Chapter 21

This battle could not be called a fierce one, as none of the five players had lost any health points. However, after this battle, the strength of each team member was basically clear.

To put it simply, there were three players capable of clearing the game and two almost useless burdens...

Wang Tanzhi's face and clothes were splattered with the foul blood from the strange infants. Fortunately, this monster's bodily fluids did not carry toxins or other effects; they just made him smell bad. Long Aomin had a shield to protect him, so his clothes were relatively clean. Feng Bujue, however, was severely "polluted," but he quickly resolved the issue.

Feng Bujue seemed to have already thought of a solution. After killing the last enhanced mutant infant, he turned and walked straight to a car, opened the door, and pulled out a seat cover. He then went to a fire hydrant by the roadside, loosened the valve with a pipe wrench, and water flowed out. He used the seat cover like a rag, wiping his face and clothes with the running water to quickly clean off the mess and wash away the odor.

Wang Tanzhi followed his example, pulling out a piece of cloth from the car and squatting next to Feng Bujue to clean himself.

Long Aomin went to examine each of the dead infants, confirming that they were all thoroughly dead. He then sighed with relief, plopping down on the curb to let his stamina slowly recover.

Gudul and Jimo walked over and returned to the area illuminated by the streetlights. "Thanks a lot. If it weren't for you, we two would probably be over," Gudul said, his tone much more humble. Initially, he thought his level was at least higher than those two level-five players, giving him more authority. Now, he would no longer question the correctness of Feng Bujue's suggestions.

"Before we reach the coordinates of the Demon Gate I've deduced..." Feng Bujue, who had already washed his face, said while wiping his clothes and pants. "...we need to find each of you some equipment, even if it's just of the broken quality. It's better than fighting bare-handed."

"This city in the script is quite large. I think it won't be hard to find something that can be used as a weapon on the way. If all else fails, we can pick up an iron rod or use your pipe wrench to dismantle some parts to use as weapons," Long Aomin added. "By the way... you mentioned the three possibilities about the darkness earlier..."

"The first one... the surrounding light actually didn't get darker; it was just that our vision and hearing were interfered with in the same second," Feng Bujue replied directly. "Our eyes were blinded by the darkness, and strange sounds entered our ears, but everything around us was actually the same." He paused. "If this hypothesis is true, there's a question: is the 'subject' that interfered with us hiding nearby, just out of our sight... or is it far away, acting from a distance?"

When he mentioned "nearby" and "out of sight," the other four shivered, but Feng Bujue himself seemed unconcerned.

"Furthermore, why did the last monster change? Was it because the thing that affected us used those few seconds to also affect the monster?" He threw away the seat cover after cleaning himself. "These unverifiable speculations, I don't want to delve into right now. Let's talk about the second possibility, where the darkness is real and envelops the entire city or even the entire world of this script."

Wang Tanzhi interjected, "How is that possible? The streetlights are one thing, but the moon isn't a light bulb that can just be turned off, right?"

"Regardless of how it's done, let's assume some force managed to do it. Then... what happened just now might be the world being rapidly engulfed by an unknown darkness, which lasted for a few seconds. During these few seconds, the monster... likely underwent physiological mutations and enhancements due to the darkness."

He put away the pipe wrench and sat on the curb. "Personally, I lean towards the second possibility. This darkness seems more like a natural phenomenon, affecting everything and everyone without a specific target, not just us."

Long Aomin asked, "What about the third possibility?"

"The system temporarily adjusted the script due to our efficiency in killing the first four monsters," Feng Bujue replied.

"Really?" Jimo said. "Lonely and I have run this instance twice before, and we've never seen this happen. Even if the team fights the monsters quickly and easily, the script's difficulty never suddenly increases."

Lonely added, "We've also encountered players around Long's level before. The initial monsters in the script were almost instantly killed, which is why I initially said that with a level-ten player leading, we could clear it by brute force." He was telling the truth, but in the previous script, that level-ten player didn't specifically protect them, so they still died.

"Right... I also think the third possibility is unlikely," Feng Bujue said thoughtfully. The reason he considered this hypothesis was mainly due to the AI's setup in the previous single-player survival mode. He quickly dismissed this possibility: "This is my first time running a team survival mode, so I'm not familiar with the actual situation. Therefore, we can rule out this possibility."

Wang Tanzhi had also cleaned himself up and stood up. "The first two possibilities can be verified over time. If what Juege said is true, then no matter which one it is, the darkness will return as the script progresses."

"That makes sense..." Long Aomin stood up, his stamina having recovered somewhat. "We should solve the equipment issue for Lonely and Jimo before we encounter more monsters or the darkness returns."

Feng Bujue also stood up. "The route I plan to take will pass by a police station. Once we get there, we'll go in and search. We might find guns, batons... and if we're lucky, bulletproof vests, masks, and shields." He seemed eager: "I've always wanted to try shooting with a shotgun..."

Long Aomin felt a chill when he heard this. Feng Bujue's tone sounded like that of a deranged killer lacking the means to commit a crime...

The group discussed for a few minutes and then set off again, heading towards the police station Feng Bujue mentioned. Although the oppressive dark atmosphere still lingered, and they didn't know how many more monsters were hiding in the shadows, the five of them still had some hope for the police station Feng Bujue described.

After all, in the early stages of the game, firearms were rare. If they could find a gun, especially a powerful shotgun or submachine gun, it would be worth it even if they died halfway through the script.