Heart Blood of Guide Dog Mary

About ten minutes later, Yin Kuang suddenly opened his eyes. The lingering savagery in his bloodshot eyes frightened Qian Qianqian so badly that she screamed as she helped clean the blood off him.

"Where... am I?"

Yin Kuang tried to sit up, but the pain that pierced his entire body left him unable to control it. When he saw Qian Qianqian and recognized her as one of their own, the ferocious frenzy in his eyes gradually faded.

"On... on the bus." Qian Qianqian answered, then said to Li Shuangmu, "Li... he... Yin Kuang's awake."

Li Shuangmu struggled to turn his head and managed a faint smile. "Hey, you did pretty well, kid." He meant it. For an ordinary person, putting up a performance like that was no easy feat.

As he spoke, he took out a cold bun. "This is the last Goubuli bun. Eat it." He handed it to Qian Qianqian.

Qian Qianqian pursed her lips, but she still took the bun and fed it to Yin Kuang.

"Notification: You have consumed a Secret Recipe Goubuli Bun. You immediately recover 3 health, then recover 1 health per second for 3 seconds."

As the cold bun went down, Yin Kuang felt a warm current flow through his esophagus and quickly spread through his body. He could clearly feel more of it gathering around the wound on his back and the injury in the palm of his right hand. The hole in his palm began to close almost before his eyes, and a tingling itch spread across his back.

Yin Kuang was astonished. "Thank you."

At that moment, he didn't even want to think about what he had just been through. It had filled him with a deep fear—fear of himself!

The bun restored 6 health in total. With the Hemostatic Bandage's effects, his health had recovered to 15. Of course, that was partly because he hadn't had much health to begin with.

With a little strength back, Yin Kuang struggled to his feet. Suddenly, his hand touched something furry. He looked down and saw that it was Guide Dog Mary.

"Is she... dead?" Yin Kuang's eyes widened.

Li Shuangmu hurriedly explained, "No, she's just been anesthetized. She refused to leave her owner, so this was the only way we could bring her along." He continued, "Now that you're awake, let's talk about the rewards for this mission. We fought tooth and nail and nearly lost our lives, but in the end, we still won. At least for now."

At the thought of the mission rewards, Li Shuangmu couldn't help getting excited. He was clearly looking forward to them.

"Mission rewards? What are they?" Yin Kuang asked, his whole body tensing.

Wang Ning turned around. "We don't know yet, either. We were waiting for you to wake up. Since the Headmaster recognizes us as a temporary team, every team member has to 'turn in the mission' before he'll give us the rewards. Yin Kuang, hurry and bring up your Information Panel, then click 'Turn In Mission.'"

Wang Ning was visibly excited and seemed unable to wait.

Yin Kuang froze for a moment, then quickly summoned his Information Panel. Of course, even though he was eager, he wasn't stupid enough to "share" all his secrets. He set it to "visible to me only."

Wang Ning kept a calm expression, but he couldn't help feeling a little disappointed. He'd really wanted to see the other guy's attributes. How could someone become so savage and bloodthirsty when he went berserk? Could this be how someone with 7 Intelligence thinks? Even with his emotions out of control, he can still keep his mind clear? I'll have to reassess Yin Kuang. And what does 7 Intelligence actually mean? Even Xiong Ba seems to think more highly of him now.

As for Yin Kuang, when he summoned the Information Panel, he saw the following information on the blank eighth page:

Mission Information--

Hidden Mission: Save Guide Dog Mary.

Mission Difficulty: ???

Mission Requirements: Guide Dog survives, success; Guide Dog dies, failure.

Mission Reward: ???

Failure Penalty: None.

Mission Completion: 74%.

Mission Status: Ready to turn in.

Mission Note: This mission is treated as a temporary team mission. Team members: Li Shuangmu, Yin Kuang, Zeng Fei, Wang Ning, and Qian Qianqian. All members must turn in the mission before the reward can be claimed, except for team members who die or give up. The reward is divided into a "Base Reward" and a "Contribution Reward." All members receive the "Base Reward." The "Contribution Reward" is awarded to members according to their contributions.

Turn in mission? Yes/No.

Without hesitation, Yin Kuang tapped "Yes" with his finger!

At nearly the same moment, everyone in the temporary team received a notification.

"Notification: The five-member temporary team has completed the Hidden Mission 'Save Guide Dog Mary.'"

"Notification: Mission rewards are now being issued. You may receive them as spoken notifications or as displayed text. Please choose."

Yin Kuang didn't know what the others chose, but he selected "displayed text." To be honest, he wasn't particularly fond of the Headmaster's strange, neither-male-nor-female voice.

The mission information panel promptly displayed the following:

Base Reward: 500 Study Points, 2 Comprehensive Evaluation points, and 1 F-rank Evaluation point.

You have obtained "Heart Blood of Guide Dog Mary."

You have obtained the auxiliary title "Helpful," Charm +2.

Contribution Reward: 100 Study Points.

You have obtained "Silver Cross of Faith."

"That's it? Nothing else?" Yin Kuang exclaimed in disbelief. Then anger welled up inside him. "This is the reward for a so-called Hidden Mission?"

"How is it?" Li Shuangmu asked. "What, you think it's too little?"

Yin Kuang replied grumpily, "Is it a lot? Five hundred Study Points will only buy me two Magnetic Pistols—Gauss Pistols—and a few Goubuli buns."

By normal calculations, that was indeed the case, but...

Wang Ning smiled. "Yin Kuang, why don't you check the effects of the 'Heart Blood of Guide Dog Mary' before complaining? Why are you in such a hurry?"

Zeng Fei chuckled. "We really hit the jackpot this time. Next, all we need is some T-Virus Serum. If we're lucky, our strength could shoot up in an instant. It was worth it—definitely worth it!"

Li Shuangmu chuckled. "Yin Kuang, check what the blood is used for before you say anything."

Yin Kuang nodded quickly and tapped "Heart Blood of Guide Dog Mary."

Item: Heart Blood of Guide Dog Mary

Description: Fresh, warm blood drawn from Guide Dog Mary's heart.

Rating: Extremely rare.

Effects: When mixed with pure T-Virus Serum and injected, it increases the chance of a living being successfully acquiring a mutant T-Virus gene enhancement by 30%. It also increases the chance of acquiring a perfect T-Virus Enhancement by 20%.

When injected into a living being infected with the T-Virus, it can neutralize the virus.

Evaluation: How wondrous is the Creator God? While creating the powerful T-Virus, it also created this dog.

Looking at the information displayed, Yin Kuang's mouth fell open. "This... this is the core reward of the Hidden Mission?" For a moment, he didn't know what to make of it.

Was it good? Or bad?

Wang Ning smiled. "Well? Do you still think the mission reward is stingy?"

Yin Kuang thought it over. "But we'd need to have pure T-Virus Serum first. Only Umbrella Corporation and Angela, Ashford's daughter, have it. We can forget about Umbrella Corporation... but are we really supposed to kill a little girl for the pure T-Virus?"

Zeng Fei's expression changed.

A flicker of inner conflict crossed Li Shuangmu's eyes. Qian Qianqian shook her head fervently. Wang Ning, however, smiled. "Then what are we supposed to do? What good is having this treasure if we can't use it?"

Yin Kuang shook his head. "Even if we were willing to do it, who says Angela would be easy to kill? Don't forget, killing Angela rewards us with not only pure T-Virus Serum, but also 2,000 Study Points, 10 Comprehensive Evaluation points, and 1 D-rank Evaluation point. That reward is even more generous than the one for killing the heroine, Alice. Do you really think the Headmaster would be kind enough to hand that to us?"

The smile had long since vanished from Li Shuangmu's face. Feeling irritated, he asked unwillingly, "Then what do we do?" They had worked so hard to get the reward, only to find they couldn't use it. It was like finally getting the stunning beauty you'd been pursuing for three years to agree to go to a hotel with you, then searching the entire city and failing to find a single room. How frustrating and maddening would that be?

Zeng Fei and Wang Ning's expressions darkened as well. Only Qian Qianqian seemed completely unconcerned.

Yin Kuang thought for a moment. "I wonder if we can exchange for pure T-Virus Serum from the Headmaster."

At that, the other three men's eyes suddenly lit up. Wang Ning struck his fist into his palm and exclaimed, "Right! Why didn't I think of that? Once we find Senior Xiong Ba, we can ask him if pure T-Virus Serum is available for exchange."

Yin Kuang said, "My concern is that even if it is available, the exchange price will be exorbitant! Just look at how difficult the mission to obtain pure T-Virus is. The T-Virus Enhancement is a shortcut to increasing our strength, and according to the movies, the T-Virus has unlimited potential for evolution. Do you think the Headmaster would give us something that good for free? Also, even if we can exchange for the T-Virus from the Headmaster, I'm worried the success rate will be very low. Even with the extra 30%, it might still be nowhere near enough. If you fail, are you going to use that hard-won special blood to neutralize the T-Virus you spent a fortune in Study Points to exchange for? Think about it. Doesn't that make sense?"

Li Shuangmu gave a bitter smile and thought, No wonder he has 7 Intelligence. His analysis is so thorough that it's practically impossible to refute. The truth is probably just as he says.

"So, going by what you're saying," Wang Ning asked, "is the Headmaster forcing us to take the 'Kill Angela' mission?"

"And the mission to kill Alice, too," Zeng Fei added.

Yin Kuang gave a bitter smile. "I think that's exactly what it means..."