Chapter 808
“F***! I knew there’d be more!”
Bei Tai spat fiercely down the ground.
They were currently on the highest floor of the high-rise building, a large banquet hall.
Tens of corpses littered the floor.
Most of them were ordinary humans, but three were mutants. Meteor Rock Guild had killed all three and the mutilated bodies of the mutants fell down the floor.
“Looks like, after three of them mutated, they quickly killed off the rest on this floor. Then, sensing us on the rooftop, they broke through the ceiling to attack us.” Lun Tai looked around. “From the looks of it, not everyone will undergo mutation.”
However, each of the mutants had different appearances, different even from the one on the rooftop earlier. That said, the degree of deformity and monstrousness appeared more or less similar.
“There must be some probability involved for the mutation. Moreover, depending on the individual, a different type of mutation will appear.” Qiao Qiao stood in front of one of the mutant corpses and kicked it. “This one for example can spray out acidic body fluids. Though, its corrosive power is not that strong.”
Xia Xiaolei, who had enhanced sensory organs, kept looking around the floor. Suddenly, he walked towards a corner.
“Sister Qiao Qiao, logically speaking… a five-star hotel, should not have mushrooms growing inside, right?”
Xia Xiaolei turned, a hesitant look on his face as he looked at Qiao Qiao.
“Mushrooms?”
Lun Tai rapidly walked towards Xia Xiaolei.
Several clusters of small greyish-white mushrooms were growing at a corner of the wooden flooring.
“Naturally, it’s impossible.” Lun Tai and Qiao Qiao said in unison.
Given the level of this hotel, it would be thoroughly cleaned every day. Moreover, Los Angeles was situated in the southwest coast of the US. It had the warm and dry Mediterranean climate. Without a dark and humid environment, there was no way mushrooms could grow in the span of just one day.
Clearly, this must have come from Aderick’s newly-acquired ability.
Xia Xiaolei stretched his hand out and gently touched it. Suddenly the mushroom erupted with a loud popping sound.
A clump of dust-like spores erupted before scattering all around the floor.
The spores quickly dispersed into the air and disappeared from sight. Lun Tai, however, frowned. His face turned grim. “Don’t carelessly touch it! What if we get infected as well?”
“It’s fine.” Qiao Qiao shook her head. “The instance dungeon description has stated that the alien genes that appear in this instance dungeon cannot affect Players. Naturally, that includes us Awakened ones. Besides, the helicopter pilot and even the people seeking refuge here could become infected. That means these spores must have flooded this city long ago. It’s alright for Xia Xiaolei to touch it.”
“I’m just reminding him to be careful in the future.” Lun Tai nodded.
“If that’s the case, the US Army has no chance of winning. If even a helicopter pilot can be infected, everyone must have already caught it. Only, not everyone will undergo mutation.” Roddy scratched his hair and said with a wry smile, “Right now, we still do not know if the probability of mutating is dependent on the individual or time, or both. Regardless, the thing we feared the most has happened.”
No matter how strong the army’s firepower was, it would only be effective in a head on battle. With enough weapons, they can put a distance between them and the enemy and unleash a barrage of fire, pulverizing those flesh and blood mutant creatures from a distance.
But when the comrade beside them, and maybe even they themselves, could suddenly undergo a mutation and attack those around them, the army would lose their biggest advantage.
Additionally, this could deal a fatal blow to their morale.
“We have to leave this city, right now!”
Her face dark, Qiao Qiao jumped through the hole in the ceiling to land on the rooftop once more.
“Leave?” Roddy hurriedly activated his mech thrusters to jump up as well. “Right now?”
Qiao Qiao said, “More mutants will definitely appear in this city. No matter how high the mutation probability may be, when you consider the number of citizens here, the final number of mutants will surely be terrifying.”
“No matter how many of them there are, we will have to take them on sooner or later.” Roddy firmly objected. “We can indeed leave this city to avoid these mutants for now. In the end, however, if we want to complete this instance dungeon, we will need to return and kill that Aderick!”
“At the very least, we should find a place where there is no one and wait there!” Qiao Qiao was also very steadfast in her decision. “The number of mutants inside this city will only rise higher and higher. Meanwhile, there is still over half an hour before Aderick’s location is revealed. It is impossible for us to find him before his location is revealed. If we stay here for more than half an hour, the endless number of mutants will drag us down to our deaths.”
Roddy gritted his teeth and turned towards Lun Tai. “Lun Tai, you are the Guild Leader now. We’ll listen to you! Do we continue to stay here or retreat from the city for now, you decide!”
Lun Tai’s brows were furrowed and he remained silent for a long time.
“What will it be, Lun Tai?!” Roddy grew somewhat anxious.
Roddy watched as several mutants broke through the windows down below, jumping into the row of US military convoy. In but an instant, the mutants managed to inflict heavy casualties upon the US Army.
Judging by the current development, the number of mutants would indeed grow increasingly high.
“We’ll go.” Lun Tai finally decided. “But we are not leaving. We will return to Griffith Park. There are still a lot of Players and Awakened ones there. It doesn’t matter who they are, gather them all up! The difficulty level for this instance dungeon has increased to a point where we are no longer able to deal with it on our own. We need to gather up all the remaining combat forces. Then, we may have a small chance of winning.”
…
A small team – one male and three females – was running. Occasionally, they would turn around and open fire.
There were tens of mutants, each of varying shapes, hot on their heels.
Back then, this team had also waited for several days for the new system prompt. When the city suddenly fell into a state of chaos, they swiftly tracked the source of the mutant beasts and found Griffith Park.
This team was not very strong. However, it was enough to deal with the mutant beasts. And while they had yet to receive the system prompt, they ignorantly headed towards Griffith Park.
Originally, everything had proceeded smoothly. Their Team Leader, the male, was someone who had chosen the undead summoner development path. By using the undead creatures he summoned as meat shields, they were able to fight their way to the zoo.
Just now, however, the enemies suddenly became stronger.
Originally, the mutant creatures that they had to face were all wild animals. With the exception of their bigger physique and higher toughness, there was nothing special about them. But these new humanoid mutants, be it their strength, agility or defence, all had risen greatly compared to the wild animals.
After two of their members were killed in action, the Team Leader immediately decided to retreat.
However, the number of mutants seemed to be constantly increasing. While retreating, they had killed off several more mutants, but the number of mutants chasing them only increased instead.
Should this continue, their whole team would be wiped out…
After making a turn at a corner, three more mutants jumped out before them. The one in the lead was two notches bigger compared to the other two. Its upper body was thick and muscular while its legs were relatively slender in comparison. There was a large sac on its throat area.
Seeing the team rushing in their direction, the three mutants immediately assumed a fighting stance. The two smaller mutants promptly rushed forward while the third one stayed put. It instead raised its head upwards before shooting out a large clump of viscous fluid that looked like phlegm.
The four of them immediately darted to evade the viscous fluid attack. When the viscous fluid landed on the ground, it instantly burned a pot hole on the tar road.
“It’s acid!” One of the female team members screamed, the index fingers and thumbs of both her hands folded to form a circle, which she aimed at the frontmost mutant. Next, she shouted, “Decree, restrain!”
The mutant that had been running forward instantly froze and its body tumbled down the ground. The other female member who sported blond wavy hair had already rushed forward, the war blade in her hand hacking down the mutant’s neck.
But the moment the war blade touched the mutant, blue light suddenly emerged from every part of the mutant’s body. Coursing through the war blade, the blue light flowed towards the blond-haired woman’s body.
With a shriek, the blond-haired woman’s body became wrapped in electricity. Convulsing, her body then fell to the ground.
“Damn it! This fellow can emit electricity!”
The Team Leader shouted and promptly rushed forward. He tried to carry the blond-haired woman, but the tens of mutants chasing after them were already approaching.
Several bone spikes shot forward, zig zagging through the air. The air-piercing sound of the bone spikes was practically identical to that of bullets.
The Team Leader had to make a flip to evade several of the bone spikes. But in doing so, he missed the chance to rescue his teammate.
The acid-spitting mutant up ahead had already raised its head upwards again and it spat out a second mouthful of acid at the blond-haired woman.
As for the other charging mutant, it had already arrived before the four-man team. It raised up both its arms and a dense row of blades jutted out from the elbow areas. Like a mantis, it then swiped at the woman who was using the restraining skill.
The third woman was the weakest in the team. She screamed as she frantically opened fire with the automatic rifle in her hand. However, most of the bullets were stopped by the mutant’s hardened exoskeleton and were incapable of inflicting too much damage upon it.
The woman who was using the restraining skill paled. She had to pull her hands back, breaking her stance. Next she pulled out a staff, which she positioned before her body.
With the restraining skill gone, the mutant that was on the ground instantly flipped up, its bloody mouth swiftly moving to bite the blond woman on the ground.
It’s over!
The Team Leader’s eyes darkened. He knew he would not be able to block this wave of attacks.
There was also no way to escape this encirclement.
Boom!
Following the sound of a heavy sniper rifle shot, the mutant that had just escaped from the restraining skill was struck by a large-calibre bullet. The powerful impact did not just tear apart its hard exoskeleton, it also caused the mutant’s giant body to flip and fall to the ground.
Before the Team Leader could react, he saw a figure appear in front of the acid-spitting mutant all of a sudden. Two short swords swiftly slid across the mutant’s body, cutting it into two.
The acid sac that was cut open immediately released vast quantities of acid. However, the figure was frighteningly fast. After performing the two slashes, the figure instantly turned, disappearing and re-appearing somewhere over 10 metres away from the mutant. Not a single drop of the rain-like falling acid managed to land on her body.
At the same time, a Sentinel mech suddenly descended from the sky. All the weapons equipped on the mech opened fire simultaneously, intercepting the tens of mutants who were pursuing them.
In but tens of seconds, this wave of pursuing mutants that had put them in a miserable spot had been completely killed.
“You guys are...”
The Team Leader quickly got up. He gaped at this small team that had suddenly saved them.
In addition to the two who acted earlier, there were over 20 more coming from behind. Although they were dressed in different getups, all of them were wielding weapons and they wore either armour or protective suits.
Such a big… team?
The Team Leader was flabbergasted.
Did he – in this instance dungeon – encounter the Thorned Flower Guild?
“An extreme change has happened to this instance dungeon. All teams need to work together to ensure our survival.” Qimu Xi easily slid her blades back to their scabbards. Brushing her short hair for a moment, she then stepped forward. “It doesn’t matter if you are Awakened ones or Players. If you want to live, join us.”
“Join?” The Team Leader stared blankly at the girl emitting a cold killing intent and the Sentinel mech beside her. He was unable to recollect himself.
“You have 30 seconds to decide! There are many other teams waiting for our rescue in this area. Do not waste everyone’s time.” Qimu Xi cast an indifferent look at him and pointed at those behind her. “Six teams have already joined us. Add the other teams that my other teammates found, the total number of teams that have joined us is… 10 teams, 93 people.”
“We… we’ll join! We’ll join!”
Only then did the Team Leader recollect himself. The guys standing before him were not from the same team. With the exception of the two fellows who took action earlier, many of them were sporting injuries. They were likely like him, men who were just rescued earlier.
And although the two had only attacked for a short time just now, they had clearly shown how strong they were.
Since this instance dungeon did not issue any competition-type quests, there was no need to fight one another. Given how severe the current situation was, working together was naturally the best option.
Moreover, the two fellows who took action earlier seemed so strong.
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