Chapter 0 Side Quest Completed

The system prompt rang, and Feng Bujue finally breathed a sigh of relief, slumping to the ground.

"Strange...this thing is still invisible even after death?" Kuangzong Jianyin squatted down, trying to touch the monster's corpse.

"This just shows..." Feng Bujue said, taking out his steel knife and groping to cut off a piece of the monster's skin. He placed it on his palm and said, "Its invisibility mechanism is not actively triggered, but a passive characteristic." He casually threw the piece of skin away. "Its invisibility isn't like a chameleon, creating an optical camouflage effect on its body surface to blend into the environment...it's completely transparent." He picked up his flashlight with one hand and used the knife to cut at the corpse on the floor. From the empty space came the creaking sound of flesh tearing and blood spurting. "Not just the skin and muscles, but also its internal organs, bones, body fluids, etc...they're all transparent, huh..."

"Um...Brother Feng," Kuangzong Jianyin said, "I understand already, could you please stop playing with the monster's corpse?"

"I'm not playing, I just want to see if its skin or flesh can be used as camouflage," Feng Bujue said with a pout. "Turns out it can't..."

"If it could, were you really planning on peeling off its skin and wearing it as a cloak..."

"Worth considering," Feng Bujue replied.

"Um..." Kuangzong Jianyin pondered, "My grenade was really wasted just now...I think as long as the reward is high enough, you'd even rush up and bite that fat worm to death, wouldn't you?"

"That's right...if killing that worm with my mouth could reward me with five million game coins, I'd not only bite it, I'd eat it," Feng Bujue said.

"Alright, alright...stop describing it..." Kuangzong Jianyin felt disgusted just imagining it.

"Then back to the main topic," Feng Bujue stood up. "Now that the side quest is done, whether this round of the killing game ends in victory or defeat, at least there will be an extra reward from the side quest upon settlement." He walked to the door again, put away his flashlight and knife, and used both hands to pull open the heavy metal door. The light from the corridor illuminated a small area at the entrance. "Next, let's continue forward along the other fork in the opposite direction. Stopping to rest and consume resources is no different than suicide in this script. I suggest we keep moving at all times." With that, he stepped out the door.

Kuangzong Jianyin responded with a nod and followed Feng Bujue out. The two of them stepped through the pus and rotten metal left by the giant monster's death, covering a distance of five or six meters, before taking another dozen or so steps, passing through the T-shaped corridor intersection, and heading toward the other side of the fork.

The lighting condition in the corridor was the same as before, a dim path followed by a brightly lit area, stretching into the distance.

The cold iron walls and poor air quality created a depressing and uncomfortable feeling. To put it another way...every second spent in this underground laboratory felt like breathing in gaseous rust. This discomfort was like a shadow, impossible to shake off, and it steadily eroded the players' Survival Value...

When Feng Bujue and Kuangzong Jianyin's Survival Value dropped to 50%, Feng Bujue took out two (Medium) Survival Value Replenishment Potions from his bag, handing one to his teammate, while directly drinking the other himself.

"Brother Feng...you only have four of these Replenishment Potions, right?" Kuangzong Jianyin didn't take the potion, but instead said, "Don't be so generous at times like this. Keep it for yourself, I have a Large capacity one in my bag."

Feng Bujue didn't put the Replenishment Potion down. Instead, he replied, "I suggest you don't only bring Large bottles of blood in the future. The (Large) Survival Value Replenishment Potion is a waste no matter when it's drunk. Its recovery effect is 100%. The theoretical minimum value when drinking it is 1%, but generally speaking, players will drink it when their Survival Value drops to around 10%, because with that little health left, they can easily be killed in one hit, resulting in losing the chance to replenish health.

"In short, under normal circumstances, a Large capacity Replenishment Potion that can recover 100% can provide 80% to 90% of the recovery amount, and the rest is overflow data. But there's a simple way to solve this problem."

Although Kuangzong Jianyin hadn't finished listening to Feng Bujue's entire theory, he had already taken the Medium capacity Replenishment Potion and drank it, because he strongly felt...that he would soon be convinced.

"If you take the diminishing characteristic of Survival Value Replenishment Potions into account..." Feng Bujue turned his head to continue forward and continued, "As long as you prepare several Small or Medium capacity Replenishment Potions in your bag...my personal suggestion is five bottles, because every five Replenishment Potions take up one item slot. When there is a loss of health, prioritize drinking the smaller capacity Replenishment Potions to replenish your Survival Value to the maximum. Then, at some point later when you need to drink a Large bottle of Replenishment Potion, there will be no wasted loss, because at that time the Large Replenishment Potion wouldn't be able to recover 100% anyway..." He paused for a moment, then added, "In terms of this script, setting aside the damage caused by combat, our strategy of drinking Replenishment Potions at this moment is more economical, has a lower health recovery cost, and the recovery amount won't be wasted."

Kuangzong Jianyin walked almost shoulder to shoulder with him. After listening, he was silent for a few seconds. He felt that this passage made a lot of sense, but it seemed like something was wrong...

"Brother Feng...can I understand it this way? You're giving me a Medium blood now, and after that in this script, as long as there's a need, the two of us will start drinking the Large blood I brought, until it's finished..."

"That's right, but my bag is limited, so the Large bottle of Replenishment Potion should be kept with you first. Anyway, as long as you see that your Survival Value is about to need replenishing, just consciously give me a bottle too," Feng Bujue said with an expression and tone that were so confident.

"Let me sort out the situation..." Kuangzong Jianyin said, "You forcibly stuffed me with a Medium blood bottle worth 6000 game coins, and then I have to supply our two people with 12000 Large blood limitlessly."

"That's right," Feng Bujue replied. "Isn't that what you meant just now? Was there a need to say it twice?"

"You really don't treat yourself like an outsider..." Kuangzong Jianyin said.

"According to my observation, this level of team resource sharing will not exceed your psychological expectations and economic affordability at all," Feng Bujue said. "Besides, if we can find a way to stop the loss of Survival Value within the next hour, based on the Survival Value ratio at that time, we may not need your Large blood bottle. In that case, you would have earned a bottle of blood from me for nothing." He held up one finger and waved it. "What's more, you've gained a set of theories on how to maximize the benefits of blood bottles, which can save you an unpredictable amount of Survival Value recovery in the future. If you convert these into money..." He turned his head, "Why are you making that expression?"

"Because I feel like you're gradually upgrading from flattery to extortion..."

"I'm just discussing it with you, two adults, casually chatting about intellectual property rights, it's very normal."

"Big brother, I was wrong...You can take as many of my blood bottles as you want..."

The two of them walked and chatted, when suddenly, from their side front, came the sound of banging...

The sound came from around a corner dozens of meters away. From far to near, the frequency sounded like footsteps, seemingly from a two-legged creature.

"Possibly a person...heavy, messy, and somewhat staggering footsteps, running close to the side of the wall..." Feng Bujue recited, "This person is running away..."

Kuangzong Jianyin also listened intently, he added, "Why doesn't the thing chasing him make any footsteps?"

"And the person running away isn't panting or calling for help, that's not right..." Feng Bujue vigilantly pulled out his steel knife.

Soon, the figure running out from around the corner answered all their questions.

The person was wearing an orange protective suit with a helmet, the collar of the clothing connected to the helmet. At this moment, his head was being tightly gripped by a creature that looked like an octopus. Only the lower edge of the mask was still exposed. The "octopus'" tentacles had already pierced through the helmet and into his brain.

The octopus monster had replaced this person's brain, controlling his actions. This monster didn't seem to be very good at using a human body. When running, the person's hands were just weakly drooping, swaying with the shaking of the body. This affected his balance, so he always staggered when running.

Kuangzong Jianyin looked at the guy running toward them and said, "Do you think...if we peel off the thing on his head, will this guy still be alive?"

Feng Bujue shook his head, took a few steps forward, and with a baseball-like stance, swung his steel knife forcefully with both hands, directly chopping off the guy's head.

"I kind of miss the shotgun," Feng Bujue walked toward the head that had fallen to the ground. "In these scripts derived from European and American sci-fi horror movies, the monsters are really as disgusting as they can be..."

The octopus monster was still alive and detached itself from the severed head. As its tentacles pulled away from the helmet, one could clearly see that the human head inside the helmet was already bloody and mangled. There were at least seven or eight large holes in the skull, and a lot of brain matter flowed out from the octopus monster's tentacle suckers, running to the ground along with blood.

Feng Bujue was really glad that he bought a knife before entering this script, saving him from having to use a blunt weapon to kill this mollusk. Even zombies at least have a skull. Smashing their skulls with a pipe wrench only takes a few hits, but killing this creature in front of him, which looked chewy, would be about as difficult as rolling dough...

The octopus monster didn't resist too violently and was easily chopped into several sections with the steel knife. Unidentified liquid with subtle colors flowed all over the ground from its body, and then it stopped moving.

"The way this thing attacks people should be similar to the 'Facehugger' in *Alien*..." Feng Bujue shook off the residue on the steel knife, then came to the head and observed, "However, the parasitic method seems to be a bit different. The Facehugger doesn't drill so many big holes in a person's head and stick its tentacles in."

Kuangzong Jianyin had already come to the side of the deceased's corpse while Feng Bujue was chopping the octopus and started searching the body. He found something that looked like a weapon in this person's pocket. When he held it up to his eyes, he could actually summon the item menu.

【Name: Anti-Gravity Ejector】

【Type: Weapon】

【Quality: Excellent】

【Attack Power: Medium】

【Attribute: None】

【Effect: Can make objects weighing less than ten kilograms and with a volume of less than one cubic meter float and eject them straight forward.】

【Equipment Requirements: Marksmanship Specialization D, Machinery Specialization E, Level 15】

【Note: Please do not try to suck out your own eyeballs. I can clearly tell you that the result will be very bad.】

"Brother Feng, come and see if you can use this weapon," Kuangzong Jianyin handed the item to Feng Bujue.

This [Anti-Gravity Ejector] looked like an iron, but it wasn't as thick overall. There were two buttons where a person could hold it, obviously one for "lift" and one for "eject." Feng Bujue looked at the item's attributes, then casually aimed it in another direction and "sucked over" the dead man's head that was a few meters away. The helmet that contained the head floated a few inches in front of this equipment, and the ejector emitted a continuous buzzing sound.

Feng Bujue then held out his arm and pressed the eject button in the direction they came from. The head flew out at a speed of about seventy miles per hour, disappearing like a cannonball into the other end of the corridor.

"This is high-tech," Feng Bujue praised. "It's a pity this guy couldn't use it to save his life."

Kuangzong Jianyin stared blankly at the departed head. "You're playing with corpses again..."

"I say, Lao Kuang..." Feng Bujue put his arm around Kuangzong Jianyin's shoulder, about to say something, but the latter interrupted, "You can call me Jian Shao..."

"Jian Shao, is it...okay..." Feng Bujue replied.

"You should know I'm talking about the Jian as in 'sword', right?"

"I know~ of course I know~" Feng Bujue said, "I say, Jian Shao, this equipment..."

"If you want it, just take it and use it. My Marksmanship and Machinery Specializations are still pretty bad," Kuangzong Jianyin guessed that Feng Bujue was about to bring it up. He had only given it to Feng Bujue so readily because he couldn't equip it himself.

"Then I won't be polite," Feng Bujue put away the equipment, looking at the corpse on the ground and saying, "This script is indeed not simple...there are actually humans in this laboratory."

Kuangzong Jianyin replied, "Didn't the synopsis say that the 'archaeological' research team had already left with Jason's body...could it be...that apart from them, there was another human team that entered here?"

"For the time being, that's the only explanation," Feng Bujue replied, while starting to strip the dead body's clothes.

"Hey...what are you doing...that's a man," Kuangzong Jianyin raised his voice. "Are you addicted to playing with corpses or what?"

Feng Bujue took off the headless corpse's protective suit. Inside the protective suit, the dead corpse was wearing a white undershirt and a pair of shorts. Feng Bujue raised one of the dead corpse's arms and pointed to the tattoo on the outside of the left arm, saying, "Look at this."

Kuangzong Jianyin leaned closer to take a look. There was a boat-shaped pattern tattooed there, along with the word "scavenger." He pondered for a moment, then looked up and asked, "Hey...this person wouldn't be a member of some future tomb raiding organization, would he?"

"That the tattoo is some kind of organization's emblem is a pretty reliable guess," Feng Bujue was already examining the dead man's hands. "Of course...it's also possible that this tattoo doesn't mean anything, and this guy just thought it was cool to have such a pattern and a tramp-like title drawn on his arm."

"Would there be people like that?" Kuangzong Jianyin replied.

"That's hard to say," Feng Bujue brought the dead corpse's hand extremely close to his face, his nose almost touching it. "When I was in elementary school, I once saw in a certain online game that some little brats named their guild 'X' and the like. I can't remember the exact full name, but they seemed to think they were pretty cool, wandering around in the game with swastika symbols on their heads." He finished looking at the corpse's hands and began to examine the backs of his hands and fingernails. "So, planting a stupid seed in the soil of ignorance, fertilizing it with pretentious bullsh*t, and then irrigating it with the poison of exam-oriented education, will probably result in some self-inflicted scum."

"I go...Brother Feng, have you studied this game's language filter system...you were actually able to say this passage, and there's only one censored word, and it doesn't affect the meaning..."

"This person has worn away his fingerprints," Feng Bujue didn't respond to Kuangzong Jianyin's words, but instead switched to the main topic. "Maybe he did it with glue, or maybe another more brutal method...in short, he doesn't have fingerprints." He paused for a moment. "These hands don't look like the hands of someone who does heavy physical labor, and his figure can't be considered muscular..."

"With an Anti-Gravity Ejector-like device, naturally you don't need to exert any physical strength to get a lot of things done," Kuangzong Jianyin said.

"Judging from the wrists of both his left and right hands, he doesn't seem like someone who uses a computer often," Feng Bujue continued. "However, we can't rule out the possibility that people in the future have completely abandoned peripherals like the mouse."

"I say, Detective, you're not planning on stripping this corpse naked here, and then analyzing him from head to toe through every detail, are you?" Kuangzong Jianyin asked.

Feng Bujue smiled, "I don't have that much time, and besides, if I really wanted to do that, I wouldn't have casually thrown away his head." He replied, "I just want to see if his limbs have mutated, and also..." Feng Bujue said, lifting the corpse's undershirt and looking at the torso, "If there are any strange organs growing on his body, or if he has skin that's different from what we know of humans."

"What do you mean?" Kuangzong Jianyin said, "This script's setting comes from *Friday the 13th Part X*, right? It's not from X-Men or anything, is it?"

"I just have a hypothesis..." Feng Bujue replied, "What if this group of people is different from the humans on those spaceships? What if they didn't come from space? Perhaps on this old Earth, there are still human cities, but those humans who 'immigrated' out don't know about it. Maybe there are still a few survivors' descendants hiding somewhere, and civilization is still continuing..."