Chapter 977 - This Game Is Too Realistic

Chapter 977: A Hidden Quest in the Sewer? The pitch-black sewer was thick with a damp, sinister air. Moss on the walls glimmered faintly under the weak light, casting an ominous oily sheen. The rubber-soled military boots made a slight creaking sound on the wet ground, reminiscent of rodents gnawing. This seemed to be the only sound echoing throughout the stretch of the sewer. This place was beneath Street 17 of Avinter City. One must admit, the Vilanders had some remarkable skills in urban planning. Though the maintenance of Avinter City’s infrastructure had come to a near halt due to the war, its drainage system still functioned admirably. Wastewater remained well below the river's warning line, without flooding the pathways on either side. Nevertheless, the situation here could hardly be considered optimistic. In just three short days, the Avinter City Guard Bureau had received reports of seven “sewer mutant attacks," and news of mutated rats nesting within the drainage system had locals in an uproar. To ensure the safety of Avinter City's survivors and the smooth progress of reconstruction, the Goblin Corps took on the mission without hesitation. It was worth 1,000 silver coins, 200 contribution points, and 5,000 regional reputation. At this moment, two agile figures moved one after the other along the narrow corridor. On the way here, the pair had already dealt with dozens of mutants. Not only mutated rats but also elusive mutated cockroaches and flies that could launch larvae had been encountered. Although they hadn’t yet found a hint of a mutant nest, they could confirm the accuracy of the Guard Bureau’s information. “...Didn’t expect there’d be so many mutants hidden in a residential area like this.” “Well, it is the wastelands after all.” “Damn... This game is too realistic in all the wrong places. I’d prefer missions that don’t stink so much.” “Relax, it’s a thousand silver coins, remember?” “I know, I know.” Both wore the same model of Type V exoskeleton, sporting full-face helmets, carrying tactical backpacks, and equipped with breaching tools they might need. Since their gear was insured, they wouldn’t be too heartbroken even if they lost it. Hence, although they were carefully searching the corners of the sewer, their expressions showed more calm disdain than genuine tension. They even had time for small talk. "Don't the locals worry about mutants bursting up from beneath the ground at night?" "I reckon worrying doesn't help. Better keep a gun in the nightstand." “Yikes! That sounds thrilling.” Imagining running into a half-man-high rat while going to the bathroom at night, Guigui shuddered instinctively. She wasn’t afraid of rats, but only if she could face them directly. That said, mutated rats and cockroaches were, in fact, among the weakest mutants in the wastelands. Even mutated hyenas were slightly stronger. Even for a gentle wastelander like Little Fish, killing a mutated hyena wasn't a tough task. It surely wasn’t beyond the capability of the Vilanders, whose veins flowed with gunpowder. As for the next generation, that was uncertain. Fortunately, with the technology of mental interference devices, a system could shoo away mutants, effectively limiting their activity range. As Guigui mused, a faint sound suddenly came from nearby. “Squeak—” At the faint sound, Feng Qing immediately swung her tactical flashlight in that direction. The beam illuminated a shadowed corner brightly. Under the twisted metal pipes, a pair of rounded eyes stared at her in terror. The little creature seemed petrified, its gray fur bristling as it trembled backwards but with nowhere to retreat. Though war had left the city's survivors starved, the rats in this city were surprisingly robust. “Wow, that's one chubby rat!” Guigui leaned closer to inspect, rubbing her chin as she critiqued. “But seriously, do rats shorter than knee height count as mutants?” Feng Qing pondered for a moment before gently shaking her head. “Doesn’t seem like it.” Mutants were abnormal species. While there was no strict classification, naturally occurring creatures within the realm of common sense evidently couldn't qualify as mutants. Couldn’t they at least have more legs? Feng Qing pinched the rat’s neck, pulling it from the twisted metal pipe. The startled rat squealed frantically, flailing its paws and legs, trying to bite her hand. However, its not-so-sharp teeth couldn’t pierce her tactical gloves. “Alright, alright... not killing you, hoping you bring us some surprises.” As she spoke soothingly, Feng Qing took a plastic band with an embedded signal chip from her exoskeleton’s tactical strap and carefully strapped it onto the struggling rat before gently tossing it away. As soon as the plump rat hit the ground, it scampered off into the distant darkness, rolling and tumbling away. With just one thought in its mind now, it hurried home to hide in its nest! Little did it know, the cunning humans had installed a transmitter on it, just waiting for this little traitor to lead them home. Watching Feng Qing fiddle with her VM screen, Guigui sighed. “I suddenly remember, this task should have gone to Qiangren. He’d finish it instantly.” Focused on the screen, Feng Qing replied absently. “Emmm... theoretically that could happen, but you can't expect him to fly out to Avinter City for just a thousand silver coins.” Besides, it wasn't an unsolvable task anyway. Within the span of their conversation, the tagged rat had returned to its nest, huddling without a move. Information from the early days by the Alliance Biological Research Institute corroborated that mutated rats didn't live separately from regular-sized rats. On the contrary, they preferred cohabitation, sorting social hierarchies by size. Seeing the signal point on her screen stay still, Feng Qing smiled, sharing the coordinates with her teammate. “Done.” “Let’s finish up and get out of here.” Guigui stretched her arms, chambered a round in her pistol. Yet as she moved forward, Feng Qing suddenly grabbed her shoulder. “Hold on.” “What’s up?” Guigui puzzledly turned back to find Feng Qing silent, just making a gesture for silence, closing her eyes. Sensing something amiss, Guigui quickly quieted down, dimming her flashlight beam. A silence pervaded the sewer, with only the gentle sound of water flowing softly in the darkness. Listening carefully, hair slightly swaying, after a while, Feng Qing opened her eyes and spoke slowly. “There’s movement, not far.” Guigui nodded, equally serious, looking toward the source. “Yeah... I hear it too.” Both players were agile types. Although heightened perception wasn’t their forte, they possessed exceptionally sharp vision and hearing, capable of discerning anomalies in their surroundings. As they exchanged a knowing look, they shut their flashlights off, treading silently towards the corner at the corridor’s end, edging closer to the sound source. One hundred meters. Fifty meters... Right nearby! The surroundings fell into an eerie stillness, the faint noise seemingly vanished into thin air. Feng Qing controlled her breathing, gently flicking the safety off her assault rifle with her fingertip. Her instincts said what lurked in the darkness wasn’t a rat, but something else entirely. Just then, a faint “drip” sounded from the side. It seemed like the noise of leaking sewage from a damaged metal pipe hitting a puddle, but in that moment, it was enough to tighten the tension in Feng Qing’s mind. In an instinctive response, she swiftly raised her left arm, guarding her helmet’s front left! Simultaneously, a whizzing sound sliced through the dark, along with a “clang” as something struck her left arm’s exoskeleton frame’s ballistic plate! A sharp edge pierced brutally into the polymer material, almost reaching her arm. Good thing she blocked it, or that icy weapon might have found her face. Quickly, Guigui aimed her rifle, flipping on the tactical flashlight attached beneath but saw no one, only spotting an electromagnetic launcher, housed with a mechanical base and infrared sights, embedded in the twisted metal conduit. “It’s a trap!” Since their hidden adversary had already marked them, continuing to sneak around was pointless. As Guigui squeezed the trigger, two shots rang out, destroying the fixed weapon aimed squarely at them. With the threat neutralized, she swiftly turned to Feng Qing, concern lacing her voice. “Are you okay?” “I’m fine.” Feng Qing calmly removed the dart embedded in her arm, inspecting it thoughtfully. “This isn’t the handiwork of mutants...” Most likely, it was laced with poison, perhaps organic toxins extracted from mutants, designed to disguise the cause of death. Confirming Feng Qing was unharmed, Guigui breathed a sigh of relief, quickly returning to high alert. Their troubles were far from over. Somewhere in the shadows, their enemy lay in wait, ready to strike! She could feel the malice cloaked in darkness drawing ever closer! The enemy would not let them leave the sewers alive and would do everything possible to keep them there! “Is it the remnants of Teal?” “Hard to say, could be the Enlightenment Society. Didn’t you see the forums? They hijacked a research vessel and even took out a few academy scouts,” Feng Qing speculated, pocketing the dart in her tactical harness and eyeing the map displayed on her VM, assessing the path ahead. “Either way, there’s more here than just a mutant nest...” It's possible that not only the traps, but even the mutants they encountered earlier were deliberately spread by someone attempting to conceal an unspeakable secret within these sewers. Which meant— They had triggered a hidden mission! With this realization, Feng Qing felt a surge of energy. Exchanging a glance full of excitement with Guigui, far from retreating, they decided to plunge deeper into the ominous sewer. Elsewhere, Flynn, watching through the monitors, felt a spike of tension and cursed under his breath. “Damn it!” This was a secret stronghold — or safe house — set by the Enlightenment Society beneath Avinter City. Here, local disciples and guides convened, exchanged intelligence, and plotted actions under cover. The mutants roaming the sewers were released to create a diversion. He hadn't expected the Alliance to be so thorough, managing even the sewers’ rat infestations. Watching the soldiers draw closer to his lair, Flynn had no choice but to risk activating decoys along their route, trying to lure them into his ambush for elimination. But things took an unexpected turn. The soldiers weren’t just competent; the one leading effortlessly parried a deadly poisoned dart, and the other dispatched the intricately set trap with two swift shots! Now his plans were in ruin. Not only had he failed to eliminate them, but he inadvertently exposed the secrets hidden in the sewer! No time for hesitation, Flynn quickly rose from his holographic station, grabbing the exoskeleton hanging nearby. The sewer’s signal was poor; maybe those two soldiers hadn’t yet reported their findings. He still had a chance! Activating the optical camouflage on his exoskeleton, transparent ripples spread across its armor, swiftly blending into the environment like a snowflake vanishing on water. Fully armed, Flynn grabbed the rifle by the safe house entrance, chambered a round, and stepped into the pitch-black sewer, guided by the tactical HUD projected from his visor, stealthily pursuing his targets. Whatever it took, he must not let those little rats escape alive! Flynn had begun to grasp that Alliance soldiers could sense lurking danger, akin to those with unlocked special talents. However, he was unaware that the soldiers’ capabilities extended far beyond what seemed, influenced by something incomprehensible known as the “official forum.” Otherwise, he wouldn’t waste time on such futile cleanup efforts but would demolish the stronghold and flee posthaste. Killing a player was meaningless as their coordinates would surface on the forum the very next second! Unaware of Flynn's approach, Feng Qing and Guigui continued their cautious advance, equally oblivious to their attacker’s bold gambit towards them. Suddenly, a nearly imperceptible sound emerged from a nearby corner. They quickly trained their tactical flashlights in that direction but saw nothing. Suspecting the possibility of optical camouflage, Guigui swiftly drew her arm-bound dagger, slashing into the space ahead—alas, hitting nothing but air. “Tch, nothing there.” Having swung in vain, Guigui collected her dagger, efficiently reversing her grip to pair it with her pistol. Feng Qing frowned slightly, scanning around with her flashlight, relying on her instincts. She was sure she heard something. It was a battlefield-honed intuition; her ears wouldn’t deceive her! It was then that her peripheral vision caught sight of moss clinging to a metal pipe ten meters away. The flashlight beam usually made the moss glint with iridescent oily hues, yet now there was a stark tear in that sheen! In that fleeting moment of locking invisible glances with something unseen, Feng Qing’s heart leapt into her throat. Right there! “There!” “Where?!” Guigui swiftly turned her head from another direction at Feng Qing’s signal. “Ratatat—!” Responding to her question with gunfire, Feng Qing pulled the trigger, using her rifle's trajectory to guide her teammate toward the target. As anticipated, the orange tracer rounds didn't ricochet off twisted metal pipes but hit an unseen wall, sparking ripples. Outlined by those ripples, a shadowy figure slowly emerged. Caught unprepared, the adversary recoiled under the barrage, stumbling back almost to the point of falling. “Damn it—” Swearing, Flynn hastily raised his rifle to retaliate, but a swift figure closed in, a gleaming blade aimed at his face. “Clang—!” A metallic clink echoed through the tight tunnel as Flynn barely deflected the deadly blow with a drawn machete, cold sweat trickling down his neck. He mistook them for mere thieves; turns out they were special forces! Unphased by the failed attack, Guigui darted low, slicing her dagger towards his side. Though battle-hardened, Flynn was barely holding his ground under the surprise assault, forced to twist defensively and absorb the strike with his ballistic vest. A blunt thud akin to an axe hitting a wall reverberated, widening Guigui’s eyes in disbelief. “Whoa! How’s he still standing?!” She had put her full strength into that strike. She had confidence it could puncture even a Type VI heavy exoskeleton’s ballistic vest. Yet, this guy reacted as if merely nudged. Flynn winced from the hit to his abdomen, hinting at a grin. Yet, the encounter granted him a chance to retaliate, swinging his leg up to kick Guigui in the chest. It felt like being slammed by a truck. Guigui, exoskeleton and all, flew back, crashing into the wall with a pained yelp. The kick likely fractured three ribs; while the pain wasn’t much, it immediately disabled her. Ignoring her teammate’s condition, Feng Qing reloads her rifle, calmly spraying suppressive fire at Flynn while clutching two grenades, timing their explosion expertly. As her magazine decimated, she hurled the grenades at the target. Barely 1.5 seconds elapsed post-release when a thunderous blast rocked the sewer! Scalding shockwaves coupled with shrapnel collided with her ballistic vest and raised arms. Such close-range blasts inflicted substantial self-damage. Yet— The enemy’s plight was surely worse. Discarding her rifle mid-motion, Feng Qing fluidly unsheathed the knife from her tactical pack, darting towards the smoke, intending to deliver a killing strike. But as she entered the thick haze, an instinctive warning flared in her mind. Knees buckled reflexively, the howl of a blade swinging past overhead. “Whoosh—!” So fast! Is that the speed of his exoskeleton?! Feng Qing's pupils involuntarily contracted. Before she had a chance to react, a knee slammed into her chest, almost knocking the breath out of her. “Ugh—” A painful groan escaped her lips as she felt a hand clasp her neck, lifting her off the ground. She held onto her last breath, wielding her dagger to strike at the head of the attacker. But her swing was abruptly halted mid-air by a powerful punch. Crack— The sound of breaking bones echoed; her right arm went numb as if dislocated. With her toes barely reaching the ground, she tried to reach the pull ring on her backpack with her left hand. Her opponent, noticing her intent, clamped down on her left shoulder, the sharp crackling sound indicating another fracture. Though she couldn’t feel the pain, sweat poured off her composed face like a waterfall. This guy was no joke. The grip on her shoulder had probably shattered it. Looking at the ant struggling in his clutch, Flynn wore a sinister smile, lips stained with blood. “From the Gremlin Corps, I assume. I admit you're decent, but ultimately, you're no match for me.” Just as Feng Qing was on the verge of blacking out from suffocation, the grip on her neck eased slightly. A violent fit of coughing brought her back to her senses. This guy... What a cliché villain. With some irritation, she retorted. “...Why so much talking? Just get it over with.” Flynn’s pupils shrank at the cold voice, the victorious grin freezing on his face. That voice... A woman? Flynn grabbed Feng Qing’s helmet, yanking it off her exoskeleton. Seeing her cascading hair and soft facial features, his eyes flickered with bewilderment—a sense of losing a hard-earned victory. Feng Qing found his expression utterly irritating and turned away. Perhaps angered by this gesture, the grip on her neck tightened again. Flynn bore down on her. "I'll ask you once more, which corps are you from?" You only asked once, though? Feng Qing mentally quipped and nonchalantly replied. “Gremlin Corps... I'm a pilot. Want to settle this in the skies?” “Pilot... How could a pilot be here! You're messing with me!” Flynn’s face twisted in rage. Though unable to see his expression, Feng Qing discerned much from his tone. He probably lamented not gauging the Burning Corps' strength, with perhaps a hint of surprise and even terror. Yet such matters hardly seemed relevant. “... Haven’t you heard of villains succumbing to excessive talking? You talk too much.” Hoping to expedite her respawn wait, Feng Qing reminded him tersely. The longer he stalled here, the longer her teammates would await her return at the respawn point. Flynn took a deep breath, suddenly calming, and gazed coldly at the woman in his grasp. “...Stop bluffing. Die.” With those words, his right hand tightened, ready to crush her throat. Suddenly, an electric shock coursed through his neck, seizing his entire body and hijacking his exoskeleton's control. An attack?! Flynn's heart dropped in panic, realizing disaster too late. Whether it was a viral infection or a close-range EMP, his exoskeleton locked up like lead, immobile! Cold sweat dripped from his forehead. At that moment, a hand rested on his shoulder, accompanied by a cheeky voice from behind. “Nice gear you’ve got. How about handing it over?” --- (For those interested, check out a new book, “Guardian of All Realms.”) To be continued.