"Unremembered"

Li Aoz slept comfortably through the night. He was not one to overthink things or sleep in, so he got up as soon as six o'clock arrived. Just as he was preparing to continue planning his leveling route, the isolation ward door was suddenly kicked open. He looked up and immediately saw Head Nurse Nordly's gloomy face.

"You recovered pretty quickly," Li Aoz remarked flatly after glancing at her.

"You no longer have any health issues. Come out and exercise." Before Nordly had even finished speaking, Li Aoz immediately jumped out of bed and walked over without caring about the restraint suit dragging behind him.

Nordly was somewhat surprised. She had not explained anything yet.

Could it be that a Level 5 Infected was no different from an ordinary person when he wasn't going berserk? That was far too different from Level 3 and Level 4 Infected...

"What are we doing?"

Li Aoz did not think much of it and casually asked, interrupting Nordly's train of thought.

"Follow me."

She said it sullenly, practically escorting Li Aoz under guard to the training grounds.

Li Aoz surveyed the surroundings with interest, secretly committing the layout to memory. His isolation ward was located deep within the first floor, and along the way, he could see the shelter's various divisions and departments.

The moment they left the isolation area, the number of people abruptly increased. Patients in hospital gowns wandered back and forth. Li Aoz's gaze swept over their figures, and he clearly noticed that these patients had a high degree of freedom, though some of their body parts were incomplete or grotesquely deformed.

Even without entering a combat state, his seasoned eye could tell that these seemingly harmless deformed and disabled patients were at least Level 10 to Level 15. Some moved with agility and strength, and could even keenly detect Li Aoz's scrutiny.

No wonder people in his previous life said this quest was hard to speedrun... Even the patients coming in for treatment had such a high average level. For players in the first two versions, it had been extremely difficult.

Li Aoz recalled that the Level Cap in Version 1.0 was 30, while Version 2.0 raised it to 60. It was easy to imagine how devastated the players who encountered this quest at the start of the open beta had been.

They could not escape, and they could not even beat the patients here. They could only obediently cooperate with the experiments and grind quests.

"Stop looking around." Nordly snorted coldly. "They are patients who have basically achieved Malefic Calamity self-suppression. Whether in physical ability or Combat Power, they are stronger than you, a man from the Four Nations."

"Oh."

Li Aoz casually replied, then raised a hand and pointed at several prison cells adjacent to the isolation ward. "You keep prisoners here too?"

"What business is that of yours?"

"I'm a patient too. I'm not more dangerous than a prisoner, am I?" Li Aoz shrugged. "I think ZX-102 Ward is pretty good. Can I move there?"

"No."

"Why not? ZX-101 would work too. Both places are nice, and you can see the cafeteria—"

Bang! Before Li Aoz could finish, a sonic boom exploded beside his ear. His ears rang, and his eardrums throbbed faintly with pain. He turned to look at Nordly. A flash of savagery passed through his gray eyes before he put on a harmless smile.

He raised a hand, facing Nordly, whose fist still radiated scorching heat, and put on an apologetic, confused expression. "Sorry. I just arrived here and offended you unintentionally."

"It's good that you know." Nordly raised her thick, powerful arm. Her voice was slow and low. Catching sight of Li Aoz's attitude from the corner of her eye, a fierce glint appeared in her gaze. "Do not mention it in front of me again. If there's a next time—"

Snap! She viciously grasped at empty air, and a violent sound like exploding gunpowder immediately echoed through the corridor.

A powerful gale swept over him, scattering Li Aoz's messy black hair. He lowered his head slightly. Rather than getting angry, his apologetic face broke into a smile.

Li Aoz did not care about threats from the weak, but the stream of information scrolling across his retina made him very happy.

You have triggered the quest—"Unremembered"

Type: Investigation

Duration: Long-term

Quest Difficulty: S

Description: Some history should not be buried, and some people should not be forgotten.

By chance, you were captured by the Nethermark Humanitarian Rescue Organization. Inspired by the "Professor," you resolved to make a great contribution to humanity's future and fate.

But was that really the case?

They saw you as a "turning point," but you knew best what had happened to you.

In this cold, desolate Outland, was anyone truly willing to risk their life to save others? It looked like you had been recruited, yet no one genuinely respected you. Your personal freedom had been restricted.

The disabled patients all seemed aggressive, and their Combat Power even surpassed that of professional soldiers.

There also seemed to be disagreements within the organization. Human hearts were inscrutable, and things might not necessarily develop in a good direction.

You did not care about humanity's continuation, nor did you care about their internal struggles. But you knew that life was precious and love was worth even more; yet for freedom's sake, both could be cast aside.

To survive and embark upon the road to freedom, finding the true answer was the only solution.

Progress: 0.00%

Settlement Conditions:

1. Investigation progress no lower than 30% (mandatory)

2. Leave the Nethermark Organization (optional; choosing this action grants an additional 10% investigation progress)

Quest Reward: Rewards will be issued according to investigation progress.

Special Note: This quest is treated as a Main Quest and remains valid long-term.

"Rewards... Let me see. Hah, as expected of something treated as a Main Quest. If the investigation progress reaches 60%, I can get one million experience points."

Li Aoz raised an eyebrow. One million experience points were enough for a Mutant to reach Level 20.

The Overlord Class had one advantage: it did not need much experience in the early stages, and its equipment requirements were also very low. Most of the time was spent mastering and developing Aoneng—and what the latter required was not experience, but personal technical accumulation and professional knowledge.

Experience could be used to learn professional knowledge. Different Aoneng Mutants needed to study different fields. For example, if someone's Aoneng was flame manipulation, he would need to study fuel science, basic chemistry, plasma physics, basic thermodynamics, the law of conservation of mass, and so on.

Those were the real experience sinks.

The professional knowledge Li Aoz needed was not easy to find. It was all monopolized by the Global Trade Bank and the Four Nations. The Outland could not access it at all.

Still, he did not need that much experience for the time being.

If the situation became urgent and he had to leave early—Li Aoz looked at the settlement conditions. As long as he completed 20% progress and then found a way to escape Nethermark, he could receive one hundred thousand experience points under the minimum settlement conditions.

Afterward, he could hunt monsters and level up in the Outland. Li Aoz estimated that reaching Level 10 would not take him long.

He could also complete "Unremembered" in one go. That would work too. In any case, he already had the Mutant class, so he had plenty of options.

He glanced at ZX-102 Ward. That was one of the places hiding secrets.

"I don't know much about the details of the 'Unremembered' quest. I never read any related guides or analyses about what stance the Nethermark Organization actually takes."

Li Aoz had been a player from the Red Arrow Empire in his previous life. He truly could not remember Frostplate's specific quests. He only knew that Nethermark Humanity could yield an extremely powerful specialty. As for what happened within Nethermark Humanity and what internal disagreements existed, he had no idea.

However, one thing was certain: this organization would not fall until Version 1.7.1. In reality, he had plenty of time.

Li Aoz simply stopped thinking about it. Nordly had already brought him to the training grounds, so he might as well obediently train with her for a while first.

There was nothing special about the training grounds: pull-up bars, parallel bars, a soccer field, and a two-hundred-meter track. The grass had been worn away completely, leaving only a bare stretch of asphalt. Several security personnel were exercising nearby. Their muscles bulged and their builds were massive, and from time to time, terrifying auras emanated from them—one look was enough to tell they were martial artists.

"Here will do. We won't disturb Johnny and the others while they practice."

After deciding on the spot, Head Nurse Nordly turned to Li Aoz and said:

"Go. Run ten kilometers first."