Chapter 45: Chapter 45: The Best News
The Chosen One Mall seemed to have everything one might need, but in reality, many items were grey-white, unviewable, and not for sale. All products adhered to a certain strength limitation, and at White Level 4 Mall, one could only purchase items of that specific tier.
Shen Hao flipped his hand, and two new Flying Knives hovered in front of him.
Lighter and harder than the White Level 3 Flying Knives he had purchased before, the engravings on their surfaces seemed to emit a special airflow that allowed them to fly faster, as if propelled.
In the hands of an ordinary Chosen One, they might perform quite well.
But in Shen Hao’s hands, they were just so-so.
No different from using a fruit knife.
Either way, it was a one-stroke kill, no difference at all.
“Team Leader Shen, we’ve received a report from the target residential area, revealing seven Blood Demons exposed and killed, with six more people missing and currently being searched for,” reported a voice from the helicopter co-pilot through the headset.
Again this scenario.
“Then fly overhead and let me have a look,” Shen Hao instructed, feeling somewhat helpless.
This situation had been occurring quite frequently lately.
By then, the sky was already faintly bright, and the points he was acquiring were diminishing.
Clearly, the Blood Demons were preventing him from obtaining more points.
In the current situation, piling up points on one person could yield greater effects. Even if other Chosen Ones obtained them, in White Level 1 and White Level 2 Malls, they could not purchase much of value.
Moreover, realizing that it was increasingly difficult to engage in mass slaughters that incited fear, Blood Demons were choosing to hide more and more.
Even in a city full of surveillance, it was hard to keep hiding, but with their numbers, they could greatly strain the resources and manpower.
In such a large city, playing hide-and-seek was not easy.
Not only were human combat experiences improving, but the Blood Demons were also increasingly displaying cunning behaviors.
This was a war between two intelligent species.
“Should I look for Blood Demons in other cities?” Shen Hao pondered internally.
To unlock the White Level 5 Mall required a total of two million points.
Although only four times higher, it was still a daunting number.
He needed more Blood Demons.
However, after a bit of contemplation, Shen Hao quickly dismissed the idea.
This issue couldn’t be resolved by merely moving locations. As long as a large number of people gathered, the Blood Demons could easily guess that he was coming to inspect and would take any measure to avoid appearing before him.
Unless it was like the situation at the Third Hospital, where the demon cave was discovered beforehand, allowing him to launch a surprise attack to resolve it and gain a chance to earn a substantial amount of points.
Shen Hao seemed to think of something and reconnected with Dong Gong.
“What’s the situation in the villages?”
Yes, the villages, especially those with close-knit relationships and mostly elderly and weak residents, with relatively isolated news, would similarly be places where Blood Demons could easily parasitize and spread!
The Intelligent Group had naturally realized this as well and had dispatched personnel to investigate early on.
“The situation in several villages near Donghua City is indeed severe,” Dong Gong had also just received the first-hand information, “When our troops began to gather the villagers, many Blood Demons directly fled into the forests. The most severe village has been completely annihilated, and many skeletons have been found. Judging by the number, there might be more than one Level 4 Blood Demon.”
Shen Hao’s heart sank slightly.
According to the investigation from the Third Hospital, Blood Demons consume humans to enhance their strength and also have a digestion period. The first instance of human consumption by the Blood Demon should have been twenty-two days ago.
Given the hospital’s facilities, it could have consumed more, but it did not, which indicates that the number of over a hundred people is already the limit for this period.
This means that currently, the strength of the Blood Demons should only be between Level 4 and 5.
However, this was already troublesome enough.
Although a Level 4 Blood Demon is no match for Shen Hao, that’s only because Shen Hao is strong.
Moreover, human monitoring intensity is limited to cities and cannot possibly cover the wilderness.
The perception, speed, and strength of advanced Blood Demons are not lacking, making them definitely harder to capture.
“However, villages a bit further away seem to be safe,” Dong Gong finally shared some good news. In front of him was a map of Donghua City with several key addresses highlighted in red and connected to form a circle, “The villages where Blood Demons have appeared are all relatively close to Donghua City. The Analysis Department speculates that the parasitism of Blood Demons might also have other restrictions, such as not being able to be too far from the Matrix.”
“That is indeed possible,” Shen Hao’s eyes brightened, “The Matrix has strong control power over ordinary Blood Demons, even being able to place its consciousness within ordinary Blood Demons to speak with me. I don’t believe such control is without any distance limitations. If it were so, one Matrix would be enough for the entire world.”
Previously, interrogation of the Blood Demon had revealed that there is more than one Matrix.
There are Matrices abroad and others in different places.
And the Matrix for these Blood Demons in Donghua City is right here in Donghua City!
“If that is really the case, then it could be considered the best news in the past few days,” Dong Gong also sighed in relief slightly, “According to the worst-case scenario analysis by the Analysis Department, if Blood Demons have already spread through every city and all at a one-thousandth ratio, then in two to three months, the population infested with parasites could exceed one percent of the total population, and within four to five months, it could reach ten percent! After that… the Blood Demons would no longer need to hide, the ones hiding would be us.”
Although this is a prediction in the worst-case scenario, once the number of Blood Demons reaches a certain proportion, they can stop hiding, stop sneaking around, and brazenly consume and parasitize humans.
The proportion could explode in a short amount of time.
The situation where an entire town was infested, as in the Northern Alliance, is exactly such a case.
From ten percent to one hundred percent might only be a matter of days!
“We still know too little about Blood Demons. With the Matrix present, we can’t even capture any alive to conduct specific research and experiments,” Shen Hao spoke gravely, “However, if we can capture and control a Matrix, the situation will be completely different.”
“Exactly!” Dong Gong’s tone perked up, “The Analysis Department has just submitted a report on this, and I was about to send it to you, Team Leader.”
Although only two days have passed since the discovery of the Blood Demons, the importance of the Matrix has continued to emerge.
Being able to remotely kill all Blood Demons severely hinders our research and understanding of them.
Similarly,
If we can capture and control a Matrix, the impact would be immeasurable.
The guesses triggered by the situation in the countryside further underscored the importance of the Matrix.
Even on the Chosen One panel, being the first to capture a Matrix would likely yield a special reward.