Chapter 546: The Xenomorphs Return
"Xin Hui." The voice that spoke was unexpectedly female, and even Xu Huo's gaze carried a hint of surprise.
Xin Hui seemed accustomed to such looks. "I've been like this since I was a child, like a man. Thank you just now. If it weren't for you, I might not have survived."
It wasn't just "like"—in terms of physique, appearance, and behavior, she looked completely male. She had a prominent Adam's apple, broad joints, and aside from her voice, there were no feminine features.
"You saved me once too." Zhuo Wangsun said very gentlemanly, then asked her when she had entered the Cleanup Zone.
"Three days ago," Xin Hui replied. She glanced at him and Xu Huo, then asked, "And you?"
"About the same," Zhuo Wangsun sighed. "Are you a player from Clown City?"
Xin Hui shook her head. "I came from another game district."
"Then you don't know the inside story of Clown City, do you?" Zhuo Wangsun turned back to silently ask Xu Huo with his eyes, and only continued after seeing him nod. "Actually, we've all been deceived."
He then revealed the truth about Clown City and the Cleanup Zone. The more Xin Hui listened, the more shocked she became. "How did you find out? Are you players from Clown City?"
"Of course not," Zhuo Wangsun said. "It's just that this game has too many loopholes, and my friend saw through them."
Xin Hui couldn't hide her shock and admiration as she looked at Xu Huo. "You're really impressive, daring to draw conclusions from such little information."
"Don't you believe us?" Zhuo Wangsun gestured for her to take out her flag. "You've also passed through the canyon. You should only have one task left. If you stick the flag in the ground, you can clear the instance right now."
Xin Hui hesitated and asked them, "Since you've cleared it, why don't you leave?"
"We want to see what Clown City looks like on the other side," Xu Huo answered this time. "It sounds like a fantasy. Seeing it with our own eyes will make everything clear. I'm also curious what kind of government treats human lives like a game."
Xin Hui put the flag back into her bag. "I want to see too."
The xenomorph tide hadn't completely passed yet. Amid the rumbling vibrations, after a while, Xin Hui asked Xu Huo again, "If the truth about the Cleanup Zone is like this, why do you think the people of Clown City are doing this?"
Xu Huo turned to look at her. Although the cave was backlit, he could clearly see her expression.
After a slight pause, he said, "It might be a mutual struggle between the two halves of Clown City."
This was just his guess, based on the overly inferior equipment and the excessively high bounties. The goal of the high rewards was to kill more people, while Clown City was using policies to bring in population.
"Could they be conducting some kind of human experiment?" Xin Hui speculated. "There are infection sources everywhere in the Cleanup Zone."
"That's also possible." Xu Huo didn't speak too definitively.
The three of them didn't continue this topic. They briefly shared information about themselves.
Xin Hui's profession was Surveyor. She didn't have many items, but they were all long-range, like shoes that could launch her forward and a watch that could freely time any explosive.
She was very straightforward, so Zhuo Wangsun briefly shared his own profession as well: Perfumer. His main items were mostly used to distinguish the components of scents and substances. His practical combat items were all bought with money and had nothing to do with his profession.
In this atmosphere, Xu Huo also spoke up. "Architect. My items are mostly threads."
"The xenomorphs this time are different from the ones we've seen before," Zhuo Wangsun said. "This shows that xenomorphs really do exist in the Cleanup Zone."
But it also indirectly illustrated another problem: after being infected, warriors were indeed very difficult to completely degenerate into xenomorphs. Perhaps in most cases, the warriors who entered were killing their own compatriots, as well as companions who could still be saved.
Fortunately, none of the three present were from Clown City, so they felt sympathy for this tragedy but no overwhelming hatred or regret.
When the xenomorph tide had passed, Xu Huo and the others came out of the cave. The river ditch outside had been trampled beyond recognition. Some fungal filaments carrying fungi floated on the water's surface, looking at first glance like a carpet of jellyfish.
Zhuo Wangsun quickly stopped Xu Huo and the others. "Careful, this thing is highly toxic!"
"It's not poisonous," Xin Hui said after a look. "This kind of fungus should be very common in Clown City. I've seen people using it as dry rations in the arena before. They say it's nutritious. It's probably not the kind of fungus you're thinking of."
In the distance, fish were pecking at the fungal filaments without being poisoned.
Xin Hui picked a few on the spot, wrung the water out, and put them into her mouth.
"You can't eat things from the Cleanup Zone..." Zhuo Wangsun quickly tried to stop her.
But Xin Hui said, "I've already eaten quite a bit before. A mouthful or two more won't make a difference."
"Are you sure eating these things is okay? Won't you get hallucinations or become irritable?" Zhuo Wangsun asked in surprise.
Xin Hui swallowed the food in her mouth. "No."
"How strange." Zhuo Wangsun used an item to test the river water's composition and exclaimed in surprise, "This water is actually clean! Logically, a water source running north to south should have been contaminated by players long ago!"
"Maybe the river purified itself," Xu Huo said, glancing at the fungi in the water. "Let's set off."
Probably out of instinct, Zhuo Wangsun still filled a canteen with water to take along.
"You'd better change into a different protective suit," Xu Huo said to Xin Hui. "And cover up your glasses a bit."
Different glasses would directly cause the other side to identify them as xenomorphs. The reason he and Zhuo Wangsun hadn't been frequently attacked by the Blue side was that they weren't directly identified as xenomorphs by the holographic glasses. As for backpacks and shoes, those were minor details that could be grabbed or picked up. Neither side would use those to judge friend or foe.
Xin Hui refused, saying she didn't have a second protective suit prepared, and she had no intention of hiding her holographic glasses. On the contrary, she was actively looking for targets, extremely belligerent.
"You should know it's hard to get back to Clown City, right? Even if you kill more xenomorphs, the rewards might never be cashed in," Zhuo Wangsun, still a decent person, advised her.
"I'm really short on money," Xin Hui said. "Even if what you're saying is true, if in the end not a single person leaves the Cleanup Zone, the people in Clown City will definitely get suspicious. It'll be fine as long as I'm careful."
After a pause, she added, "This is my personal decision."
Different paths didn't require forced companionship. The three of them parted ways on the spot, about to go their separate ways, when suddenly two xenomorphs, larger than average, burst out from the side, their eyes bloodshot as they charged at them!
Zhuo Wangsun opened fire immediately, and Xu Huo swung his sword to back him up. However, the xenomorphs were very cunning, dodging the sword energy and ignoring the bullet attacks as they rammed straight in!
"Their skin is too tough!" Zhuo Wangsun shouted as he retreated. It wasn't just him; Xin Hui was also forced back by another xenomorph.
The three of them huddled together. Xin Hui first threw a sticky bomb at one of the xenomorphs. After the thing stuck to the xenomorph's skin, she detonated it. However, because the xenomorph's skin was covered in thick armor, this small bomb didn't kill it, only injuring one of its arms.
(Chapter End)