abcnovels
Chapter 279 - 279: Black Rock City (1)
Chapter 279 - 279: Black Rock City (1)
Chapter 279: Black Rock City (1)
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
[Daily mission]
[ Eliminate the Mutants located at NEW World Internet Cafe. Reward: 30 Technology Points.]
Zhao Yu slowly woke up with the system notification.
” It’s already night?!”
The daily task refreshes at the moment night falls. Zhao Yu realized he had slept for nearly twelve hours.
“Grumble—!”
Zhao Yu drank some purified water until he felt full.
Zhao Yu went to the control room and fast-forwarded through the surveillance footage at the base’s entrance at 30X speed.
Midway through the footage, a shadow flashed across. Zhao Yu quickly paused and rewound.
After a careful inspection, he finally recognized the uninvited guest.
“Another mutant…”
Zhao Yu’s expression became serious. According to the surveillance, about six hours ago, a mutant had passed in front of his base.
Judging by its trajectory, it seemed as if it was in a hurry to return to somewhere.
“Is it heading back to the county town?!”
His understanding of the mutants was limited. He only knew they were the result of humans undergoing some transformation. They lacked intelligence and acted purely on instinct.
Yet, the mutant in the footage was clearly different from his understanding.
“Either this mutant possesses some intelligence, or there’s a way for them to communicate with their kind across distances. Perhaps another mutant was calling out to it…”
With that thought, Zhao Yu accessed the audio from the surveillance footage, reducing the frequency to inspect it.
As expected, about ten minutes earlier, a segment of the audio revealed a low-frequency fluctuation with a certain rhythm.
“This isn’t good news…”
Zhao Yu felt overwhelmed. Today’s daily task was for him to kill a mutant in the town.
If the mutant he was battling could summon reinforcements, he would be in grave danger.
After some contemplation, Zhao Yu still decided to undertake the daily task.
Firstly, he couldn’t afford to wait that long. The daily task’s reward of 30 tech points would save him 30 hours, allowing him to build the energy station sooner.
Secondly, he had no food. The longer he waited, the weaker he would become. He had to take advantage of his current strength and good mental state to search for food in the town as it was big.
“With mutated beasts in the town, regular people wouldn’t dare to enter.
Finding food shouldn’t be too difficult…”
Zhao Yu perked up his ears, listening in all directions. Not hearing any strange noises, he continued to head towards the county town.
Walking along the edge of the woods towards the county town for about ten minutes, Zhao Yu suddenly stopped.
“Why is it so quiet today?!”
There were constant noises at night, cries and howls of various creatures. But today, the silence seemed eerily abnormal.
Even the sounds of mosquitoes and crickets were absent.
This unprecedented situation could not be a good sign.
“Tech points…”
Zhao Yu eventually resumed walking.
Even if danger awaited ahead, he had to proceed. Even if he didn’t complete the daily task or kill that mutant, he needed to find food to last for three to five days.
In this way, even if he stayed in the base for the next few days, he could use the tech points accumulated over time to exchange for the energy station.
Throughout the journey, Zhao Yu proceeded with extreme caution, hid himself to observe at the slightest disturbance.
He took breaks intermittently, and a half-hour journey ended up taking him an hour.
Upon reaching the outskirts of the county town, the moonlight illuminated the buildings enough for him to discern their outlines. He surveyed the scene from a distance; it was completely different from when he passed by yesterday.
Traces of roaming mutants were occasionally visible, but now, everything was silent.
“It’s too eerie…”
Zhao Yu felt a chill run down his spine. The current state of the city resembled a ghost town.
But he was already here, and even if dangers lay ahead, he had to proceed!
The only consolation was that the daily task indicated the location of the mutant, which he could view on the mission map.
However, he could only see the coordinates and the distance between him and the target without any details about the exact location or during his path.
That was still manageable as it saved Zhao Yu the effort of searching.
The marked mutant was located on the outskirts of the county town. After crossing two streets and occasionally peeking into the convenience stores, he was disappointed to find they had been emptied by scavengers.
After crossing another intersection and walking about a hundred meters further, Zhao Yu finally spotted the mutant mentioned in the task.
“Is that my target?!”
Near a semi-basement entrance, a mutant, half-crushed under a giant signboard, lay there motionless.
After surveying the surroundings to ensure no other threats, Zhao Yu quickly approached.
“Roar—!”
The mutant turned its head and growled softly.
Zhao Yu approached to within three or four meters, bending down to observe.
The mutant’s tail was also pinned down.
He swiftly stepped forward, raised his machete, and with a strong swing, effortlessly severed the mutant’s head.
[Mission completed. Reward: 30 Technology Points.]
“Was it really that easy?!”