Chapter 540: The Twisted Clown City
Xu Huo used the same type of antidote for Jin Dong, Yu Wan, and Xue Gao, the two children. It wasn't a special formulation, just a Grade C potion he had purchased for emergencies.
All three of them had eaten unprocessed food from the Cleanup Zone. They had all lost their voices and displayed different symptoms on their bodies. However, after losing their sanity, they could all regain consciousness through the Grade C antidote. Jin Dong, in particular, had been delirious for nearly a year, yet he could still wake up in a very short time.
This indicated that they were most likely not undergoing Xenomorph transformation, but rather suffering from repeated poisoning in a special environment.
Shortly after entering the high-temperature zone, Jin Dong fell into chaos again. The Xenomorphs emerging from the fissures to the surface also lost their sanity within a short time, suggesting that the high-temperature environment might exacerbate the poisoning symptoms.
Meanwhile, Subjects One and Two, who had been injected with the blood of Yu Wan and Xue Gao twice, were still fine. This proved that directly injecting a small amount of Xenomorph blood was the same as eating Xenomorphs—it did not create an infection condition.
As for Chef Tu and the other person, they were judged as infected by the holographic glasses the moment their wounds were cut. This was different from the wounds inflicted by the Xenomorphs on Yi Mao and the others. Xu Huo's dagger had been disinfected and had no infection condition. Therefore, there were only two possible reasons for them being judged as Xenomorphs.
"One possibility is that the infection source is the air itself. Once it contacts the wound, infection occurs rapidly, but the symptoms just haven't appeared yet."
Xu Huo gave each of them a bottle of Self-Healing Agent.
"If we continue to stay in the high-temperature environment, we will also undergo Xenomorph transformation." Chef Tu let out a long sigh, his face turning pale.
"That's not necessarily true." Xu Huo turned around, suddenly drew his knife, and cut his own left hand. As blood flowed out, he turned back to face Zhuo Wangsun.
Zhuo Wangsun was shocked and said, "You've changed too! But this sacrifice is too great. You really didn't need to go this far to find out..."
Before he could finish, he saw Xu Huo relax his grip, and a piece of bloody skin fell to the ground. Yet his palm was completely unharmed.
"How is it now?" Xu Huo asked.
Zhuo Wangsun saw the skin on the ground and exclaimed in surprise, "You're not injured? But why do I still see you as a thermal image?"
"Judging whether someone is a Xenomorph is done through the holographic glasses. It might be that once the initial confirmation is made, the target is locked."
"What does that prove?" Zhuo Wangsun said. "The holographic glasses might lock onto a Xenomorph through information like wounds and body surface, but that doesn't mean the injured person isn't infected."
"Indeed, that's true. But it proves that the judgment criteria of the holographic glasses are very crude." Xu Huo said. "To put it another way, Clown City operates on a 'kill a thousand by mistake rather than let one go' policy. But in reality, people like Jin Dong only need to take an antidote to regain their sanity."
"Did they really become Xenomorphs?"
This question silenced everyone present. Indeed, no one had ever heard of a person who had degenerated into a Xenomorph being able to recover. But Yu Wan and Xue Gao, even when they were in a frenzy, could recover with just one injection of antidote. Anyone would find this illogical.
"Maybe it really is just an ordinary infection." Zhuo Wangsun said. "Most of those who lost their voices had directly eaten food and water from the Cleanup Zone. Chef Tu and the others didn't experience this. In an abandoned city, an old filtration device from years ago could prevent it. This shows the virus isn't that powerful."
So the question was: if the existence of Xenomorphs was questionable, then the injured, the voiceless, and the warriors who briefly lost their sanity had become the main targets of the cleanup operation. This was also completely illogical. It was as if they were continuously replenishing the Xenomorphs and creating conditions to drive them into a frenzy of mutual slaughter.
"Do you have the original map of Clown City?" Xu Huo asked.
Chef Tu, who was still struggling to recover from the shock, heard the voice and rushed to his luggage pile, rummaging out a worn-out map. "This is the complete map of Clown City found in the Planning Bureau. Clown City now uses a new version of the map, and the Cleanup Zone is not included."
The long scroll map was spread out on the table. Looking at the marked locations, the city where Xu Huo and the others were currently located was slightly to the left of the original Clown City map, close to where they had come out. The remaining half, including the Cleanup Zone, occupied half of the original map.
"Wasn't the Cleanup Zone originally in the center of Clown City? Why has the terrain become so complex?" Zhuo Wangsun couldn't help but ask.
"The Gobi zone and Desert zone were originally part of the city, with many towns built in between. However, due to the appearance of Xenomorphs and the formation of the Cleanup Zone, most of them were submerged or destroyed. You saw the stone forest that appeared not long ago. It's not difficult for a city to disappear." Chef Tu explained.
"The Cleanup Zone is less than one-third of Clown City's lost area." Xu Huo said. "Does your cleanup mission always end in this place?"
He pointed to a canyon zone that stretched across the middle of the original Clown City map, almost cutting through the entire city.
"The canyon is the end point of the cleanup mission." Chef Tu said. "This is the first phase of the cleanup mission. But because this phase has never been completed, the second phase cannot begin."
"At this rate of cleaning up Xenomorphs, it would probably take a hundred years to finish!" Zhuo Wangsun picked up his knife, intending to destroy his holographic glasses, but paused mid-motion and asked Xu Huo, "Is this thing still useful?"
"It's useful." Xu Huo nodded. "If you encounter other warriors, at least one person can speak for you."
Zhuo Wangsun put down the knife, but quickly added, "The holographic glasses should be connected to the main controller, right? Could the images we see be monitored?"
Eighty percent likely. But Xu Huo had no clue about the purpose of this. The cleanup mission seemed completely unnecessary to him. There were plenty of ways to eliminate the original Xenomorphs without sacrificing so many people.
Letting so many people in seemed suspiciously like population reduction. But based on the information Zhuo Wangsun and the others had gathered in Clown City, the city's population hadn't reached an unsustainable level. Moreover, given Clown City's technological level, they could open new cities outside to alleviate population pressure.
Many thoughts flashed through his mind. Xu Huo asked Chef Tu again, "Does Clown City have any preferential policies for immigrants?"
Chef Tu nodded in surprise. "Every year, Clown City sends special promotional ambassadors to other cities or game districts for exchanges. Whether ordinary people or players, the welfare for settling in Clown City is very good. Especially for players, not only can they enjoy benefits themselves, but their families and relatives can all move here. The government provides housing. For families with financial difficulties, a minimum living allowance is provided. If you don't want to work, that's fine too. As long as you have three children within ten years, you can receive lifelong welfare benefits."
(End of Chapter)