Chapter 1515: A Suspicious Familiar Face
When people make a certain decision, they often fail to realize how many chain reactions it will trigger. The country that first started the war simply wanted to seize its neighbor's resources, using the excuse that "someone deliberately released cannibalistic Evolvers into our territory" to justify the conflict. But starting a war was easy; they never expected that the neighboring country, after being besieged on all sides, would retaliate with desperate measures, using cannibalistic Evolvers to attack the invading army's forces while simultaneously injecting Evolver blood into their key figures.
Not everyone who begins evolving succeeds, especially artificially created Evolvers. Some die from illness, while others degenerate into Xenomorphs.
The conflict between the two countries spilled over into surrounding nations. After all, some Evolvers or Xenomorphized individuals were completely uncontrollable. Gradually, more and more forces became involved in the war. Then, with the outbreak of the processed meat incident, some major powers were dragged in, sinking deeper and deeper. Rumors began circulating from unknown sources that a certain country was secretly cultivating a Xenomorph army.
This rumor caused every major nation in Zone 017 to feel threatened. Whenever a suspicious situation was detected, countries would join forces and conduct mandatory searches.
However, this joint action didn't last long before the real Xenomorph swarm arrived.
These Xenomorphs were not degenerated from short-lived Evolvers; they were genuine Xenomorphs identical to those in the game. They moved swiftly, possessed immense strength, attacked any living creature without restraint, and had enormous appetites. They also exhibited a certain instinctual intelligence. Typically, after attacking a city, they would choose a relatively concealed location for a brief rest before heading to the next city, without lingering too long in any one place.
Zone 017 was vast in area. Logically, a single batch of Xenomorphs shouldn't have been able to cause the entire zone to fall so quickly, especially when the zone possessed super-strong weapons and had the firepower to strike back. Strangely, these bizarre and diverse Xenomorphs seemed to share a common trait: they could spread deadly pathogens. Anyone bitten by them, even if rescued, would show Xenomorph characteristics within a very short time. Even if they didn't have the same lethality as true Xenomorphs, they still caused significant losses.
In addition, water sources heavily contaminated by the Xenomorph swarm became the main channels for disease transmission. Several reservoirs were only discovered to be contaminated after a massive outbreak of infected individuals. And this seemed to happen in every country across the zone.
Logically, the Xenomorph swarm couldn't have suddenly appeared everywhere in the zone simultaneously. So whether the places where infectious diseases broke out were caused by Xenomorphs or by human hands was difficult to determine. In short, Zone 017 was plunged into immense chaos.
But this chaos wasn't entirely unmanageable. By sealing off cities, cutting off resource exchanges, inspecting water and food sources, banning the sale of processed meat products, making necessary sacrifices, and using nuclear weapons to bomb the roaming Xenomorph swarms, restoring order to Zone 017 was only a matter of time.
However, what no one expected was that before the war between nations could end, and before the ever-growing Xenomorph swarms could be effectively controlled, the Outer Zone Players arrived.
The players of Zone 017 naturally received the game notification as well. In such a frantic situation, few people were happy that their zone had produced such a lucky player—especially after the Outer Zone Player extorted money, then broke his promise, blew up an entire city, and killed tens of millions of people.
But complaints and hatred couldn't solve the problem. Now, everyone in Zone 017 wanted to escape this mess. However, with the interference of the Outer Zone Player, the situation only spiraled further into chaos.
That was the situation up to now.
"Most Evolvers who degenerate into Xenomorphs don't live very long," Ma Yu said. "With so many Xenomorphs in Zone 017, they must have been brought in from other zones."
Although Xenomorphs all originated from degenerated Evolvers, most zones' environments didn't support Evolvers successfully transforming into Xenomorphs. Therefore, the vast majority of people forcibly injected with Evolver blood died from illness. The ones who truly became another living species were mostly Cannibal Players who had boarded the train. They could survive even in the harsh environment near the train tracks, and their combat power was extraordinary.
Such Xenomorphs were common near the train tracks, but in a new zone that was also semi-closed, they were extremely abnormal. Apart from being brought in by people with ulterior motives, there was almost no other possibility.
"Where did the Xenomorph swarm first appear?" Xu Huo asked.
The base commander pulled up a map and pointed to a marked location. "This is the source. The route of movement is shown here. The Xenomorphs didn't first appear in our country."
Zone 017 had land and sea areas roughly equal. The source of the Xenomorphs was in a small country near the edge of the land. The route basically went from the coastal area deep into the interior of the continent. It was as if they could smell human scent; the Xenomorph swarm hardly detoured as it rushed toward various cities.
"Wasn't the source country investigated?" Xu Huo asked again.
"There was no time to investigate. Besides, the place where the Xenomorphs first appeared was attacked earliest, and there were almost no survivors," the base commander said. "But to be safe, we still carried out five rounds of bombing."
Given the level of weapon development in Zone 017, even using nuclear weapons to blast the ground to pieces might not have much effect.
The "101 Shelter" could withstand nuclear bombardment. The Xenomorph swarm came from another zone. Being able to transport such a massive number of Xenomorphs meant the other side must possess a large-scale Space Teleportation Device. A force of that level couldn't possibly be stopped by bombing. Of course, it was also possible that the other party had already left Zone 017.
"Can the air routes in Zone 017 still be used now?" Ma Zhi pressed further.
The base commander shook his head. "Since the Outer Zone Players entered, all countries have closed their air routes."
Not only that, but interception systems had also been deployed. This was to prevent players from hijacking planes and moving freely across the zone. Even players couldn't all be equipped with Teleportation Instruments or Teleportation Items. Crossing countries and oceans was still difficult—this was the only way to restrict some players.
"Going there now probably won't yield anything," Ma Yu said, glancing at Xu Huo. Earlier, Xu Huo had been searching through the Xenomorphs, seeming more interested in them than in the Super Item.
For both sides involved in the Super Item incident, defending and seizing the item were matters of luck. Xu Huo didn't intend to focus all his energy on that. Instead, he asked to see the internal information of the military base.
"A soldier's duty doesn't allow me to leak secrets, but I will apply to my superiors," the base commander said, leaving the command room to Xu Huo. Then several soldiers entered to assist.
The military base's information was more comprehensive and authentic. Here, Xu Huo saw some incidents that had no trace on the internet. Ten minutes later, after obtaining authorization, the base commander opened another database. Amidst the vast amount of encrypted information, Xu Huo spotted traces of a suspiciously familiar face.
(End of chapter)