Chapter 840: Anomaly

Although he couldn't see the situation in the dark zone, Xu Huo still chose a position convenient for observation, making it easier to use his traits later.

However, as time passed, he began to feel that something was strange.

So much time had gone by, yet no players from Zone 011 had come to support, and even the players who had been lured away by the Eerie Sound Knights hadn't turned back.

This was too abnormal.

Equally abnormal was the Game Government Base. So far, only one Three-Goat Director had returned to the base.

Logically, the fifth floor of the base stored important items. After the incident, even if they didn't transfer those things immediately, some staff should have come to check the situation. Could it be that aside from those who had gone out to complete tasks, the base had left no one behind? Even just to protect the base building, they should have left some players.

Shi Youzhi and the others had left at too convenient a time.

Xu Huo had traveled back and forth to Zone 011 several times, but only this time had almost all the teams gone out and not returned for a long time.

The Eerie Sound Knights and the Holy Sword Society might have come to Zone 011 because of the Primordial Stone, but whether this Primordial Stone actually existed was still up for debate. If this news was false, then the current situation made sense. It was a trap aimed at the Eerie Sound Knights or the Holy Sword Society. No players came to reinforce, either because they were waiting for more people to jump in, or because they simply didn't need so many players to help—there were players further back who could control the situation.

The base personnel had left completely cleanly. It was hard to say they hadn't received advance notice.

"Has the base had any major operations recently?" Xu Huo turned back to ask Wan Tingfang. "Like a large volume of items coming in and out, or suddenly a lot of documents."

Wan Tingfang was stunned for a moment, then said, "This... I don't know either. But I haven't seen Three-Goat Director being very busy lately, so probably not."

Xu Huo squinted at her for a second before shifting his gaze back to the dark zone ahead. "Shi Youzhi and the others left at too convenient a time. When the incident happened tonight, there were hardly any people in the base. Up to now, no more players from the base or Zone 011 have come to support. This is most likely a setup."

"Have you heard of any Super Players in Zone 011?"

Wan Tingfang paused. "Zone 011 really does have a Super Player!"

Not only did Zone 011 have a Super Player, but it also had a Super Instance. If a game district had a Super Instance, then that district would no longer have random instances, which was why Zone 011 was so stable.

Half of the Super Players Xu Huo had seen were wanted criminals, but there were also those who followed the game rules. This Super Player in Zone 011 was clearly "within the system." If Zone 011 had a major operation, it would be impossible not to inform him.

Thinking of the weathered zone they had just passed, he said, "We can't stay here any longer. We need to leave first."

"Okay." Wan Tingfang nodded. "I'll just enter an instance."

By the time the two came down from the building, Wan Tingfang had already disappeared. Xu Huo knew she hadn't entered an instance. He glanced in the direction she had gone, then turned and accelerated toward Rose Castle.

But just then, a huge explosion suddenly came from the dark zone. Turning back, he saw that the black top seemed to have been blown open with a hole. As it receded in all directions, figures flew out from within, rapidly scattering in all directions of the city. Looking closely, one could see that almost all of them carried a wisp of black smoke.

The next second, Xu Huo heard the roars of players—not normal human voices, but more like the howls of wild beasts!

"Boom!"

Several figures crashed down at the edge of the main city area, causing other players who were still watching the commotion to immediately retreat far away. A few players also quietly approached the crash sites. Those players who hadn't come out for so long made it seem like there was an opportunity to take advantage of.

These people were looking for death.

Xu Huo only glanced back once without stopping his feet, but in that single moment of turning his head, screams came from behind, followed by even greater chaos. A player shouted in panic: "They're all showing xenomorph traits!"

Xu Huo's expression remained unchanged. For the base, forcing players to degenerate was an invincible weapon. Once a player showed signs of degeneration, even if they wouldn't turn into a xenomorph in the short term, the goal of "killing the attackers" had already been achieved. Players beginning to degenerate would only gradually wither away and slowly lose their ability to think like humans.

No player could accept this reality. Any other goal would take a back seat—saving their own life was the priority.

So at this moment, the afflicted players would find it hard to fight the base to the death. For the base, this was also a way to resolve the situation.

The most research and richest data on xenomorphs still belonged to the Game Government. Now they were enemies, but perhaps in the near future, these people would also turn against the Game Government.

Of course, this might not have been done by the base, but the result was the same.

"Save me...!" Someone behind was desperately begging their companion for help. The high-level player grabbing him was a Red Player. After degeneration traits appeared on his face, it seemed even his reason had vanished. He bit straight through this player's throat!

Blood splattered everywhere, but before the victim could die, the high-level player threw him aside and attacked the next person.

From the speed at which the other party used items, he wasn't crazy yet—just venting his anger.

Two other players were doing the same thing, but after killing a few players who had been waiting to make a move, they shifted their attention and looked toward the dark zone.

The darkness that had covered nearly half the city had disappeared. The base building stood tall and unshaken, but the other buildings in the city had been almost completely destroyed. The dust floating in the air hadn't fully settled yet, and a few figures could barely be seen standing among it, disappearing the next second.

The wind within the city froze for a moment, then a light arc sprang out from the base's direction, instantly passing through the entire base city. When it reached the city's edge, time stopped.

Xu Huo wasn't sure if time had stopped. He was facing away from the base. When the light arc flashed past, he froze in place, his body completely unable to move. In his field of vision, there was only a floating advertisement paper that hadn't yet landed.

Although he couldn't see, he could sense the spatial conditions around him. The few players nearby were also frozen in place like him. Those farther away—he couldn't hear any sound at all, so they were probably the same.

But soon, sounds came from afar again. Xu Huo tried to take out his ticket and found that his body was slowly becoming able to move. After regaining control of himself, he turned back and saw that the entire city seemed to have been pressed with a pause button. The rising dust, the collapsing buildings, the running players—all were frozen in a certain moment, maintaining their moving postures.

At the same time, he also saw a few players like himself who could still move. But there was no time to investigate the reason. He turned and ran toward the old city district.

Just as he started moving, the players frozen in place began to explode one after another, including several high-level players. Like frozen corpses, they shattered at the slightest touch!