Chapter 1512: We Don't Ask for Much
The two sides locked eyes. The woman, whose pupils were marked with fine white thread-like patterns, gave Xu Huo a thorough once-over before asking, "What did you find?"
"Curious?" Xu Huo raised an eyebrow. "If you're curious, you can look for yourselves too."
As he spoke, he pointed to another Xenomorph corpse not far away.
The woman's gaze darkened. The next second, she vanished from the rooftop and flashed directly in front of Xu Huo.
Xu Huo stood still without moving. As their eyes met, he twitched a finger slightly, and invisible Space Blades riddled the space in front of him like a sieve. The woman's figure within that area was naturally no exception, but she quickly dissipated like smoke—she hadn't actually come before him, or rather, she had slipped away before the Space Blades could appear.
With a faint smile, Xu Huo looked toward an overturned car fifty meters to his right. After a moment, the woman hiding behind it stepped out.
Meanwhile, the man who had been standing on the high ground also descended to the ground, smiling as he said, "My little sister is a bit tactless. Please don't take offense, friend."
"We siblings are heading to the T6 Safe Zone. If you don't mind, why not come along?"
"What happened at the nearest T2 Safe Zone?" Xu Huo asked.
"You must have arrived not long ago," the man said. "The T2 Safe Zone has already been overrun by a Xenomorph swarm. Honestly, it wasn't much of a safe zone to begin with—just a temporary designated city. It had no facilities to handle a Xenomorph tide, and there weren't enough strong players. Gathering people there only made them a target."
"Not just T2. The seven nearby safe zones are all gone. Only T6, near the provincial highway junction, remains. It's a low-security military base, and not a large one at that."
The numbers floating above their heads shifted, and Xu Huo relaxed his posture slightly. "Are there many people from other zones coming through here?"
"Probably quite a few," the man mused. "The ones coming are all high-level players, but they've scattered to different safe zones."
"Is the Xenomorph population really that large?" Xu Huo asked curiously. "Even with a day-and-night assault, they shouldn't be able to overrun an entire district."
"We don't know much about the Xenomorph situation. We only arrived this morning ourselves, just coming over from the nearby T1 Safe Zone." The man rejoined his sister and once again extended a friendly invitation to Xu Huo.
After a brief moment of thought, Xu Huo agreed. "I need to bring a few people along."
Ma Zhi and Ma Yu, the sibling pair, assumed he had companions, and their expressions grew more serious. But when they walked over and saw only a few ordinary people, they were rather speechless. "You want to take them with you?"
Even Outer Zone players who weren't strong enough traveled in groups. What was the point of dragging along dead weight that would die sooner or later?
Xu Huo didn't explain much. "Just getting them to T6 is fine. It's on the way."
With that, he used the Container Item "Cinema" to store the five people who had agreed to follow.
The Ma siblings exchanged a glance but didn't interfere further. Using a Container Item to carry them didn't affect them anyway.
All three had Teleportation Items, and with the location of the T6 Safe Zone clearly marked, it didn't take long to get there. However, the situation at T6 Safe Zone wasn't great. From the outside alone, the reconnaissance drones and external surveillance had already been destroyed. On the closed-off parade ground, there were bloodstains that hadn't been cleaned up. The patrol teams that should have been on duty were absent, and only a few players were moving around outside.
"It looks like this safe zone has fallen too." Ma Zhi was somewhat frustrated. "We're late again."
"I can go in and see how many people are inside," his sister Ma Yu offered. "Zone 017 hasn't been evolving for long. High-level players are as rare as phoenix feathers. This kind of fringe military base probably doesn't have any high-level players stationed here. And since they've taken in refugees, the internal personnel will be hesitant to act. Taking it over shouldn't be hard."
In other words, it wouldn't take particularly strong players to seize this safe zone. And anyone willing to hole up in such a small safe zone was likely someone who had no chance of grabbing Super Items. Their goal in coming here was to take advantage of the chaos and scoop up some benefits—White Notes, Items, and the like.
Ma Zhi agreed. Ma Yu ducked into the woods, and a moment later, a shadow detached from her and slipped into the safe zone.
Xu Huo gave Ma Zhi a nod and also entered the safe zone.
This military base was fairly large. Its main body was hidden within the mountain, with two tunnels serving as entrances, each guarded by a player.
After covering the tunnels and the parade ground with his Spiritual Realm, Xu Huo opened a door directly and entered the base's interior.
Several of the warehouses originally meant for storing weapons had been cleared out. They were now holding the base personnel and the refugees who had come seeking shelter. The doors were locked, so the inside wasn't visible for now, but a player was checking a list against a pile of corpses stacked in a corner.
A short-haired female player waved the list at a middle-aged man a few meters away. "The numbers match."
The middle-aged man nodded, his gaze falling back on the stacked weapons. "Not a single one can escape. Otherwise, there won't be any fun in what comes next."
A burly man with a turban standing beside him swept his eyes over the pile. "A bunch of scrap metal. Can't even exchange it for money."
"Scrap metal to us, but not to Zone 017." The middle-aged man smiled as he looked at a young man busy at a computer.
A few seconds later, the young man made an "all done" gesture. "I've taken control of the base's command system. The weapons here have a strike range that covers half the country. There's a major political city within that range, now a high-level safe zone. It should have some important people inside."
The middle-aged man's brow relaxed. "Then don't wait. Send them a message."
The young man grinned and sent a pre-edited ransom demand through the internal system to the A9 Safe Zone.
Thermal weapons were useless—they couldn't be stored in a Personal Panel or a Luggage Compartment, and even dismantling the metal plates to sell was too much trouble. Using the entire military base's personnel as hostages might not work either. Given the distance, the government would likely be willing to abandon the base. But threatening with military strikes was a different story. Not all high-ranking officials in the country could sacrifice themselves for the greater good. There were always those who feared death. And as long as someone feared death, they would be willing to give up something to compromise.
"We don't ask for much. Just a little White Notes and a few Items." The young man chuckled. "For the sake of national stability, they should be willing to pay that price, right? Besides, compared to those who burn, kill, and loot, we're practically saints. At least everyone in this base is safe."
The thirteen players present laughed in unison. Zone 017 might not have decent Items, but they could buy them with money. The time since the evolution began was long enough for the government to have exchanged a astronomical amount of White Notes from the game.
Just as the group was relaxing, a bare-chested man walked out of a side room. He wiped the blood splattered on his face and nodded at the middle-aged man. "All the players stationed at this base were transferred out ten days ago. Left nothing behind."
"Super Items are a matter of luck. Not finding any is normal." The middle-aged man pointed toward the warehouse. "We still need time to gather supplies. Pick a few to have some fun with."
(End of Chapter)