Chapter 74.2 – Destroying the Headquarters (2)
The person most affected by the impact was Xu Gao. As he watched the approaching figure, his pupils contracted abruptly.
The figure before him gradually overlapped with the faint back view seen in the footage.
Even without the reminder from others, he could tell that this was 001.
He finally understood why Hu Li, even though he hadn’t seen 001 in person, could recognize him at a glance through the footage.
This overwhelming and suffocating pressure was indeed the most distinctive and definitive ID card.
Familiar, to the extreme.
Although he already had a guess in his heart, Xu Gao still didn’t dare to connect this person with the one who was gossiping with him in the small restaurant not long ago.
As he passed by, the other person said, “Everyone here is dead.”
Meaning, there was no need for him to engage in meaningless rescue efforts.
The white figure that had passed by after the creature was this person. He couldn’t see the other clearly, but the other had noticed him.
A faint and indifferent voice came from his ear, with subtle differences from the tone he had heard before, but the voice was unmistakable.
When he walked over, the people around him unconsciously made way, eventually creating a gap.
Jiang Yujin walked up to Xu Tonggui.
Applying a bit of force, the knife in his hand steadily sank into the ground. He pulled out a map from his pants pocket and handed it to Xu Tonggui, saying, “This is a city map, all the streets are on it.”
He didn’t seem surprised by Xu Tonggui’s arrival, perhaps he had expected it. His blood-stained hand touched the man’s face, and Jiang Yujin turned his head in a certain direction, towards the intact buildings, saying, “Deal with the creatures created by that thing; I’ll go find people.”
Xu Tonggui looked down at the person in front of him, with faint brows and eyes, and said, “Okay.”
He didn’t ask why the other person was here or who he was looking for. He simply agreed directly.
His face and neck still bore the bloodstains left from the recent touch, and the emotions in his leaden gray eyes were silent yet intense. Adrenaline was rapidly surging, like a poised and ready-to-pounce wolfhound that had experienced blood-soaked battles, silent yet forever loyal.
The person with white hair walked away again, holding the recovered knife, almost disappearing from the spot in an instant.
Xu Tonggui handed the map to Hu Li, instructing him to lead the rest of the team.
The implication was clear; he wanted to act alone, and Hu Li understood.
So, that’s why this person was put in the same group at the beginning, so that he could leave directly now.
The ground began to tremble, and in the direction pointed out by the earlier person, a massive creature began to take shape, its viscous body climbing up the building.
Xu Tonggui disappeared from the spot.
The creature that just appeared in the distance was directly pierced, creating a hole that could be seen even from a distance. They could even see the subsequent building through the hole.
Along with the creature, the surrounding buildings collapsed, rapidly crumbling, and the swirling dust cloud obscured everyone’s vision.
These towering structures and creatures were easily dismantled, played with, and destroyed like toys. The majority of the creature’s body was torn apart, falling from the sky.
Xu Gao’s eyes were still wide open.
He had never seen Captain Xu handle a mission with such a massive force, and it had never been so swift. The strange species that they would gather their courage to face, prepared to die, had just been pierced through with a massive hole.
“Feeling unfamiliar?” Hu Li spread out the map without looking at Xu Gao, glancing at the streets on the map as he said, “This is the real Captain Xu for you.”
Unexplained amnesia, along with the rules of the SIU and considerations for the citizens, had restrained this person like chains. During regular missions, he could only use his abilities cautiously, avoiding accidentally harming people and causing excessive damage to buildings.
001 was the key to unlocking these chains.
Reflecting on the gaze he had just seen, Xu Gao had no doubt that Hu Li’s earlier statement about 001 being able to dismantle the SIU with a casual gesture was true.
He now believed it.
The other person seemed capable of such actions.
“Second Unit, assemble at the intersection of South Second Street, push towards South Third Street. Third Unit, head to West Fourth District. Units Four and Five, continue searching the surroundings according to the progress. Seventh Unit, prepare for assistance.”
After folding the map, Hu Li finally glanced at Xu Gao after giving the instructions. “Did I not mention to you before that Xu Tonggui is the Game’s second?”
Judging by Xu Gao’s expression, it was clear he had never been told.
*
Chen Jing and the other two were in a dungeon.
After destroying the silver building to block the research, they had been constantly pursued. In places with piles of flesh, creatures kept appearing.
They hadn’t confronted these people and creatures head-on, choosing to run first. After crossing over half the city and killing a few officials, the pursuers behind them dwindled, and the creatures stopped appearing from a certain point in time.
They roughly guessed that the SIU had arrived. On the morning of the day when they obtained the research results, they anonymously reported the largest stronghold in the area they had discovered. Considering the timing, the SIU should have arrived.
To find the crystal, they had to keep Zero’s people and the creatures occupied. The SIU was the preferred choice.
The dungeon was accidentally discovered when the ground collapsed. Inside, there were people who seemed not to be parasitized yet. Some of them still had their eyes open. After seeing Chen Jing and the others, no one intruded into the dungeon to kill them.
The dungeon housed a few of the rare living individuals in the city. However, these people were barely breathing, their eyes difficult to open, indicating they were close to death.
On one floor, they found four people locked in dark rooms. These four individuals were wearing diving suits and were already dead. They were the same four people encountered on the sea during their previous visit. It was unclear how they ended up here, and instead of finding treasure, they died in this gloomy dungeon.
This part seemed like it had been abandoned for a long time, with the originally alive individuals forcibly confined until death.
On the next floor, unexpectedly, there was a laboratory, but it was devoid of people. On one side was the laboratory, and on the other side were cells. The people in the cells were leaning against the railings, hands clutching rusted iron bars, lifeless.
Unlike the individuals on the upper floor, the people here shared a common feature – a “0” marking on their faces.
After examining the laboratory records, the group then looked at the individuals in the cells on the other side. Contrary to what was told outside, the inscription on their faces did not indicate headquarters’ recognition. Instead, it marked them as failures or rejects from experiments. They were either sent out of headquarters to perform tasks or kept in this place if they wanted to stay. This city lacked humanity.
At the bottom of the dungeon, devoid of soil, the three individuals circled around the stairs and finally saw the entire floor covered in crimson chunks of flesh.
These things were everywhere.
In such moments, the feeling of being observed was exceptionally strong.
Without any hesitation, at the first sight of the flesh chunks, a scorching flame ignited, continuously penetrating downward as the flesh continued to shrink as it squirmed.
Xiao Pang knocked open one side of the obstruction, making it easier for Chen Jing to search for the meat chunks on the other side.
They had no idea how big this thing was, but they had to find the crystal inside. Without any means of locating it, they could only search diligently.
Above, at the entrance where they came in, there was a rhythmic sound of a cane striking the ground, deep and distant, echoing slowly in the damp air of the dungeon.
“Thump, thump, thump.”
The sound of the cane hitting the ground ceased.
A figure abruptly appeared atop the burning meat chunks, the cane ignited, and the skin wrinkled in the fire. The person with gray-white hair looked at them, asking before his throat was consumed by flames, “What are you doing?”
It was a question, but he seemed to have no intention of receiving an answer. His body gradually dissipated in the flames, and the chunks of meat climbed upwards.
The colors of the dungeon, which had been illuminated by incandescent lights, began to change, emanating an unknown dark red light.
The meat turned into blood-red vines that started growing upwards, covering the entire dungeon. The branches pierced into the bodies of the people inside the cells, absorbing every bit of nutrients. The entrance they came in through was sealed.
As the meat rapidly diminished under the fire, it simultaneously continued to grow.
It was continuously replenishing its nutrients.
Chen Jing immediately thought of the 113,000 people still in this city.
The citizens here might not only be actors performing for the wealthy investors but also reserves of nutrition for this strange species.
The person standing on the crimson meat chunks eventually transformed into a monster entwined with vines.
A miniature dungeon quickly took shape, and in the moment of formation, vines attacked from all directions.
