Chapter 100
Although most of the young and middle-aged people were rescued, resulting in a large shortage of manpower, the clinic's defense system was not greatly affected under Xie Xubai's orderly management.
Player A went with the rescue team, hoping to return to the real world and reconnect with the magician. At the very least, he wanted to contact his other teammates; otherwise, he was really unsure of his chances.
Xie Xubai did not stop him. Considering that they might not meet again in the future, he gave Player A something before he left as a reward for the other party's hard work and help over the past few days.
"What is this?" Player A asked in surprise, fiddling with the card in his hand.
The text on it is covered with mosaic, making it impossible to read what it says, but judging from its appearance and texture, it looks like some kind of identification.
Xie Xubai asked, "Has your survival time changed?"
"Still nothing, I'm so worried. Are we going to have to live in this godforsaken place forever?" Player A subconsciously assumed that Xie Xubai was having the same experience as him, and complained to the person with a gloomy face.
Upon hearing this, Xie Xubai felt even more certain of his suspicions.
He couldn't tell Player A directly that it was a temporary pass to the First Hospital, so he smiled and kept it a secret: "If I'm not mistaken, you might be able to use this in the last few days."
The last few days? That means the last few days of survival.
Player A cast an Appraisal spell on the card with some skepticism.
Generally, a player's level determines the upper limit of their Appraisal skill. If a player is at level A, their Appraisal skill can only reach level A at most without using special items or encountering special opportunities.
Player A wasn't a god-level player, and with his appraisal skills, he naturally couldn't identify detailed information. However, the prompts from the system instantly brightened his eyes and filled him with extreme joy.
[Item: Mysterious Card (Unopened)]
The giver: A mysterious person who wishes to remain anonymous. (If you're lucky enough to meet them, don't hesitate, pounce on them and hug their coattails! Lying down like that feels good for a while, and it feels even better the longer you lie down!)
Prop description: Very valuable (highlighted in red and bold)
It might play a crucial role in the current instance, or it could serve as a lifesaver in critical moments—provided you survive until it's unlocked.
After spending so many days together, Player A had already decided that Xie Xubai was a player, and therefore did not connect the mysterious person mentioned in the hint with Xie Xubai.
He was moved and also deeply admired Xie Xubai.
That's why people call him a big shot. He hadn't found anything for so many days, but Xie Xubai casually gave him an extremely valuable key item!
When Player A looked at him with eyes full of admiration, Xie Xubai felt a certain invisible power within him deepening.
It was at this moment that the little black octopus on the shoulder couldn't help but open its eyes again, glancing suspiciously at the golden line connecting the two of them in mid-air.
Dreamlike and ethereal, sacred and warm, it overflows with twinkling light, symbolizing that Player A's faith is gradually being built.
The little black octopus was silent, its scarlet blood-red eyes following the direction of the spreading light, moving to the youth's smooth and beautiful cheek, and suddenly a ripple appeared in its eyes.
Looking across the entire world, there are very few things that can move Him...
However, this phenomenon repeatedly manifests in Xie Xubai.
Several more days passed, during which unlucky individuals kept accidentally falling into spatial rifts and appearing in the inner world, panicking and disoriented.
Fortunately, Xie Xubai and the others did not evacuate, and reorganized a search and rescue team to safely bring these people to the clinic.
The previously established, reasonable, and orderly rules and regulations are playing a crucial role in calming people's minds at this time.
Several distraught victims were first taken to the video room to watch a video explanation recorded by Pei Yuheng at Xie Xubai's request. Afterward, they received a copy of the "Survival Manual for the Underworld" distributed to them.
The Survival Handbook addresses the needs of people of all ages and genders, explaining to bewildered victims how to earn base contribution points, what items to prepare before venturing out, and what precautions to strictly follow during exploration, helping them adapt to their current predicament as quickly as possible.
During this period, people often saw Xie Xubai, Pei Yuheng, and Dr. Li coming and going together.
Gradually, everyone learned that Pei Yuheng was the leader of the base, Xie Xubai was the mainstay of the base, and the medical team led by Dr. Li was their support.
The three parties worked together to defend against countless monster attacks, gradually growing stronger and creating the survivor base that is now like an impregnable fortress, protecting the area!
There's no need to worry about the base's safety for now, since the little black octopus is there. As long as it shows even the slightest hint of its presence, the nearby monsters will be scared away.
But it seemed that fate didn't want them to have their way. Just as things were finally settling down on one side, Pei Yuheng and his team encountered an insurmountable technical problem in their research on the other side!
Watching helplessly as the newly cultivated antiviral cells deformed uncontrollably under the microscope, gradually twisting into a menacing shape, Dr. Li's expectant face instantly turned ashen, and he painfully destroyed them.
He couldn't help but clench his fist and slam it on the table with a loud bang, then burst into curses: "We've clearly extracted an effective antiviral factor, and the previous observations were stable and good, so why did it still get contaminated and mutated in the end? Where exactly did things go wrong?!"
Pei Yuheng and the other researchers also looked grim, their brows furrowed, at a loss as they stared at the petri dishes that had been destroyed and left nothing behind.
The days and nights of hard work had left everyone in a terrible state. They had dark circles under their eyes, unshaven beards, their lab coats were full of creases, and their hair was a mess like a bird's nest. They didn't care about taking care of themselves at all.
Staring at the result of failure, everyone was even more devastated, and the entire laboratory was shrouded in gloom.
Xie Xubai could feel the pressure and heaviness in everyone's hearts. He pressed his throbbing temples and racked his brains to recall.
In the future, this disaster related to the infection virus will have ended, which means that Pei Yuheng and others must have achieved decisive results, otherwise the title of "First Hospital" would not have been given to them.
If Xie Xubai were a medical student, in a related field, he might have seriously studied the materials and books related to antiviral research... No, that wouldn't work either, because he had vaguely remembered Pei Yuheng's published papers, which didn't contain any relevant articles.
Does this mean that by erasing this history, the rules also destroy the data along with it?
Xie Xubai frowned in deep thought, his fingertips leaving deep white marks as he repeatedly searched through every memory in his mind, trying to find a clue to solve his predicament from those subtle traces.
There must be one, we'll definitely figure it out!
Seeing Xie Xubai's fingers trembling slightly, as if his skin was about to bleed from being pinched, Pei Yuheng quickly stepped forward, pried his fingers open, and scolded him with heartache: "No matter how anxious you are, you can't hurt yourself!"
He pursed his lips and assured him in a deep voice, "Don't worry, I will definitely find a solution. Trust me."
Xie Xubai looked at his face, a flash of inspiration crossing his mind, and suddenly uttered a name: "Fu Zong..."
Pei Yuheng couldn't bring himself to be polite about the name, and subconsciously showed a look of disgust. When he looked up and met Xie Xubai's bright eyes, he was stunned for a moment.
Xie Xubai: "Fu Zong is a monster too!"
Including those spoiled brats who bully the weak and fear the strong, they are all monsters disguised as humans after being mutated.
So here's the question.
"Why are they able to remain rational and not let themselves go crazy?"
Pei Yuheng felt as if he had been struck by lightning, and realized what was happening in an instant!
Their research has always focused on how to resist and eliminate alienation.
He believed that it wasn't just the people in the lab; once the Alliance branch noticed the impact of the pollution, experts and bigwigs from various fields outside must also be working on it.
The problem is that there have been no effective results so far, otherwise the commander wouldn't have been so agitated, which is enough to show that with the current level of medical technology, it is very difficult to "eliminate the alienation".
Since it cannot be "eliminated" for the time being, why not choose to "accept" it?
Even if we become monsters, as long as the human will remains and the soul continues, there will be an ever-burning ember to reignite the torch of human civilization's revival.
This unconventional thinking reveals that Pei Yuheng is an extremely unconventional and audacious researcher.
Coincidentally, Xie Xubai and he were the same kind of people, and Xie Xubai was even more prone to gambling.
In his view, even if the soul is torn apart and twisted, as long as one piece survives and remains pure, there is a chance to start over.
The only person who could restrain Pei Yuheng at the moment was Xie Xubai. When the latter nodded in affirmation, Pei Yuheng instantly had no more scruples and pulled the bewildered Dr. Li and others to discuss the feasibility of the new direction.
Upon hearing Pei Yuheng's idea, everyone gasped in surprise, their loud and piercing questions seemingly capable of lifting the ceiling of the laboratory.
"What? Turn into a monster?? Director, are you kidding me???"
"Humans lose their minds when they turn into monsters; haven't we seen many examples of that already?"
"This direction is too dangerous! No! Absolutely not!"
...
However, Pei Yuheng's attitude was extremely firm.
Everyone hurriedly looked to Xie Xubai for help, hoping that the young man could help persuade the director, who was acting irrationally in a fit of rage.
When the director gets stubborn, he won't listen to anyone else, but he will listen to the other person.
Xie Xubai looked around and saw that the crux of the problem was that no one believed that someone could remain rational after turning into a monster. So he affirmed, "This method may not be impossible, because the director and I have both seen examples."
"Are there really any real examples? Where?" Dr. Li asked, his eyes wide with disbelief.
The attitudes of the crowd were plain for all to see; without witnessing it firsthand, they would never believe Xie Xubai and his companion's claims.
Therefore, Xie Xubai did not explain further. He estimated the time, thinking that when the next rescue team came in, he could take the opportunity to go out and arrest a few members of the Fu family.
But not long after, something unexpected happened.
As mentioned before, directly opposite the health and epidemic prevention center, there is a Changrun gas station that suffered an undeserved disaster, a fight broke out, resulting in numerous deaths and injuries, and blood splattered all over the ground.
The gas station's resources had been completely looted, and people had scattered like birds and beasts, leaving the station empty and deserted. On this day, the drone's reconnaissance camera, during a routine patrol, unexpectedly captured a tall and strong figure.
The figure could barely be described as human, twice the height of a normal adult and three times stronger, with muscles bulging at a rate that defied human physiology, and skin the bluish-black color of a rotting corpse.
The monster was covered in tattered red cloth, which could be vaguely seen to have been a work uniform before it was torn apart. The relatively intact cloth had the word "Changrun" written on it.
When Xie Xubai and the others arrived, the monster was sitting listlessly on a small chair next to the fuel dispenser.
Because it was so big, it could only keep its legs tightly together and tense its gluteal muscles, which made its posture look rather docile.
Hearing the noise, the monster slowly turned its grayish-white, turbid eyes and stared straight at them.
The crowd stopped in their tracks, maintaining a safe distance and adopting a defensive posture.
Only Xie Xubai, who frequently dealt with various monsters, did not retreat but advance. Holding onto his defensive mental energy, he walked calmly to the monster and casually asked, "Excuse me, my friend is driving over to refuel in a bit. Do you still have any 92-octane gasoline?"
“…Yes.” Upon hearing this, the monster went to check the refueling machine. Its movements, which were as sluggish as a zombie, gradually became smoother during the process, and its voice was as hoarse as sandpaper.
Amidst the astonished gazes of the crowd, it first glanced at the display screen and saw that the number was zero. It was as if someone had emptied the gasoline inside. It froze instantly, its huge fist pounding on the gas pump: "Gone?... How is that possible? I clearly filled several large containers yesterday!"
Author's Note:
One hundred chapters! To celebrate, I'm giving away one hundred small red envelopes (digital cash gifts), first come, first served!
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