Chapter 1868: The Child in the Hibernation Pod
The massive sandstorm kicked up again, sweeping back and forth across the desert as if it would never stop, only gradually subsiding half an hour later. By then, some of the already dead players were half-buried in the sand.
Under the gray, overcast sky, a few figures slowly stood up. Some were too far away to tell who they were at a glance.
"Hey! Still alive?" Juan Er called out from the center to those around him.
"Alive and kicking!" Deng Xiahei spat out a mouthful of sand, turned, and walked toward Juan Er, glancing around as he went. "Where's Old Xu?"
"Up ahead." Xiao Hui, standing further forward, pointed and asked at the same time, "Anyone else from the Sand Sea Safe Zone?"
"Shouldn't be." Da Bei Tou crawled out of the sand, smoothing his hair. "Quite a few died, a few ran off. Probably won't be back anytime soon."
The group took a headcount and realized Zeng Zhao and Pink Hair were missing.
"Dead or ran?" They gathered together and roughly searched the nearby corpses but didn't find either of them.
"Don't know about Pink Hair, but Zeng Zhao should be dead," Wu Ge said. "I saw a Sand Sea player holding his item."
Just then, Xu Huo came back from the front. "One person got away."
Deng Xiahei slapped his thigh. "Knew he was up to no good. He's probably gone ahead of us to find the hibernation pod."
"He's alone and doesn't know the exact location. Can he really dig up the entire desert?" Juan Er dismissed the concern.
"The worry is that he'll tell the 010 District people," Xiao Hui said. "The Sand Sea Safe Zone players want to take control. Even if they find the hibernation pod's secret, they probably won't spread it around. But Pink Hair is different—he'd love to see 010 District fall into infighting. If 010 District players come looking, they're bound to clash with the Sand Sea Safe Zone and us outer-zone players."
Deng Xiahei scratched his hair in frustration. "Who would've thought someone in the Sand Sea Safe Zone was hiding their strength, figuring out the hibernation pod so fast? I still don't even know what's going on!"
"If a Sand Sea Safe Zone player took it, that's one thing. But if a 010 District player gets it and runs off with the pod, this instance is completely hopeless to clear," Juan Er said with a hint of barely concealed schadenfreude.
"Let's hurry up," Xu Huo said, glancing at him before sending the robot back down into the desert.
In truth, who took the hibernation pod didn't matter much. There were plenty of ways to smuggle it to another district, and retrieving it wasn't impossible—just a bit of trouble.
The group resumed searching along the same path. Fortunately, their luck held: no 010 District players showed up, and the Sand Sea side, having taken a heavy blow, didn't send anyone else either. The vast desert suddenly seemed to have only them left.
During a break, Xu Huo released Chang Shoujie. After hearing that the Sand Sea Safe Zone was also looking for the hibernation pod, Chang Shoujie became even more convinced that Melissa had been placed under the desert by Dr. Joyce using a hibernation pod.
"Searching forward is useless, so let's try looking backward," he said. "010 District is strapped for cash. They probably couldn't afford a good hibernation pod. Besides, it's been buried so long—the pod might have malfunctioned."
Xu Huo and the others fell silent.
If that was the case, the search range was enormous. Who knew where the pod might have broken down? Would they have to dig up the entire route? The distance from the previous safe zone was no small matter!
"Maybe we should just let the 010 District people help," Xiao Hui said, looking utterly defeated.
"I'm thinking the same thing," Chang Shoujie said, turning to Xu Huo. "I can communicate with Liao Xiaoyi and the others. Once we find Melissa, we'll let you clear the instance first."
Xu Huo's expression remained calm. "If we still can't find it by tomorrow, we'll talk about it then."
After a short rest, the group backtracked to where they had started that day and searched in reverse.
By the dead of night, everyone was exhausted. Even Deng Xiahei couldn't help saying, "I'm about ready to call in the 010 District people to help."
"With so many players in 010 District, are you sure Liao Xiaoyi and the others can keep them all in line?" Xu Huo said flatly. "If anyone gets a bright idea, we'll have to spend twice the effort to get the pod back."
Besides, the clearance task was to send Melissa home. If the 010 District found her first, even if they took her back, would it still count as sending her home?
He didn't voice this thought, since he might be the only one who needed to clear the Melissa instance.
To save time, he spent a fortune buying several detection devices, distributing them to the robots and Deng Xiahei's group, and sending them out to search separately, maximizing the search range.
Finally, at dawn the next day, one of the detection devices found an oval object buried deep in the sand.
"It's here!" Deng Xiahei excitedly waved Xu Huo over.
Xu Huo quickly returned, simultaneously issuing commands to the three robots to lift the hibernation pod out.
The robots worked for about ten minutes before slowly pushing out a two-meter-long hibernation pod. But to everyone's surprise, the outside of the pod was covered in black mold, making it look like a piece of rotten wood from a distance.
The pod had been buried underground for two years, in a dry desert no less. What kind of mold could grow in such an environment?
The moment they saw the pod, they immediately backed away and put on protective suits in one smooth motion.
"Detected a breach in this hibernation pod. Analysis of the leaked contaminants indicates a B-level rating," one robot reported, automatically cleaning its arms.
Xu Huo, already in his protective suit, stepped forward and found a crack on one side of the pod. Through the gap, he could sense that the person inside had no breath at all. But the pod was covered in contaminants, making it impossible to see clearly.
"Melissa... is she already dead?" Xiao Hui craned his neck to look.
Xu Huo restarted the hibernation pod and found the power button.
With a series of "beep beep beep" warning sounds, the pod lid slowly popped open, revealing a small girl wrapped in a transparent film.
She looked like nothing more than a one- or two-year-old child—very small and thin, wearing an ill-fitting dress, lying barefoot on the ground. From the exposed parts of her arms and legs not covered by the dress, her skin had some dry, scale-like patches, but overall, she looked no different from a human, with no obvious xenomorph features.
"She really is a child," Deng Xiahei said, walking over in amazement. "You see all kinds of weird adults in 010 District, but suddenly seeing a kid like this feels like stepping into another world."
"Is she still alive?"