Ruins Investigation

"What's going on?"

The sudden stop caught the other Bounty Hunter off guard; some were stunned and unable to process what was happening.

"That shaman betrayed us! He killed Oakes— "

The Martial Artist's companion had barely uttered a sound when Xue Nian grabbed him with his bear paws, pierced his ears with both claws, and crushed his head instantly.

Bang bang bang bang bang bang!

Someone reacted and opened fire with rifles. Xue Nian simply ducked down and hid behind a seat. The opponent's overly long weapon was blocked by the seat and the cramped space inside the bus, making it impossible for him to aim.

"It's the Bear Shaman! Damn it, focus fire on him! Don't let him get close, he can tear a car apart with his bare hands!"

Just then, Luo Le hacked into the vehicle's lighting system again.

Pop! Pop! Pop! The electrical overload caused all the light bulbs to explode and shatter. The Bounty Hunter were nearby were injured by the glass shards. Just as they were about to retaliate, they were immediately plunged into darkness.

[Air conditioning system hacked - [Heating mode] Temperature: 38.9℃]

"I can't see anyone anymore!"

"Use the thermal imaging sights—damn it, why did the air conditioning suddenly get so hot!"

Xue Nian remained silent, activating his spiritual power. His eerie green eyes, like will-o'-the-wisps, allowed him to see through his spiritual vision. The Bounty Hunter, caught in the darkness, were completely unprepared and were like lambs to the slaughter.

"Jump out of the car!" Someone realized something was wrong, found the glass window in the dark, and immediately picked up a weapon and a window breaker to try to break the glass and escape.

[The protective barrier has been raised]

Luo Le sat leisurely in the back, his electronic eyes glowing red as he watched the NPCs smash the glass and then smash the bus's protective steel plate with hammers, creating a powerful and resounding impact.

Clang, clang, clang...

Lu Run was stunned by this scene. In a short moment, most of the vicious desperados were hunted down and killed by Xue Nian and Luo Le.

Although he couldn't see anything in the darkness, the constant screams and the experience bonus from teaming up were extremely shocking to this complete newbie.

"For you."

Suddenly, Luo Le handed him a pistol. "Gather some experience, boost your attributes, and when you encounter danger, you can only rely on yourself."

Lu Run suddenly realized what was happening. He quickly picked up his pistol, asked Luo Le how to use it, and then began to finish off the enemies bit by bit.

This battle was an overwhelming victory. Not to mention that Xue Nian, as a Shaman of the [Strange] type, had a strong physique and spiritual power that the Bounty Hunter couldn't withstand, Luo Le's secondary profession, [Hacker], played a key role in this battle.

The power system was restored, some light sources were activated, and light returned. Only the three of them remained alive on the vehicle.

"There are still seventy minutes left in the blocking time. I need to hack into the car's program and then rewrite the destination."

The rest was left to Luo Le to handle, while Xue Nian and Lu Run began to take stock of the spoils.

"The quality of these people's equipment is so low." Lu Run couldn't help but complain as he watched Xue Nian remove the prosthetic spine from the other person.

Xue Nian, however, was used to it. "It's normal. What good prosthetics can a poor person afford? These third- or fourth-hand items, all put together, don't even cost 20,000 derbies."

"Let me help you." Lu Run stepped forward to help remove the prosthetic body from the dead body, then suddenly realized something. "Hey, if a player dies, won't the prosthetic body disappear along with them?"

"It depends," Xue Nian said. "You probably don't know about the players' resurrection mechanism, do you?"

"Yes. That's true." Lu Run nodded. "All I know is that our bodies seem to have been formed from the bodies of NPCs. What happens when a player dies?"

"Simply put, you were born into an NPC and you also have some special abilities."

Xue Nian said:

"If you check your information as an NPC, you will find that you have a lifetime service contract with ' Lai An Ding Member Medical Institution '."

"Lai An Ding Member Medical Institution? What's that?" Lu Run caught the whiff of this term.

"I don't know, but it's there. It might have been arranged by the quantum computer—in short, this medical institution implanted special nanomachines into the body you were born into—come on, give me the gun."

"Oh." Lu Run quickly handed the gun back.

That's exactly how it is.

Xue Nian took the pistol, switched it to burst fire mode, and casually shot himself in the head.

Bang! Under Lu Run's watchful gaze, Xue Nian's brains and blood splattered all over the car seats.

"Hold!"

Lu Run cried out in surprise.

Xue Nian was shot in the head and immediately knelt on one knee. After a slight struggle, he collapsed to the ground. His pupils gradually dilated, but a calm narration came from the voice channel:

"No matter what fatal damage a player suffers, they will not die immediately. When your health reaches zero, you will first enter a 'near-death' state for up to one minute. During this time, if you can get treatment from someone else, you can recover from the 'near-death' state—come on, take out a healing potion from my pocket and give me a shot."

Xue Nian's calm and composed tone quickly calmed Lu Run down. Following his instructions, Lu Run took a healing potion from the other man's pocket and injected it into his neck.

"As long as the player's near-death state does not exceed 1 minute, they can return safely like this."

The next moment, Xue Nian's head swayed, and the wound healed and repaired rapidly and visibly. Apart from being a little pale, he stood up as if nothing had happened. He then ate and drank, took some medicine, and restored his life points to a healthy level.

"This is amazing..."

Lu Run was quite tempted, picked up the pistol, and was about to shoot himself to test it out.

"Even if you die, it's okay," Luo Le interjected as he hacked into the transport vehicle's computer program. "If more than a minute has passed, the player's character will be considered dead, Lai Anding will immediately activate the nanomachines to revive you."

"Does that mean players can respawn indefinitely?!"

"It's not that easy—although even if you only have one molecule left in your body, as long as it doesn't take more than a minute, I can save you... Hmm, that seems pretty amazing."

Xue Nian explained, "But that doesn't mean you can die indefinitely. According to our calculations, nanomachines can only be fully repaired three times, and each time you die, you don't revive on the spot. You have to revive in a nearby player gathering area or the main city."

Lu Run's restless heart immediately calmed down, and he asked hesitantly:

"What happens after three deaths? Is the account permanently deleted?"

"No, it's just the NPC's body that died from the summons," Xue Nian said. "After you die more than three times, the body is completely ruined and can no longer withstand your summons. Your account needs to cool down for 24 hours—about 30 days in the game."

"What a loss... Will there be any further consequences?"

"Yes, after a 24-hour cooldown period, when you log back into the game, your interface will no longer display 'Descent'."

Xue Nian said:

"You need to redeploy, bringing with you knowledge, experience, level, and rank, and recruit a similar NPC character to bring them down."

"Wait, then what about my previous identity, the quests I've completed, the equipment I possess, and all that Favorability— "

"Yes, your identity will change, but your faction usually won't. Your mission progress will be reset to zero, and your current level's experience points will be cleared. As for your Favorability..."

Xue Nian said meaningfully, "As far as I know, NPCs with Favorability below 500 (respect) will no longer remember you. And those with a rating above 500 will not care how you came back."

He wanted to ask more questions, but Luo Le suddenly said, "The location has been adjusted. We should be able to reach the Nethermark Humanity in about 15 minutes."

"Be prepared." Xue Nian nodded. "The difficulty of the Nethermark Humanity seems very high. Even if Li Aoz destroys it, there should be bandit gangs in the vicinity eyeing this place before the Rose Army arrives."

"These lousy bastards aren't enough for me to level up." Luo Le curled his lips. "We should hurry up and find Li Aoz's video and finish the company's publicity task so we can do the mission. I don't want to work four or five hours of overtime every day. I really don't understand why prisoners have to work eight hours a day. Are they slaves? I might as well go to the Colonies to see meteorites."

"Stop complaining, at least the company won't delay your salary."

"Nonsense, prisoners' wages are so low. They can only afford to buy a few cases of soda and a meal before they're done. If even that's delayed, then this damn company, Qiqiao Network, is probably facing a cash flow crisis."

Xue Nian and Luo Le were bickering and chatting, and Lu Run couldn't get a word in edgewise. With nothing else to do, he started watching Li Aoz's videos and materials again, thinking about how to edit the footage.

Suddenly, he noticed his own face reflected on the screen—compared to his previous thin appearance, his features and angles seemed to be becoming more and more like his real self.

"What an amazing game..."

Before long, they arrived at P-205 Shelter. The three of them carefully sneaked in through the main entrance. Along the way, they saw severed limbs and remains everywhere, and the stench of decay was nauseating. The three of them couldn't help but put on breathing masks, not wanting to get infected with any virus, even in a game.

However, their caution seemed to be of little use.

It's completely empty here; there's not a single person in sight.

"The space below was burned by fire, and the first floor was basically cleared out; there wasn't even a mouse left."

Luo Le found the server room and servers of the Nethermark Humanity, while Xue Nian noticed some not-so-fresh military boot footprints and Frostplate bullet casings on the ground.

"It seems Frostplate has already arrived ahead of schedule," Xue Nian said regretfully. "They have probably taken away the most valuable intelligence."

"Not necessarily."

With the power activated, Luo Le hacked into the server of the Nethermark Humanity. After searching for a while, he immediately laughed, "The hacking expert of Frostplate probably got in through connections. Her cracking methods are very crude. Look at the database here. She actually planned to use a virus to break in. If it were me, I would choose to extract the authentication protocol of the host computer like this, and directly bypass the firewall to unlock it."

As soon as he finished speaking, he unlocked the secret database of the Nethermark Humanity.

"Let me see... Holy crap, what are all these things? Bio-Kongou, Anti-Gravity System, Bio-Mechanical Body, Virus Pod, Disguise Form, Theseus Brain, Biological High-Voltage Current, Living Battery, Cell Computer, Chitin Biological Gun Barrel, Brainwave Remote Sensing, Psionic Communication— "

The overwhelming amount of information left Luo Le stunned.

"These materials... involve at least 40 basic knowledge areas and 3 advanced knowledge areas within the [Refined Arts] category, enough to allow a [Biochemist] to quickly advance to the Beta-rank (β, the second Greek letter)!"

"Among these are 75 records of human trials: 'Physiological Changes Caused by Aoneng in Adolescent Males and Females: Detailed Anatomical Diagram' - My God, how many people sacrificed to obtain this."

As Luo Le browsed through the images, he soon discovered a peculiar one. Its name was a series of numbers and letters, unlike the orderly arrangement of the others.

Out of curiosity, he immediately clicked to play it: the screen went black for a moment, then lit up again, and the sound of the subway whistling through his ears. The lights illuminated the name of the station: Krasnaya Agla Station.

"Is this the subway station's surveillance footage?"

The fierce Armored Train pulled into the station, braked, and came to a stop. The doors opened, and a group of tall, burly soldiers with a cool demeanor, dressed in black and white uniforms, slowly stepped out of the subway, carrying boxes of ammunition, supplies, and equipment.

Soon after, a woman's voice slowly rang out:

"You've finally arrived, agents of Law Enforcement Division Three. You must be tired from your journey."

"It's alright, Professor Anna."

The camera slowly pans in to a young special agent officer wearing a peaked cap, with a cold gaze and half-black, half-white hair. He raises his hand to salute Anna, but does not shake Anna hand. His blue eyes are utterly indifferent as he simply says, "Law Enforcement Division Three, Second-level Investigator, Du Zexin, is ordered to hand over this batch of supplies."

"Du? That's a very rare surname in Frostplate..." Doctor Anna asked, slightly surprised. "Excuse me for being blunt, but what is your relationship with Ms. Du Jiali?"

"Just because we share the same surname."

Du Zexin said in a cold tone, "If you question whether my gender and position are appropriate, you don't need to. I got to where I am today through my own abilities."

As soon as Du Zexin finished speaking in the video, Luo Le had already retrieved the relevant information: Du Jiali: Deputy Director of the Frostplate Republic Education Bureau

Family relationship: Du Zexin - cousin.

"Damn, this one is even more heavyweight."

It's going to be released tomorrow, and I'm currently preparing to write the story. I'll try to update more than 10,000 words a day next month and get that achievement badge.