Chapter 54

In the drawer, there were two sheets of paper, clearly clues provided by the system. Feng Jue unfolded the first sheet, which had three lines of scribbled text. The first line read "jmmjaod," the second line "14f," and the third line "34f."

Feng Jue glanced at it and disdainfully said, "Tch..."

The second sheet was more detailed, a printed document with neat text describing the virus in detail.

First, the virus's code name was indeed "z." Since the description of the blood wolf zombies at the beginning of the script also mentioned this name, it seemed that the monsters on the road and the infected people in the research institute were likely infected by the same virus. However, why they turned into different types of zombies was unknown.

Second, the time left for players to cure the infection was less than three hours. The document stated that within three hours of infection, flu-like symptoms would appear, including high fever and, in the later stages, severe dementia. This explained why Feng Jue was currently breaking out in cold sweat and feeling weak in his limbs. Clearly, the system could not make players exhibit "severe dementia," so when the virus began to affect the brain, the player would be deemed dead and removed from the script.

Next was a detailed description of the infected's mutation, such as scattered cell necrosis, localized gangrene, increased oxygen storage capacity of red blood cells, slowed blood flow, increased muscle endurance and strength, severely weakened cognitive abilities, and a tendency to consume the flesh and blood of living humans. Of course, the last line read: "To subdue a fully infected individual, a severe head injury is required."

After reading this, Feng Jue couldn't help but say, "Isn't this just SCP-008... However... this script actually has an antitoxin serum." As he said this, his gaze fell on the last section about the serum.

The paper read: "Experiments show that the antitoxin serum is not effective for everyone. Out of 390 experiments conducted on individuals of different genders, ages, blood types, and ethnicities, 154 people were immune or cured after receiving the serum. The effectiveness rate of the serum is slightly less than 40%, and no clear pattern has been found to determine its effectiveness."

After reading the document, Feng Jue gradually felt uneasy. Given his luck, the probability of the antitoxin failing was obvious... Even if he found the serum, there was only about a 40% chance of curing the [Disease] state. Otherwise, he would have only two hours left to use, and it would be nearly impossible to complete the script within that time. The most he could do was find the serum and hand it over to his teammates.

Speaking of teammates... When he heard the news of Young Master Atobe and Xiao Ming's deaths in the corridor a few minutes ago, he already understood that this script was far more complex than it seemed. Their deaths puzzled him; they didn't seem like the type to leave the gun shop and wander around looking for trouble. Therefore, their deaths in a short time were likely due to encountering a very powerful monster right outside the gun shop.

But how could such a monster exist in a place unrelated to the main quest in the city? Even if the blood wolf zombies were strengthened at night and attacked in large numbers, it would be impossible for them to kill two players with submachine guns in just a few seconds.

Additionally, Pan Feng and Hua Xiong, who were with Wang Tan, also made Feng Jue feel a bit suspicious. From the current situation, it seemed that they and Xiao Tan had entered the building but did not come to this underground research institute; instead, they went elsewhere. Why? There was a large sign in the first-floor lobby clearly stating the main quest to save a "doctor." The other floors were marked with various departments or simply "office area." How could anyone still go up to the other floors?

There were too many anomalies, and without any evidence, Feng Jue did not delve deeper. He turned and walked toward the metal gate, bending down to look at the password lock.

"Sure enough, it's a six-digit number..." He looked at the password input panel with a "not surprising" expression and directly entered 312928. To his surprise, after he entered it, the word "accept" appeared.

The meaning of the puzzle was clear to Feng Jue when he saw the paper. The first line, "jmmjaod," represented the first, third, fifth, seventh, eighth, tenth, and twelfth months, all of which have 31 days. The second and third lines, "14f" and "34f," represented February, the only month whose first letter is "f." "14" represented the 29 days of a leap year February, and "34" naturally represented 28 days. For him, this type of puzzle was not difficult; he often had to think of puzzles himself. Given the clues, as long as the knowledge required to solve the puzzle was within his ability, he could usually figure it out quickly.

After unlocking it, Feng Jue grabbed the hand valve on the gate, turned it a few times, and opened the door. Inside was a relatively small room with transparent cabinets lining three walls. The cabinets were filled with test tubes containing liquids, each row labeled with a number.

Picking up a test tube revealed the item description:

【Name: Antitoxin Serum】

【Type: Plot-related】

【Quality: Common】

【Function: Has a 39.48% chance of curing and immunizing the user against the z virus】

【Can it be taken out of the script: No】

【Note: Can be injected or ingested, ineffective against monsters and fully zombified players】

From the numbers, it could be inferred that the serum was produced in batches, and the components might differ. Feng Jue couldn't help but think that perhaps the z virus was not created by the Alib company but rather discovered and controlled by them, and they were trying to develop a cure?

Feng Jue didn't have time to delve deeper into the company's stance. He didn't know which batch of serum was more effective, so he randomly took one from the cabinet, drew it into a syringe he had just found, and injected himself.

As he injected it, his medical expertise activated, reaching level F, and a system prompt appeared: "Congratulations, you have unlocked all specialties in the beta test phase."

"Beta test phase?" Feng Jue thought, "So there will be new specialties in the future?" He opened the game menu and saw that all the specialty slots were unlocked, which was good. Unfortunately, the [Disease] status next to his survival value had not disappeared.

"Sure enough, it failed..." He said, somewhat disappointed, "Should I try another one? I wonder if there will be any side effects..."

Just as he was hesitating, the [Disease] status in the menu disappeared, and the abnormal status next to his survival value changed back to [None].

Thankfully, he didn't close the menu immediately, or he might have missed this slightly delayed change, leading to an unnecessary second injection. Feng Jue immediately laughed three times, feeling as if he had been brought back from the dead.

He took a test tube rack from the freezer, which held two rows of eight antitoxin serums. He carefully placed it in his backpack, which was now full. The ten slots were: Mario's Pipe Wrench, Eye of Enmity, Western Chef's Knife, Baseball Bat, Flashlight, M1911A1 Pistol, Echo Armor, Winchester Shotgun, Antitoxin Serum * 8, and a bag of garlic.

The Jazz Dance was equipped on his feet and would not return to the backpack unless removed. Of course, if needed, Feng Jue could take out the Eye of Enmity and wear it, and hold another weapon to free up space in the backpack.

After the serum took effect, Feng Jue no longer needed to explore the research institute. He had come down to find his teammates and was unexpectedly infected when the elevator door opened. At the time, he didn't know the exact mutation time, so he had to search for the serum as quickly as possible.

Now that he wouldn't die from the time factor, he thought it was better to return upstairs to find his teammates. Considering he had the serum, it might trigger some flag, and further exploration might lead to a mini-boss. As someone already immune to the virus, it wasn't worth the risk.

Just as he was thinking this, a system prompt sounded: "Current task completed, main quest updated."

"What?" Feng Jue was very surprised, "So Dr. Ashford isn't actually underground? They went upstairs and successfully rescued the doctor?"

He quickly opened the menu to see what the updated quest was after rescuing the doctor. The new quest was: "Defeat Dr. Ashford's mutated form."

{Piaotian Literature}