74: Chapter 77 Exploration
Screams of agony, sounds of blood spraying, the thud of severed limbs dropping to the ground, the crashing of broken doors, the noise of running…
The commotion was the same as it had been a dozen or so hours earlier, the difference being that before it was monsters slaughtering humans, and now it was security guards slaughtering monsters.
Li Cheng stood by the window of the command center, watching it all.
The dazzling combat scenes, the tense and urgent chase to escape, the excellent bloody shot of limbs flying…
So brutally real, it’s not something that a special effects studio could simulate with computer programs; the sensory shock it delivered was stronger than any Hollywood movie.
If it weren’t for the occasional lasers sweeping over and melting steel walls, Li Cheng would have walked out of the command center, taken out his aerial drone, clicked the record button on the left, and captured the scene in its entirety.
In less than a minute, the security guards cleared the top floor of the theme park, including the main hall, ignoring Li Cheng who raised two severed palms, saluting in the French military style, and continued through the corridor deeper into the bunker, clearing out monsters along the way.
It seemed they could distinguish players from monsters, ignoring the former and annihilating the latter.
After some thought, Li Cheng pulled out the key to the command center and followed behind the security guards, retracing the original route.
Su Jie, with a large knife stuck in his stomach, was still hanging on the wall, and he had sustained many more injuries, while the two Pokémon at his feet were extremely weary.
In the middle of the crossroads lay a large pile of monster corpses, with blood seeping out and spreading unrestrainedly.
Clearly, he had withstood the first wave of attacks from the monsters until Li Cheng opened the sluice gate and let the security guards in to clear the field.
“You didn’t just teleport away?”
Li Cheng was slightly astonished; for players traveling to the Otherworld on script missions, teleporting in and returning was instantaneous in the real world.
And for regular tasks performed in the real world and the killing field itself, the flow of time was consistent with the displayed time.
As a medical practitioner of the Special Affairs Bureau, Su Jie would have surely reported his mission beforehand; there would be one or several medical teams waiting at the location he teleported from, ready at any moment to conduct emergency rescues and specialist consultations for him upon his return.
There was no need for him to take the risk of staying here.
“Still got to complete that promise to Taylor.
Chu, give me a hand, please.”
Su Jie dropped the firearm in his hand, interlaced his fingers to form a gesture above the wound in his abdomen.
Once ready, he nodded at Li Cheng, who then grabbed the handle of the chopping knife and pulled it out with force.
The knife was withdrawn with a sound, and Su Jie immediately pressed his hands over his abdomen, unleashing his special skill with all his strength.
[Skill Name: Intermediate Restoration Skill]
[Type: Spiritual Energy]
[Special Effect: Recovery Clean.
Through touch, selectively eliminate three debuff effects from a target, such as diseases, slowdown, bleeding, blinding, immobilization, etc.
Heals minor injuries, removes fatigue, and increases resistance to exhaustion] This text is hosted at novelꞁire.net
[Consumption: 300 points of Spiritual Power Value]
[Cooling Time: 20 minutes]
[Learning Conditions: Alignment of lawful good]
[Note: Cannot remove debuffs higher than the player’s level]
[Note: The Restoration Skill was developed and popularized by the priests of Holy Temple in the slave-owning kingdom of Vokan, and ironically, the most frequent application of this holy skill is not in the Holy Temple Church to save lives, but in the bedchambers of city-state nobles and the mines of Mithril]
Under the effect of the skill, Su Jie’s abdominal wound did not spurt blood, nor did his internal organs shatter and split; the overall injury was temporarily stabilized.
Leaning against the wall, he gulped down several large bottles of potions and cast medical skills on himself, finally managing to hang onto life.
Taking a long breath of relief, he looked up and saw Li Cheng holding that large chopper, his eyebrows tightly locked in a serious, contemplative expression.
He asked subconsciously, “Mr.
Chu, is there a problem with this knife?”
I was just thinking, since tetanus was incurable in ancient times, why didn’t ancient soldiers just use rusted weapons.”
Li Cheng casually made up an excuse, and amidst Su Jie’s confused expression, he stowed the chopper in his backpack, casually saying, “Let’s go.
The driver should also be done by now.”
The two traversed the complex corridors and returned to the Command Center.
The blast doors here were forcibly breached, and both outside and inside the doorway were piled with numerous monster corpses, with both machine gun turrets smoking from their barrels.
Luckily, the driver, Taylor and his daughter were still alive, while the two Pokémon were nowhere to be seen—probably taken back into the Spirit Balls by the driver.
After a conversation, Su Jie said in confusion, “…
So you’ve been staying in the Command Center, holding out until the Security Guards arrived.
They were going to make a move on Mr.
Taylor, and it was you who stopped them, letting them leave?”
The driver was also not very clear and scratched his head, “I just waved my hand, and those Security Guards seemed to understand my intention, spared Taylor and went elsewhere.”
He paused, then asked puzzledly, “So what’s the deal with the killing field?
With the strength of the Security Guards, they could have just dug a hole above the Bunker and directly come in to clean up the monsters, right?
The players don’t need to struggle to open the gates.”
This question remained unanswered for now.
Maybe the killing field has a cruel sense of humor, liking to see players struggle in deathtrap scenarios, or perhaps…
the system issuing tasks in the killing field and the system controlling the Security Guards are not part of the same framework.
Therefore, it requires players to open the gates to lure the external Security Guards into the Bunker.
Li Cheng pushed up his glasses and did not speak.
The driver did not expect an answer and casually chatted before logging off and leaving.
Before leaving, he also sent a friend request.
he glanced at Taylor, who had barely returned to his human form, and the little girl who had woken up and was still digesting the tragic reality, cleared his throat and said, “Mr.
Taylor, our previous agreement still stands.
I will take you and your daughter to a safe zone.
However, you might have to undergo some physiological modifications there.”
In a modern society without Extraordinary Powers, an Alien that can perfectly infect, parasite, and replace humans is indeed a huge disaster that could disrupt civilization.
But Earth nowadays is, in a sense, too bothered to itch or worried to fret about more debts—the hidden superweapons of the major guilds are comparable to a nuclear armory, enough to completely destroy all the major cities once over.
Not to mention those Lv 40 immortals.
Each one of them possesses extraordinary abilities, each with their unique moves, and their equipment and skills are astonishing.
Their secret weapons bring unexpected surprises (like world-ending crises) to Earth.
what’s it compared to those?
Can it beat the black light virus, Flood Monsters, meme contamination, the collapse of reality?
It’s merely a minor threat among the lesser threats.
I’ll have high-level players from the Special Affairs Bureau perform a deactivation surgery on him, remove his infection and parasitic capabilities, let him live in the slums, look for a job at an SAB-affiliated store—that’ll do.
Also, issue him an ID card, get him enrolled in social insurance and housing funds, and process his tax returns every March.
By the way, this is the policy that the Special Affairs Bureau adopts for those bosses, demons, and monsters brought back from the script worlds by its agents.
Sometimes, on holidays, they’re even approved to visit the vibrant world of real Earth in human form…
After a short discussion, Su Jie took Taylor and his daughter out of the Bunker.
Before leaving, he reminded Li Cheng, “Mr.
Taylor and I will take a vehicle to the nearest phone booth and teleport to the slums through the booth, reporting the situation here.
It’ll take about half an hour to go back and forth.
By then, people from the Special Affairs Bureau and the Global Supernatural Alliance and such guilds may come to seal off this Bunker to prevent the escape of any monster.”
Seeing that Li Cheng didn’t teleport away, he guessed that the latter might not be satisfied with just completing the mission, and wanted to explore the remaining secrets within the Bunker.
Out of respect for organizational rules and personal principles, he specifically reminded Li Cheng of the time, to make sure he leaves before the Special Affairs Bureau and Global Supernatural Alliance arrive.
Half an hour was ample time.
Li Cheng nodded, watching Su Jie and the others leave the Bunker, then took the key to the control room and went to take a trip with an elevator marked in red on the map.
(Note: The text description for the Recovery Skill was added later and is not part of the VIP word count.)