novelODS Chapter 113 A Search That Never Ends
Chapter 113 A Search That Never Ends
As night fell, only a few scattered embers remained of the campfire in the abandoned city.
Most of the players who were taking a break during their shifts logged out of the game, but their boundless energy was clearly not exhausted by grinding.
The chat group "Did you go on an adventure today?" is set in the present day, which is early morning.
Agent: "How about checking out the Wasteland Heavy Industry? Ancient machine tools hum around the clock, and the assembly line is fully automated, polishing black steel longswords."
Just now, dozens of us brothers lined up to build a tent for the NPCs to boost their favorability, and we actually moved a few natives to tears. Where are you guys from Archer Village, playing in the mud, doing now?
Blade: "Stop talking about popularity! I lost a bit of popularity today just because I said a few extra words, and my heart is bleeding!!"
Roasted Whole Lamb: "Heh, what's so great about blacksmithing? Archer Village is sending their congratulations; we've fully entered a moderately prosperous society."
Agent: "Bragging is tax-free? All you guys do is hit the green succulent with sticks all day, what's so special about that?"
Roasted Whole Lamb: "My buddy copied Little Snail's homework and successfully persuaded Instructor Herina to start mass teaching."
We now have four first-tier archers in our Archer Village! Do you know what ranged firepower coverage is?
Goose: "Long-range firepower? You make it sound like nobody doesn't have that."
Whole roasted lamb: "The most crucial thing is that we accidentally discovered fertilizer! You would never guess that we caught hundreds of green succulents, squeezed their juice, and used it directly to water the land."
Crops that normally take two months to ripen have grown in just one week! Now the village has surplus grain, and we'll pay back the two tons we owe Jim.”
A flood of envious comments immediately appeared in the group chat. After all, the food in the ruined city consisted of nothing but black bread and roasted pork, with not a single green leafy vegetable in sight.
Sometimes, even after eating too much meat, I still crave a couple of bites of vegetables.
However, the goose, who was lying on the sofa browsing the forum, frowned deeply as it looked at these few lines of text on the screen.
Goose: "Wait, whole roasted lamb, describe in detail the condition of the soil at the edge of your vegetable patch."
Roasted whole lamb: "Soil? Oh, that does sound a bit strange."
Those giant cabbages absorb so much water that the soil in the ground turns into a yellow powder that can't be retained no matter how much water you pour on it; you sink right into the ground when you step on it.
Goose: "Holy crap! You idiot, that's not some kind of agricultural miracle at all!"
You've used high-concentration magic to force-feed the plants, completely draining the earth's veins! The soil has lost all organic matter and moisture retention; it's severe desertification! If you keep this up, Archer Village will become the Ariane Desert!
A brief silence fell over the group chat, clearly because the conversation had touched on a blind spot for most players.
Before the whole roasted lamb could even refute, a player who had just logged off brought bad news.
Ah Bin, who's bad at studying: "Holy crap! Brother Yang, help me!!"
Ah Bin, who is bad at studying: "Something happened in the fields again, so I specifically logged off and came here to ask for help."
Agent: "What happened? Don't panic, tell me slowly."
Ah Bin is bad at studying: "The floating pigs in the forest stole and drank the green liquid we discharged, and they all mutated!"
The pigs had grown armor like pig iron; they were almost armored pigs! They had doubled in size! They smashed through the wooden fence at the village entrance and charged in!
"Several of our archers fired in unison, but the steel arrowheads bounced off the armor and couldn't penetrate it at all."
One second they're showing off their agricultural miracles, the next they've had their house robbed.
Agent: "Holy crap, another Ironclad Pig? Should we organize a team to run the map and go provide support?"
Little snail: "Running my ass! Crossing the map would take at least several days and nights. By the time we get there, their ashes will have been scattered as fertilizer."
Big Goose: "Bin, roast whole lamb, don't fight head-on. Physical armor penetration is too inefficient. At this stage, melee weapons can't deal with armored units. You guys just have to hold out until this wave of beasts arrives, and then we'll figure out a better strategy."
Ah Bin's poor academic performance: "1"
After seeing Ah Bin log off, Da'e continued typing in the group chat.
Big Goose: "As we explore deeper into the map, we'll definitely encounter more of these heavily armored monsters. We'll have to upgrade our chemistry technology and use strong acid to corrode their armor."
Big Goose: "Ordinary acids won't work. I once saw a fragment of an alchemy manual in Hans's library. To concoct a strong acid that can melt through iron armor, you must use the remains of a giant green succubus."
Da Niu: "Where can I find this thing? I've been wandering around the ruins of the city for days and haven't seen a single giant green succulent."
Little snail: "I don't know, let's explore and see."
At that moment, a GM wearing a black trench coat shut down the system in his mind.
…………
The next morning, the thin mist over the ruined capital had not yet dissipated.
Lynn led a strange native woman straight to the area where the players were gathered.
She was a young woman with long khaki hair. She wore a sheer veil that seemed out of place with her surroundings, and held a long staff inlaid with a magic stone in her hand.
"This is Lacris."
Lynn looked around at the players who had stopped what they were doing and introduced their new friend, "This is the previous municipal facilities inspector."
The agent, the little snail, and the goose exchanged glances, keenly sensing that they had been given a job.
Lacris didn't stand on ceremony. She walked to a relatively clean rock and used a stick to draw a complex sketch of underground pipes on the ground.
"The reason why the abandoned city erupts deadly purple mist from time to time is not only because of the change in the landscape, but also because the sewage purification gate of the subway transfer station in Area B is blocked."
"During the great evacuation, a mutated giant green succubus burrowed into the main pipeline. It devoured decades of industrial waste and magical residue from the city, becoming not only enormous but also extremely poisonous. It jammed the central hub of the water treatment system."
The goose's eyes lit up immediately when it heard the words "giant green succulent".
It's like searching high and low without finding it.
"I hold the key to restarting the gate."
Lacris put away his stick and glanced at the crowd. "But I can't go deep into that underground labyrinth overrun by mutated crocodiles and toxic substances by myself. I need a fearless squad to escort me into the sewage treatment center, kill that behemoth, and restart the entire area's municipal network."
"We'll take it!"
Without any hesitation, the agent, the little snail, and the goose all took a step forward at the same time.
As one of only three players in the entire server who have reached level 20, they are determined to wade into this mess.
Whether it's the leaked materials or the alchemy base that the goose desperately needs, it's all worth risking their lives for.
Lacris glanced at the three burly men and nodded slightly: "The municipal maintenance passage is narrow, and to ensure mobility, my tactical formation limit is four people. You need to find another teammate."
Roasted Whole Lamb is farming in Archer Village, Bucket Runner is building houses in Pearl Harbor, and Little Rain is being caught by Hans in Magic Forest and getting special treatment. These three definitely can't team up.
After a quick discussion, the three of them immediately turned around and began looking for suitable candidates in the camp.
Ordinary newbies would just be feeding kills to the enemy; they need someone who can protect themselves and, ideally, provide some functional assistance.
The little snail's gaze swept across the corner of the camp and suddenly settled on a small, thin figure. This person was the female player with the ID "Ai Yingying Stan".
At this moment, she was squatting alone in the corner of the dilapidated stone wall.
Holding a polished steel needle, he was quickly sewing several cleaned pieces of animal hide together.
She usually stayed alone in the camp, never initiating conversations with anyone, and would even quietly take a detour when there were many people around. Coupled with her homemade cloak with its collar turned up high, she exuded an aloofness that kept strangers at bay.
"She's the one."
The little snail lowered its voice and spoke to the other two.
"Is she any good enough?"
The agent expressed his doubts, saying, "He rarely speaks a word; he's probably not just a simple 'warm-hearted' person."
"You don't know anything. Look at her aloofness, look at her focused expression, she's definitely the kind of pro who can solo bosses in other games."
"That's true, maybe he's like Xiaoyu, with a perfect mental synchronization rate."
The little snail then confidently analyzed, "Besides, didn't you see what she was doing? Her sewing skills are definitely something special."
When we form a guild in the future, won't we need uniform battle attire to boost our prestige? Let's take a girl on a dungeon run now and win over this future head tailor; this investment will definitely be worthwhile.
The goose stroked its chin: "That makes sense. Technical talent is a strategic resource."
The three hit it off immediately, strode to the corner, and extended a team invitation to the "aloof expert".
When Eyingstein, who was crouching in the corner, heard footsteps, his body stiffened visibly.
When she saw the three most famous players in the entire server standing in front of her and submitting team-up requests, her brain completely shut down.
Even when she goes to buy a dark bread, she has to mentally plan for ten minutes.
The reason I was hiding in the corner sewing was simply because I didn't know how to fit into the camp.
"I...I might..."
Einstein stammered, trying to refuse.
"Don't be modest, we value your potential."
Without further ado, the little snail sent the drafted team agreement to her emblem and patted her shoulder enthusiastically, "Don't worry, once we're in, you just stay in the back and we'll handle the damage output."
In a series of unexpected and somewhat reluctant moves, four fully armed players followed Lacris toward the central part of the abandoned city.
After passing through several collapsed streets, a huge circular gate, tightly locked with thick iron chains, appeared before everyone's eyes.
On the mottled iron gate, the words "B District Metro Municipal Sewage Network" can still be faintly discerned.
In the distance, a much denser purple mist hung over the area, far exceeding the density of the camp, while the surrounding soil appeared as a charred, corroded black.
Lacris stepped forward, took out a peculiar key with brass gears from his waist, and inserted it into the rusty slot in the center of the iron gate.
With a piercing metallic scraping sound, the heavy chain snapped inch by inch.
The gate slowly rose upwards.
A gust of evil wind howled out, causing Einstein to clutch his animal-skin coat tightly.
The goose then took out the staff tucked into the cloak, and the agent's body gradually became transparent under the effect of the invisibility spell.