Li Aoz Itched for a Fight

"I don't care."

The golden halos in Li Aoz's eyes faded. Using gravity to flick off a handgun's safety was hardly a difficult operation for him.

If his opponent had been a professional fighter, this trick would have been basically useless. Career soldiers had shooting techniques branded into their muscle memory.

It was just that in the Outland, most people had no habit of putting their guns on safety. Even an accidental discharge was better than failing to seize the initiative because they could not fire in time.

Ze Xi hurriedly set down her gun and raised both hands. "Don't get worked up, don't get worked up. Let's talk this out. Um, handsome little guy, are you here for money or for my body—... Though you probably wouldn't be, right? If you made a move on me, I'd be the one getting the better deal."

"Tsk, tsk." Nomi carried a wrench over her shoulder. "Is that all the backbone you have? Do you know the virtue of us Outland People? The mighty cannot make us submit."

"Nomi, shut up."

Li Aoz punched Nomi on the head and pushed her aside, then asked Ze Xi, "You're Ze Xi? I heard you have a batch of good stuff."

"Uh, I don't deal in human trafficking..."

"What are you thinking?" Li Aoz said disdainfully. "I know all about your trade with Mo Ao, Bankro, and Lei Zhiqiang. You've secretly supplied them with plenty of canned food and medicine, haven't you?"

"Huh? You know all that?"

Ze Xi looked a little embarrassed and muttered resentfully,

"Who sold me out... It must have been Xiao Ze! That shifty-eyed bastard looks like trouble at a glance."

"Never mind that for now."

Li Aoz tossed the backpack he had prepared long ago in front of her. "There are 120,000 Derby inside. I want to buy something from you."

"...Good heavens!"

Ze Xi pulled down her round-framed glasses, then sat down on her knees in disbelief and opened the backpack. Faced with stacks upon stacks of neatly organized, brand-new banknotes, she swallowed.

"Such new, tidy Derby cash—you robbed a bank or something? Oh my god, there are even Amaryllis patterns on them—these are sturdier than the notes printed by the Rose Army!"

Nomi clicked her tongue.

"What counterfeit money... Those were printed with real machines. They're genuine counterfeit bills!"

Ze Xi hurriedly looked up at Li Aoz and patted her chest as she promised, "Big Brother! From now on, you're my Big Brother. What do you want? Even if you want an armored vehicle, I can get you one!"

"Really?" Nomi's eyes lit up. "Then I want GTB's 'Wolfgang' amphibious 88mm anti-infantry armored carrier!"

"That's already Mobile Armor, okay?!"

Ze Xi lowered her glasses and stared at Nomi, speaking with righteous seriousness.

"You'll have to pay more. One million Derby."

"Fuck! It only costs 600,000 to make! How did it become one million in your hands? You filthy profiteer! It's not like the Rose Army doesn't have them—I'll just ask the Rose Army for one!"

"Stop arguing," Li Aoz said. "I want the latest type of medicine developed by Nethermark Humanity."

"That... should be possible." Ze Xi considered it, then nodded. "There's some in the freezer. I can get it for you right away. But there's no guarantee it'll work after you use it. I only heard it could help people awaken Aoneng... Whether it actually works is hard to say."

"Don't worry about that."

"Fine, you're my Big Brother—oh, right. May I ask Big Brother's name?"

"Me? You don't know who I am?"

Li Aoz was surprised. Hadn't he made enough of a scene when he came in for everyone in the shelter to know?

"Hehe." Ze Xi scratched her cheek, realizing she was out of the loop. "I just got back. I went out to stock up, hehe... I don't really know."

"I see."

Li Aoz shrugged.

"I'm Gatling Maxim Lewis, captain of the Special Operations Department under the Rose Army's 153rd Field Army. Here's some advice about today: don't tell anyone. This is our secret. I know where you work, and I know everything about you. Understand?"

"T-The Rose Army?!"

Ze Xi's face instantly went even paler than Li Aoz's. She nodded rapidly like a pecking chicken.

"I understand! Big Brother from the Rose Army, I won't say anything. The freezer's power switch was damaged by White Fang Gang thugs. I never saw you, and I was only here to handle repairs."

"Smart."

Li Aoz was quite satisfied. He had discovered that, these days, the Rose Army's intimidation factor among ordinary people was no less than that of Law Enforcement Division Four.

Too bad he was not a girl. Otherwise, he could have pretended to be an agent from Law Enforcement Division Four. That would definitely have had more impact.

"Come to think of it, I want to ask about something. The money is all in the backpack, so take whatever you think is appropriate."

The moment Li Aoz spoke, Ze Xi immediately fawned over him.

"Go ahead, go ahead."

"The ZX-102 isolation ward."

Li Aoz said,

"What exactly happened there? It's clearly an empty ward, so why is it locked?"

"That..."

Ze Xi thought for a moment. "It wasn't really a big deal. I heard it was just a medical accident that caused some unrest. Then the professor and Head Nurse Nordly had a bit of a conflict—finally, Head Nurse Nordly stubbornly insisted on sealing off the ward and refusing to let anyone enter or use it."

After saying that, she shook her head. "I don't know the exact details either, but I can tell you this for certain: there was once an extremely serious casualty incident in Ward ZX-102. It even nearly made Head Nurse Nordly attack the professor... If you bring it up now, the rift between the two of them probably began back then."

"Oh?" Li Aoz raised an eyebrow. "So that's one version of the story."

"You didn't know? Head Nurse Nordly and Assistant Physician Anna were both the professor's students. They both left Frostplate National Medical Academy because they were dissatisfied with Frostplate's bureaucrats. They came to Nethermark."

"But now that the professor has been killed and Head Nurse Nordly is gravely injured... It's hard not to suspect Assistant Physician Anna, one of those who benefited."

Li Aoz listened and committed it to memory.

Plot Progression had risen by 1.71%, which meant this information was fairly useful and involved a specific incident.

It also indirectly proved that ZX-102's secret might be related to the series of abnormalities surrounding Nethermark Humanity.

Ze Xi was a middleman who resold Nethermark Products to the Outland, then purchased certain rare metals and rare-earth materials from the Outland People at low prices. This line of work only brought her into contact with organizations from other shelters.

He could basically get no information about the Four Nations from Ze Xi. Li Aoz did not waste any more effort. As he considered and sorted through the clues, he began thinking about where to start investigating the secret of the ZX-102 isolation ward.

The professor was already dead, Nordly's fate was unknown, and Doctor Anna had deliberately driven him away.

Nomi asked curiously,

"So mysterious? What exactly did that old hag and that big woman do next door to me? How come I don't know anything?"

"I wouldn't know. It happened two years ago."

Ze Xi shook her head. "Before that incident, Head Nurse Nordly was a fairly gentle person. She was the youngest, and her emotions were easily affected."

"But." She paused before saying, "There's one person who knows the whole story. She just isn't with Nethermark Humanity. You'll have to find a way out of the shelter and go to Sikkim Settlement to find her."

"Sikkim Settlement?" Li Aoz froze.

What a coincidence. Anna had just told him that White Fang Gang members might be heading to Sikkim Settlement to regroup.

And this also happened to be his destination.

"Could this... be the real intention of the plot designers behind the game Star Abyss?!"

Li Aoz immediately made the connection.

"You can unlock the Mutant class—farm Aura Awakening Potions—advance the plot, and head to a new area to take quests best suited for Mutants. This is plot content that players in my previous life never uncovered!"

"Could this be why 'Unremembered' could serve as the Mutant Main Quest?"

Li Aoz was a little surprised, then suddenly understood.

Because of the major bug in his previous life, people had never deeply explored the plot. And the miserable prison-like experience of playing a Mutant had discouraged many players from choosing the class.

Every quest had to be handcrafted by the design team before being generated by the game's AI. The plot had to be written before the scenes and quest stages could be set up.

It was simply that Frostplate's player base was not large enough, and those who chose the Mutant path were even fewer. If this had been another country, such as Sky Ring, people would have studied it inside out long ago.

"Timing and fate." Li Aoz shook his head.

The designers probably had not figured out how to address Frostplate having too few Mutant players at first.

After all—wasn't Frostplate already a prison? This lousy country was already miserable enough. Instead of becoming a mage or a Martial Artist, you still chose to be a Mutant here? Other people's plot progression was an endless labyrinth; yours was a life sentence.

A chill ran through Li Aoz. He suddenly realized something. "I'm afraid the designers never imagined anyone would start as a male character in Frostplate and choose Mutant, right?"

This stack of negative buffs rivaled the status panel of a toxic MMO.

Of course, it might have been intentional. Only by concentrating Mutant players in the Red Arrow Empire could there be a Version 2.0 storyline.

That was the truly exciting part. Even Li Aoz, who had witnessed the sun go out and walked across the surface of a black hole, could not forget those days.

"Regardless, I've now stepped into territory no one before me has entered and truly uncovered the exclusive storyline of the Overlord Class—why does that make me sound like the class instructor for the Overlord Class?"

Li Aoz was eager to make a move. Ever since becoming a streamer, he had constantly pursued all kinds of stream-worthy moments. For traffic and popularity, he had slapped all sorts of labels on himself and performed all kinds of idiotic stunts just to make people laugh, bring everyone some fun, and trade that bit of fun for the capital to make a living.

How long had it been since he had felt this excited? It was like playing a single-player game, exploring the game's plot and digging into its hidden details. There were no online companions, yet he was completely immersed in it.

"This is the original joy of gaming!"

Li Aoz itched for a fight.

"I've played the clown for so long that I forgot I'm a technical streamer, not an entertainment streamer!"

At the thought of the unknown plot and challenges ahead, the joy of breaking new ground surged up within him and ignited Li Aoz's fighting spirit.

It was virgin territory no one had ever set foot in, everything fresh and new, waiting for him to conquer it.

He began to crave a fight.

Today in APEX Kings Canyon, I used Mirage with an R-301 and a Volt SMG. I fought one against three in the open, racked up 12 kills, 8 assists, and 2,346 damage, got a single hammer badge, became kill leader, and won the match. Please be informed.