stonecrandall Chapter 43 Epilogue
Chapter 43 Epilogue
Huang Xi?
Why is she here?
The doubt in my mind only lingered for a moment before being forgotten.
Xu Yang looked at Newt again.
The other person was almost completely rotten. The skin that was originally covered with scales had lost its luster and fallen off to the ground. The skin looked like some kind of black bean skin, wrinkled up and gradually separated from the surface of the muscle.
The entire structure has detached.
Xu Yang vaguely remembered seeing the same scene somewhere before, but he couldn't care less about that now.
He quickly poured two vials of thorn blood into Newt's mouth.
Suddenly, a cold voice sounded from behind: "Don't bother, he won't survive, you can't save him."
"Why?" Xu Yang asked instinctively, turning his head.
Huang Xi looked at the festering body, her red lips parted slightly, and she uttered four words: "Genetic collapse."
Xu Yang was stunned for a moment, and his mind instantly recalled the clinic where they had collected the new human mutagen, and the shriveled corpse whose skin and eyeballs had fallen off.
He turned his head to look at what was beneath him.
【Humanity】
[Humans whose genes were already collapsing took the drug multiple times, ultimately causing irreversible damage.]
[Note: I have the will, but not the ability.]
……
Silence fell over the air.
Xu Yang looked at the empty glass bottle in his hand, feeling somewhat lost.
Thorn blood can heal wounds, but it causes genetic damage...
Just as he was at a loss, the man lying on the ground suddenly caught his breath and coughed weakly twice.
"Cough...cough cough."
Xu Yang's eyes lit up.
Could it be effective?
The guide interface then unfolds, displaying the same information as before.
[Genetic breakdown is underway...]
……
Xu Yang looked at the other person's chest, where some muscles were writhing and filling the previous bullet holes; this was probably the reason.
The blood of thorns did come in handy, but it only repaired the gunshot wound in the chest and did not solve the fundamental problem. It merely caused the growth of flesh and blood with the same genetic collapse to plug the wound.
The others continued to fester and peel, their skin rotting away, one golden vertical pupil gazing at the sky, devoid of any luster.
Newt will eventually die.
Obvious.
"You're going to die, and I can't save you," Xu Yang said slowly.
Having experienced so many life-or-death moments, he was more open-minded than before, simply stating the fact in a calm manner.
He wanted to save Newt, but he was powerless to do so.
Him? Wait, what about the others?
Xu Yang was taken aback and turned to look at Huang Xi behind him.
"Minister Huang, can you—"
"I can't save him," the woman interrupted directly. "There are people in Giant City who can save him, but they don't have Giant City status, and you can't afford the cost of treatment."
……
"People in this big city...their welfare benefits are really good..."
"I understand."
He sighed, looked at his deceased friend, and forced an awkward smile.
"Looks like Newt is really going to die."
"Cough...cough cough." The person beneath him coughed a few times, as if he had caught his breath.
Newt's lips curled into a slight smile, showing surprisingly little fear: "I know."
"At least I can leave some last words."
"Speak, I'm listening."
Newt grabbed Xu Yang's hand.
He continued to gaze at the sky, but in reality, he could see nothing. At this moment, apart from sound, only touch could offer him some solace in his dwindling life.
Everything is almost over.
"Xu Yang, you... are younger and stronger than me, and... you are a good person."
Xu Yang glanced at the pile of chopped-up corpses next to the SUV. How absurd!
So I'm actually a good person?
He looked at Newt, and without refuting, simply sighed softly, "Okay, I'm a good person."
Newt continued, "Could you do me... a favor?"
"I'm a good person, I'll help if I can."
Newt smiled and took a few deep breaths.
Perhaps it was a final burst of energy before death, but his words carried a new strength: "Bury me at Gathering Point 16. There's a solitary grave in the upper left corner of the cemetery; I've reserved a spot next to it."
"Hmm." Xu Yang simply sat down next to him. "Anything else?"
"There's a gift."
"Um?"
Newt continued, "Take my body there, and you should be able to get 100,000 contribution points from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, according to that guy in the hat."
Bounty mission, 100,000 points.
Xu Yang felt a mix of emotions.
Forty thousand contribution points were enough to make a group of survivors kick someone when they're down; one hundred thousand, no wonder the other side immediately pulled out an RPG.
"But your body is to be buried, isn't it? How am I supposed to retrieve it?"
Newt chuckled. "Heh, I killed someone in the Rebuild area. The bounty is just for my death. As for what happens to the body, nobody cares."
"Alright then." Xu Yang sighed and forced a smile. "One trip for 100,000, then I've made a killing."
"Right?"
"But please don't give me such opportunities in the future. I'll try to take on fewer team missions in the future."
Why?
"I'm really bad for my teammates, didn't you notice? I've been cleaning up their corpses the whole way." Xu Yang laughed self-deprecatingly.
After a long silence, he suddenly looked down at himself.
Newt's skin peeled off completely, and his blood-red body fell silent, a smile still lingering on his lips.
died.
……
"Yeah, that's pretty cool."
Xu Yang exhaled, patted the tattered cloth hanging on his body, and slowly stood up.
Looking at Huang Xi behind him, he asked, "Minister Huang, is there anything I can help you with?"
"The people you killed were all from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As the minister, I was just passing by and saw it. Shouldn't I have asked what happened?"
That's what the woman said.
Xu Yang narrowed his eyes; the two were at least ten meters apart.
But the chill of a winter night still gripped my heart; this was a dangerous woman.
It's obvious.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is responsible for handling various external dangerous affairs, yet she was able to become the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and she was also a beautiful woman.
In this chaotic world, people's expectations of them are only higher than those of men.
We can't beat them.
Xu Yang remained secretly wary and honestly replied, "It's like this, Newt and I—"
"Okay." Huang Xi interrupted Xu Yang and continued, "Just tell me directly, after this, will you choose to become a raider?"
"Uh...why do you ask that?"
Huang Xi glanced around and said calmly, "Most raiders only do so because they got enough benefits the first time."
Xu Yang breathed a sigh of relief after realizing what had happened.
The other party was asking if they would get a taste of the benefits after selling all the survivors' equipment, which might lead them astray.
"Whether you know how or not, what do you do?" he asked curiously.
The other party's answer was very straightforward.
"Do nothing, just treat it as a reminder. It's a kind of formalism done for show."
other people?
Xu Yang was slightly taken aback.
Suddenly, a whooshing sound rang out high in the sky.
Then, bang!
A cloud of dust rose from the ground, and just like Huang Xi's entrance, a man dressed in silver jumped down from the sky.
Xu Yang subconsciously looked up at the sky.
A bluish-green oval vehicle, about the size of a grain of rice.
Airship or spaceship?
It is thousands of meters above the ground.
If it were me, I'd probably be a meat pie if I jumped.
He glanced at the legs of the two people opposite him, suppressing his surprise, and then looked at the man in silver: "Who are you?"
The man smiled slightly: "People from this big city have excellent welfare benefits."
"..."
Xu Yang felt like he'd been tricked, but judging from the other person's expression, it was just a normal smile, which was probably a joke.
【Humanity】
[A normal adult male whose body has undergone customized, phased genetic modification has mutations and biochemical additives within him.]
[Note: This is interesting.]
……
Seeing that Xu Yang didn't speak, the man gestured around and continued, "Young man, you seem quite murderous. What's going on?"
"Um...they wanted to kill me, so I killed them, that's all."
"I was acting in self-defense," Xu Yang emphasized again.
The man looked at him, then at the pile of mutilated corpses, and clicked his tongue: "Fine, self-defense."
"You're pretty good. Interested in coming with us to the quarantine zone?"
Xu Yang was slightly taken aback, took a half step back, and refused, saying, "Next time."
The two people in front of me are definitely not on the same level as me. They might just be going to the quarantine zone to have some fun, but if I go, I'll probably be risking my life.
I've risked my life enough today.
Moreover, he had important matters to attend to.
Xu Yang glanced at the corpse beside him and sighed, "I still have to take this guy home, I really don't have time."
It's unclear what trouble Newt got into, but an ordinary person could offer a bounty of 100,000, and the potion he drank was something no ordinary survivor could afford.
At least none of the people he just killed could produce that kind of thing.
Suddenly, Xu Yang looked at the somewhat dejected man in front of him, then at the vehicle high in the sky, and asked, "May I ask how long you've been watching from up there?"
The man straightened his wind-rumped clothes and said, "After the first explosion, you really aren't coming with us?"
Xu Yang shook his head, which was considered an answer to the second question, and sighed inwardly.
I didn't ask why the other party didn't come down earlier to stop it.
This question is meaningless.
While rules may still exist within the settlement, things become more chaotic in the redevelopment zone.
As for the safe zone we are in now, to use a name from a movie or TV show from my previous life, it should be called the No Man's Land. It is a lawless place where the Federation only guarantees that survivors can live here without being disturbed by the monsters in the isolation zone.
As for the disputes among survivors, as long as they are not the kind of behavior of raiders who make a living by killing survivors, most of the others are classified as private grudges and seem to be ignored.
It's like... raising a venomous insect.
Survival of the fittest.
And the ultimate victor...
Xu Yang recalled the words of He west, the Minister of Foreign Affairs at Gathering Site No. 3.
If you are strong enough, the giant city will send you an invitation.
Perhaps only then can we truly be considered to have entered human society.
perhaps?
He suppressed his thoughts and didn't continue thinking about it.
He turned to look at Huang Xi beside him.
"Director Huang, I have the leaders of twenty-three infected individuals here. You are the contact person for this mission."
"Are you here to inspect the goods?"
Huang Xi raised an eyebrow slightly: "23?"
"right."
"You're lucky...." Huang Xi looked him up and down, then continued, "When you enter the settlement, someone will check you. They'll destroy your head, and the contribution points will be directly deposited into your account."
Xu Yang nodded and continued, "Oh, right, I also killed something called a fungal node. That thing should also be considered an infected, right?"
"What?"
The man beside him looked surprised.
"I mean, does a fungal node count as an infected person?" Xu Yang repeated.
As he spoke, he walked to the trunk of the transport vehicle and pulled out the head of the fungal node.
"this."
……
With the man's explanation, Xu Yang finally understood why the giant city dweller had come to the settlement in his airship.
It was for the fungal node in his hand.
Or rather, it is to remove any fungal nodes that may exist within the safe zone.
The other party searched for almost an entire afternoon, but found nothing except a handful of infected individuals. Unexpectedly, they stumbled upon the node first.
Xu Yang asked, "Director Huang, isn't this fungal node more valuable?"
This time, it was Huang Xi's turn to have a strange expression.
Almost in a confused tone: "Didn't it say so in the task description?"
"Didn't it only list infected individuals?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Xu Yang suddenly realized that someone had mentioned in the mission hall that there were two missions.
Since my level is not high enough, I only saw the infected person's mission. Presumably, the other mission is related to the fungal node.
"Junior member?"
"right."
"I remember you're from Settlement Three, right?" the woman sighed. "Is this how all departments are managed?"
"The members of your Gathering Point No. 3 are generally of higher quality. With your abilities, you must be a senior member of the External Affairs Department."
"No, that's not it. I just started working here two days ago, and I failed my first task. I told you about it this morning."
"..."
Beside them, a man from the giant city watched this scene with great interest.
"The new members in your Foreign Affairs Department are pretty high-caliber, kid. You must have accumulated at least two mutations by now."
Xu Yang was slightly taken aback. He was about to speak, intending to ask why, but the words he said changed: "How did you know?"
"Many things can be understood by looking at the surface; a single mutated trait could not have elevated the body to its current level."
The man patted him on the shoulder and smiled. "Keep it up. After you've accumulated enough mutations, remember to install at least ten energy storage modules before advancing to the next level."
"what?"
"You'll thank me then," the man simply said. "Perhaps we'll meet again in Jucheng in the future. My name is Li Xingyuan."
"Uh, Xu Yang."
As soon as he finished speaking, a shadow began to grow larger on the ground.
The airship that had been hovering in the sky landed.
A hatch slowly opened, and a girl dressed in silver, with short white hair, stepped out.
For some reason, Xu Yang was reminded of Ron's hair.
The same color.
The information in the guide flashed by.
This also suggests that the other party has targeted mutations and biochemical plugins within their body.
The girl looked at the man and said, "How much longer are we going to talk? We need to get going."
Li Xingyuan rubbed his temples, a hint of helplessness in his expression. "Fine, you really don't waste a single moment."
"Xu Yang, since you also have things to do, I won't make things difficult for you. Let's meet again in Jucheng sometime."
The man turned and boarded the airship.
Beside him, Huang Xi said, "I sent you an application. Your status in the Foreign Affairs Department should now be that of an intermediate member. After your level is upgraded, there will be a corresponding one-time subsidy. Remember to go to your original gathering place to collect it."
As she spoke, she walked past Xu Yang.
"Ah, thank you," Xu Yang said belatedly.
Although he wasn't sure what prerequisites were needed for junior to intermediate members, there were definitely requirements for the completion rate and number of tasks.
Someone like me, who failed even on the first task, probably won't meet the requirements.
Minister Huang, no, Sister Xi is a good person.
"No need to thank me. You've done us a favor by eliminating the fungal node, and your strength is not an issue either."
The tall figure disappeared through the airship's cabin door, and a streak of blue light flew away into the distance.