Chapter 3045: Landing on the Island
The three of them had prepared quite a few odds and ends. Besides considering food and water sources, they also brought some small-scale wilderness survival tools. The long-haired player's nickname was Ice Shovel, and his profession was a professional rescuer. He had some understanding of wilderness survival and even suggested that Xu Huo and the others bring special protective suits.
"Although players have a higher level of evolution and aren't as sensitive to cold and heat as ordinary people, we can't rule out extreme environments in the instance venue."
Following his advice, their bags grew larger and larger. However, when the company's people came to pick them up, they informed them that each person could only bring one valid item.
"Valid item?" Little Deng in the hexagonal hat pressed further: "What is a valid item? Does that mean props and instruments can't be used?"
The company personnel were expressionless. "You'll find out when you get there."
But the three of them never expected that Challenge Island wasn't in Zone 025 at all—or rather, it might be in Zone 025, but its space didn't overlap with the district's space. The company personnel led them onto a small ship, and after traveling along a triangular tunnel, they arrived at a cross-space portal.
The moment the ship passed through the portal, a pitch-black space surged toward them.
The ship was extremely stable, so much so that the people inside couldn't even tell if it was moving, and the black space ahead blurred any sense of distance. It was as if the ship had stopped in front of a black wall—impossible to distinguish reality from illusion.
About ten minutes later, another portal appeared ahead. The ship leaped through it, and light replaced darkness. A bright, clear sky came into view, with endless ocean beneath rolling white clouds, and at the edge of sight, a gray-brown island could be seen.
Ice Shovel instinctively looked around. Aside from that island, there was truly no other place to set foot. Looking at the sea, giant beasts occasionally stirred up massive waves, and even strange-looking monsters leaped from beneath the surface, lunging toward the ship in the air.
The ship's altitude must have been calculated, as the sea creatures fell back into the water after a certain distance, splashing up huge waves. As the waves surged, Xu Huo and the others quickly approached the island.
When they were still a kilometer from the shore, a translucent barrier rose along the coastline. This barrier started from the boundary between land and sea, shot up into the sky, and then rapidly pushed outward in all directions.
The mutated animals lurking around the island were all pushed back by this barrier, but the ship passed through it without any obstruction, landing steadily on the sea surface.
The moment the barrier swept past, Xu Huo and the other two realized that their props and instruments had become ineffective. Their personal panels couldn't be opened either. The only things they could use were the valid items they had registered.
Those were: a lighter, a knife, and a signal device.
At the same time, their wristbands activated, and their personal interfaces popped up.
"Player Xu Zhi, your personal points are -300. Your current assigned area is the Tooth Snake Zone."
"Newcomers have an eight-hour protection period on the island. After eight hours, players with negative points will face random elimination."
Ice Shovel and Little Deng's wristband interfaces showed the same content, except their points were worse: Ice Shovel had -601, and Little Deng had -425.
They wanted to ask more questions, but the players on the ship just kept their mouths shut and drove them off.
At the same time, the protective barrier near the coastline was also disappearing. The sea beasts that had been pushed back earlier stirred up waves again and surged back.
The three immediately grabbed their valid items and ran toward the interior of the island. Although their personal interfaces were closed, each of them had their point total floating above their heads—clearly, this information was transparent.
Just as they were running toward the island, Ice Shovel's points suddenly changed from -601 to -569.
"What's going on?" Little Deng asked in surprise.
But the other two didn't have time to answer his question, because behind them, a group of mutated sea creatures had crawled ashore. These bizarre beasts were not only extremely fast and huge, but some also carried deadly poison. The three of them spread out a bit, but behind Xu Huo and Ice Shovel, a giant mutated lizard had locked onto them and sprayed a cloud of toxic mist!
They didn't have protective masks, so they could only cover their mouths and noses with their sleeves and speed up their running.
With props and instruments disabled, the game panel inaccessible, and even their traits unusable, these mutated beasts—which would have been nothing to players under normal circumstances—had now become sharp blades chasing at their heels.
Stealing a glance at the dense swarm of xenomorphs behind them, Little Deng said, "They won't follow us into the island, will they?"
They were all A-level players, so their speed wasn't slow, but if they kept being chased, they would eventually run out of stamina, especially given the huge difference in numbers.
"Probably not," Xu Huo said quickly. "Otherwise, they wouldn't just stay by the shore."
In fact, the xenomorphs only crossed a rocky beach near the coast before giving up. Especially after Xu Huo and the others charged into a dense forest beyond the rocky beach, the xenomorphs merely lingered at the edge of the woods for a moment before slowly turning to fight among themselves and crawling back into the sea.
Xu Huo and the others hadn't noticed any barrier when they came through, which meant the dense forest might be very dangerous...
Sure enough, they hadn't gone even a thousand meters when a fierce wind came at them, curving to strike all three in succession.
Dodging the attack wasn't difficult, but as they evaded, the ground beneath them collapsed on a large scale. Beneath the grass and soil, a swarm of awakened mutant ants was revealed!
The three of them were right in the center, with no way to leap out of the giant pit. At that moment, Xu Huo grabbed the other two and manipulated space rays to bring them all outside the ant nest.
But they only barely made it to the edge. Hearing the commotion of the ant swarm behind them, the three didn't stop running.
As they ran, Little Deng pulled a packet of medicinal powder from his pocket and blew it behind him. A cloud of white powder dispersed, and the mutant ants closest to them immediately collapsed. The ants behind, upon contact with the powder, also fell one after another.
The front ants blocked the ones behind, buying the three some time.
Xu Huo used his ability to move them forward several more times. They barely managed to shake off the ant swarm when a cold arrow suddenly flew out from somewhere, hitting Little Deng directly in the shoulder!
Although the props weren't effective, their material still provided some protection. Little Deng wasn't injured, but his wristband prompted: "Player Little Deng has been hit. 10 points deducted."
His -425 turned into -435.
Looking toward where the cold arrow came from, they saw the back of a player gradually disappearing into the distance.
"Thump! Thump!" There were quite a few people lurking in the woods to ambush them. The attacks came continuously, but since the tools used were very ordinary, none of the three were injured. They could only use whatever was at hand—tree branches and vines—as weapons to defend themselves.
"Still, the most primitive tools are the most useful," Little Deng said with a grin, tossing aside a broken piece of wood that had been riddled with holes.