Chapter 344: The Ground is Full of "Evolved Bodies"

Over Qingquan City.

A "Dragonfly" transport plane was circling along the edge of the Fifth Ring Road.

Looking at the endless yellow-green fog outside the cabin, Fan Man Bu Professional couldn't help but smacked his tongue, with surprise in his eyes.

The spore cloud gathered in the city center was like a waterfall rolling down from the clouds, and from a distance it looked like a giant tree with lush branches and leaves.

The towering trunk devoured the earth, and the stretched branches invaded the sky.

Are there really weapons in reality that can destroy this thing?

Even a nuclear bomb...

A slight chill crawled along the line of sight, and Brother Mantou shook his head and picked up the walkie-talkie hanging on his shoulder and shouted.

"Are you ready?"

The intermittent voice of Lao Bai came from the headset with the sound of the frying mic.

"OK."

The signal has begun to fluctuate unstably, and his intuition tells Brother Mantou that without the protection of anti-electromagnetic interference equipment, this is already the limit of what an airplane can approach.

He pulled the joystick on the side.

Accompanied by an unstable tremor, the locked door at the tail of the plane slowly lowered, and the restless airflow swept into the cabin.

"The hatch is open--"

"Good luck to you!"

At the same time, Lao Bai, who was standing at the hatch door, gestured to his teammates behind him, and stepped out of the hatch first against the whistling airflow. .

The camera zoomed out, and saw several black spots separated from the cabin and rushed towards the center of Qingquan City. Not long after, six parachutes bloomed above the Third Ring Road.

After landing, everyone quickly gathered in the direction of the airdropped supplies to recover the ammunition and RPG rocket launchers and other support equipment placed there.

At the same time, on the other side.

Located on the edge of the West Third Ring Road, in the radar station on the giant wall, the operator on duty has discovered the plane hovering at the border of the Third Ring Road.

"The UFO is approaching our airspace!" The operator sitting in front of the radar control terminal was the first to discover the red dot on the screen.

However, instead of being nervous, he shouted out excitedly.

The radar station was busy in an instant.

Most of the staff here were in the same mood as him.

It had been too long since they had seen aircraft from other survivor forces appear within the radar warning area.

"Damn it, I'm sure! It's the stuff of the scavengers in the northern suburbs!" An operator cursed excitedly.

"The other party didn't respond to our communication!"

"Could it be that they don't have radio equipment to receive signals at all?"

"Haha, it's possible!"

While speaking, the colleague sitting next to him had already operated the air defense system and aimed a rapid-fire cannon at the slow-moving silver "big bird".

The computer had calculated the pre-aiming circle based on the aircraft's motion parameters.

He only needed to press the fire button, and the silver big bird would turn into a ball of fire.

"The other party has entered our range!"

"Do you want to shoot it down?"

Unlike the excited operators in the radar station, the stationmaster in charge of managing the radar station was obviously much more cautious.

"Wait a little longer."

The plane did not continue to move towards the Giant Stone City. It quickly turned around and headed back to the northern suburbs of Qingquan City.

The staff operating the weapons looked a little disappointed.

He had been sitting on the bench for almost ten years, and the air defense system on the giant wall had never been used.

A staff member said indignantly.

"This is a provocation to us!"

"Whether it is a provocation or not is up to the city lord to decide," the stationmaster of the radar station interrupted him and looked at his deputy, "Report this incident immediately!"

The deputy standing by nodded.

"Yes!"

...

South Third Ring Road, Qingquan City.

The five members of the Cattle and Horses Team who landed safely successfully met near the airdrop box and took the weapons placed inside.

However, everyone's expression was not optimistic.

The situation here is far worse than they imagined.

It can even be said that...

It was completely beyond their expectations.

Dark red fungal blankets covered almost every building, every viaduct, and every corner of the street.

The hideous gnawers, and those slime mold species that were more ferocious than the gnawers, wandered aimlessly on the fragmented streets.

The most difficult thing was not only these, but the intricate terrain, which increased the risk factor here exponentially.

The high-rise buildings deep in the clouds were connected by tunnels, making this place a real "steel forest".

When he parachuted down earlier, Ye Shi almost got hung on the pedestrian bridge.

But fortunately, he was lucky, and the parachute passed through the middle of the two broken bridges, so he landed safely and successfully reunited with his teammates.

"Oh my God... It turns out that the city center of Qingquan City looks like this."

On the 50th floor of the thousand-meter-high building, Ye Shi, wearing a gas mask, stood next to the broken wall, holding a telescope and looking in the direction of the crash site.

The crashed W-1 Mosquito glider was stuck on the outer wall of the high-rise building opposite them, with the front half of its body inserted into the wall.

Luo Yu should be inside.

Ye Shi glanced at his feet.

Below him was an abyss with no bottom in sight, and the thick spore cloud was like water in a pool of venom, with a very limited area that could be observed.

Due to the spore cloud gathered in the city center, the visibility here was less than 200 meters.

However, in fact, due to the countless construction waste and reinforced concrete, the actual visibility was less than half of this number.

This is much more exciting than the tide.

"Haven't you explored here before?" Jieyan said nervously.

Kuangfeng shook his head.

"I haven't heard of anyone coming here."

Fang Chang also said: "There are no tasks here, and you can't save the game. Even if you come here, it's meaningless."

You can't go far without high-value equipment, and you have to consider the risks if you bring high-value equipment.

This game does not restrict players to play in a specific way, but it also emphasizes that everyone is an adult and needs to be responsible for their own choices.

In fact, earlier, they tried to start from the Boulder City and explore in the direction of the third ring line.

However, the aliens encountered along the way became stronger and stronger, wasting a lot of bullets without any benefits, and finally gave up.

Carefully observing the situation on the way forward, Ye Shi's face became heavier and heavier, and he lowered his voice and said.

"... There are quite a few evolutions here!"

Hearing the word evolution, everyone's expression immediately became serious.

"Decadent Knight?" Lao Bai said solemnly.

Ye Shi shook his head and did not speak, but gently pointed to the concrete viaduct outside the high-rise building, connecting to another building.

There were wreckages of cargo drones lying there, and there were nearly a hundred of them, and there were packages and outer boxes from two hundred years ago.

The dark red shell looked like it was rusted, but if you take a closer look with a telescope, you will find that the surface of those drones is not rust at all.

It was a shocking fungal blanket!

"Those things... I can sense that they are alive," Ye Shi said in a deep voice after a pause, "and I'm afraid they are not easy to deal with!"

Kuang Feng frowned.

"Should we bypass them?"

"The situation below is not much better. Have you forgotten the things we saw when we came up?" Lao Bai took out the RPG rocket launcher behind him, inserted a high-explosive grenade, and gestured to Quitting who was carrying a heavy machine gun, "We can only try."

It's impossible to bypass them.

The difficulty of stealth in this game is not ordinary, especially those mutant slime molds. In places covered by spore clouds, it's like there is a search antenna on their heads.

Get a little closer, and they will rush up with a roar.

The best strategy is to choose a relatively safe path, lure out the monsters in the area and clear them, and then continue to move forward.

Seeing Lao Bai take out the RPG, the other team members also tacitly went to their respective combat positions and opened the safety of their weapons.

"I'm ready."

"I'm OK here too."

"+1"

"..."

The team cooperated well. After all, this was not the first time they had formed a team and they had already experienced countless battlefield trials.

Seeing that his teammates were ready one after another, Lao Bai was the first to pull the trigger.

Tail flame spray!

A high-explosive grenade blasted in the middle of the dense group of drones!

As the flames and smoke exploded instantly, a large number of drones were blown away by the shock wave and fragments of the explosion and fell downwards.

Not far away, the smoke-free machine gunner also pulled the trigger at the first time, venting fierce firepower towards the front area.

The accumulated 10mm bullets formed an orange-yellow fire rain in the air, madly harvesting the group of drones that were startled and floated up.

"Fuck... Can this thing really fly?" Fang Chang, who was firing with a rifle, had a hint of surprise in his eyes.

Two hundred years, unless it is nuclear powered, no matter how durable the chemical energy battery is, it can't last that long!

Apparently, those mutant slime molds replaced the batteries on the drone and became a new power source, driving the propeller in a peculiar way, and even evolved part of the fungal blanket into the propeller itself.

However——

In the face of absolute firepower, these are nothing. The drones that rushed out with billowing smoke were harvested by bullets in large areas.

Everything seemed to be going well.

However, at this moment, a sudden change occurred!

The drones that were knocked down by the high-explosive grenade did not all fall to the ground and break into pieces. Some of the surviving little guys flew up again.

At the same time, more and more drones floated out from the viaduct and even the building opposite, and even began to outflank from both sides.

The Niu Ma team guarding behind the bunker immediately fell into a bitter battle.

"Damn! This number is too much, right?!" After emptying a whole drum, Quitting Smoking cursed and immediately changed the magazine.

At this time, Kuangfeng, who was pulling the trigger and pouring firepower, suddenly spoke.

"Is there a possibility?"

Fang Chang: "What do you want to say?"

"The mimicry ability of the mutant slime mold can imitate not only individual drones, but the drone group itself..." After a pause, Kuangfeng continued, "In short, it is not a certain express package that attacks us, but an entire express cabinet."

Ye Shi was shocked.

"Fuck! Don't be such a pessimist!"

"It's not really a pessimist. As long as we find the 'drone hive' that controls these little guys, we should be able to make them lose their organization..."

Seeing that the machine gun that quit smoking had recovered its firepower, Kuangfeng took out the drone with the IED tied to his backpack and prepared to control it to fly to the building opposite.

VM turned on.

The neural access device was put on his head.

However, at this moment, Kuangfeng's expression suddenly froze.

Noticing the change in his expression, Ye Shi asked hurriedly.

"What's the situation?"

Kuangfeng, who was holding the headset, frowned, glanced at the VM screen in front of him, and said in a deep voice.

"Can't connect..."

Damn it.

There was still a little signal left!

"%￥#@!"

Ye Shi cursed and knocked off the empty magazine on his rifle.

No one can be counted on now.

If he wants to survive, he can only do his best to shoot down all the drones in front of him!

However, at this moment, a drone suddenly broke through the firepower network, passed through the broken wall on the side of the building, and rushed towards Ye Shi.

A warning sign suddenly rose in his heart!

Ye Shi reflexively loosened the magazine in his hand and pulled out the centurion pistol inserted in the gun belt.

However——

Even if he warned of the danger in advance, his hand was still a step slower.

The drone covered with dark red fungal carpets rushed over head-on, and the tentacles extending from the bottom of the fuselage popped out as fast as lightning and slammed into his face.

Ye Shi only had time to see a flash of black shadow, and then his consciousness fell into endless darkness.

A light blue pop-up window appeared.

[Connection disconnected]

At the same time, in another world.

In a dormitory of the male dormitory of Jiangcheng University, a sudden ghost cry suddenly sounded.

"Zhao!"

Hearing the movement from the bed, the beasts sitting below playing PUBG were stunned on the spot, and their hands stopped pressing the gun.

What's going on?

The dormitory was silent.

Sun Qian turned his head to look at the bed behind him. Just as he was about to ask what happened, the voice of Brother Wei floated over from the bed.

"Sao Rui...something happened just now."

Ye Wei, who was sitting on the bed, stared at the helmet in his hand, his chest rising and falling slowly.

The three roommates looked at each other.

Although they didn't know what happened, they were fine.

"Oh...it's just a minor problem, it's nothing."

"We don't care, but you should take care of yourself..."

"Indeed, you're still screaming so loudly while playing R18 games, it's hard for us guys not to worry about you."

Ye Wei: "..."

MMP!

These cowards!

Ye Wei rolled his eyes and threw his helmet on the pillow.

He got up and got off the bed with the ladder. He went to the balcony to wash his face, leaned against the guardrail, took out his mobile phone, and glanced at the small group.

"Is anyone there?" He sent a message.

No one replied after a long time.

Seeing this, Ye Wei breathed a sigh of relief.

It seems that everyone is fine, only he accidentally gave it away.

But when he thought that he couldn't log in for the next three days, he felt depressed.

Good guy.

The withdrawal reaction has begun!

Just when Ye Wei was about to close the Q group and go to the official website to see what new things the idiots had done, a message suddenly popped up in the group.

A Guang: "Yes, what happened?"

Seeing this ID that suddenly resurrected, Ye Shi was shocked.

What the hell?

Dog planner!

"Brother Guang?!"

"Are you still alive??"

Suddenly realizing that there seemed to be something wrong with his question, Ye Wei quickly withdrew the message and typed a sentence below at the speed of light.

"Uh, I mean you actually remembered your account password."

A Guang: "..."

Ye Wei looked a little embarrassed and sent a dog head to ease the atmosphere.

However, the broad-minded Brother Guang did not care about such a small matter and quickly took the initiative to change the subject.

A Guang: "How is the situation on your side? Have you encountered the enemy?"

Isn't this asking knowingly?

However, it was rare to chat with the dog planner, so Ye Wei still answered truthfully.

"Well, we ran into aliens not long after landing. The situation inside the Third Ring Road was worse than we expected, on the ground, in the sky, and underground... The complicated traffic was like a maze, and paper maps and compasses were completely useless. In the end, we had to rely on VM and weak signals to determine our location."

"Then there were aliens... There were not only gnawers, crawlers, and tyrants, but also a large number of ancient machines active in this area."

A Guang: "Ancient machines?"

Ye Wei continued typing.

"It's the evolutionary bodies! For example, the power armor wrapped in slime mold, tanks, self-propelled robots, etc. that appeared in the previous Wave expansion pack... Anyway, they are all strange things."

"Oh, and there are drones! We encountered a large group of them on the way to the crash site, as dense as locusts!"

A Guang: "Can you tell me in detail about the situation of those evolutionary bodies?"

After a few seconds, he added another sentence at the end.

"I mainly want to know what's going on in the new map from the player's perspective."

Although he felt a little strange, Ye Wei didn't think much about it. He scratched the screen of his mobile phone and described his experience in the Third Ring Road to A Guang in detail.

After a while, A Guang replied.

"Well, I roughly understand."

After laying the groundwork for so long, Ye Wei typed immediately.

"Brother Guang, is the difficulty in the Third Ring Road too high? The equipment can't keep up, and it's hard to advance with just a few light weapons."

"It is strongly recommended that the weapon store put power armor on the shelves!"

There are too many high-level monsters!

This level design is simply unreasonable!

However-

A Guang doesn't seem to intend to adopt his suggestion.

"I can't do anything about the difficulty. Part of the game content is generated by the server itself, and part is added by the players. We are only responsible for maintaining the server operation and handling violations... Sorry."

"I have something to do here, so I'll log off first and talk later."

Automatically generating game content is okay.

What kind of Ubisoft behavior is this?

Looking at the two lines of messages on the screen, Ye Wei had a helpless expression on his face.

Whether he believed it or not, A Guang had no intention of continuing to explain to him. After asking what he wanted to ask, he went offline without mercy.

He was the only one left in the group.

There was no point in continuing to wait. Ye Wei, feeling empty and lonely, sighed, closed the group chat window, opened the browser and logged into the forum.

The forum was very lively at this point.

The speed at which the gossip section was refreshed was dizzying. Almost every time it was refreshed, the posts on the homepage would be completely changed.

At this moment, Ye Wei was suddenly surprised to find that A Guang had secretly updated an announcement while he was not paying attention?

Curiously, he clicked in to take a look and was stunned on the spot.

[Map Information Update: Qingquan City Center]

[Map Overview: The Qingquan City Center area has been completely destroyed by the slime mold. A large number of equipment left over from the prosperous era have been assimilated by the fruiting bodies of the mutant slime mold, forming an evolutionary body with a special structure...]

[Recommended Exploration Level: LV.25 or above]

[Map Tips 1: Recover the remains of the evolutionary body and exchange them for high rewards in the scientific expedition team! ]

[...]

The recommended exploration level and map tips are not bad.

It's just that column of "Map Overview"...

Why does he look so familiar? ?

...

Wasteland world.

Dawn City Industrial Zone, train platform near Bachi Aluminum Factory.

The staff are busy operating the crane equipment to load some large equipment disassembled into parts onto the pallet of the freight train.

The industrial zone of the New Alliance is migrating northward.

This work will be carried out simultaneously with the construction of Dawn City.

By then, the industrial zone of Dawn City will be transformed into a light industrial base mainly producing consumer goods.

Heavy industries including steel, weapons, and heavy equipment production will be transferred to Dawn City in the north.

After listening to Xiaoyu's introduction, Pai asked curiously.

"Why did you move north?"

Xiaoyu said helplessly.

"Because it's too close to our neighbors."

Pai asked.

"Are you on bad terms with them?"

Putting her index finger on her chin, she thought seriously for a while and answered.

"Well... I can't say whether it's good or not. To use Brother Chu's words, we are too close to them, which is dangerous to both of us."

Of course, there are also a series of factors such as the north is closer to the source of raw materials and has a larger population, but it's too troublesome to explain in detail. Xiaoyu herself only has a vague understanding, so she simply omitted it.

"Okay."

Accepting this for the time being, Pai put this insignificant matter aside for the time being and continued to search around the stockpile area.

Xiaoyu looked at her movements and asked curiously.

"What are you looking for?"

"Some raw materials!"

"Raw materials?"

"Nothing, don't worry about it, it won't hurt you anyway!"

Looking at Pai with a confident face, Xiaoyu tilted her head in confusion. Although she was still very curious, she didn't ask more questions in the end.

"Okay... Can I help you?"

"Really? That's great!" Pai's eyes lit up, and excitedly gestured the size of a cup with her hands, "First, I need a bottle of crude oil, the type doesn't matter... probably this much is enough!"

In order to teach that rude guy a profound lesson.

This is the necessary material!

"Raw, crude oil?" Xiaoyu was stunned for a moment and asked in a low voice, "Is biomass crude oil okay?"

Pai touched his chin and thought for a while.

"Biocrude oil... a little troublesome, but it's okay!"

"Let's get a bottle first and see!"

...

On the other side.

In the south of Shuguang City, there is a sanatorium in Linghu Wetland Park.

Chu Guang had just learned about the situation in the city center from Ye Shi, and was planning to continue to conceive the unfinished reform plan and the update content of Beta0.3 version.

However, just as he was staring at the newly created folder on the screen, thinking about what title would be more appropriate, an unexpected call suddenly came to him.

Seeing that the communication request came from the "New Alliance Office in Giant Stone City", Chu Guang temporarily stopped his work and pressed the connect button.

Soon, Shu Yu's voice came from the other end of the phone.

"Five minutes ago, someone from the Giant Stone City City Hall came to me."

People from the City Hall?

A hint of surprise appeared in Chu Guang's eyes.

"What did they say?"

Shu Yu continued.

"Regarding issues concerning trade and security..."

"The mayor of the city hall would like to speak with you by phone."