After ten minutes, the 2.5 meter tall Heavy Knight-13 rumbled out of the main entrance of the abandoned mountainside military outpost, that was not far from where the group fought William.
They had left the congested area, so Big Pineapple’s full-speed driving made their return to the area pretty quick.
“Let’s bring them in together. There’s a medical capsule on the spacecraft.” After getting off the vehicle, Big Pineapple and Onishi were going to help carry the two heavily injured NPCs onto the spacecraft.
However, Feng Luo, who was the first one to get out of the car with the Eye of the Thunder in his hands, was the first to speak. “Hold on, don’t go there! Something seems off!”
His eyes stared at the side of the spacecraft. His enhanced vision clearly saw the corpse of a headless bird on the ground.
“Hmm? This bird looks like…” Big Pineapple also noticed that something was wrong with the bird’s corpse. In particular, the slight stench of rotting meat wafting in the air was familiar to each of the players.
“Looks like we’re unlucky. Something happened inside.” After exchanging glances with each other, Feng Luo and Onishi grabbed their weapons and slowly got closer to the entrance of the spacecraft.
As expected, when they reached below the spacecraft and opened the cabin door, a loud and hoarse roar sounded before the “person” making the sound charged at them.
“Bang!”
Feng Luo fired a Shield-breaking Energy Bullet from the Eye of the Thunder and blasted the “person’s” head at close-range.
A red damage number appeared. Headshot!
“-9200!”
The “person” fell to the ground with his face half-blown up before he could even touch the two players. Black blood splashed around the area and spread as the body lay on the ground.
Of course, the thing was not exactly a “person,” rather, an Elite Grade zombie.
However, one thing that was noteworthy was that the zombie was slightly different from the zombies the group encountered inside Silvermoon City.
Particularly, the zombie that was originally the pilot, and his arms and hands had transformed into something that looked like a bird’s claw, with the skin tightly wrapped around the bone, and the bone was as hard as an eagle’s claw.
When he charged toward Feng Luo and Onishi from within the spacecraft, his claws had left five very clear holes in the hard metallic wall of the spacecraft.
“Zombie Pilot (Level 46 Elite Mutant). T-virus Secondary Infected Being…” Onishi quickly shared the information of the “person” that he detected to the others.
“Mutant Zombie? Zombies mutated? And what’s this about it being a secondary infected being?” Big Pineapple walked over and asked curiously.
“It should mean that the T-virus had infected a non-human subject through some other means, and after that, through the non-human subject, the virus was spread to humans.” Digital Cat, who did not have much combat strength, also walked over. She pushed her technology spectacles up while observing the corpse of the bird on the ground. “The Evolution Virus has an important ability, if it is spread through a non-human creature, there is a possibility that some of the genes of the infected non-human creature would be transferred to the human body. As a result, the infected human would be able to obtain unique and special biological abilities.”
Digital Cat clearly understood more about the Evolution Virus after obtaining the information and data provided by William earlier.
“The NPC probably did not expect that he would be infected by the T-virus after being attacked by a bird. By the time he reacted, it was probably already too late…” She also made a deduction to the situation that transpired earlier around the spacecraft from the evidence and clues sitting around the scene.
“That person sure is unlucky. To be infected by the T-virus even when he was so far away from Silvermoon City. But it is fine even if he is dead. However, we seem to have a troublesome issue right now. If our pilot is dead, how are we going to return?” Big Pineapple said as he scratched his head with a frustrated expression.
“Getting back is not difficult. The more serious issue is that without the pilot, we don’t have the authority to use the medical capsule. The two NPCs won’t last longer than two minutes… Could it be… There’s no way for us to avoid this fight?” Onishi’s thinking was a little bit more profound.
“It shouldn’t reach that stage…” Before Feng Luo could finish his sentence, his special agent wristwatch suddenly started vibrating. He raised his watch and immediately connected the communication device after confirming the identity of the caller.
“I finally manage to get into contact with you guys! Is everything alright?” A screen appeared above the special agent wristwatch. Haruko, who was wearing the military uniform that had the Lieutenant Colonel military badge, appeared on the screen. She was seated inside a completely sealed-off office.
“I forgot that this aerofoil spacecraft has a long-range communication receiver. So, just like when we were inside the quarantine zone inside the military camp, we can conduct extra long-range calls.” Onishi suddenly remembered.
“We’re alright at the moment. Truth be told, everything is going rather smoothly. However, we encountered two heavily injured personnel, and the rendezvous liaison has been…” Feng Luo quickly provided a debrief to Haruko.
“Nightingale… and Wong!” Haruko’s expression did not change after hearing the first half of Feng Luo’s debrief. However, by the time she heard that the competition NPCs were Nightingale and Ada, her expression changed, especially when she heard about Ada Wong. Haruko’s pitch increased substantially.
At that moment, Ada had entered the view of the communication device without the players noticing. Then, she greeted Haruko who was on the screen as if she had just seen an old acquaintance, “Sakura!”
“Wong! I never thought that it would be you.” Haruko looked up and looked straight toward Ada.
The two women exchanged glances through the communication device. It looked as if their gaze vaguely clashed together.
In terms of their aura, Haruko, who was seated inside the office while wearing the military uniform, did not lose to Ada Wong, who had just experienced a battle at all.
And from the content of their short exchange, it was clear that Haruko and Ada Wong were acquaintances; however, their relationship may not be all that friendly.
After a staring contest of a few seconds, Ada Wong suddenly smiled and spoke to Haruko through the communication device, “Your subordinates are quite decent. It’s making me want to go and become an instructor next time and lead a team of my own after that…”
After speaking, she turned around and walked toward the infected Caucasian special agent NPC.
On the screen, Haruko could not hide her surprise from her tone and asked a rare question, “I never thought that the agency actually sent her for this mission… How did you guys get your hands on the target with her around?”
“Yeah, it’s like this…” Feng Luo quickly explained the situation to her.
“That is why we want to first bring the little girl to my friend’s place so that we may try to save her. Also, the two injured personnel requires immediate medical assistance and we need to immediately put them into the medical capsule on the spacecraft…”
Haruko remained silent for a brief moment before nodding and responding, “Understood, I will now grant you access to the spacecraft. You can just bring the target for treatment later. I will immediately report this to the higher-ups. The general should agree to this.”
After a minute, the black aerofoil spacecraft ascended into the air under Digital Cat’s piloting. Then, she initiated the autopilot function of the spacecraft to fly towards Storm City.
On a mountain road where the players were engaged in battle not long ago, a white heavy transport vehicle slowed down.
Over a dozen people wearing protective scientific gears walked over to the side of William’s corpse.
Holding a canister in their hands, they sprayed cold air onto William’s bullet-ridden body, freezing it completely before loading the frozen corpse onto the truck.
After that, the truck quickly drove away from the spot and towards the direction of the rebel army camp.
At the same time, a little further away, inside Silvermoon City.
A not-so-handsome, 30 year old Wind Manipulator player, who had a macho military look, stood inside the command center of Veterans Tribe. He held a Level 50 Rare Grade Hurricane Controller in his hands and was fully equipped with other Rare Grade gears. A temporary device created by the guild’s Chip Master to protect against external interference to the command channel was projecting an image of a middle-aged player.
“Chairman Mu, are you kidding me? Why is your company suddenly backing out of the counterattack?!” The Wind Manipulator asked the middle-aged player projected on the screen with an awkward expression. At that moment, his expression was one of disbelief. It was as if he was doubting the words he had just heard.
“We are clearly in an advantageous position!” The Wind Manipulator looked wretched and his tone was clearly forcefully suppressing his anger.
“I’m sorry, Guild Leader Star Galaxy, this is the decision of the board. Our company just signed a huge contract with the Rui Conglomerate. That’s why we can only back out of this battle. We are incredibly sorry about this.” The person within the projected image seemed sorry and ashamed. Afterwards, he disconnected the call.
“Guild Leader, the Rui Conglomerate announced just five minutes ago that they have bought 49% of Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group’s share.” Reported the leader’s assistant, a Light Armor Warrior, with a grimace.
Upon hearing those words, the Wind Manipulator held his energy converter tightly as his eyes became bloodshot and his brows furrowed together tightly.
“Guild Leader, Sonorous Mercenary Group suddenly betrayed us. Old He and his men were all attacked from their flank and they have all been killed.”
“Guild Leader, Guild GT announced that they have joined the rebel army camp. They immediately turned around and attacked our people. The defense of 12th Street is becoming tight!”
“Guild Leader, Assault Squad Three was betrayed by the people from Legion of Fire, the situation is dire and they need immediate assistance…”
“Guild Leader…”
Within the command channel, one after another, messages conveying bad news reached the ears of the Veterans Tribe guild leader, who like Roaring Dragon Light Wind, was also a Wind Manipulator.
At that moment, Veterans Tribe’s full advantage over the battle in Silvermoon City had disappeared. In an instant, the situation completely turned around.
“Guild Leader, Sister Rose and her group have been surrounded by a group of people.” A Scout player provided the latest update while still panting.
“Let’s go! I’ll go save them myself! Rui Conglomerate… No matter how rich you are and whichever method you use, Veterans Tribe will never give up Silvermoon City to you so easily!” Said the Wind Manipulator with an angry expression while he picked up his Hurricane Controller.