Chapter 2762: Punishment City
The massive circular fortress appeared highly technological from the outside, its fully enclosed dome making it look more like a classified research base than a prison. The thickened metal walls and multiple layers of overlapping defense barriers rendered this place impregnable—not to mention sneaking in from the outside, even using props to blast through wouldn't necessarily breach it quickly.
However, Red Stone had already explained that someone would be waiting at an entrance to assist. A few people needed to enter first to create chaos, then the others would enter through the emergency exit.
Judging by the defense barriers, this Punishment City hadn't completely isolated props, and it was located far from the city's densely populated areas. Even if something did happen, it wouldn't easily affect ordinary people. Such an arrangement largely indicated there wouldn't be any blocking instruments.
The group felt somewhat reassured. In the end, Xu Huo, Lei Xiaohe, and the female player formed a three-person team, disguising themselves as prisoners to infiltrate.
The neck rings and wristbands used to restrict players had been tampered with in advance. The spider locks on them couldn't be opened, and the high-voltage mechanisms were also disabled, merely disguised as normal restriction instruments. As long as the inspectors turned a blind eye, they wouldn't be discovered.
The aircraft they took stopped at a dedicated inspection bay. Enforcement team robots approached, scanning their neck rings and wristbands while assessing their physical condition.
"Neck rings and wristbands are functioning. All three prisoners are in a comatose state. Breathing and heart rates match the effects of anesthetic use. No props or other instruments detected." The robot announced the inspection results, and the checkpoint let them through.
After passing the inspection bay, the three feigning unconsciousness were handed over to enforcement team members. One registered them, another re-inspected them, and then the inspector locked them in a separate room.
The three were moved to restraint beds, their hands, feet, legs, and chests all bound.
The inspector quickly left. As the door closed, Lei Xiaohe opened his eyes, looked around, and said, "There's no surveillance monitor here."
"Someone's coming," the female player warned, and Lei Xiaohe, who was about to get up, lay back down.
"Why only three this time?" Two ordinary people entered. The older one spoke with dissatisfaction, "What's the point of bringing in three? Wasting Punishment City's resources."
As he spoke, he felt and squeezed Xu Huo and the others, then said to his companion, "Female prisoner goes to solitary. Move her out."
The female player was quickly taken away, and the room door closed again.
This time, Xu Huo sat up. As he removed the instruments on his body, he noticed the mycelium inside him becoming somewhat active. He reminded Lei Xiaohe to use antidote, "Punishment City is specifically used to imprison players. The circulating air might also be toxic. Better to be cautious."
Lei Xiaohe nodded and put on his protective suit.
"There are no prop restrictions inside Punishment City," he tried and said, "But space teleportation props can't be used."
"That's normal. With such a large protective shield outside, even if teleportation props could be used, it would likely be interrupted midway," Xu Huo said. "There are surveillance monitors in the corridor. If we go out like this, we'll trigger the alarm before we even find the jamming instruments. The others won't be able to get in for a while. We'd better determine the instrument's installation location first before acting, ensuring the instruments are destroyed while the emergency exit opens."
Lei Xiaohe had no objections, but he said uncertainly, "When we came in, did you notice we barely ran into anyone?"
"Normally, Punishment City should have enough players responsible for security. It's too quiet here."
The implication was that his guess was ninety percent correct. Even if they didn't go out, there would definitely be tricks waiting for them. And could they really destroy the jamming instruments?
"What did you leave outside?" Xu Huo suddenly asked.
"Nothing..." Lei Xiaohe grinned slyly, "Just grabbed a few people and brought them in."
Taking hostages wasn't the best method, after all, once a player died, their props would change hands.
Xu Huo stood at the door for a moment before taking out two sets of enforcement team uniforms and said, "There's no one outside now. We can go out."
They didn't need to completely evade the surveillance monitors, just avoid being discovered for a short time.
There really weren't many people outside. The two walked for a while without encountering any players or other staff. Most of the rooms they passed were also empty. Apart from some old restraint beds, there was no trace of anyone having been there.
It was too clean.
Surveillance monitors were everywhere, at least in the corridors, there were basically no blind spots.
The metal walls everywhere limited Xu Huo's detection to some extent, but within his observable range, he didn't find a single prisoner. Even the female player who had just been taken away was nowhere to be seen.
The doors in the building weren't fully open. Some were sensor doors, others required identity verification. The two walked along until they reached a...
However, just as they stepped into a narrow corridor, the door ahead suddenly popped open, and two other players unexpectedly came face to face with them.
They locked eyes, and the next second, they all moved forward simultaneously. As they passed each other, the person in front suddenly stopped Xu Huo and the others, "Which unit are you from? I haven't seen you before."
Lei Xiaohe was already prepared to open fire, but Xu Huo said, "I haven't seen you either. Please show your credentials."
This made both sides tense up. However, the next second, the person who had spoken first smiled slightly and nodded at Xu Huo, "I happen to need to go to the control room. Same way."
Xu Huo didn't refuse, so the four of them walked side by side in pairs.
"Which door did you come in from?" the other asked.
"East Gate," Xu Huo replied.
"I came from West Gate," the other said. "After coming in, I found this Punishment City doesn't live up to its reputation. I heard it used to have deaths every day, but now, not even corpses, let alone living people, can be found."
"Same here," Xu Huo said. "Someone offered a high salary for me to come."
The other nodded, "Pretty much the same for me."
"Did you see the control room when you came in?" Xu Huo asked.
"No, I guess it should be on the left," the other pointed. "But I don't have the authority."
"What a coincidence, neither do I," Xu Huo raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure the control room is over there?"
"I ran into a staff member who left in a hurry earlier, heading that way," the other said. "Just not sure if it's a trap or something else."
"Can't wait any longer." Xu Huo took out the jamming instruments and cut off the surrounding surveillance monitors. The man threw an energy bomb at the main door. The small explosion failed to breach the thick metal door, so he followed up with a few slashes. As the alarm blared sharply, the door was neatly cut down.
"After all that, you're not from Punishment City either?" Lei Xiaohe caught up to the two and asked, "Who hired you?"