Chapter 54: I Really Am Not a Jinx |
As the rain began to fall, the four of them heard a notification from Paradise.
[Main Quest (Phase Two) "Arrive at the Farm" completed.]
[Main Quest (Final Phase) triggered: Traverse the farm and reach the Evacuation Point.]
"See? I really am not a jinx," Great Northern Wilderness quickly defended himself. "The Script is just designed this way."
"It must be an obstacle course specifically set up for Players. As soon as we reach the mission location, it starts raining to reduce visibility and artificially inflate the difficulty."
Before Great Northern Wilderness could finish speaking, Bai Mu hit the brakes and pulled the car over to the side of the road.
Raindrops pattered against the pavement. The fine drizzle barely made a sound as it hit the ground, but it quickly soaked the road, turning it a dark, slick gray.
"Brother Bai, why did you stop? Keep driving. Isn't the road ahead wide open? There aren't any Zombies blocking the way," Great Northern Wilderness asked in confusion.
The corn farm was located in the true outskirts, well beyond the city limits.
The population density here was much lower than around the mall, at least until they approached the farmlands. Along the way, they had spent hours admiring the scenery. Although the virus had infected humanity, it had no effect on the flora. Everything was lush and green, and they could even see butterflies and dragonflies fluttering about. The ecosystem was incredibly pristine.
It had been a rare sunny day before the rain hit, and the idyllic scenery allowed Great Northern Wilderness to relax, even giving him the illusion that he was genuinely just out on a road trip with friends.
Ever since they left the mall and Bai Mu took over as the driver, they had been entirely too comfortable.
It was so comfortable that Great Northern Wilderness hadn't even realized their smooth journey to the farm was all thanks to Bai Mu utilizing his experience to select the optimal route, effectively bypassing every possible area where a Zombie horde might be lurking.
This level of ease was purely due to a hidden MVP silently carrying the team.
But evidently, Paradise did not appreciate this spring-break style of clearing a Script. The corn farm, as a mandatory checkpoint for the Main Quest, was definitely going to ramp up the tension.
Even before the rain started, Bai Mu had spotted shadows moving within the cornfield, which was exactly why he stopped the car.
"I'm afraid we can't drive any further down this road," Bai Mu said, rolling down his window and pointing toward the figures in the field.
Misty Rain Traveler's expression instantly shifted. Before Bai Mu pointed out the shadows, she hadn't noticed them. But the moment her eyes focused on the gaps between the cornstalks, a single word popped into her mind as a conditioned reflex:
Witch.
She recalled that Mutant weeping mournfully in the children's amusement park, and the hair on her arms stood on end.
It was a purely instinctual reaction. If you saw seventeen times twenty-four, you probably wouldn't know the answer immediately, but seeing one plus one required zero thought or reaction time to know it equaled two.
Misty Rain Traveler's fear of the Witch was just that direct; the terror had been etched straight into her cerebral cortex.
The two brothers had never encountered a Witch, so they didn't react immediately, but they too finally noticed the enemies hidden within the cornfield.
"Are there actually Zombies ambushing us on the road?" Great Northern Wilderness swallowed hard. "Damn it, first the rain, now a sneak attack. They're playing real dirty. Are we going to die here today?"
"Bro, please stop talking," Nancheng Port muttered with a frown. While not as pale as Misty Rain Traveler, his expression was equally grim.
"Aside from being larger in size, it looks almost exactly like the Witch from the amusement park," Bai Mu observed. "That must be another Witch."
"The sound of the car engine will definitely alert it. I might be fine thanks to my title, but it will absolutely target all of you. This type of Mutant is highly aggressive, and its claws are sharp enough to shred our car tires."
"More importantly, we have no idea if there are other Witches hiding out there."
"Are you saying... there might be a Witch nest behind those stalks?" Misty Rain Traveler forced the words out with great reluctance.
"Maybe not just Witches," Bai Mu replied. "There could be other types of Mutants as well. So far, we've only encountered the Witch and the Jockey—one with enhanced attacks, and one with enhanced jumping abilities. But I doubt those are the only two variants. This virus clearly grants the Infected a diverse array of special mutations."
"Can't we just drive over them?" Great Northern Wilderness suggested. "Or maybe we can back up, find a safe spot to brainstorm a plan, and look for some binoculars or a drone to scout ahead."
"Binoculars might be possible," Misty Rain Traveler pointed out, "but the background setting of this Script is 2009. Where are you going to find a drone?"
"True..." Great Northern Wilderness rubbed his chin. "Still, there's no need to rush. We don't have a time limit anyway, and our food and water can last us a few more days. The worst-case scenario is spending a little extra time scouting. There's no hurry."
Just as he finished speaking, the loud whir of spinning propellers echoed from the sky.
A sleek helicopter emerged from the clouds, steadily lowering its altitude.
Bai Mu leaned his head out the window to get a better look. It was a military transport helicopter with a nose shaped like a shark. It possessed a high, prominent canopy—the cockpit—situated at the very peak of the fuselage.
It was painted in army-green camouflage, with the serial number UH-60-14 displayed on the side. It was unmistakably a military helicopter in the middle of a mission.
The chopper seemed to have materialized out of nowhere, arriving alongside the dark rain clouds.
It was flying quite a distance away from their car, hovering over the river. A bright searchlight flicked on, casting a conical beam down from the fuselage. If one were looking down from the sky, they would see the rapid, murky river currents illuminated in the light.
[The military has arrived at the Evacuation Point and will depart in 20 minutes.]
[Countdown: 20:00.]
A glaring red countdown appeared in the Main Quest log.
"Come on, man, are you doing this on purpose?!" Great Northern Wilderness cursed, suspecting that Paradise was intentionally messing with him to make him public enemy number one.
"I suspect we have a traitor among us," Misty Rain Traveler muttered grimly.
Great Northern Wilderness wanted to retort, but upon seeing the increasingly hostile glares from his brother and Misty Rain Traveler, he finally clamped a hand over his mouth.
It seemed he had no desire to say another word for the time being.
"What happens if the time limit expires and we still haven't reached the Evacuation Point?" Bai Mu asked.
This was his first time encountering such a situation, so he wanted to consult the experienced Players. Logically, even if they failed to reach the Evacuation Point in time, they wouldn't die immediately. Would it simply declare the Main Quest a failure and forbid them from returning to the community?
"If we fail within the time limit, the Script's difficulty will skyrocket," Misty Rain Traveler answered in a low voice. "Get out of the car. We have to make it there in twenty minutes."
"If we clear the Script within twenty minutes, it stays a D-grade Script. If we fail, who knows where the next Evacuation Point will be. The military might abandon a massive area, forcing us to cross half the country. Or worse, a Zombie horde will instantly spawn once those twenty minutes are up."
"Damn it." Nancheng Port slammed his fist against the car door.
They would have to traverse the cornfield on foot. It was extremely dangerous, yet paradoxically, it was their safest choice.
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