Class B Mission: Rotten Kingdom (Part One)

The neon lights at night treat everyone equally, casting a glamorous glow on everything in the city.

Even the trash cans on the street seem to always have a touch of the glitz and glamour of nightlife.

Black Gate City, Downtown District, Abandoned Factory Street.

This place seems to be a neighborhood deliberately forgotten by the city, a forbidden zone that the lower and middle classes of Black Gate City dare not approach at night. No matter the time, you can always see countless thugs, prostitutes, and drug addicts wandering aimlessly there. As soon as you get close to this neighborhood, the sense of security that the city and its people can give you will suddenly disappear.

In the bustling Uptown District, it would be an unbelievable thing to have your wallet stolen or your change taken.

But here, it would be unbelievable if it weren't stolen or if something unexpected happened.

Some people think this is a forbidden zone, while others think it's Paradise. Every night, some people get into luxury cars and are driven to this area to enjoy the feeling of being able to control everything.

Clutching banknotes in their hands and with sexy women on their arms, they seemed to have entered Paradise.

But they couldn't see that behind them were hordes of demonic, walking corpses, wandering aimlessly through the streets. They also couldn't see the thick layer of blood and stench beneath their feet, each step leaving a crater. The intense stench was so strong that it tasted almost sweet and rotten. Huge, eerie, blood-red tentacles occasionally rose up behind them, slowly slicing across the sky.

The stark contrast made Xiao Xiao look away, and he even felt a strong urge to vomit.

The tragedy of indigenous peoples.

Their senses and perceptions were affected, preventing them from seeing the truth. Their hands, covered in maggots, kissed greedily and with relish.

Since it was his first time carrying out a group mission, he arrived here early.

I was originally planning to have dinner here, but as soon as I got close to this area, I completely gave up.

I'm already full.

So he simply leaned against a streetlamp some distance from the block, quietly waiting for the others to come.

The plan is to start at 8 p. m., but meeting up earlier wouldn't be a problem, right?

The streetlights overhead cast his shadow straight down to his feet, as if he had detached himself from this world. The strong stench of decay occasionally assaulted his nostrils, yet just a few steps away lay a city so quiet it was almost serene.

The immense sense of rupture and difference gave Xiao Xiao a strange feeling.

He stood between the two, as if guarding the boundary of the world.

"Waaah..."

Not far away, the roar of a motorcycle sounded. Xiao Xiao looked up and saw a tall motorcycle driving up in front of him.

"Xiao-gege..."

Ruan Ruan excitedly stopped the car and skipped over to Xiao Xiao.

The backpack behind her jingled and clanged with each jump, making a heavy metallic sound, and it was unclear what was inside.

"You've arrived?"

Upon seeing Ruan Ruan appear, Xiao Xiao's sudden feeling of loneliness vanished instantly.

She smiled and looked at Ruan Ruan.

"From the first moment I met you, I knew you must be very capable, but I never expected that you could help us so quickly."

Ruan Ruan looked up at Xiao Xiao, her eyes filled with admiration...

... It was probably an illusion caused by the perspective; after all, it was difficult for her to see Xiao Xiao's face unless she looked up.

"No, no, there isn't..."

Xiao Xiao said, "I'm just a novice. If Black Gate City weren't short-handed, how could it have been my turn?"

"Newbie?"

Ruan Ruan was slightly taken aback upon hearing this. "Ah, right, right, right..."

"Brother Xiao..."

Just as I was about to speak, I suddenly heard a weak call from beneath my feet.

Xiao Xiao glanced around in surprise, but didn't see anyone. Just as he was wondering about it, he saw that the manhole cover not far away had been pried open a crack, and Little Four's pale face slowly emerged in the darkness. Under the streetlight, he looked a little guilty.

"You're here too?"

Xiao Xiao was even happier and went over to pull Little Four out.

"Actually, I arrived a long time ago..."

Little Four silently squatted down behind Ruan Ruan, keeping a distance of one body length from Xiao Xiao, muttering to himself:

"But seeing that he was the only one here, I didn't dare to show myself..."

"He threw his cigarette butt right on my head, but I didn't even move..."

"..."

With less than half an hour until the mission started, everything was happening right on time... Xiao Xiao thought to himself, but as a newbie, he couldn't very well give these veterans pointers. However, when facing that huge, Rotten Kingdom, the inexplicable pressure that had been building up in his heart finally dissipated with the arrival of Ruan Ruan and Little Four, and he regained his sense of security.

"Xiao-gege, you're amazing..."

Unlike Little Four's timid and fearful expression, Ruan Ruan was full of excitement, chattering away. "I heard about what happened between you and that Black Hat Old Cui. He was a guy with over a thousand points, and according to the enhancement standards, he was about to start the third stage of enhancement. But you just caught him and took him back, and even cut off a piece of flesh from his thigh to feed the dogs... I'm absolutely in awe of that idea..."

"What the heck?"

Xiao Xiao was completely dumbfounded. "When did I cut off a piece of flesh from his leg and feed it to the dogs?"

They Mingming exchanged a few words before letting him go, and he wasn't even summoned the Pain Hound...

"Emmmm"

Ruan Ruan squinted at Xiao Xiao: "We're all on the same side, what's there to be embarrassed about..."

"But I really didn't..."

Xiao Xiao found it a bit strange. "I'm the person directly involved, why don't you guys believe me?"

Seeing Ruan Ruan Xiao Xiao wouldn't admit it, Little Four hurriedly blinked at her desperately. "Stop talking..."

"If Brother Xiao says no, then no."

"I absolutely believe that Brother Xiao would never do something so ruthless!"

"..."

Xiao Xiao felt a surge of warmth in his heart.

Little Four really understands herself better...

But why do they seem to have become even more polite to me after only a few days apart?

Just then, a white SUV drove up in the distance. Ruan Ruan and Little Four were overjoyed, and Xiao Si felt as if she had been granted a pardon. They excitedly went to greet it, and then they saw Yang Jia, carrying a golf bag, get out of the car.

She was wearing a very figure-hugging black tracksuit today, with running shoes on her feet.

It vaguely reminded Xiao Xiao of four years ago, of watching Yang Jia run in the sunlight at school.

In addition, Xiao Xiao suddenly realized: Shouldn't I get a car too?

Look at Yang Jia and Ruan Ruan, each with their own car, although Ruan Ruan's car is actually not a good match for her figure.

It was just me and Little Four, one taking the subway and the other crawling through the sewers.

Compared to other extravagant and wasteful travelers from other places, these two modes of transportation are incredibly low-carbon and environmentally friendly.

"You've all arrived?"

Yang Jia approached the crowd, nodded slightly, then turned around, squinted, and glanced at the bustling city.

He seemed to chuckle slightly, then said, "They've come too."

"Who?"

Xiao Xiao also subconsciously looked up, but even though he was on the Insight route, he couldn't see anything.

It's probably because of the distance.

"Ignore them."

Yang Jia said softly, "Anyway, this crisis can only be resolved by the few of us."

"I believe Mister Ye has already sent you the most basic information, but I still want to say that this crisis will be extremely dangerous. The Rotten Kingdom has deteriorated from an ordinary Aberrant Creature to the extremely troublesome problem it is today due to various reasons. However, we can only solve this problem with the minimum configuration."

"..."

The atmosphere was great when everyone got together, but for some reason, Yang Jia's words made everyone feel a bit pressured.

Xiao Xiao thought to himself, "Yang Jia doesn't seem to know much about pre-battle mobilization..."

"Furthermore, I would like to say to you..."

Yang Jia turned her head and looked at the rotting area, then suddenly said, "This mission can be abandoned."

"Ah?"

Everyone was surprised to hear this and looked at her at the same time.

Facing the gazes of the crowd, Yang Jia took a deep breath and said, "Once the mission begins, I will have no time to take care of you."

"In other words, we all need to face the pressure of a region of the Rotten Kingdom on our own, on an equal footing."

"This is very unfair to you..."

"..."

She paused slightly, and Xiao Xiao keenly sensed that although she said "you all," she was actually referring to him:

"So, if you feel that the pressure of the mission exceeds your limits, I agree to your decision to temporarily leave the battlefield. Although this will indeed cause some bad consequences, our mission's top priority is to save our own lives."

Xiao Xiao listened, but simply nodded silently and then smiled.

Yang Jia's words actually made her feel quite good.

Although Yang Jia might actually be overthinking things...

I never intended to risk my life; after all, I was just here to help, and I was just going to do my best.

If things really can't be handled, then of course we have to retreat.

Since I'm a newcomer, is it too much to be flexible in my approach?

"Alright, the plan is actually quite simple. The four of us will each choose a direction to go in and deal with all the Aberrant Creature we see. The key is to make sure it's clean and absolutely not give these creatures from the Rotten Kingdom a chance to escape and invade the city."

"And I will enter the heart of the Rotten Kingdom as quickly as possible and clean out its core."

"But if this happens..."

"The greater the pressure I put on the Rotten Kingdom, the greater the pressure you will bear."

"..."

Yang Jia spoke in a low voice, glancing around again, and whispered, "The most ridiculous thing is that many people are watching us."

"But during this mission, we were all isolated and helpless."

"I hope you can hold on."

"..."

Her words made everyone's hearts sink slightly, and they looked up at the calm night behind them.

Among the diverse crowd, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but there were indeed some strange gazes emanating from the depths of the city.

"This is a job for all the outsiders in the city, but it's been assigned to four people to handle it..."

"That also includes myself, a newcomer..."

Xiao Xiao couldn't help but think to himself, "But this way, no one will be competing for the points anymore..."