Chapter 1846: The Locator's Target
Xu Huo knew more information than the others, the most crucial being the potion he had obtained from Dr. Deng.
Perhaps Dr. Joyce was conducting breeding experiments using humans and degenerated humans, but at the same time, he likely hadn't given up on finding a cure for Black Thorn Disease. The potion given by Dr. Deng had been proven effective against Black Thorn Disease, but due to a lack of experimental subjects, it was temporarily unclear how effective it really was. However, since there had been some gains, Dr. Joyce probably wouldn't completely abandon this path.
But he was already dead, making it hard to say how far the research had progressed. Additionally, when the CK12 players retreated, they must have taken the relevant experimental products with them, whether it was the potion or the possible newborn "Melissa."
Deng Xiahei and the others went to clear the sand again. Xu Huo turned around and took out the locator device.
At CK12, the pointer on the locator device had slowed down significantly, but the coverage area had changed from the original fan shape to a semicircle.
The other half of the locator was not inside the safe zone but was moving outside.
The only explanation for this situation was that a xenomorph had taken the locator, and the locator had been circulating among the xenomorph population. It could be one, or it could be multiple, depending on how Dr. Joyce's locator ended up on the xenomorph.
If it was accidentally swallowed, whether the xenomorph that swallowed it died or not, and whether the locator had been passed between different xenomorphs, didn't make much difference.
But if Dr. Joyce had deliberately placed the locator on a xenomorph, then this was the only clue available.
"Old Xu, come look at this." Deng Xiahei called out from the room.
Xu Huo quickly walked over and saw Juan Er holding up a piece of baby clothing. Judging by how new or old the clothes were, it didn't seem like something from over a decade ago. Besides, this was a laboratory—why would someone have baby clothes prepared here? Unless...
"Was a child really born?" Deng Xiahei and Juan Er said in unison.
"A piece of baby clothing doesn't mean much, but let's consider it a good omen." Xu Huo looked around. "Are there any other baby items?"
"That's the strange part—there's nothing else for a child," Deng Xiahei said. "If there really was a child, why would they take all the daily necessities but leave this one piece of clothing behind?"
"Maybe it's in another room." Juan Er was eager. "Let's clear out the other areas!"
Xu Huo had no objections. Over the next few hours, they continued cleaning the laboratory. It wasn't until late at night that they managed to clear out the entire lab. Unfortunately, they didn't find any further evidence of a newborn, but they did discover many abandoned embryos. The various types of embryos clearly came from different species. Additionally, they found xenomorphs that had suffocated under heavy objects, each bearing a number.
Xu Huo had the robot scan the xenomorphs' bodies but found no chips similar to those from Zone 017.
After a long time without results, they used some metal materials to seal the doors and windows before returning to the surface.
Apart from the baby clothes, they had gained nothing substantial. The Pink Hair was quite interested. "Could it be that the child was taken away by someone who escaped CK12?"
"That's hard to say," Deng Xiahei said. "The key is we don't know where those people went or if they're still alive. And even if they are alive, they definitely wouldn't tell us voluntarily. That's the hope of Zone 010—only one seedling in over ten years."
Needless to say, this was another needle-in-a-haystack approach. Zone 010 didn't have many safe zones, but there was no guarantee the child was in one. Besides, the safest course of action would be to take the child to another district. Why stay in Zone 010?
"Looking at it this way, clearing the instance might be a bit difficult for us," Brother Wu said. "I was hoping we could get lucky."
"Our instance might not necessarily refer to a newborn." Juan Er glanced meaningfully at Gao Dawei.
Noticing the others' gazes, Gao Dawei shrank his neck.
The "lighthouse" in Deng Xiahei and the others' instance was more likely a metaphor—it could be a person, an object, or something else. Chang Shoujie actually fit the criteria quite well, but he wouldn't live much longer. Fortunately, he had found a successor in advance.
If handled properly, Gao Dawei could be pushed to the forefront and become the next "Chang Shoujie."
"It's too late today. Let's rest. We'll go down again tomorrow." Xu Huo took out the "Snowflake Grand Hotel."
Having a comfortable bed to sleep on was certainly better than sleeping on the sand.
The hotel rooms opened and closed, and soon the lights in each room went out one by one.
Once the hotel was completely quiet, Xu Huo came out and walked toward the tracker's direction.
He didn't use any items but moved through the desert at a distance of five hundred meters, giving both sides enough time to observe. When the tracker ahead retreated, he continued forward for about two kilometers before stopping. Then he took out the locator device to determine the direction.
At this point, the pointer had stopped moving.
Xu Huo activated "Cube Space" and used spatial power to move quickly twice before rising into the air, where he found a group of xenomorphs half-buried in the sand.
After the sharp decline in Zone 010's population, the number of xenomorphs had also gradually decreased. The main reason was environmental degradation leading to food shortages, with starvation and mutual killing accounting for a large portion. However, not all xenomorphs attacked their own kind. For example, the xenomorphs they had encountered earlier in the sandstorm area had evolved a low-energy survival mode to adapt to the environment, allowing them to go without eating, drinking, or moving for long periods.
Regardless of the situation with this group of xenomorphs, they hadn't completely died off, indicating they had adapted to the desert environment.
From the ground, the number of xenomorphs in this group was considerable. From above, nothing particularly special was visible. However, when Xu Huo shifted his position in the air, the pointer changed accordingly. The locator was undoubtedly among this group of xenomorphs.
Quietly landing on the ground, Xu Huo deployed all three armed robots. After using silencing items and an invisibility protective suit, he began scanning the xenomorphs on a large scale.
In about half a minute, he got a result. One of the armed robots accurately identified a xenomorph with a metal object embedded in its body.
This xenomorph was similar in size to the others, but its skin color was slightly darker. However, judging by its appearance alone, it didn't seem to be a xenomorph degenerated from a human.
Xu Huo didn't rush to capture it. Instead, he placed Shelter 101 behind him as cover, tested the anesthetic's effect on two nearby xenomorphs, then administered a dose to the target xenomorph. Through the Spiritual Gate, he lifted the xenomorph over.
He kept a bit of distance from the xenomorph group, so standing in the middle allowed him to test whether the locator device was indeed pointing to this xenomorph.
The result was correct. Finding where the locator was placed, Xu Huo felt the xenomorph's dry, thin leg bone and confirmed the locator chip was embedded in the bone before cutting open the xenomorph's skin with a knife.
(Chapter End)