Chapter 246 I Pick Up Trash on the Battlefield of National Destiny 2
Zhou Jue pushed the cart, walking happily through the ruins, skillfully picking up piece after piece of metal fragments with the long-handled tongs in his hands.
[Recycling successful, points +3.]
[Recycling successful, points +1.]
[Recycling successful, points +1.]
The points balance on the wristband screen increases slowly but steadily.
This feels like playing a massive, immersive scavenging game, except the reward is points whose purpose is currently unknown.
She had just picked up a palm-sized piece of shard, and before she could throw it into the recycling bin, that cold, mechanical voice sounded again.
[Mission Update: Proceed to Sector B-13 and clear out the remaining 'Shadow'.]
[Danger level in this area: Low.]
"A ghostly figure?"
Zhou Jue glanced at the map that automatically popped up on his wristband screen. Sector B-13 was not far ahead, just two streets away.
She pushed her jingling cart and walked in the direction indicated on the map.
Area B-13 was much darker than Area C, with towering building ruins casting huge shadows and the light being fragmented and broken.
As soon as he turned into a dead-end alley formed by several huge stacked shipping containers, Zhou Jue sensed with his divine sense that someone was hiding there.
It's a living person.
She slowed her pace, and as soon as she approached, she heard a suppressed, fearful sob, with someone muttering softly, "Don't come any closer, don't come any closer."
In a corner of a shipping container, a young girl in a blue tracksuit was curled up on the ground, her hands covering her head, her body trembling.
In front of the girl, three humanoid black shadows were gliding silently. They had no facial features, and black mist was constantly emanating from their edges.
A ghostly figure.
They are slowly closing in, getting closer and closer to the girl.
The rules of the game system flashed through Zhou Jue's mind in an instant.
[NPC Handbook - Core Rule 3: It is forbidden to actively interfere with 'player' behavior in any form.]
To save or not to save?
Rescuing people might violate the rules, reveal that you are not a real NPC, and attract the attention of this unknown game system.
If we don't save her, this girl from China, who looks to be at most twenty years old, will soon die at the hands of these monsters.
Yes, after Zhou Jue approached, the information scan through his glasses showed that this girl was contestant number 09 from the Dragon Kingdom on this planet.
Looking at the three "ghostly shadows" and then at the "purifying agent" on his cart, a plan instantly formed in his mind.
She is NPC-0714, a battlefield cleaner.
Her task was to clean up the pollutants.
In the system tasks, "Shadow" is explicitly defined as a target that needs to be eliminated.
As for the girl, she can pretend she didn't see her.
Isn't it reasonable for an NPC to have no emotions and only focus on the mission objective?
Zhou Jue stopped hiding, pushed the cart, making a clanging sound, and walked straight towards the corner of the container.
Startled by the sound, the crying girl looked up abruptly and saw a 'monster' dressed in gray clothes pushing a cleaning cart.
Her eyes grew even more desperate. Another monster had appeared. Was she destined to die today?
The three "ghostly figures" also noticed Zhou Jue. They stopped approaching the girl and all "looked" at Zhou Jue.
Zhou Jue remained expressionless, raised the "purification agent" spray can in his hand, and aimed it at one of the "ghostly shadows".
Just as she was about to press the nozzle to begin the "cleaning" process, a bizarre scene unfolded.
The three "ghostly figures" seemed to have encountered some natural enemy. Their black bodies twisted violently, and then they turned around without hesitation, transforming into three wisps of black smoke as they frantically fled out of the alley.
They've even given up on their goals.
They ran away?
Zhou Jue was stunned for a moment. Why was this strange creature different from the one on the previous one? It could run. Could it be conscious?
But can you really let the mission points and spiritual energy you've already acquired fly away?
She instinctively pushed the cart and chased after it.
The girl, huddled in the corner, stared dumbfounded at the dusty monster, which seemed not to see her at all, and chased after the three monsters that had terrified her half to death as they rushed out of the alley.
What... what's going on?
Zhou Jue was very fast, and in just a few steps he caught up with the last "ghostly figure".
"laugh--"
She pressed the showerhead without hesitation.
White purifying mist gushed out, precisely enveloping the dark figure.
"Hiss—!"
A shrill, inhuman scream rang out, and the "ghostly figure" tumbled violently in the white mist, its body rapidly dissolving before finally turning into a wisp of black smoke and vanishing completely.
Seeing their companion get instantly killed, the other two ran even faster.
Zhou Jue pushed off with his feet, and in a flash, he blocked their path.
"Sizzle! Sizzle!"
Two more times.
With two screams, the remaining two "Shadows" followed in their companion's footsteps.
[Cleanup task completed. Rating: Highly efficient.]
A cold, mechanical voice sounded.
Zhou Jue looked at the spot where the three eerie figures had disappeared, each leaving behind a small wisp of black thread that seemed to be real, slowly drifting in the air.
She went over and carefully picked them up with clips.
[Detected 'Shadow Essence' x3, can be decomposed into 1500 Spirit Energy. Decompose into Pure Spirit Energy?]
"Do not decompose."
Zhou Jue chose to refuse this time.
She wanted to see if anything in this world, besides being transformed into spiritual energy, had any other use.
The 'Essence of Shadow' has been stored in my inventory.
A mechanical voice prompted.
Storage space?
This game system also has a space? She subconsciously looked at the black bracelet on her wrist.
She raised her hand, and with a thought, the bracelet screen lit up. In addition to her points balance, there were indeed rows of storage compartment icons. One of the icons showed a strand of black thread with the small text "3" next to it.
This game system even comes with a storage bracelet? Is it only available to NPCs, or do both players and NPCs have it?
Zhou Jue was studying the bracelet when he suddenly felt a spatial fluctuation behind him.
She looked back and saw that the corner of the container was now empty.
The girl has disappeared.
"It seems that this battlefield of national destiny is more complex than I imagined."
Zhou Jue withdrew his gaze, pushed his cart, and continued his "trash-collecting" mission.
While scanning the debris on the ground with his glasses, he also spread his divine sense, alerting himself to everything around him.
She hadn't fully grasped the rules of this world, and she couldn't contact her own system, so she had to be careful in everything she did.
[Recycling successful, points +5.]
Just as she threw a relatively intact arm guard into the recycling bin, a familiar yet excited voice suddenly exploded in her mind.
"Host! Host! I'm back!"
Zhou Jue's chopping motion abruptly stopped—it was her system!
"Brother Tongzi? Where did you go?"
Zhou Jue asked, both surprised and delighted, "I called you for ages and you didn't respond. I thought you'd been blocked by this world's system!"
"Cough cough, how could that be!"
The system's voice sounded a little guilty: "When I first came in, I found that the system in this world seemed somewhat familiar..."
"Familiar?" Zhou Jue grasped the key word.
"Yes, host... there's something I don't know if I should say."
"Speak," Zhou Jue said succinctly.
The system stammered as it tried to organize its thoughts, seemingly searching for the right words.
"It's...this system, the feeling it gives me..."
“It looked familiar, so I went to investigate.”
"I suspect it might be one of my... former colleagues."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com