The truck spun around, and Qin Yu's mind power was forcibly restrained. "Oh no!" she thought to herself, and her vision plunged into darkness, but she could feel herself falling.
Qin Yu suddenly woke up after landing suddenly.
[The side story "Dare to Enter the Mountain City" has been opened.]
She opened her eyes, only to see flames and suffocating heat. The frail girl spread her arms, her hands supporting the stone wall, a crimson glow enveloping them both.
Is this... mental power?
Qin Yu opened his eyes wide. His mental power was an attack-type ability, and the light that enveloped him was restrained and solid, without any outward sharpness.
The flames were billowing, and the fire seemed to be gradually dying out.
Lu Cai felt her breath heat up, and hot liquid flowed out of her nose. She closed her eyes, sweat pouring down her forehead.
She simply thought that the energy in her body could attach to her skin and provide protection. If this power were externalized, perhaps it could become a shield.
As for how to externalize this power, she didn't dwell on it. With a single thought, millions of pieces of data formed a dense red web. Within that red web, a narrow, secure zone was enclosed.
However, Lu Cai had not yet figured out the principle of this power. It was just a forced triggering of the line between life and death. She did not know how to extend or retract it. With a will to survive, she forcibly held up the shield.
The raging fire gradually died down, and it had reached the limit of what she could endure.
Red blood flowed from his nose and dripped into the soil on the ground.
Qin Yu watched the flames fade away and the dense red net gradually crumble. First, there was a hole, like paper torn by sparks, and then three or four holes appeared.
Lu Cai's arms gradually lost their strength. She lowered her eyes and saw that Qin Yu had woken up, so she slowly withdrew her arms and shakily supported herself to sit up.
Lu Cai moved back an inch, flames all around her. She simply raised her hand and wiped her nose with the back of it, looking at the blood on her hand in the firelight. She had never tried to carry a truck and then block an explosion.
This must be an internal injury.
Qin Yu propped himself up and sat up, looking at Lu Cai, whose eyes were a little blurry and who was wiping the blood from his nose all over his face.
"Are you okay--" Qin Yu knew that she was asking nonsense, but other than that, she didn't know what to say.
Lu Cai shook his head: "It's okay, it will be fine after a while..."
Qin Yu hesitated for a moment, rummaged through the system backpack, and finally took out a white silk handkerchief.
Lu Cai was slightly startled when she saw the white silk handkerchief that was handed to her. She stared at the handkerchief in the light of the fire.
"You..." Qin Yu said, and seeing that she didn't answer, he pointed at her face.
Lu Cai regained consciousness, took the handkerchief, and thanked her. She pinched the handkerchief, rubbing it with her fingertips to confirm the same feel. Then she asked, "This handkerchief... is very special..."
What she wanted to ask was, is this handkerchief a prop?
Qin Yu looked at her in surprise.
Lu Cai silently added, "It should be a high-tech product, right? I saw a friend of mine using it to draw a map." She spoke very subtly.
Seeing that she knew, Qin Yu assumed a player had let her know. While NPCs wouldn't remember game settings, whether they'd retain a memory of certain items remained a mystery.
"Yes." Qin Yu replied, "It is connected to the satellite system and can detect the terrain of an area." Of course, she was making it up, just forcing a scientific explanation for the white silk handkerchief.
Lu Cai nodded. "So it's an automatically detected map? Then can the drawn map be modified?"
Qin Yu was standing up and starting to explore the surrounding environment. He didn't expect her to ask such a question and felt a little surprised: "I haven't tried this before."
Lu Cai thought it was inappropriate to ask too many questions, so he smiled and handed the handkerchief back: "You should use it to survey the surrounding terrain. It's a waste to use it to wipe my nosebleed—"
Qin Yu shook his head: "This handkerchief is not stable, and some paths and channels cannot be detected——"
Lu Cai's eyes darkened. She raised her hand to cover her nose with a handkerchief before looking around.
Qin Yu closed her eyes and expanded her telekinesis. She felt a force around her restraining her, preventing her from exploring any deeper. She opened her eyes and said, "I can't find Zhao Yan..."
Lu Cai glanced away, spotting a gleaming metallic spot on the stone wall. She reached up and plucked off a piece of something she couldn't tell whether it was rock or dirt.
"There is an iron door here--" She blocked her nose with a handkerchief, her voice muffled.
Qin Yu turned around and looked at the spot where Lu Cai's hand was touching. After frowning for a while, Qin Yu stretched out his hand and touched it upwards along the straight line.
Lu Cai looked up and saw her serious expression. He couldn't help but ask, "What is this?"
Qin Yu was silent for a long time before he said hesitantly, "Elevator."
"Ah?" Lu Cai was shocked. "This place? An elevator?"
Qin Yu thought about the name of this side storyline - Bravely Entering the Mountain City. It seemed that the destination this elevator led to was not a beautiful place.
Lu Cai swallowed his saliva: "Let's go to the nearby area first-"
Before she could finish her words, she saw through the Naruto that behind Qin Yu's shadow on the stone wall, there was something like a vine tentacle, and her words were suddenly choked in her throat.
"What are you doing nearby?" Qin Yu's voice was normal, but Lu Cai didn't dare to look back.
What the hell is this? Could it be that Qin Yu was replaced? Then why did she block the car and the fire and actually save a monster?
Holding the dagger in his hand, Lu Cai thought to himself that he should cut off the tentacles first and then see if "Qin Yu" was the real person.
In order not to alert the enemy, Lu Cai replied, "Let's check nearby. Maybe Zhao Yan is nearby."
Qin Yu nodded, and looking at her shadow on the stone wall, she was actually about to turn around. At this moment, Lu Cai suddenly leaped up, turned around, estimated the position of the tentacle, and stabbed it fiercely with his dagger.
This dagger was very blunt, and Lu Cai would only use it when dealing with sarcoma mutants. After all, as long as she had enough strength, even a wooden stick could pierce a zombie's head.
But as a cutting tool, this dagger is better than nothing.
After turning around, Lu Cai saw the tentacle clearly in the blazing firelight. It was a bloody, muscular cord, like a skinned arm. The muscles were firm, with veins and blood vessels clinging to them. The tip was slender and pointed. At the base of the tentacle, it connected to a semicircular mass of flesh.
She thrust hard, but the tentacle had already sensed Lu Cai's intention and quickly dodged. The flesh squirmed, retreating half a step, hiding in the shadow of the stone wall, while the tentacle attacked Lu Cai fiercely.
Qin Yu was startled by Lu Cai's actions at first. Just as she was on guard, she saw Lu Cai walking towards the stone wall behind him. She turned her head and saw the tentacles of flesh.
Qin Yu unsheathed his rifle and fired at the tentacles. Four or five bullets pierced the tentacles before the tender, red flesh began to slough off. The flesh fell to the ground, a charred mass of rotten flesh, its blood vessels and veins no longer attached, instantly shrunken.
Lu Cai landed on the ground and replaced the dagger with a pistol, shooting at the piece of meat in the corner.
There were a few "puff" sounds, the dull sound of bullets penetrating into the flesh, and another tentacle emerged from the shadow of the flames.
"Find the way first!" Lu Cai said to Qin Yu.
Qin Yu glanced at the stone wall behind him: "Hold on, I'll open the elevator door——"
Lu Cai cursed inwardly, "You're playing a dog game, forcing people to follow the plot." She raised her hand and shot wildly at the tentacles—
Three more tentacles shot out from the side, one aimed at Lu Cai, and the other two rushed directly towards Qin Yu. Lu Cai fired a few shots, breaking the tentacle that was attacking him. The other two tentacles were about to touch Qin Yu's back.
She rushed forward in a fit of rage, grabbing the tentacles with both hands, and her hands were immediately covered in sticky substances.
The skin touching the tentacles felt stinging and hot, but the bandaged right arm was fine, except for a red spot on the fingertips.
The left arm wasn't so lucky; the tentacles sprouted barbs that tightly wrapped around the arm. However, the barbs couldn't penetrate the skin, leaving red marks where the greenish-yellow mucus had flowed.
Is slime toxic?
Seeing that the barbs and slime hadn't caused any real damage to Lu Cai, the tentacles began to retract. There was no way Lu Cai could let go. She held on tightly to the tentacles, holding her ground against their force.
The goo ran down her fingers and dripped into the dirt at her feet.
"The mucus is corrosive!" Qin Yu became anxious when she saw the ground beneath Lu Cai's feet turned dry and scorched. She looked up and saw Lu Cai tucked the two tentacles under his arms, but there was nothing abnormal about her.
"What?" Lu Cai's forehead was sweating and he was so anxious that he didn't hear Qin Yu's words clearly.
Qin Yu paused and said nothing more, concentrating on dealing with the stone wall attachments on the elevator door.
This Lu Cai must be here to lower the difficulty of the dungeon. If the player faces the tentacle head-on, even with the blessing of supernatural powers, it will be very tiring.
After all, not everyone can catch tentacles with bare hands——
Qin Yu studied the fragment of stone wall that Lu Cai had scraped off. Why had this piece of stone wall fallen down? She frowned and thought carefully. A flicker of flame was overwhelmed by the wind from the tentacles, licking the stone wall, and a small piece of stone wall lifted up.
It was the heat! Qin Yu pulled out his flamethrower, using only the last bit of fuel left. He slowly heated the cracks in the stone wall, causing large flakes of the thin stone to peel off.
When a tightly closed elevator door appeared in front of him, Qin Yu saw a red start button.
She raised her hand and pressed the button, and the elevator door suddenly lit up.
"Backup Elevator No. 1 has been activated—" The female voice was mechanical and indifferent.
Lu Cai heard the elevator reminder sound, but did not dare to let go of the tentacles in his hand. Behind him, he heard the sound of the elevator door opening.
Bang, bang—two gunshots.
The tentacle held in Lu Cai's right arm was broken, and then a sharp military dagger was thrown at him.
"Catch it--" Qin Yu shouted.
Lu Cai raised his hand to take it, and slashed the tentacle that his left hand was holding tightly. He pulled his wrist hard, and the blade cut the tentacle off.
The sticky tentacle on his palm squirmed violently, like a large insect that had just shed its shell. Lu Cai let go, dropping the broken tentacle to the ground, and quickly retreated, squeezing through the closing elevator doors.
The elevator door clicked shut.
Lu Cai wiped the mucus off his arm and handed the dagger back to Qin Yu: "Thank you——"
Qin Yu looked at the dagger covered in mucus and didn't dare to take it.
Lu Cai thought she was disgusted by the mucus, so he raised his hand and wiped it on his clothes. A lump of green and yellow mucus dripped from the corner of Lu Cai's clothes.
Sizzle——
A faint white smoke was burning at my feet.
Cai Lu paused, the elevator made a few clicks, and a small hole appeared where the slime had dripped, with sparks flying out.
"Ding Dong—Elevator No. 1 has arrived—"
The elevator door opened with a sound, and it was pitch black outside the elevator. The elevator body trembled slightly twice, and the lights above the head also flickered.
The two looked at each other and jumped out of the elevator door side by side.
Holding onto the wall on one side, Lu Cai felt that there were smooth tiles under her hands. She turned back to look at the elevator, but the door was already closed.
They were plunged into complete darkness.
With a click, Qin Yu turned on a flashlight and calmly scanned the surroundings.
It was a dressing room, with lockers on either side and a messy pile of shoe covers on the floor. The walls were covered with white tiles, long tube lights hung from the ceiling, and there was a closed door opposite the elevator.
Qin Yu walked forward, and Lu Cai looked at his hands covered in slime, and saw a dent in the white porcelain wall from the slime. She could only follow him forward, and with a quick glance, she saw a white coat on the ground.
Cai Lu picked up the white coat and wiped the slime off his hands, then wiped the dagger on it.
Qin Yu in front stopped and shone the light over to her, waiting for her to wipe it clean.
"Are we underground?" Cai Lu threw his white coat on the ground. The coat had been burned beyond recognition by the mucus.
Qin Yu spread his hands: "I don't know."
Lu Cai handed the dagger back, and this time Qin Yu raised his hand to take it.
"Are you... really okay?" Qin Yu put the dagger back into the system slot.
Lu Cai used the flashlight to look at her left arm, which was covered with red spots. She poked it, but it didn't hurt. "It's probably okay—"
Qin Yu didn't ask any more questions. She turned around and cast the beam of light on the closed iron door. She raised her hand and pushed and pulled, but the iron door didn't budge.
Lu Cai's eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness, and with the dim light from the flashlight, he saw a switch box on the right side of the door.
"Did the circuit breaker trip?" Cai Lu gestured to Qin Yu to look at the circuit breaker box.
Qin Yu moved the beam of light to the switch. She took a closer look and pushed the main switch up. The long tube light above her head flickered and illuminated the room with a "pop".
[Ding Dong——]
[Side story: Bravely enter the mountain city.]
[Mission: You are a newly hired security guard at the Aix Research Institute. On your first day, you discover the institute is in ruins. Your director has sent you a message: Get the materials out of the institute.]
[Mission Objectives: 1. Find the "information" mentioned by the person in charge; 2. Escort the "information" out of the institute.]
[Failure penalty: Players who fail will be deemed dead (ps: Resurrection card props will not be available in the side story)]
Lu Cai stared at the light green message box above Qin Yu's head, speechless.
On your first day at work, you find your new company in ruins, but you don't just run away? What kind of professional ethics is that? Risking your life delivering information when you're not even sure you'll get paid?
Qin Yu's empty eyes slowly opened up, and Lu Cai looked away calmly.
"Need a pass—" Cai Lu walked to the iron gate and saw a card reader on the side of the door lock.
Qin Yu put away the flashlight and began to search around.
This is a locker room, maybe they have a pass. After all, this is a game, and we can't let them get stuck in this place.
Lu Cai searched with her and, sure enough, found an employee card at the back of the third locker. She handed it to Qin Yu. Lu Cai decided to be a good NPC and help the player pass the level.
Qin Yu took the employee card and looked up at Lu Cai, feeling uneasy.
It's strange enough that the world view NPC joins the side quest. The superpower in front of me can block flames and grab corrosive tentacles with my bare hands, not to mention the mutant I killed before...
Qin Yu swiped open the iron gate and saved her employee card into the system. The sound of a rifle being loaded could be heard behind her. She paused. Yes, Lu Cai could still change weapons.
The two men stepped to the other side of the iron gate. There was only a dim light above their heads, which illuminated the bloodstains on the ground, making them look eerie and creepy.
This was a large hall. In the center of the front was a consultation desk, with three black swivel chairs piled up in a mess. There were two aisles on either side of the consultation desk, which reminded Lu Cai of a hospital's inpatient hall.
The rustling sounds of gnawing echoed in the dim hall. The two men walked lightly. Lu Cai raised his eyes and met Qin Yu's. Qin Yu made a gesture and nodded.
The two of them were on the left and right sides, surrounding the information desk.
Behind the information desk, a young man in a white coat was lying on the ground, gnawing on a slightly fat middle-aged man in a security uniform.
Only a small half of the middle-aged man's brain was left. His head hung lifelessly, and he looked like he had died long ago.
Qin Yu frowned and planned to go back and avoid this zombie. Who knows how many zombies are hiding in this research institute? Shooting or fighting hand-to-hand is too dangerous. The noise is too loud and it will easily attract other zombies.
She was about to signal Lu Cai to leave when she saw that the thin girl had already put on the blunt knife.
Lu Cai walked over without making any sound, and rushed from behind the zombie. He grabbed the zombie's neck with his left hand, clamped its throat with his tiger's mouth, and pinched it with his thumb and index finger at the same time.
The zombie struggled for a while, but couldn't make a sound. It tried to stand up, but was suppressed.
Qin Yu saw Lu Cai raise the blunt knife and plunge it straight into the zombie's head. The zombie raised its hand and grabbed Lu Cai's arm, digging its nails into her arm without leaving any marks.
She tightened her wrist, pulling the dagger tighter. The sound of bones cracking echoed from beneath her hand. With a powerful cut, most of the zombie's brain, along with half of its skull, was slashed off.
Brains splattered everywhere and bones fell on the middle-aged man's body without making any sound.
The zombie twitched, its arms drooping, completely dead. Lu Cai continued to pinch its throat and stripped off its white coat.
Qin Yu watched from the side, his brows furrowed. The girl's movements were too fast and precise. This level of proficiency must have come from many attempts.
Cai Lu gently placed the young man on the floor, shook his white coat, and was about to cover him up when he saw the employee card hanging around his neck.
After taking off his employee card and putting it in his pocket, Chief Lu covered the young man's face with his white coat.
After doing all this, she looked up again and met Qin Yu's solemn gaze. She guessed what Qin Yu was thinking. Without further explanation, she put away the dagger and took out a gun from her pocket.
Qin Yu temporarily ignored Lu Cai's anomaly; after all, he was helping her complete her mission. With a gesture, now that the zombies had been dealt with, the two of them began searching the information desk for any clues.
They knew nothing about the Ex Institute, so if they wanted to get some "information" about which they knew nothing, they had to sort out their thoughts first.
Cai Lu carefully flipped through the registration book on the information desk. Under the dim light, she quickly read through it and finally saw several "foreign visitors" with the same notes - Deep Sea Submarine X Project.
Axe, X?
She handed the registration book to Qin Yu and continued searching for clues. She opened the first drawer and found a folded piece of paper.
Lu Cai spread out the paper - Aix Paleontological Institute - 1F Map.
Wow, this is good stuff!
According to the map, the elevator changing room is on the south side. The two passages on the left and right of the information desk can lead to the "information room" on the northernmost side. Between the information room and the information desk, there are three parallel rooms - the fossil exhibition room, the clerk's room, and the projection room.
What Lu Cai noticed was that there was a safety staircase in the second door on the right side of the corridor after entering the east gate of the information desk.
The place they are currently at is only the -1 floor.
Lu Cai gave the map to Qin Yu. Anyway, if she got panicked, she might not be able to remember the way.
Qin Yu took the map and the first few words he noticed were paleontological research.
Thinking about the registration book, deep-sea research, and paleontology, she felt that she had discovered the source of the disaster.
Human suicidal behavior.
So the "information" mentioned in this mission must be related to "deep-sea paleontology." However, this floor is all about information, exhibitions, and screenings, and it looks more like a publicity department than a research institute.
They need to check other floors.
Qin Yu put away the map and planned to walk towards the east stairs. She pointed east to Lu Cai, and Lu Cai understood what she meant.
After unlocking the glass door, the two carefully entered the east corridor. The corridor was in the shape of an inverted "L", and they were walking on the horizontal line at the bottom edge.
Lu Cai recalled the map. At this moment, the screening room was on her left, the first room on her right was the security room, and the second door was the entrance to the stairs, right at the turning point of the "L".
The whole journey was very quiet, and I saw that the corridor had reached the end, with the staircase door within reach.
The door of the screening room was suddenly kicked open, and a large number of zombies rushed in.
Lu Cai retreated quickly and heard a gunshot.
Since Qin Yu had already opened fire, she had no more concerns. A chaotic burst of gunfire rang out, but the number of zombies didn't decrease. Looking up, she saw the zombies' forms were distorted, with tender red tumors protruding.
Mutants! They're all mutants!
Even if he drew his sword, he wouldn't be able to deal with so many mutants at once.
She heard the sound of the stair door closing, followed by a roar and a crash into the stairs.
Hearing the noise, Qin Yu had already rushed down the stairs.
Lu Cai turned and ran out of the corridor back to the lobby, locking the door. She definitely couldn't take the elevator outside the locker room, so she could only go around the west corridor to the library, then go back to the staircase door from the library's east exit.
But--
She turned around and found that the door to the passage had been locked. With the zombies lingering in the east corridor, she couldn't easily reach the stairs.
As if in response to her thoughts, the tightly closed door on the other end of the glass door cracked with a "click", and the tender red tumor drilled into the crack.
Seeing that this door could no longer hold the weight, Lu Cai turned and ran towards the west door.
She unlocked the door and a zombie with a severed limb rushed out. There was no tumor on the severed limb, so she raised her gun and fired a bullet.
When the zombie fell to the ground, she heard a loud crash, and the glass on the other side shattered, and roars filled the air.
Cai Lu quickly slipped into the corridor and locked the door, thinking that any delay was better than a delay.
Thinking this, he ran into the dark corridor.
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