novelODS Chapter 114 Abandoned City Team Mission
Chapter 114 Abandoned City Team Mission
The underground drainage system of the abandoned city resembles a giant, rotting intestine.
The heavy main sewage gate was closed, but the expected darkness did not descend; instead, a large expanse of light appeared before us.
The four walked out of the pipe and discovered that they were in a huge open-air sewage sinkhole on the edge of the city.
The sky above was completely blocked by thick miasma, and the sunlight, refracted by the poisonous miasma, only cast a cold, dim light on the water.
Giant plants, fed on chemical waste, grow wildly and intertwine, their thick vines tightly binding the reinforced concrete fragments that fell when the city collapsed years ago.
These architectural ruins, forcibly suspended in mid-air by plants, resemble scattered floating islands, quietly hovering above this foul-smelling stagnant swamp.
Lacris raised the long staff inlaid with crystals in his hand, the tip of the staff emitting a faint glow that barely illuminated the dark waterway ahead.
Watch your step.
She lowered her voice and warned, "We've reached the first safety zone. There are mutated blue crocodiles in the pool ahead. The workers responsible for maintaining this area didn't escape during the evacuation."
The corrosion-resistant magnetic card that opens the next gate should still be among the workers' belongings. Or perhaps, in the crocodile's stomach.
In Lacris’s mind, the four-man team would adopt an extremely cautious tactic when facing these tough-skinned, powerful underground predators.
For example, you could carefully lure one out, engage in a fierce battle, and then search for clues in the pool of blood.
However, she underestimated the enthusiasm of this group of fourth Scourges for rare resources and group quests.
"The classic first level! Kill crocodiles and collect passes!"
The little snail walking in the middle of the group was not afraid at all; on the contrary, its eyes were frighteningly bright.
He suddenly turned to look at Ai Yingying Stan, who had been silently following at the back of the group, and asked, "Hey Ai, can the leather from this thing be used to make leather armor?"
Eying Stan, wrapped in a large, homemade cloak, was suddenly called out. Startled, he shrank back and could only nod stiffly.
"Oh, and while you're at it, collect some crocodile skins too, I'll need them."
Looking at the crocodile in front of her, Ai Yingying Stan suddenly thought of something. Naturally, she wouldn't let go of these excellent raw materials for leather goods.
"Get to work, guys! Crocodile skin and quest items, this is a steal!"
"A backpack sewn from crocodile skin would be incredibly cool!"
"Mr. Ai, could you help me make one later?"
"Um……"
For the next hour or so, Lacris's worldview was shaken like never before.
This is practically a highly efficient assembly line slaughter.
The geese threw the prepared bait into the narrow bend of the waterway.
As the crocodile, drawn by the scent, roared and burst out of the water, it was met head-on by a makeshift tripwire set up by a small snail using the terrain and scrap metal.
The moment the crocodile lost its balance, the agent, in stealth mode, appeared beside it like a ghost.
Using his explosive power, he precisely and ruthlessly plunged the dagger into the crocodile's soft jaw, twisting it forcefully to sever the nerves.
With a roar, the massive reptile collapsed to the ground.
"Hurry up, hurry up, don't tear the skin!"
The little snail stood on the body of a crocodile that had just fallen, holding a sharp knife in its hand, and roughly slashed along the midline of the crocodile's belly.
With a forceful tug, he peeled off a whole piece of leather, stained with blood, and tossed it into a sack that already contained more than a dozen hides.
This is the sixteenth crocodile they have killed.
The goose, wearing gloves borrowed from a foreigner's workshop, skillfully reached its hands into the crocodile's dissected stomach.
After rummaging through the corrosive stomach acid, half-digested bone fragments, and a pile of old rubber shoe wreckage for a while, he finally found a flat, hard object.
Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a magnetic card covered in sticky fluid and made of a special alloy.
We finally found it.
The goose shook the filth off its hands and casually rubbed the magnetic card on the moss by the wall to remove the stomach acid, which seemed a bit unbelievable.
"This industrial material is really tough. I didn't expect that even after being soaked in crocodile stomach acid for so long, the magnetic strip wasn't melted."
"Pull the monster, move on to the next one."
The agent, wiping his dagger, urged him on.
As Lacris watched the three thugs, covered in crocodile blood and excitedly discussing how many credits the hide could be exchanged for while gutting the animals, he even felt a pang of sympathy for the crocodiles.
Thanks to this efficient assembly line slaughtering operation, the team spent nearly half an hour collecting four magnetic cards from the crocodile carcasses on the ground.
With the mechanical sound of the magnetic card being swiped through the card slot, the first gate slowly opened.
After walking through a long corridor covered in moss, they came to a stop in front of a huge metal building.
What blocked their way was a thick, rusty steel plate, as heavy as a vault door.
Several heavy iron cables hung above the gate, connecting to a complex system of pulleys overhead. In the open space in front of the gate, five huge cylindrical metal load-bearing barrels were arranged in a staggered pattern.
"This is a hydraulic counterweight safety door."
Lacris opened the yellowed municipal handbook in his hand and carefully deciphered the text by the fluorescent light.
"It's a purely mechanical structure with no electronic locks. We have to stand on these five load-bearing barrels in a specific order and according to our weight."
If the weight distribution is incorrect, it will trigger the gas nozzles overhead; there are few chances to make a mistake.
As soon as the words were spoken, the goose and the snail immediately perked up.
"Classic positioning passed? Interesting."
"It's different from the ones we used to play with. She said it sprays poison."
The goose stepped forward, carefully observed the degree of corrosion of the springs at the bottom of the load-bearing barrel, and then looked up at the complex pulley layout.
"I know how to do this. Assuming the weight of the gate is X, the coefficient of friction of the pulley system will increase by about two to three times due to rust. We need to calculate..."
"Um……"
The little snail also came over and gestured with its boning knife on the ground.
"The agent is the lightest, and Da Niu, who's quite fat, isn't here. I'm one of the heavier ones, so we can use the leverage principle..."
The two players started a physics discussion right there in the sewers of the ruined city, with Lacris looking completely bewildered by a bunch of incomprehensible terms.
At the very back of the group, Eyingstein stood nervously against the wall, clutching a heavy sack full of crocodile skins.
The surrounding environment was too oppressive.
A chilly wind seeped into her neck through the gaps, and the two big shots were arguing fiercely about some parameters, making her already severe social anxiety even more difficult to control.
She just wanted to curl up into a ball and hope that no one would notice her.
Just then, a small green snake suddenly fell from the rusty pipe overhead.
It landed squarely at Einstein's feet.
"Huh!"
This sudden turn of events caused the person with severe social anxiety to let out a short gasp.
She was so frightened that her legs went weak, and she instinctively took several steps back.
Because he retreated too quickly, he stepped on a wet, slippery patch of moss, lost his balance, and fell backward.
Behind her was the exposed main valve hub of this hydraulic counterweight system.
With a loud crash, her enormous tool bag, filled with scrap iron needles, sheet metal rivets, crocodile skin, and her sewing scissors, slammed down like a meteor hammer onto the load-bearing pin that was originally used to jam the main gear.
Click.
A crisp metallic snap echoed through the empty underground space.
The little snail and the goose, who were still drawing on the ground, suddenly raised their heads and hurried to see what had happened.
The rusty main shaft, after enduring more than ten years of corrosion, unexpectedly broke apart.
The hydraulic system has completely failed.
Without the support of internal pressure, the heavy steel door, which required precise calculations to open, groaned under its own immense weight.
Smoke and dust billowed up, and the seemingly impregnable security door slammed open and crashed to the ground.
There was an awkward silence in the air, as if crows were flying overhead.
Lacris gaped, nearly dropping his staff.
The goose and the snail stared in disbelief at the open door, then turned to look at Einstein, who was slumped over next to the valve.
At this moment, Ai Yingying was so frightened that she almost cried.
She thought she had caused a huge disaster, ruined the game environment, and directly caused the mission to fail.
She dared not speak, burying the lower half of her face deep into the high collar of her homemade cloak, her whole body stiff as a stone.
However, this silence born of fear took on a completely different meaning in the eyes of the little snail and the others.
The little snail gasped, looking at the broken pin, its voice filled with barely concealed surprise.
"She's definitely a big shot."
"No need to calculate the coefficient of friction, and no need to worry about hydraulic counterweights..."
The little snail swallowed hard. "She had been observing from behind and immediately saw through the structural weakness of this mechanical lock due to its aging."
Then, using her toolkit, she directly severed the spindle, forcibly deciphering it physically…”
The agent also gave a thumbs up, looking quite shocked.
"Ruthless and taciturn, he brutally deconstructs machinery. No wonder he hasn't uttered a single word since entering the room; he simply disdains discussing those low-level algorithms with us! Ai Zong is awesome!"
The goose overturned the force analysis diagram on the ground, completely convinced: "What is a dimensional reduction attack? This is it. We're still doing our problems, and the master has already torn up the test paper."
Listening to the three expert players' wild and imaginative speculations, Eyingstein trembled with fear.
She didn't even dare to look up and explain that she had just slipped, and could only continue to maintain this silence, thus solidifying her "ice queen" persona.