Chapter 677.1: Shadow In The Depths |
The moment he said that, the players surrounding him all lit up with excitement.
Good grief, a quest trigger!
“Been waiting for that line, brother.” Old White grinned, patting the man’s shoulder. “Alright, what trouble did you get yourself into this time?”
“Those people, they’ve gone mad, they’ve gone completely insane! It’s that psychic interference device! And those blue-skinned monsters…”
The man’s words tumbled out incoherently, full of half-finished details. The surrounding players stared blankly, trying to make sense of it, Old White even wondered if his language skills had regressed.
“Slow down,” Old White said patiently. “Start from the beginning, what happened?”
Huang Guangwei swallowed hard, his hungry eyes fixed on the roasted meat sizzling over the campfire. “Could you give me something to eat first? I haven’t eaten in three days…”
“Feed him first.” Seeing the man’s pitiful state, Old White couldn’t bring himself to press further. He glanced at Peepo who was the assigned cook for the mission and sighed, “Get him something.”
A starving man couldn’t handle meat right away, but the dude had already eaten a steamed bun earlier, he should be fine.
When the food arrived, the man didn’t hesitate, he grabbed a handful of fries and stuffed them into his mouth. His crude eating made even the tavern owner scratch his head and mutter, “Does this NPC’s taste system even work?”
He knew how bad those fries tasted.
After wolfing down the food for several minutes, the man burped, leaned against a palm tree, and let out a long breath, eyes half-closed in contentment. Then, right in front of everyone, he started snoring.
The players gawked in disbelief.
They had been waiting forever for this guy to talk, and he just fell asleep after eating?!
This is unacceptable!
Several of them picked up sticks and poked him furiously.
“Oi!”
“You messing with us?!”
“You begged us for help, now wake the hell up!”
Jolted by the shouting and poking, Huang Guangwei snapped awake. Realizing he had nodded off in front of everyone, he scratched his neck awkwardly. “S-sorry… I get sleepy after eating, it totally slipped my mind.”
Old White raised his brows slightly. “…”
Peepo and the others were also struck speechless.
Unbelievable.
Just then, Ample Time finally arrived. His gaze first fell on the man lying under the palm tree, then shifted toward the submersible half-buried on the shoreline. Without asking questions yet, he called over a few strength type players, clapped one on the shoulder, and pointed toward the beach. “Drag that thing up here and hide it under a tarp.”
One of them frowned. “Drag it ashore?”
“Yeah.” Ample Time nodded, glancing once toward the distant sea before walking up to the man under the tree.
“You’re from Shelter 70, right?”
“Y-yes.” Huang Guangwei nodded nervously as Ample Time crouched in front of him.
Resting a hand on his shoulder, Ample Time said gently, “Breathe. Don’t panic. Tell us, what happened out there?”
Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Huang Guangwei finally began. “A group of blue-skinned creatures… They were humanoid with gills under their chins! They chased me nonstop, firing harpoon shells and torpedoes, using all kinds of weird weapons. My submersible’s power system got wrecked. I could only drift with the current and leave it to fate. I ended up here.”
“Lucky you,” Old White quipped, squatting nearby. “You drifted right into our camp.”
Huang Guangwei smiled weakly. “Thanks…”
“But hang on,” said Midnight Pubg, frowning. “Blue-skinned? With gills? What the hell are those supposed to be?”
Ample Time’s face grew serious. “If I’m guessing right, they’re Mutant Humans.”
The players around him exchanged startled looks.
“What the f…?!”
“Mutant Humans again?!”
“Aren’t those freaks supposed to be green?”
“Since when do they swim?!”
Shaking his head, Ample Time explained gravely, “Mutant Humans are results of the incomplete Complete Human Project, experiments to alter the 23 human chromosome pairs into new forms. Their appearance isn’t limited to green skin or muscle bulk. Some in the Great Desert are gray or black.”
He continued, “Along the coast of the Among Cloud Province, there are settlements near the sea. Remember the lore compendium on the official site? Enterprise assault squads were deployed against amphibious Mutant Humans operating near coastlines. Those differ from land mutants, blue-skinned, sometimes with scales or fins.”
Hearing him, Prone Model gasped. “So the Torch Church really teamed up with those freaks?!”
Piltover Paratrooper, who had been silent, spoke up. “Or maybe the Torch Church created them.”
Old White shook his head. “Unlikely. The Torch Church only appeared 20 years ago. Those blue-skins have been around longer.”
“I agree,” Ample Time said. “Like with Brocade Lake Municipality, the Torch Church and Mutant Humans probably share aligned interests. My guess, they’ve formed an alliance. Maybe the Torch Church supplies them with breeding stock.”
Though Ample Time worded it carefully, the players immediately remembered what they had seen in the mall in the Brocade Lake Municipality and clenched their fists in anger.
“Filthy animals…” Midnight Pubg muttered, gripping his weapon tight, eyes burning with murderous light.
Piltover Paratrooper added coldly, “Doesn’t matter what kind they are. They’re all our enemies. We’re not negotiating with any of them.”
Ample Time remained composed. “What matters is whether they’ll strike first. For now, it looks like the Torch Church and nearby aquatic mutant tribes are allies, but they haven’t detected us yet, or don’t see us as a threat. That gives us time to prepare.”
Old White nodded grimly. “Then we’ll need more than nets made of Devil’s Silk. We’ll need coastal fortifications.”
Ample Time agreed. “We also need underwater defenses. Our rifles and grenade launchers are useless beneath the surface. If we can’t hit underwater targets, they’ll flank along the coast and strike from anywhere, that’s worse than the sea mutants.”
Old White said firmly, “Once I log off, I’ll ask Mosquito’s team to craft something useful.”
After a short exchange in mandarin, Ample Time turned back to the confused Huang Guangwei. “Why were they chasing you?”
“I…” Huang Guangwei hesitated, unsure if he should speak.
Ample Time looked him in the eyes. “If you don’t tell us, we can’t help you.”
“… Alright, I’ll tell you.” He sighed, realizing honesty was his only option, and began to explain everything that had led him here. “You must’ve heard, we had… conflicts with the islanders.”
Ample Time nodded. “Yes. The southern survivors wanted to introduce the Torch Church’s modified Na Fruit strain to control the overgrown sea mutants. That’s what I heard. Is it true?”
