Chapter 4 Fourth Barrier Shrinkage Ends, Fifth Barrier Shrinkage Begins

This time, the barrier's range was much smaller than before. Calculating based on the current nine players remaining, as long as they weren't staying in the same spot, they could run into another player with just a little bit of walking.

Li Ang and Liu Wu Dai saw the black sphere spell formations, symbolizing player contact, rising in the distance at the edge of the range. Due to the road congestion, they simply abandoned their vehicles in the parking lot and proceeded on foot towards the sphere formation.

Combining the information they had previously obtained with the special situation currently occurring in Yin City, the two could almost certainly conclude that the aberration involving Tan Hua was extremely serious, and might even endanger the safety of the entire city.

In this situation, doing nothing was the worst possible course of action. To get answers, they had to make direct contact with other players, such as the Tan Hua member, Jijiu, who had been seriously injured and escaped.

Relying on their formidable physical functions and reaction speeds, the two ran swiftly against the dense flow of people. Liu Wu Dai glanced at the sphere formation ahead and casually asked, "Have your bugs found anything?"

Li Ang casually hopped over a railing and crossed the road. "Not yet. They're either in the sphere formation right now, or they haven't shown their faces yet."

Their rapid sprint, comparable to that of parkour athletes, attracted the attention of many passersby. Several low-level agents were even approaching them.

However, the two players didn't care at all, and even accelerated their pace.

Before the low-level agents could report the special situation to their superiors, Li Ang and Liu Wu Dai had already entered the sphere formation, and the surrounding scenery quickly faded into a gray-white color.

"Their location should be over there."

Liu Wu Dai put down his phone and glanced at a spot a kilometer away.

---

This was the entrance to a subway station that had been abandoned for many years, located next to a patch of barren weeds where construction of a residential complex had yet to begin.

Due to its prolonged disuse, its steel structure was covered in yellow rust. Only a relatively new iron rolling gate sealed the entrance tightly.

Inside the equally abandoned subway tunnel beneath the entrance, a space that should have been an empty, dark, and sealed-off area, the sound of hurried, staggering footsteps echoed.

It was a young man dressed in ordinary clothes. He was holding a flashlight in one hand and clutching his blood-soaked abdomen with the other.

His face was as pale as paper, and his forehead was covered in beads of sweat the size of soybeans. His shirt was completely soaked, as if it had just been fished out of the water.

He ran slowly along the gray-white subway tunnel, finally reaching the abandoned subway station.

"Help... help me."

His weak voice echoed in the empty subway station waiting area, which was covered in dust and gravel. With a "pfft" sound, more blood spurted from his abdomen, splashing onto the tracks below.

The young man leaned weakly against the edge of the subway tunnel, slowly sat down, and allowed his back to be rubbed and broken against the hard wall.

"I... I am the lone wolf player Wu Mu, a Yin City bounty hunter, Special Affairs Bureau number 002042. I have carried out three level 8 missions, and... and I know Mu Qing Cang, the captain of the 5th Mobile Task Force."

The pale young man struggled to pull out a rectangular metal card, like a postcard, from his inventory, and threw it towards the waiting area. As a result of his weakness, the metal card failed to reach the platform and fell onto the subway tracks below.

"I am the teammate of Si Wenbin, who was killed by the [Grudge Demon] before. The [Grudge Demon]'s companion planted insect eggs in my body.

They originally wanted to use me to open a sphere formation to block the Mobile Task Force's pursuit, but I escaped using some kind of skill. They... they didn't catch up to me."

Wu Mu looked at the unresponsive subway station and said with difficulty, "My title skill allows me to remember the scent of other people's sweat through a handshake.

You have Mu Qing Cang's scent on you. Presumably, at least one of you had contact with Mu Qing Cang before carrying out this mission, shook hands with him, and left his sweat on your hand.

I followed this scent all the way and found you. I confirmed that you are members of the Special Affairs Bureau, and also the players in this mission.

Ugh—"

Blood spurted from Wu Mu's abdomen again. He looked at the empty waiting area and desperately pressed his trembling hand tightly against his abdomen, tears of pain and despair streaming down his face. "Please..."

*Pa—*

A whip made of ash struck from the dark waiting area, deftly wrapping around Wu Mu's abdomen and pulling him backwards onto the platform.

Before Wu Mu could react, pink shackles (identical to those Xun Zi An had taken out before, which were standard equipment for the Mobile Task Force, developed and produced by the equipment department) had been placed on his hands and feet.

A heavy chain collar was also placed around his neck.

Wu Mu instantly felt countless times heavier, his chest felt oppressed and he could not breathe freely. He wanted to use his skills and equipment, but found that his brain was inexplicably sluggish, as if he was under a magic spell and could not use his skills freely.

He was not nervous or afraid, but suddenly breathed a sigh of relief—the two players from the Special Affairs Bureau had not abandoned him, a bounty hunter who had previously cooperated with the Special Affairs Bureau.

Bright lights lit up in front of Wu Mu's eyes. His hand was directly pried off his waist, and another person directly tore open the abdomen of his shirt.

"Hiss."

A gasp of cold air sounded in the waiting station.

Chu Yin, who had learned temporary first aid in the Mobile Task Force, was wearing temporary surgical equipment and looked at Wu Mu's injuries with pursed lips.

Wu Mu's abdomen was strangely twisted and bulging, as if a spherical tumor had grown there. A clearly visible wound, the size of a fingernail, remained on the skin at the center of the bulge.

A steady stream of blood and yellowish pus was pouring out of the wound, looking extremely horrific.

But even more terrifying was the faintly visible green insect egg, constantly squirming beneath the wound.

Wu Mu had been parasitized.

Wan Jia Xiong Meng