Chapter 1812: Small City Camp
Using degenerated humans for experiments sounds against human ethics and is also shocking, but as Dr. Deng deliberately avoided mentioning, against the backdrop of the game world, medical experiments can indeed provide some conditions that push the boundaries.
It wasn't that Xu Huo truly believed that normal people and degenerated humans could successfully reproduce, but rather that from the potion Dr. Deng gave him, he saw a glimmer of other hope—assuming Stellar Pharmaceuticals or Dr. Deng's friend had developed a cure for Black Thorn Disease, wouldn't that mean the people of Zone 010 were unshackled in terms of reproduction?
CK12 Safe Zone had already disappeared. Although the area the old man had circled differed slightly from what Fan Yunhong had given him, it wasn't too far off. Some parts overlapped with their previous route, but to avoid missing anything, Xu Huo turned back and searched again for CK12 and some of the nearby safe zones.
The result was still nothing. As the last safe zone to disappear in this area, CK12 was no different from the others—completely buried beneath the yellow sand.
With no results here, Xu Huo turned north.
The Daye Mountain that Ying Hai had mentioned was outside the country where CK12 was located. It lay within a small northern country, originally a desert mountain range. After Zone 010 began to desertify, things hadn't improved much here either. Only the continuous mountain ranges blocked the wind and sand, preventing the area from turning into a complete sand sea.
Due to the lack of information, Ying Hai and the others only knew that there used to be a safe zone near Daye Mountain. As for its exact location or whether it still existed, they had no idea. So Xu Huo came and searched again.
On the leeward side of the mountain, he occasionally spotted one or two extremely drought-resistant mutant plants with roots buried deep. He dug more than ten meters down and still hadn't reached the end.
Just as he was about to pull out the entire mutant plant, a thumb-sized bulge suddenly surged from somewhere in its root system, rapidly climbing along the root toward Xu Huo. At a certain node, it suddenly shot out, heading straight for his face.
"Smack!" The thing hit his protective face shield. Xu Huo reached up and pinched it—it was a wrinkled brown-skinned insect. Its outer shell had shattered when it launched itself with the determination to "die together" with the face shield, and a milky liquid oozed out.
That was the first one. Soon came a second. These insects seemed to be parasitic in the plant's roots. Sensing danger, they followed the roots up. Over the next ten seconds or so, dozens of insects shot up from the ground like bullets, smacking against Xu Huo's protective suit.
Their juice was mildly toxic but not enough to damage the suit. Xu Huo ignored them and continued pulling out the remaining roots. But as he was packing them away, a different sound came from the gravel ground. He looked up slightly and saw a colorful venomous snake slithering to his feet.
"Thump!" The snake struck with incredible speed, but its fierce attack hit the space barrier and bounced it back a long distance. As it shook its head and tried to burrow underground, the surrounding space had already been sealed off.
Four other snakes were sealed as well.
Five snakes in total. Xu Huo tossed them all into a glass container. Just as he was about to put them in the luggage compartment, someone hiding behind a nearby rock poked their head out and called to him, "Brother, are you selling those?"
"Snakes?" Xu Huo raised his hand.
The man quickly waved his hand and pointed at the ground. "Those."
"I don't want these. Help yourself," Xu Huo said.
The other man repeatedly thanked him but hesitated to come out. Xu Huo understood and moved his things farther away. Then he saw the man rush out, first picking up one insect and chewing it, then hurriedly gathering the rest.
Ordinary people appearing here meant there should be a safe zone nearby.
Xu Huo waited for him to finish collecting before asking, "How much juice can those insects produce?"
"Milk bugs are very thirst-quenching. Whether you're walking through the desert or taking them back to sell, they're good!" The man hesitated as he looked at Xu Huo. "Do you want them back?"
"I don't want them." Xu Huo pointed his chin at the grass nearby. "There should be more under there."
The man waved his hand. "This is enough."
He then walked back behind the rocks, occasionally glancing back. Seeing Xu Huo following, he hesitated and said, "You're a visitor from another zone, right? Are you looking for a safe zone?"
"Is there a safe zone nearby?" Xu Huo asked.
"There is one, but it's very dangerous. We usually don't go there," the man said. He glanced behind the rocks, where another companion was waiting.
"You don't live in the safe zone?"
"We used to live there, but it was taken over by players, so we escaped," the man said, stepping back. He pointed to the right front. "Go that way."
Xu Huo didn't approach but asked, "Have you ever seen someone with a black snake tattoo on their face?"
The man quickly shook his head. "No, I haven't. Go look in the safe zone."
With that, he turned and ran.
Xu Huo followed at a slight distance behind the two. They carried the insects and walked in the opposite direction of the safe zone for a while. Only after confirming they weren't being followed did they change direction.
Their destination was far away. It wasn't until dusk that a small city appeared behind the mountains. Surrounded by hills, the entrance was blocked by a high wall built from mountain stones, with a small door at the bottom. Someone was guarding inside. The insect collector rang a bell outside, and soon the iron door opened. Before it fully closed, Xu Huo vaguely heard them telling the gatekeeper that they had a good haul today.
When Xu Huo appeared outside the stone wall, three players climbed onto the high wall. The one in the middle, with a buzz cut, shouted, "Friend, the safe zone isn't here!"
"Passing through, just want to buy some water," Xu Huo called back. "No ill intentions."
The three on the wall exchanged glances. One left and quickly returned, whispering to the middle one before saying, "A guest from afar, no talk of trade. Come in and have some thirst-quenching water!"
Then the door under the stone wall opened again.
Xu Huo fully demonstrated his friendliness. He walked through the gate. Behind it were relatively well-preserved streets and buildings, though they were old structures from years past. There were no particularly tall buildings, making the place feel especially open.
The two who had led him here hadn't gone far. They were enthusiastically showing off the milk bugs to others when they suddenly saw Xu Huo. For a moment, they looked like children who had done something wrong, both glancing at the buzz-cut man who had just come down from the high wall.
The buzz-cut man waved them off, telling them to go first, then approached Xu Huo to negotiate.
Seeing that Xu Huo didn't seem to lack water or food, the buzz-cut man led him toward the government office building in the center of the small city.
Pedestrians on both sides of the street were drawn in, staring at them without blinking.
Although these people were also thin and weak, their mental state seemed acceptable.
(Chapter End)