Chapter 1343: The Warm Hospitality of Stairway to Heaven
Those three people had already boarded the vehicle, but they used an item to reduce their own weight so as not to add extra load to the car. After receiving Qiu Ming's hint, Xu Huo asked them about some details of the instance and pressed them further about whether they were escorting Dr. Duo Er into the "Stairway to Heaven."
The three were fairly honest and briefly explained the sequence of events. They had come with a group of six, plus a "Dr. Duo Er." However, before nightfall, one companion had died from a severe poison—the toxicity was so violent that they didn't even have time to administer the antidote before the person stopped breathing. The other two had died in the mouths of man-eating flowers and under the claws of mutant beasts respectively. As for "Dr. Duo Er," when they were attacked by night owls earlier, the three were busy dealing with the threat and turned around only to find him gone, with nothing but a large hole in the ground inside the defensive barrier.
They guessed that the man had been dragged away by some kind of burrowing xenomorph, but the situation was urgent, and they couldn't afford to split up and search for him. Even if they dared to risk their lives to look, they would probably only find a corpse.
It was just an instance, after all—no need to go that far.
"Besides, I suspect the Dr. Duo Er we picked up wasn't the real one," said the buzz-cut player who had warned Xu Huo and the others to be careful earlier. "Although his appearance and credentials were fine, after entering the Stairway to Heaven, I realized his understanding of genetic disease research was far from expert. But since we were already halfway through, turning back would have been even harder."
Going back would only bring more trouble. The commotion they had already caused would attract even more mutant plants and animals, and retreating would mean charging straight into their nests. So they had no choice but to grit their teeth and press on.
The car fell silent for a moment, then Xu Huo said, "You can just stay on the vehicle."
The three didn't ask further questions. They exchanged names for convenience: the buzz-cut was Fan Zhigang, and the other two were Gou Wu and Wei Dong.
Although everyone had mentally prepared themselves before entering, none of them expected the attacks from mutant plants and animals to be almost nonstop. The night owls had barely passed when a new situation arose. A section of deadwood embedded in the middle of the road suddenly shot up from underground, flipping the car over. If Fan Zhigang hadn't happened to have an item that could suspend heavy objects for a short time, the vehicle would likely have been totaled.
But this time, they couldn't really complain about being caught off guard, because there were over a dozen such trees growing underground in this area, with their canopies simply flattened. In the rush, who would have guessed they could spring up from beneath the earth? After the car was leveled and set down ahead, a swarm of mutant pangolins surged out from underground!
These small xenomorphs might not be individually strong, but when they gathered in groups, they were even more troublesome than large ones. Xu Huo and the others chose not to fight head-on. Instead, they used a defensive barrier around the car, protecting it as much as possible before letting the pangolin swarm chase and bite at them.
"Fortunately, they can't break through the defensive barrier..." Qiu Ming's words of relief were cut short as a massive black bear burst out of the woods. After extreme mutation, the thick, metallic armor growing on its skin made it look like it was clad in a suit of armor, and its claws and teeth had become abnormally long and thick. One swipe from that claw—who knew if the barrier could withstand it? But if there were several of them, they might tear the car apart in no time!
"Whoosh!" Fan Zhigang and the other two outside the car launched the first attack, but to everyone's surprise, the sword energy's cutting surface couldn't even slice through the black bear—it didn't even leave a mark!
"That's impossible!" Fan Zhigang blurted out. "Even if they've evolved to be this strong, they can't just ignore item damage!"
"That's an item!" Xu Huo warned. "Haven't you noticed that each black bear has a differently colored piece of armor on its chest? It might have been stripped from a player. Don't get tangled up with them—just shake them off."
The last sentence was directed at the household robot, and then he left the car. Using "Same-Speed Flight," he kept pace with the vehicle as it accelerated under the effect of the item, while also dealing with the two nearest black bears.
Fortunately, the black bears were slow, and they were quickly shaken off. The pangolins that had been chasing the car were also largely scattered when the vehicle made a sharp turn at high speed, leaving only two or three for Fan Zhigang and the others to clean up.
But as they turned and climbed a slope, a large swarm of fist-sized beetles came tumbling out of the grass ahead. There was no time to figure out what species they had mutated from. Those things were as hard as iron, and as they rolled, they would automatically bounce up. With the help of speed and distance, their impact was no less powerful than cannon fire!
Xu Huo and the others had long since run out of defensive items that could cover the car for an extended period. Now, they could only rely on people standing at the front of the vehicle, using their personal defensive barriers to protect it.
Fan Zhigang contributed the item he had used earlier to avoid the night owls. It could cover the front, just enough to block the beetles' attacks. But before they had gone far, they realized the beetles' target wasn't them at all—because behind them, a group of mutant wild boars was chasing and eating these beetles!
"Damn it!" Qiu Ming shouted. "With all these weird species here, doesn't anyone want them? That bear earlier, these bugs now—they'd make great weapon materials! Such a huge resource, and they've let them grow into a menace!"
"The district government has no interest in xenomorph resources at all!" Dai Song actually answered him. "They use high-grade materials even for screws to hold up lamps—how could they care about this stuff!"
As they exchanged words, their battle with the wild boar herd had already begun. But fortunately, the boars weren't very interested in them. After passing the car, they went after the beetles instead.
Xu Huo took the opportunity to grab a pig leg. "This looks edible."
Not every mutant animal carried a deadly poison, and not all were contaminated. Most evolved naturally, like humans, and what changes occurred after evolution was a matter of luck.
Xu Huo used the "Identification Fork" to test it, confirming it was non-toxic before safely bringing it back into the car.
Fan Zhigang was also a bold man. Hearing this, he immediately jumped off the car and hauled up the wild boar he had killed, wrapping it in a membrane with an item to prevent the smell of blood from attracting other xenomorphs.
"Brother Gou Wu has a chef's license, and I brought my own seasonings," he said.
"Can we even cook in this situation?" Dai Song couldn't help but feel disappointed by their attitude, thinking they had given up after losing their instance objective. Not only was there no safe place to stop and rest, but even if there were, they would have to guard against the smell of food attracting other xenomorphs. Entertaining themselves was fine, but it would only make their situation more difficult.
"We're pretty safe now, don't be so tense," Fan Zhigang said nonchalantly, calling out from the roof of the car. "Do you have a location item? If so, we can fire up the stove tonight!"
(Chapter End)