Chapter 531: Something's Not Right
That was a clearly mutated xenomorph, with pale, cracked skin on the top of its head forming twisted patterns. At first glance, it looked like its skull had been peeled away, leaving the brain exposed. Its face and eyes also showed signs of albinism.
After being driven out by Xu Huo, the xenomorph crouched on the ground, baring its teeth at him in a threatening hiss, but it didn't attack.
Xu Huo paused briefly before throwing out the Kite String, intending to capture it alive. Unexpectedly, the xenomorph was incredibly fast, using a nearby stone pillar to dodge the line and flee into the distance. But before he could give chase, a miniature bomb flew in from an oblique angle, and with a bang, it blasted the xenomorph into a bloody mess.
"Haha! Sorry, beat you to it!" Kang Yongjie then jumped out from behind the pillar, tapping his eye patch. "That's another one."
With Kang Yongjie were Hao Mei and Zhuo Wangsun. The female player Er Gou and Si Ming were nowhere to be seen, nor was the warrior they had taken hostage.
Compared to Kang Yongjie's smugness, Zhuo Wangsun's expression was grim.
"Didn't expect you guys to make it here so fast." Kang Yongjie glanced at Jin Dong behind them and then asked, "Are Yi Mao and the others dead?"
"No, they went back to Clown City." Xu Huo gave a brief explanation, nodded slightly at Zhuo Wangsun, and then asked, "Did you guys see the xenomorph tide just now?"
"Of course we did. That was no small scale." Kang Yongjie stood at a distance. "You guys were lucky not to get caught up in it. I saw quite a few people trampled to death. Where are you headed?"
"To the Cleanup Zone as planned." Xu Huo said. "It's just that the map doesn't mark this stone forest area, so we're not sure exactly how to get there."
"This is a maze." Zhuo Wangsun spoke up. "This is the third time I've circled back."
"Is there a dead end ahead?" Xu Huo raised an eyebrow. "From the looks of it, it shouldn't be that bad."
The stone forest was relatively scattered. Although there were vertical separations below, walking in the same direction shouldn't lead to repeatedly hitting dead ends and turning back.
"That's how it is." Zhuo Wangsun shrugged and mentioned the female player and Si Ming again. Those two had been separated from them during the aftermath of the xenomorph tide.
"If that's the case, finding the way is the top priority." Xu Huo pointed to a side path. "I'll go this way. My new friend here will come with me."
Zhuo Wangsun looked back at Kang Yongjie. "Splitting up is more efficient. I'll take one path and leave marks along the way."
Kang Yongjie had no objections, chuckling as he said, "We're all comrades. Don't you dare find the way and just leave on your own."
Neither Xu Huo nor Zhuo Wangsun said anything. Kang Yongjie's smile gradually turned grim, and he left first with Hao Mei.
Zhuo Wangsun didn't split up as he had suggested but instead followed Xu Huo, lowering his voice. "Be careful. The way he left so readily, he might have tampered with you guys."
"Did he put a tracker on you?" Xu Huo asked.
Zhuo Wangsun nodded. "I'm not sure how he did it, but after entering the stone forest, I tried several times to shake them off, but they always found me. He must be using a special item."
Xu Huo kept walking, feeling the direction of the airflow, and continued forward. "Is the person you took away dead?"
"Dead." Zhuo Wangsun's face darkened. "Killed by Kang Yongjie. This guy has no limits, and I suspect he's a cannibal player. He's much stronger than me physically. The best thing would be to shake him off."
"Did you get the prompt for completing the task?" Xu Huo asked. "My glasses are broken."
Zhuo Wangsun was fairly straightforward and said directly, "The ten targets for the first task probably don't mean ten xenomorphs. I've killed far more than that so far, and I haven't received any prompt."
"Could it be because it's a chain task, so completing just one part of the game doesn't trigger a notification?" Xu Huo said.
"That's possible, but I still think this cleanup task is very strange." Zhuo Wangsun analyzed. "Not to mention the poor weapons Clown City equipped each warrior with, even the map hasn't been updated in ages. And we were ambushed in the Gobi area. I feel like it wasn't an attack by other warriors. The trajectory of the bullets was all wrong."
"Also, after going deeper into the Cleanup Zone, I found the soil here is problematic."
"According to the detector, the soil has a high concentration of some unknown element, which has even altered the growth of surrounding plants. Staying too long in areas with high levels of this element easily affects people. Some of those who went deep into the jungle became very agitated and showed a tendency to kill."
Xu Huo looked at him with slight surprise. "You've found so many clues. Do they have anything to do with clearing the instance?"
Zhuo Wangsun hesitated and shook his head. "I can't say for sure, but the game tasks for this instance are also very strange. According to the game's background, we're in the Cleanup Zone to kill xenomorphs. Why isn't the first task to kill ten xenomorphs, but ten targets?"
"Polluting the water source could be said to be for killing xenomorphs, but the third task is very strange. Planting a war flag—that's more like war. Only when you win a war do you plant your flag on the enemy's position."
"Maybe it's not war." Xu Huo said. "It reminds me of a district I visited before that had more advanced technology. Their holographic gaming technology was very mature. Doesn't it resemble the glasses we're wearing?"
Zhuo Wangsun immediately reacted and moved to take off his glasses, but Xu Huo stopped him. "No rush. Maybe what people see with and without the glasses is different."
Thinking the same as Zhuo Wangsun, Xu Huo also believed the ten targets in the task weren't ten xenomorphs. Although on the surface, the cleanup only had two opposing sides—warriors and xenomorphs—there were actually two other types of people.
First, there were the stragglers like Jin Dong who had entered the Cleanup Zone before. Some of them might have degenerated into xenomorphs, but those infected with the pathogen who still retained their humanity belonged to a middle layer. With the glasses on, they were classified as xenomorphs; with the glasses off, they were merely infected people.
Second, the warriors participating in this cleanup mission.
That's right, the opposing side that had split off from among the warriors themselves. If there was a component of mutual killing in the cleanup mission, fellow warriors could also be listed as targets.
If they kept the glasses on, people like Jin Dong were no different from ordinary xenomorphs. The likelihood of them being considered targets was low, because there might be many in the Cleanup Zone who had degenerated from warriors into xenomorphs, making the distinction meaningless.
From this perspective, the likelihood of comrades being targets was very high.
However, there was another issue: the third task. Even with the vague phrasing of "specified target location," if clearing the instance was viewed as a war, the "specified location" without any game prompts would naturally become the enemy's position.
The key to the phrase "enemy's position" was "enemy," meaning that within the Cleanup Zone, two camps—friend and foe—would be delineated.
(Chapter End)