Chapter 646: Let's Go Rob the Vault
Compared to the frantic rage over in Country Y, it was a nationwide celebration in Jing City. Although the reversal of the black rain couldn't solve the fundamental problem immediately, it would at least prevent further contamination of more areas. Moreover, it was a very important signal, representing that the disaster brought by the black rain had begun to wind down.
The internet was filled with joy, and the Special Defense Department was also invigorated. They prioritized arranging rescue operations and paused the evacuation tasks.
At the same time, Nie Xuan led his team to search along the direction the Xenomorphs had charged. Based on the intelligence fed back, they locked onto a park and a river. The Special Defense Department, coordinating with the nearby Armed Police Department, quickly surrounded the area where enemies might be lurking and conducted a thorough, grid-by-grid search.
Before they could even finish their screening on these individuals, some of the players were reported by local citizens for their suspicious behavior. There were also enthusiastic players who spontaneously organized themselves to cooperate with the Special Defense Department's work. This allowed the department to quickly uncover the hiding spots of the foreign players, and the arrests proceeded smoothly.
By the time Nie Xuan was wrapping up, the sky was already bright. The black rain had long since stopped, and the cordon around the Special Defense Department began to contract towards the headquarters building.
"Are we just going to drag this out?" Team Leader Chang asked Minister Fan. "If this goes on too long, more people will turn into Xenomorphs, and our losses will be even more severe."
The Special Defense Department had lost quite a few players this time. Even some elite players, after being contaminated, had to be executed on the spot. Up to now, people were still being harmed by those who had already Xenomorphized. This had also led to a polarization of opinions within the department.
One view was to wait for news from the research institute, because it had been confirmed that the Xenomorph toxin in the black rain could be neutralized by the Detox Fungus.
The other view was that the antidote would take a long time to produce, and the losses during this period were incalculable. Furthermore, the most important thing at the moment was to maintain stability. After a whole night, it was unclear how many people had been contaminated by the black rain. Individual differences might lead to a longer incubation period for Xenomorphization. Like landmines, no one knew when they would explode. Conducting a thorough screening was the most important.
The latter view was certainly not wrong. There had been many cases in the past where people concealed the symptoms of family members or friends out of familial love or friendship, leading to serious accidents. But to directly give up on so many people was a decision no one could make. For now, it was just buying time.
"Let's wait," Minister Fan said, looking exhausted as he arranged the work. "First, lock down those who have already Xenomorphized. Guide those who are contaminated but still capable of self-rescue to scatter and hide. Do what we can. As for the rest... leave it to fate."
Even if they successfully extracted the detoxifying elements from the Detox Fungus, mass-producing the medicine would take time. This wasn't a manpower issue, but a problem with the medicine's ingredients. Some of the ingredients were not available in Zone 014.
"At least there's some good news," Team Leader Wu said. "Country Y can't keep causing trouble, and Nie Xuan's actions were very swift."
"That's a good thing." Minister Fan paused, then couldn't help but ask what Xu Huo was doing.
"He's still at Wenshan," Team Leader Wu said. "The helicopter has already withdrawn."
"I heard from Nie Xuan that he might have a way?" Minister Fan held onto a glimmer of hope. "Give him a call and urge him. Tell him not to hold back at a time like this. Afterwards, the Special Defense Department will settle all the debts from the previous times, with interest, in one go."
Team Leader Wu sighed and did as he was told.
With so many people contaminated, even if Xu Huo had a stockpile of antidote, how many could he save?
But the call still had to be made, at least to check if he was injured.
Xu Huo was outside the reservoir, playing a game on his phone with the Painting Woman.
The reversal of the black rain was something he truly hadn't anticipated. The rainwater seemed to fall upwards towards the sky, but in reality, it disappeared at the rain clouds. The volume was large, but the time was too short, so not much of the black rain actually flowed back. When the black rain stopped, the item cube fell down. The rain cloud pattern on it stopped flashing, and the raindrops vanished.
Unfortunately, the item still couldn't be put into the item slot, but it could be placed in the luggage compartment. He planned to look up the relevant information once he got to Zone 011.
He glanced at the growth of the King Fungus in the reservoir and said to Team Leader Wu, "Send someone to take over the reservoir in half an hour."
"What's in the reservoir?" Team Leader Wu asked, a hint of hope in his voice.
"You'll know when you get here," Xu Huo emphasized. "Come back in half an hour."
"Alright! Alright!" Team Leader Wu replied joyfully.
After hanging up, Xu Huo stretched his limbs, looked at the rising sun in the sky, and said, "Time to go."
This amount of time wasn't enough to turn all the water in the reservoir into antidote. Taking it should delay the onset of the toxin, and the rest could be left to the Special Defense Department.
The Painting Woman, engrossed in the game, was poking at her phone screen fiercely. "I haven't won a single round."
"That's to be expected," Xu Huo said. "How long have you been playing games? I've been playing for twenty years."
He was in a good mood, but the Painting Woman was exceptionally mournful. "But you've won all my pocket money!"
The pocket money originally promised to her, along with the bonus for completing her part-time job, hadn't even left Xu Huo's account. Instead, half of the Painting Woman's own little treasury had been cleaned out.
"You still have half left," Xu Huo said with a smile. "Work hard, and you'll earn it back."
The Painting Woman was no longer the easily fooled Painting Woman. Working at the hotel earned her so little, and she had lost it all in a few games. Learning by analogy, she immediately searched the internet for quick ways to make money, then stared fixedly at the three words "Rob a Bank" on the screen.
"Small branch banks usually don't keep much cash on hand," Xu Huo said. "The places with large amounts of cash at any time are armored cars and bank vaults. Low cost, low risk, and high reward."
The more he spoke, the brighter the Painting Woman's eyes grew. She quickly typed out a line: "Let's go, let's rob the vault!"
"Not working anymore?" Xu Huo looked at her with a half-smile.
"Working doesn't make money," the Painting Woman said, looking pitiful. "I don't want to work anymore."
"What do you need so much money for? Having enough to use is fine," Xu Huo said. "After this is over, do you want to visit other zones? I have an ancient castle in Zone 011. There are a lot of good things in it, fun items everywhere. It's much more fun than Zone 014."
"Really?" The Painting Woman was tempted by his words. "Can you give me the house?"
"Sure," Xu Huo said without a hint of reluctance. "Once we get there, it's yours."
The Painting Woman jumped for joy on the spot, then asked him, "Do I have to pay to play games in Zone 011?"
"No," Xu Huo said off the top of his head. "The games in Zone 011 are much more fun than the games on your phone."
The Painting Woman was a woman of action. "When do we leave?"
"After I take care of one more thing. We'll leave whenever it's done," Xu Huo paused, then added, "If you help, it shouldn't take much time."
The Painting Woman nodded eagerly like a chick pecking at rice, and diligently helped him lift the boxes out of the reservoir. "Before we leave, can you give me a little more pocket money?"