Chapter 1557: Hidden Starship
Time was limited, so Xu Huo no longer took everything he could carry like before. This time, he mostly chose children and young adults. As he gradually approached the city center, the sound of a xenomorph horde rumbling came faintly from the other side, sounding even larger in scale than the one he had encountered earlier.
The tremors on the city ground gradually made the people inside aware of a new crisis. Someone spotted the xenomorph horde through a telescope and loudly shouted for those around to flee for their lives.
People also began to run out one after another from their homes, shopping malls, and other hiding places, gradually gathering into a small crowd on the streets.
Looking down from a high vantage point, compared to the astonishingly fast xenomorph horde, the fleeing crowd moved as slowly as ants crawling, more like frail newborn infants.
In just a few minutes, this city would become a hunting ground for the xenomorphs. Helplessness permeated every single person in this space, whether they were in the midst of it or watching from the sidelines.
"I'm really grateful, grateful that I'm a player, grateful that back then, District 014 never had a xenomorph invasion," said the Special Defense Department player standing beside Xu Huo.
Since these people were relatively concentrated, Xu Huo could sweep them all into his item with a single pass over the street, which didn't take much time. Meanwhile, others who were still fleeing or watching saw this and did their best to rush toward the streets—calling for help was useless; they could only race against the xenomorph horde as best they could, come to a suitable rescue spot, and then wait for a miracle to happen.
Five minutes later, the xenomorph horde officially entered the city.
Seven minutes later, the xenomorph horde covered a third of the city.
Ten minutes later, the xenomorph horde crossed the city's center line.
Fifteen minutes later, the entire city fell silent.
As far as the eye could see, most places were occupied by xenomorphs. Xu Huo then left Wu City—this was the first time the city's name appeared, and also the last.
Yue City was in another direction from the Capital Safe Zone. The "head-to-tail connecting ring" was blocked by a defense barrier, so he stopped outside the city. He then followed a tunnel dug by the Special Defense Department players to enter the city.
The situation inside the city was better than he had imagined. Although he was a few minutes late, the starship didn't seem to be leaving anytime soon.
The massive object, shaped like a fighter jet but covered entirely in black metal armor, almost cut through half the city. Except for a row of small portholes arranged in an arc at the ship's bow, and the energy ejection ports on the belly and tail, almost everywhere else was completely sealed. For now, only the four bottom entrances were open.
The lights on the hatches were flashing, and four automatic ramps were still continuously picking people up from the ground and sending them into the ship's hold. A height of a hundred meters wasn't considered tall for a giant starship and a city. The tops of some buildings exceeding that height had already been crushed, but this neither affected the ship's balance nor disrupted the four long lines stretching to the city's edge.
Such a massive queue was perfectly orderly. Everyone lined up politely and orderly, without any sense of desperate survival. And there were no players to be seen in the city.
The scattered Special Defense Department personnel came to meet up with Xu Huo and briefed him on the situation.
They hadn't seen any players since entering, but there were player corpses in the city, dead for quite some time.
The ordinary people in the city seemed to have been influenced. Everyone's goal was that starship, and they would yield to children and young women—the Special Defense Department players tried to interfere, but these people's basic cognition was still intact; they just seemed deeply convinced that the starship would take them to a safe place. Those who tried to obstruct them were driven away.
"We were afraid that making a big commotion would alert the people on the starship, so we pulled back," said the player wearing a fox mask. "We didn't go near the starship either, but occasionally someone would pass by the portholes. They didn't look unusual from the outside, and they didn't match any known high-level players."
"However, we did gather some other data. Not sure if it's useful." The fox mask took out a communicator and played the videos and pictures they had taken.
"Special Defense Department personnel are randomly distributed in District 017. We found three cities in different countries where the population had been relocated. These three cities are in a similar state to Yue City—they haven't been harassed by xenomorph hordes or players. Excluding those with mobility issues, the vast majority of people have left the cities, and they didn't bring much valuables. In two of the cities, buildings over a hundred meters tall had their tops sheared off. We suspect it might be due to the starship's presence."
"Additionally, we did a little background check on these cities, including Yue City. They are all well-known talent cities. After District 017 began evolving, the rate of players born there was much higher than in other cities, and the instance survival rate was also higher."
"But we couldn't find any related player information. We don't know who exactly did this."
"However, we speculate it might be the Game Government, after all, the origin of the xenomorph horde is also quite ambiguous..."
Xu Huo raised his hand to stop him from continuing. He stood up, walked to the window, looked toward the starship, and said, "You can't help anymore here. Leave."
The several Special Defense Department players were stunned for a moment, but following his gaze, they saw a figure flash onto a high-rise building a hundred meters away.
The person had short hair and wore black clothes, with a pocket watch chain hanging from the chest pocket.
"Eerie Sound Knights!"
Xu Huo stopped the few who were about to assume combat stances. "Don't hold onto false hope. Get out of District 017."
After saying that, he moved to the high-rise building, looking level at the person opposite him. "Does the Eerie Sound Knights also engage in human trafficking?"
Dou Shengnan didn't seem like a talkative person. She sized up Xu Huo. "You were in the Capital Safe Zone just now."
Both were Mental Super Evolvers; their spiritual realms had just clashed, so of course they could recognize each other.
"A C-rank player, you're not enough to be a threat." Dou Shengnan didn't act immediately, and her tone sounded like she was going to let him off.
"Is that so?" Xu Huo raised an eyebrow. "I thought it was because you had to control this city and couldn't spare the effort to deal with me."
"It's not easy for a mental evolver to reach C-rank. Throwing away your life for the sake of a sharp tongue isn't a smart move." As Dou Shengnan spoke, she glanced toward the starship. "Once the regiment leader comes out, you won't be able to leave."
"The famous Eerie Sound Knights regiment leader, Jin Feixue. I'd like to see him too."
As his words fell, Xu Huo passed right through Dou Shengnan and charged straight toward the starship!
Dou Shengnan turned around but didn't rush to chase. She gently ground her right foot on the ground, and a deep darkness sprang from where she stood, instantly covering the entire city. In that moment, everything and everyone in the city disappeared, including the starship hovering in the air.
And the instant the darkness engulfed his vision, Xu Huo, who had been heading toward the city center, suddenly crashed right in front of Dou Shengnan!
(Chapter End)