The Urgency of Contention
When Zhao Yijiu woke up at the clinic, it was already daylight outside. The pale sky was tinged with a blue hue veiled by layers of clouds and mud, and the sun was nowhere to be seen.
He only slept for three hours, from 5 a. m. to 8 a. m., which was already one of the better sleeps he'd had since the simulation began. He had already resisted one infection of the surrounding factors, so the safety level was good.
And for some reason, he had a premonition that something good would happen today.
This was a feeling he had never experienced before, mysterious and profound. It was like how his brother would say things like "It's not a good day to go out" or "It's best not to go to the west today" every day, and he had always been curious about how that was done.
He pulled off the windbreaker covering him, touched his heart, but didn't feel anything different, attributing it to his mysterious sixth sense.
He casually tidied his slightly upturned hair, washed his face at the sink in the small clinic, put on his headband, and then packed his things, ready to leave.
He needs to check on how to proceed with the third phase of the mission today.
Speaking of this third phase of the mission, the word itself is utterly malicious. The mission gave him two options: one was to be infected, which meant that he had to deliberately fail while experiencing mental pollution and become a mentally confused corpse preparing to commit suicide.
Another option is to kill ten polluters.
Zhao Yijiu: "..."
There are currently an unspecified number of divination practitioners lurking in the city. Based on his experience, the divination practitioners who choose to stay in the city all have the same task.
Almost everyone would choose the second option: to compete for the chance to kill the infected.
But were there really that many infected people in the city at the same time?
Infected individuals refer to those who have succumbed to the contamination, successfully corrupted by vengeful spirits, and transitioned from an invisible state to a normal state—people on the verge of death. They are usually not numb, but rather their minds are polluted, giving them all sorts of chaotic thoughts, such as how to be burned to death in a high-profile manner, or how to make more people watch their dramatic suicide attempt...
Such a person can no longer be considered a human being.
Zhao Yijiu wasn't bothered by sending them to their deaths ahead of time. It was true that he had never killed anyone, but he wasn't exactly a compassionate person either. Killing the already corrupted would at most make them angry that they couldn't fulfill their twisted desires.
The only difficulty in this mission lies in the struggle for control.
The system warned from the beginning that each stage of the task must be completed, and failure would result in incredibly severe penalties.
No one wants to face unknown dangers. Once the first two phases of the mission are completed, starting from the third phase, the deducers must race against time and eliminate any corrupted individuals they see as quickly as possible. Otherwise, if the corrupted individuals escape, their mission slots will become someone else's.
He silently tidied up his belongings and equipment. To make them easier to access for the Stop Killing, he did not store them in his Persona Mask, but carried them with him.
Just then, he heard the sound of a truck driving on the usually quiet street. Zhao Yijiu immediately crouched down, hiding behind a pillar and only peeking out with one eye.
On the deserted street, a truck with one door half open drove smoothly by. The driver's and passenger's windows were open, revealing two young faces.
The young men, one driving and the other fiddling with a testing device, reached a certain spot. The one with the device looked up and shouted into the street—a place that clearly didn't seem to have anyone who would be afraid or hiding—"This is Base 51! Welcome all uninfected individuals back to base with us!"
After the shouts, the truck bumped over the gravel on the road and drove away into the distance, leaving behind an unremarkable silhouette.
This was the second time Zhao Yijiu had seen this truck in the city. The last time was seven days ago, with two people in the driver's seat and using the same method to attract uninfected people. However, last time Zhao Yijiu was wary of the truck's presence and purpose, but this time she was much calmer.
He learned of the existence of the cleanup squads from Carlos and knew that the base's cleanup squads were divided into at least two categories: one was to rescue survivors, and the other was to clean up the vengeful spirit virus.
However, he had just received news a few hours earlier that the Lingren had joined the cleanup team, and he had thought that the people on the truck would turn into the Lingren so that he could use this opportunity to find other predictors, but it turned out that they were not.
Could it be that the Lingren joined a team to clean up the virus, rather than a team Xun Xing?
Zhao Yijiu stood up from behind the cover, squinted at the truck's exhaust fumes, and felt a little bothered by them.
He had memorized the city's map and could tell from the truck's direction that it had already circled the city. Once it finished patrolling the area, the truck would head towards the low hills on the outskirts and return to base to report.
Zhao Yijiu told himself that since there were no Lingren, this was just an ordinary patrol and he didn't need to pay too much attention to it. What he should do now was compete with others for the mission's progress.
He withdrew his gaze, turned, and disappeared among the towering buildings.
"Ruru, are you sure this is the place?"
Just after the truck noise completely disappeared, two people emerged from under a high-end office building in the city center, a man and a woman. The man was very thin and wore a hideous leather mask that resembled a ghost mask. The woman was petite and had her hair in a bun.
The girl walked ahead, holding a string of jingling copper coins in her hand, while the boy followed closely behind, his obedient behavior a stark contrast to the chilling aura he exuded.
As they walked through the bustling commercial street, bypassed the upscale office buildings, and finally stopped at the entrance of a small alleyway specifically for nearby businesses to dump their trash, the boy couldn't help but ask a question.
Zhao Ruru squatted down on the spot, scattered a handful of copper coins on the ground, observed for a while, then clapped her hands and said in a relaxed tone, "Xu Shu, I may not be good at other things, but I can do divination and find people. Can you trust me, a professional?"
"So, the person is really in there?" Xu Shu looked into the alley. Just standing at the entrance, the smell was overwhelming with a gust of wind. "What is this infected person planning to do? Suffocate themselves?"
"You have to allow people to have different interests." Zhao Ruru shrugged, picked up the coins, carefully wiped them clean, and gestured with her Xu Shu towards Xu Shu. "The target is inside, but the divination indicates there will be twists and turns, and the outcome is uncertain. We'd better not waste any more time."
At the same time, Zhao Yijiu, who had made a rapid movement using the shadows cast by the sloping tall buildings, also sensed the presence of infected individuals and approached.
He was at the other end of the garbage alley.
The smells and filth didn't even make Zhao Yijiu frown. Without hesitation, he calmly stepped into the alley with a Stop Killing.
------Aside------
There will be one more chapter tomorrow during the day; I want to go to bed early tonight.