abcnovels
Chapter 414: 414 Loop
Chapter 414: 414 Loop
Chapter 414: 414 Loop
“The second phase – [Exploration in the Mist] has begun. Please choose one from the following three ‘exploration methods’ and execute it.
Different methods of exploration may lead to different results.
However, the final storyline is also related to the decisions you make and the drawn [Ominous Card].”
1. [Land Exploration by Foot], which maximises the chances of collecting usable items in the vicinity. (Low risk, slower exploration speed, and more difficult to avoid the mist.)
2. [Harbour River Exploration], head to the nearest harbour area, board a large yacht, and attempt to escape the mist through the river. (High risk and faster exploration speed. It’s relatively easy to escape the mist.)
3. [Large Vehicle Exploration], explore using a large bus. The noise from the vehicle might attract some hungry creatures or monsters that have a unique sensitivity to sound. (Medium risk, medium exploration speed, it’s possible to escape the mist if the right path is taken.)
“Three different ways… the second one can essentially be directly vetoed.
At present, I cannot completely control the situation in the town, and it’s basically suicidal to attempt to escape via the river area.
Judging from the omens encountered, most of the terrifying lives are related to the sea and water.
The large lake around the town and the river are, inevitably, directly connected to the sea… there must be horrifying creatures hidden in the river.
If the yacht is destroyed, there’s basically only waiting for death.
Unless all the basic cards are upgraded and can be permanently activated to summon Togu, Miss Chen Li, and Duo Zeya for assistance.
Moreover, I need to activate the Faceless Skull, otherwise surviving in the river and sea environment is impossible.
As for walking, it seems a bit stupid. It’s a waste of time, and the mist will become increasingly dangerous…”
Han Dong finally chose the third option.
In the single-player mode, with Han Dong’s selection
An idea of escaping the mist by bus instantly irrigates the minds of the protagonist and other key characters.
The supermarket manager suggested: “I remember the distance to the local primary school from here is only one street away… There should be a school bus parked in the school.
I’ve talked to the bus driver before. Due to the school’s strict security, they usually leave the keys in the bus.
We could use the school bus to quickly leave the town area.”
“Then…who is going to drive the bus?”
Having stayed in the supermarket for a long time, everyone has a sense of dependency on sealed spaces.
They’re reluctant to enter the mist alone but are willing to ride the bus to explore the mist… Who is going to drive the bus back becomes an important question.
Who could have known…
Just as everyone used the lottery to select four people to drive the bus,
The school bus had already parked at the supermarket’s entrance, and Han Dong was the one driving it.
The primary school is less than 300 meters away from the supermarket, and the school bus was parked at the entrance, making the entire process seem unusually easy.
“Hurry up and get in the bus… And we’ll need another experienced driver, I’m not very good at driving.”
Driving means undertaking the risk for the whole bus and oneself… After all, the driver is seated right at the front.
Who could have known that as soon as the topic came up, someone spontaneously volunteered.
An energetic old man in his sixties with white hair.
“My name is Daniel Paxton, I used to drive in the army… It’s been thirty years. I also drove a bus in the city for a while, so I have some experience.”
The protagonist David patted this man on the shoulder, “Uncle Daniel, I’ll leave the driving to you.”
“Which way are we going?
Do we get straight on the main road and leave town as quickly as possible, heading for Portland City (the largest city in Maine, and also a coastal city).
Or do we take the mountain road behind and move inland?”
The map was unfolded.
With the town as the center, there are only two routes for the bus to take to leave.
The protagonist preferred to go to places with more people. “Let’s stay on the main road…Even if big cities are shrouded in mist, there are bound to be more survivors there.
Perhaps the local military is looking for survivors. Through military transport aircraft, we should be able to escape the range of the mist quickly.”
At this moment, Han Dong who was sitting at the back, suddenly spoke.
“No…we take the mountain road.
The so-called ‘boundary’ might not be what we imagine. The further away from the sea, the more likely it is to be the boundary.
Since we have observed various human mutations.
Larger cities with high population density could be more dangerous… Furthermore, Portland is a coastal city. The sea might be the source of the mist.
By taking the mountain road and heading inland, we might have a slim chance of survival.”
After resolving the incident of the woman committing suicide in the ladies’ bathroom, Han Dong’s ‘influence’ had fully increased. In the protagonist’s eyes, this bad-mouthed writer had become an irreplaceable asset.
“Well… Let’s listen to Mr. Nicholas.”
With the protagonist, David, agreeing to take the mountain road, everyone else in the vehicle unanimously agreed as well.
The initial journey was extremely smooth.
Occasionally, there would be insects crashing into the car windows, but they wouldn’t stay for too long before flying away.
The reason was simple.
The humans in the car were not their only prey, there were other humans hiding in the town…Moreover, different types of monsters would prey on each other.
If the humans in the car were tough to handle, the flying bugs wouldn’t insist on them.
First, they headed to the gas station in the town to fuel up, then to the police station to gather weapons.
However, the police station had long become a bug nest.
With Han Dong’s help, they reluctantly obtained four ordinary handguns before being forced to retreat by the surge of strange insects…
The handguns were given to trustworthy individuals with basic shooting skills.
Thanks to the evacuation plan using the school bus, things seemed to go smoothly… they did not encounter any danger on the way.
During the drive, some enormous creatures over ten meters high would sometimes stride directly over the roof of the school bus, but they did not attack… It seemed like they were neutral creatures in the mist, or maybe they were not interested in a metal object like the bus.
Just when the school bus was about to safely carry everyone out of the town,
The driver suddenly shouted: “There’s someone waving at us from the side of the road… Should we stop?”
It was almost impossible for anyone to survive alone in the monster-filled mist, let alone stand by the road and calmly wave… The probability that it was a mutant was very high.
Everyone on the bus was of the same opinion and didn’t stop the bus, driving straight out of the town.
“Hmm? Is this person… the dangerous individual we saw in the supermarket parking lot earlier?”
Through the car window, Han Dong saw that the waver seemed to have a pair of strange eyes shining with black light, and he felt a sense of danger that was difficult to describe.
Just as the car was about to leave the town, a thick fog suddenly enveloped the car, temporarily obscuring everything outside. (The visibility of ordinary mist is around 5 to 10 meters)
Five minutes later, the heavy fog dispersed.
The familiar supermarket appeared before everyone’s eyes… as if they had circled the town and returned.
“What’s going on?!”
They continued to drive.
Half an hour later, when they came to the exit of the town again, the man in the black robe was still standing by the road waving… This time Han Dong quietly observed him with his Little Demon Eye, but couldn’t see through the black robe.
After once again ignoring this man and driving out of the town,
The same thing happened.
When the heavy fog dispersed, the school bus once again returned to the starting point, in front of the supermarket… a sense of despair swept over them.