long-term efforts of medical workers in Twin Cities have borne fruit. To rescue the residents of Point B and better understand the disease's characteristics, Spring Bamboo Laboratory has decided to send Dr. Duo Er, who led this research, to Point B.]
[Instance Mission: Find and escort Dr. Duo Er to Point B's Winter Wind Laboratory in Twin Cities.]
[Instance Time: 15 days.]
[Note: Any changes in the medical industry will bring about a group of stakeholders who suffer losses. Beware of assassinations from peers along the way.]
After reading the instance introduction, Xu Huo closed his personal panel and left from under the defense wall.
Perhaps because many people were sick, the overall atmosphere of Twin Cities was rather low. People walking on the streets moved slowly and lacked energy, paying no attention to outsiders. Shops didn't solicit customers, and every diner in the restaurants wore masks, using a transparent glass cover to shield their tables while eating.
Entertainment venues were even more out of the question. Activities requiring significant physical exertion were almost nonexistent. Instead, pastimes that involved little movement, like reading or gaming, were more popular—it was almost dark now, yet many people still sat by the streets reading books or playing chess.
"This place looks lifeless," Qiu Ming said, following behind Xu Huo. "Only two players glared at me."
Disease prevention posters were plastered all over the streets. The first line clearly stated that players would not contract this disease, so outside players could enter with confidence.
Of course, there was no library set up by the Game Government here, but print media was relatively thriving. One could learn about the general situation of Twin Cities from some newspapers and books.
Xu Huo casually bought a travel guide to read.
It contained some city history.
The reason the two cities were linked together and called Twin Cities was entirely due to a transportation route known as the "Stairway to Heaven" that connected them. The terrain between the primary city and secondary city of Twin Cities was unique, and the vegetation was also very peculiar. Looking at it as a whole, traveling from A to B was like climbing a ladder. As the terrain gradually rose, the scenery at each step was different, truly a wonder of nature. Many who had walked this route said it gave them a wonderful illusion of gradually leaving the mortal world. The two cities also prospered because of this road.
However, after the evolution began, this former "Stairway to Heaven" became fraught with danger. Various mutated flora and fauna filled it and became deeply entrenched. Due to the special characteristics of this area, the District Government was unable to restore the original transportation route or create a new passage within it. Now, if there were material or personnel exchanges between the primary and secondary cities, they had to go around the outskirts. But this outer route hadn't been built into a smooth path either; one needed to prepare their own vehicle for travel, and it took more than five times the time of the original route.
"Going around seems unreliable," Qiu Ming also bought books and newspapers. "It mentions that some players have taken the original route. On foot, it takes about ten days."
The tourist route between the two cities originally took five days. Of course, this was a tourist route with some leisure time factored in, so changing it to a hike didn't extend the time by much. On the contrary, taking the new detour required much longer.
It seemed the only way was to cross the "Stairway to Heaven."
There were also introductions about the mutated flora and fauna inside. A casual flip showed that the categories alone numbered in the hundreds. This was only the part explored by the District Government. The newspapers stated that routes far from the original tourist attractions or too far from the straight-line axis hadn't been fully explored, and no one knew what other mutated flora and fauna existed.
Xu Huo carefully read some of the mutated species with detailed introductions. Besides the mutated animals evolving stronger attack power like in other zones, most animals in the "Stairway to Heaven" had evolved concealment abilities—like chameleons, the instinct to change body temperature and color according to the environment. The plants near this route were diverse, coming in all colors. Not to mention small animals, even large mutated animals could hide among them without attracting attention.
But this wasn't the most troublesome part. The most troublesome were the mutated plants inside.
Perhaps because the plants in this place were already very special, after the overall evolution of Zone 023, this area had the most surviving plant species, the largest quantity, and they were more aggressive and harder to deal with than mutated animals. After all, this was a mountainous forest area, and plants were everywhere.
"The laboratory is this way." Cao Qinglin looked up from the map.
Just as the three reached the intersection, a car sped past. Five players sat in the vehicle, and a person wearing a helmet was squeezed in the back seat. That person struggled, trying to remove the helmet, but was stopped by the players beside him.
Xu Huo watched an arm covered in tattoos hanging out of the passenger window until they drove away before withdrawing his gaze. He put away the travel guide and said to the other two, "Cao Qinglin, go find a car. Qiu Ming and I will go to the laboratory."
As soon as he finished speaking, he directly took Qiu Ming and used "Destination Arrival" to quickly rush to Spring Bamboo Laboratory.
The building level of Spring Bamboo Laboratory was clearly different from others. When Xu Huo and the other arrived, several players were outside calling at the door, but no one inside the laboratory responded, and no one opened the door.
"Could Dr. Duo Er have already been taken away?" Qiu Ming couldn't help but say.
Xu Huo released his spiritual realm and directly entered the laboratory. As he passed through the main door, a staff member was walking out. Suddenly seeing them appear, the staff member quickly shouted, "You all get out! Outsiders can't come in here!"
"We're here to pick up Dr. Duo Er," Xu Huo said.
"You're also players hired by the secondary city?" The staff member looked at them suspiciously. "Just how many people did they hire? Dr. Duo Er was already taken away long ago."
Xu Huo raised an eyebrow slightly. "About when did he leave?"
"Three hours ago, I think. It was around tea time..." The staff member stopped there and waved his hand. "You should leave quickly. The doctor has already left. You can't stay in the laboratory."
"He's lying," Qiu Ming reminded Xu Huo.
Before the two could act, the players waiting outside, growing impatient, broke through the door. Ignoring the people in front of them, they held up an old photo and walked into the laboratory.
(Chapter End)